Date: 10/15/05     Keywords: security

Currently I have an XP home system receiving incoming calls. I’ve done this so I can connect to my network from anywhere, that has a phone, and download files I need or if I need access to the internet and the place I’m at currently has none. I do onsite PC repairs and this comes in handy on occasions. Yesterday I inadvertently left my “RAS” machine off and when I got home the answering machine, I never bothered to unplug, had several messages. I listened to the messages and found three of them sounded like computers trying to contact my computer then several hangups.

First off, is anyone still war dialing?? I can’t think of any other way someone could have found out that my phone is usually directly connected to a PC that picks up. Secondly, I do have authentication turned on requiring a user ID and password, not strong ones though since I thought the chances of someone even looking for a system to crack in that way was for the most part pas se'.

Regardless, down to the question, is there a way in XP home to limit the attempts before hanging up to just one?? Eventually I’m going to use a FreeBSD system as a file server with remote access (which I know has much more to offer in the way of security options), but I’m having trouble putting it together so I’m using my XP system for the task. This is also my main system so in my paranoia I’m a bit afraid that someone might…whatever, I just don’t want them in. Any other suggestions will be appreciated.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/797540.html

Date: 10/14/05     Keywords: no keywords

Something happened on my computer and I lost most of my settings and bookmarks on one profile I had set up for firefox. There was another profile where I could get SOME of them back, but not many. Is there a way that I can retreive all of my old bookmarks from that profile; or, am I totally shit out of luck?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/797380.html

Date: 10/13/05     Keywords: tracker

Greetings all-

Checked versiontracker.com, didn't see anything that seems to do what I'd like.

I'd like an application where I can load / type in an address and have it print on an envelope. Simple enough, hell, Word can do this. What I'd also like is the ability to also have the return address printed in the corner, perhaps even with a watermark. I suppose I could do it in Photoshop as a picture, etc....but I'd like an app where I can not only print recipient address, but have a custom graphic for the return address, or a graphic with text over it.

I suppose saving the addresses would be a benefit as well.

Perhaps Word can do this and I'm just incompetent. Any thoughts?

Thanks all!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/796759.html

Date: 10/13/05     Keywords: no keywords

I'm reinstalling windows on a Toshiba Satellite 5105-S607, and I was wondering if I should insall the drivers before the windows updates, or afterwards. Any help?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/796616.html

Date: 10/12/05     Keywords: php

This will make your boring windows look like a mac...I know this is going to cause a huge amount of comments...enjoy!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/795948.html

Date: 10/12/05     Keywords: no keywords

Hey all, I need a little help for a problem I KNOW I should know the answer to, but can't seem to crack.

I was just given a Compaq laptop for work, as the person I'm doing the work for says I can fix anything with drive and a processor... but I can't seem to get the damn thing to work. When I boot it up, I get The COMPAQ screen -- the Windows XP screen with the loading bar... and then a completely black screen. Nothing I've tried in the last few hours has seemed to work: I've tried:

*Starting in Safe Mode: still nothing.
*Enabling VGA mode: still nothing.
*Booting from the Windows CD: nothing.
*Creating a boot disk on floppy -- twice: nothing.

It's not the monitor, because a)I still can get into the Options screens on boot, and b)I hooked the laptop to the desktop monitor, and it's the same black screen. It sounds like it's working in there, but I get nothing. No matter which options I try, it's the same thing. I need to get this thing working yesterday -- any suggestions? I'd be deeply in your debt.



X-posted to ubergeeks

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/795848.html

Date: 10/11/05     Keywords: web, google

I'd like to get an external hard drive for my G3 iMac; preferably one with 250-500 GB.

I've searched google, froogle, apple store, and various computer supply websites, and found many suitable options. The only problem is, every drive I've found has gotten really bad customer reviews. Usually, people who just bought the drive rave about it, but anyone who's had it 6 months to 2 years complains that the drive conked out at some point (frequently just after the warranty expired). Even when the company sent a replacement drive, these people still lost all their data.

I've found this same story told for LaCie, Maxtor, a couple of others.

Are any of you willing to stand behind an external hard drive? Any long-term success stories? Do I need to look at more expensive options in order to get reliability?

Thank you for any help/recommendations.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/795552.html

Date: 10/10/05     Keywords: java

Hi,

A question concerning JAVA. I think I have a pretty rough idea as to what public, static, void and ( String[] args). But I was wondering if someone could define them as if I had never encountered JAVA or cmputers.

Thanks

Ross

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/794830.html

Date: 10/10/05     Keywords: no keywords

I've been trying to get itunes to play ogg vorbis files. Im using version 5.1.
I've tentatively concluded that for version 3 there was a plugin that would let you play them, version 4 had built in support and version 5 has no support or plugin. Does anyone know if this is correct? Does anyone know of another player for mac that plays oggs?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/794599.html

Date: 10/09/05     Keywords: virus, spyware

So I've been getting this message for a while...I think I uninstalled some stuff I shouldn't have.

