I'm putting this here just in case any of you finds it useful (and for personal reference).
I think those using WiFi might want to take a look at it, since WiFi'ers seem to be a little bit more at risk (not that the rest of us aren't).
When you are using WiFi, encryption is very necessary, otherwise anyone could be using your network, getting into your comp, spying what you are doing, obtaining sensitive data about you and possibly commit some crime against you or in your name.
Gmail encrypts your login, but the rest of the e-mail transactions are not encrypted. Unless...
Unless you do this. Don't let the word "Linux" in the page title fool you; this is a very easy trick that anyone can do, even windows users.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Friday, December 09, 2005
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Browsers
Microsoft Internet Explorer's Extremely Critical Vulnerability. This vulnerability, which remains unpatched, has been discovered about six months ago. (And remains unpatched). It compromises the security of an otherwise fully-patched windows xp with sp2 system. (meaning, even if you have a fully patched system, you are still vulnerable)
On the other hand, Firefox 1.5 is here, and Opera has also upgraded.
On the other hand, Firefox 1.5 is here, and Opera has also upgraded.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Windows vs. GNU/Linux
(from slashdot.org. I'm quoting this because it's priceless. you should all read it. now.)
Let's assume, that by some miracle, some subcontractor, ShitSoft (MS) manages to break a deal to sell shit (Windows) for food (OS) for McDonalds (IBM) customers for their fastfood restaurants (PC) sometime in the late 80ies so ShitSoft gains monopoly on fastfood restaurants and thus the food market.
There are 12'000 people involved in devising the best methods to fling shit at the customers, to feed them with shit, to serve shit in the most appetizing way.
Because people don't know anything better, people buy ShitSoft's "product". ShitSoft must be producing a huge market many hungry people rely on, right?
ShitSoft is a nice friendly company, so it donates less than 1% of its profits to help combat diseases, so this is why we should keep eating shit.
Also, ShitSoft also has around 12'000 employees, whom are contractually obliged to eat shit.
ShitSoft has been on the top for a while, they clearly created a product that everyone LIKES, because they don't know any better. That product has created jobs for millions of food specialists, contractors and plastic cutlery producers. (Because they would be totally out of their jobs if people would eat something different, right?)
But as in every fairy tale the bad, ugly guy appeared: community owned greenhouses started producing quality vegetables. They gave it away the plans of building such greenhouses and the seeds for the vegetables, only asking to share them with everyone who wants those plans and seeds.
ShitSoft had to do something: they started their "Get the feces" campaign, where they involved several independent researchers, with only a few million shares from ShitSoft or being a board member at ShitSoft. Those researchers claimed that everyone who uses community owned greenhouses must be a communist for not supporting Real hard working American produced quality branded shit wrapped in nice shiny package, but preferred vegetables. They explained that shit has a much lower Total Caloric Overall, than vegetables and that ShitSoft's shit is produced by a trustable american corporation while the vegetables are clearly on the way to ruin the american economy.
The campaign is still undecided to be effective or not, but let's not forget another issue: ShitSoft's product created a huge industry to modify some of the product's erm, "features". Some customers wanted to decrease the value of the quality shit (no idea why would they want to do that), by buying products from third party companies to make shit lose it's smell and taste, and to drive away the flies. Can you not see how ShitSoft helps the economy?
There have been certain allegations before, that ShitSoft's product is not adequate for human consumption. Such a nonsense! It is a shame that we can't disprove that since ShitSoft's End User Shit Agreement specifically forbids the analysis of their latest, "eXPerience the Shit" product and all former versions. Some people slandered ShitSoft before by claiming that shit causes diarrhea and infections and that generally everyone just should refrain from eating shit, but ShitSoft dismissed such scandalous claims.
Be patriotic, support ShitSoft, down with vegetables!
(Link here)
Let's assume, that by some miracle, some subcontractor, ShitSoft (MS) manages to break a deal to sell shit (Windows) for food (OS) for McDonalds (IBM) customers for their fastfood restaurants (PC) sometime in the late 80ies so ShitSoft gains monopoly on fastfood restaurants and thus the food market.
There are 12'000 people involved in devising the best methods to fling shit at the customers, to feed them with shit, to serve shit in the most appetizing way.
Because people don't know anything better, people buy ShitSoft's "product". ShitSoft must be producing a huge market many hungry people rely on, right?
ShitSoft is a nice friendly company, so it donates less than 1% of its profits to help combat diseases, so this is why we should keep eating shit.
Also, ShitSoft also has around 12'000 employees, whom are contractually obliged to eat shit.
ShitSoft has been on the top for a while, they clearly created a product that everyone LIKES, because they don't know any better. That product has created jobs for millions of food specialists, contractors and plastic cutlery producers. (Because they would be totally out of their jobs if people would eat something different, right?)
But as in every fairy tale the bad, ugly guy appeared: community owned greenhouses started producing quality vegetables. They gave it away the plans of building such greenhouses and the seeds for the vegetables, only asking to share them with everyone who wants those plans and seeds.