Error loading winupd.dll
The specific module could not be found

Basically whenever I start a program like windows media player it pops up. Also it pops up from time to time on its own. I ran virus scan and spyware stuff and it still happens. I also ran a registry cleaner/fixer and still happens. Any ideas how to stop/fix it?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/794138.html

Date: 10/09/05     Keywords: software, security, virus, antivirus, spyware, spam, microsoft

Firstly, I just want this to be known that this isn't an anti-windows rant or anything. There is a question being posed here, I promise :P

With that said, companies like McAfee and Symantec have basically been making a living solely from Microsoft's security oversights. They've been charging people to use their software which protects those people from the vulnerabilities that Microsoft left open. The quality of these programs varies from function to function. Even then, they ignore adware since it's not considered 'malicous'. And even still, they have issues with using the same name for similar viruses. Users are faced with these same problems with any anti-virus/anti-adware/anti-whatever software they use. There is a lot of similar companies, but they don't have a common agreeance on what is and isn't a virus, or if they should detect adware. There's also the issues that come with the firewall program they install. Traffic from the internet isn't always malicious, but those firewalls can't usually tell the difference. Very few of these programs are free. None of these problems actually FIX the problem. They're only removing programs that exploit the initial vulnerabilities, leaving room for reuse value.

As many of you surely know already, Microsoft has recently released a beta version of their anti-crap (to summarize anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-adware, anti-spyware, etc) scanner and removal tool. Before that, they've included a firewall program in XP SP2. Microsoft is not charging anything for either of these programs. At least not as of yet if they ever decide to.

So, my question is this; Do you folks think Microsoft is taking a step in the right direction by adding the firewall and scanner tools? Will they do a better job than the other Antivirus vendors? Do you think maybe they are taking a step in the WRONG direction, like, why aren't they fixing the actual problems instead of covering them up? What do you all think?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/793809.html

Date: 10/09/05     Keywords: no keywords

fido_one suggested that I use knoppix, and was even nice enough to share the link (http://www.knoppix.org). When I got there, I discovered a whole lot of downloads and absolutely no clue as to what to do. Could someone be so kind as to help me?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/793267.html

Date: 10/07/05     Keywords: yahoo

Recently, a friend asked me to try and salvage her computer files. However, I couldn't open the Folder that they were in because it was protected. The only way I think I can get to them is to boot the Hard Drive as the Master Drive, but there seems to be a problem with the boot process when I tried to boot with that drive.

I was thinking that I could just re-install a second copy of Windows onto that drive and try booting again, but I don't know if that will help me get into that Folder.

I was hoping that maybe one of you with a bit more experience could walk me through the process via AIM or MSN IM chat (I also have Yahoo). Respond here with your preferences and I'll try to hook up.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/793046.html

Date: 10/07/05     Keywords: web

I own an Ipod Shuffle, a graduation gift from my brother.

I hate the fact that you need to use Itunes to load songs into the Ipod.

I hate it even more that the Shuffle can't support "drag and drop"

Now, I have used Foobar2000 + foopod as my alternative interface, since it can give me a semblance of "drag and drop"

Are there any other (better) alternatives in the web? I came across numerous other "hacks" out there, but I need something a bit more... user friendly/near idiocy.

I know this is "RTFM" type question, but I'm curious on the thoughts of the community.

And no, I can't afford another mp3 player, since I'm pretty broke right now.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/792722.html

Date: 10/07/05     Keywords: php

I mean, I know open source developers need paying jobs, but talk about being in the belly of the beast!

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=10838

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/792154.html

Date: 10/07/05     Keywords: html, web

Theoretically, America's cellular network is extremely vulnerable to attack. If somebody wanted to bring down the cell service completely, they wouldn't need anything more than an approximage 400MBps bandwidth; easily accomplished with exploited computers. Even taking out a city wouldn't require much more than 2 or 3MBps. Since this vulnerability has been discovered, do you people think somebody might actually try it? What do you think the reprecussions would be for the affected areas? Since exploiting the system is merely using the system (just beyond it's capabilities), what kind of punishment do you think would be given if somebody got caught? Generally, what is your thoughts?

Here is some info on the exploit.
http://www.techweb.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=171203666

Here is the pdf file that describes the situation in detail:
http://www.smsanalysis.org/smsanalysis.pdf

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/791314.html

Date: 10/07/05     Keywords: no keywords

What happens when you code late in the night. This becomes funny:

//pwned method name !1!!one!!11.
	private void ifPageFaultAccessDiskToGetDataInformationAndPutDataInformationInPage( int status, long virtualAddress){
		if (status == AbstractVMManager.PAGE_FAULT){
			long diskTrack = memoryManager.translatePageAddressToDiskTrack(virtualAddress);
			performDiskIO(diskTrack);
			diskScheduler.addRequest(new DiskRequest(memoryManager, diskTrack));
		} 
	}

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/791264.html

Date: 10/07/05     Keywords: html, java

I have been working with this all day and cant find anything. Basically i have a code I figure it is java and for the submit button at the end(what appears) you basically only have two options: a picture link or a button. Here is one example: input type="image"src this brings up a picture link.

I only want a simple blue html link that a person clicks on to submit, I think it has to be in the input type format, so how do i do this?

is there anyway to put a a href in there to make it a submit form, or any other code to do this?

Any help greatly appreciated

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/790835.html

Date: 10/07/05     Keywords: virus

How come when I try to download a file attachment from my Hotmail account, sometimes I get this message:

"Internet Explorer cannot download ((filename here)). The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later."

But it works at other times. How do I fix this? (There's no virus)

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/790592.html

Date: 10/06/05     Keywords: no keywords

As many of you surely already know, Opera was recently revised and made available for free to the public. What are your opinions on it for those of you who have tried it? If you haven’t tried it, why not and what do you use? What do you like or dislike about it? Also, if you do like Opera, do you think it was good enough to be worth whatever the fee was before it was free?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/789882.html