ShitSoft had to do something: they started their "Get the feces" campaign, where they involved several independent researchers, with only a few million shares from ShitSoft or being a board member at ShitSoft. Those researchers claimed that everyone who uses community owned greenhouses must be a communist for not supporting Real hard working American produced quality branded shit wrapped in nice shiny package, but preferred vegetables. They explained that shit has a much lower Total Caloric Overall, than vegetables and that ShitSoft's shit is produced by a trustable american corporation while the vegetables are clearly on the way to ruin the american economy.
The campaign is still undecided to be effective or not, but let's not forget another issue: ShitSoft's product created a huge industry to modify some of the product's erm, "features". Some customers wanted to decrease the value of the quality shit (no idea why would they want to do that), by buying products from third party companies to make shit lose it's smell and taste, and to drive away the flies. Can you not see how ShitSoft helps the economy?
There have been certain allegations before, that ShitSoft's product is not adequate for human consumption. Such a nonsense! It is a shame that we can't disprove that since ShitSoft's End User Shit Agreement specifically forbids the analysis of their latest, "eXPerience the Shit" product and all former versions. Some people slandered ShitSoft before by claiming that shit causes diarrhea and infections and that generally everyone just should refrain from eating shit, but ShitSoft dismissed such scandalous claims.
Be patriotic, support ShitSoft, down with vegetables!
(Link here)
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Internet Explorer's serious vulnerability
"A remote IE exploit with implementations is currently in the wild. From the article: 'Exploit code for a critical flaw in fully patched versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser has been released on the Internet, putting millions of Web surfers at risk of computer hijack attacks.' Aparently all you have to do is browse the page to be affected. There is no patch, but since it is a JavaScript exploit, you can work around it by disabling JavaScript."
source: slashdot.org
"But... Michelle! I only surf the net and check e-mail! That is not going to happen to me!"
Yeah, yeah, sure. These people also thought it couldn't happen to them.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Sony has a rootkit
I have been absent recently due to personal reasons.
I want to thank everyone who has sent me words of courage and support. I will not discuss my personal life here, though, since that is not the purpose of this blog. Nonetheless, I wish to thank everyone who has sent their condolences.
In other news, by now I guess you might have already read this. Last week (before I randomly crashed aKregator) it was the "talk of the week" on Ars Technica and other tech-related sites.
To be honest, I am not surprised. $ony and Micro$oft are the two toughest DRM pushing companies (not to say that other companies are not "into" DRM. I know Apple likes the idea too) I think (and this is my personal opinion) the reason why Micro$oft is rather pissed at $ony, aside from the fact that their rootkit exposes just how easy it is to breach Windows security and easily turn any Windows computer into a zombie (well... in case someone was absent-minded enough not to know it yet), is because $ony implemented this rootkit BEFORE M$ did it themselves and established a way "to do" DRM and tried to file even more patents on protocols et al and forced every media-related company to pay them for those patents, etc. You know how this story goes.
Loosely quoting the Simpsons, "(Bill Gates) didn't get rich by signing checks."
Additionally, about the AIM bots. I've deleted them the moment AOL took the liberty of adding them to my buddy list for me.
I am not surprised Microsoft intends to buy AOL, because this sounds like domino effect:
Yahoo! and Google are on frank and open war. Microsoft and Google are on frank and open war. (I used to have a prettier link than the that one, but I can't find it) Yahoo! wants AOL's userbase (which they couldn't get). Microsoft and Yahoo! are getting friendly with each other. Well... grab your bag of popcorn and watch how they either tear each other's eyes out or team up and dominate the world and make us all their slaves. =/
Here it is! Hehehe.
I want to thank everyone who has sent me words of courage and support. I will not discuss my personal life here, though, since that is not the purpose of this blog. Nonetheless, I wish to thank everyone who has sent their condolences.
In other news, by now I guess you might have already read this. Last week (before I randomly crashed aKregator) it was the "talk of the week" on Ars Technica and other tech-related sites.
To be honest, I am not surprised. $ony and Micro$oft are the two toughest DRM pushing companies (not to say that other companies are not "into" DRM. I know Apple likes the idea too) I think (and this is my personal opinion) the reason why Micro$oft is rather pissed at $ony, aside from the fact that their rootkit exposes just how easy it is to breach Windows security and easily turn any Windows computer into a zombie (well... in case someone was absent-minded enough not to know it yet), is because $ony implemented this rootkit BEFORE M$ did it themselves and established a way "to do" DRM and tried to file even more patents on protocols et al and forced every media-related company to pay them for those patents, etc. You know how this story goes.
Loosely quoting the Simpsons, "(Bill Gates) didn't get rich by signing checks."
Additionally, about the AIM bots. I've deleted them the moment AOL took the liberty of adding them to my buddy list for me.
I am not surprised Microsoft intends to buy AOL, because this sounds like domino effect:
Yahoo! and Google are on frank and open war. Microsoft and Google are on frank and open war. (I used to have a prettier link than the that one, but I can't find it) Yahoo! wants AOL's userbase (which they couldn't get). Microsoft and Yahoo! are getting friendly with each other. Well... grab your bag of popcorn and watch how they either tear each other's eyes out or team up and dominate the world and make us all their slaves. =/
Here it is! Hehehe.
Monday, October 31, 2005
AIM worm on the loose
"According to a recent article on C|Net a new worm is swiftly spreading via AIM to many computers. It delivers a brutal root-kit which bypasses security software and takes control of a PC." From the article: "The worm was spotted in an AOL IM chatroom and infected one of the PCs that FaceTime uses for worm bait. The company said it also has seen the pest hit other computers. 'It is still out there, and it is definitely something the user should be leery of ... The rootkit is designed to not be detected, and that is the scary part.'"
(from slashdot)
(from slashdot)
Sunday, October 30, 2005
GNU/Linux style Halloween
"In a cool contest with a Halloween theme, BitDefender is inviting Linux enthusiasts to crash test their upcoming antivirus solution for Linux e-mail servers. The most thorough beta tester will receive 1,000 German beers and a trip to BitDefender's corporate headquarters in Romania, where they will attend meetings with Count Dracula, the BitDefender development team and other local luminaries."
Awww... I wish I had enough resources to participate. I want to go meet Count Dracula.
Article here.
In similarly themed news; TEH Halloween Computer is here. and it totally pwns you.
Awww... I wish I had enough resources to participate. I want to go meet Count Dracula.
Article here.
In similarly themed news; TEH Halloween Computer is here. and it totally pwns you.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
MySpace security flaw
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Lockout
name lockout
version 0.2.3-2
group misc
size 100000
file-size 12862
description
A self-imposed discipline and productivity enforcer Lockout is a tool that imposes discipline on you so that you get some work done. For example, lockout can be used to install a firewall that does not let you browse the Web. Lockout changes the root password for a specified duration; this prevents you from secretly ripping down the firewall and then browsing the Web anyway. In case of an emergency, you can reboot your computer to undo the effects of lockout and to restore the original root password. See also http://thomer.com/lockout/
Well, I think I might need to install this. ._. Sadly.
version 0.2.3-2
group misc
size 100000
file-size 12862
description
A self-imposed discipline and productivity enforcer Lockout is a tool that imposes discipline on you so that you get some work done. For example, lockout can be used to install a firewall that does not let you browse the Web. Lockout changes the root password for a specified duration; this prevents you from secretly ripping down the firewall and then browsing the Web anyway. In case of an emergency, you can reboot your computer to undo the effects of lockout and to restore the original root password. See also http://thomer.com/lockout/
Well, I think I might need to install this. ._. Sadly.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Off the record
A dear friend pointed me to this fine plugin and I want to share it with you.
Enter OTR. Off the Record messaging. This plugin aims to protect your privacy, making sure no traces of your conversation are left on your computer.
Quoting from the site:
The plugin is available for GNU/Linux (several distributions), Windows and OSX users using gaim and Adium (and Trillian, I think.)
For Debian, I just did apt-get install otr-gaim and it was fetched from the repositories and installed without a glitch.
This is a very fine tool for those concerned with their privacy, especially if you are sharing a computer (ex, work environment).
Update: October 13th:
Newsforge is running a very nice article about this plugin and general privacy in IM's. Don't miss it.
Enter OTR. Off the Record messaging. This plugin aims to protect your privacy, making sure no traces of your conversation are left on your computer.
Quoting from the site:
Off-the-Record (OTR) Messaging allows you to have private conversations over instant messaging by providing:
Encryption
No one else can read your instant messages.
Authentication
You are assured the correspondent is who you think it is.
Deniability
The messages you send do not have digital signatures that are checkable by a third party. Anyone can forge messages after a conversation to make them look like they came from you. However, during a conversation, your correspondent is assured the messages he sees are authentic and unmodified.
Perfect forward secrecy
If you lose control of your private keys, no previous conversation is compromised.
The plugin is available for GNU/Linux (several distributions), Windows and OSX users using gaim and Adium (and Trillian, I think.)
For Debian, I just did apt-get install otr-gaim and it was fetched from the repositories and installed without a glitch.
This is a very fine tool for those concerned with their privacy, especially if you are sharing a computer (ex, work environment).
Update: October 13th:
Newsforge is running a very nice article about this plugin and general privacy in IM's. Don't miss it.
Microsoft does it again
From NewsForge.
Bill Gates' Microsoft caught in a bald-faced lie about HD DVD-ROM discs.
As a commenter duely noted, Microsoft spreading FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) and providing inferior solutions is not really news. What I find fascinating is that people continue to use a product made by a company that blatantly lies to their faces.
If it was any other kind of product, people would switch.
I guess the reigning ignorance of the average Joe User has a lot to do with this. Most people not only do not know they are being lied to, they additionally do not know they have options outside of Microsoft.
This is why people need to be educated about freedom and taught about their options.
Bill Gates' Microsoft caught in a bald-faced lie about HD DVD-ROM discs.
As a commenter duely noted, Microsoft spreading FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) and providing inferior solutions is not really news. What I find fascinating is that people continue to use a product made by a company that blatantly lies to their faces.
If it was any other kind of product, people would switch.
I guess the reigning ignorance of the average Joe User has a lot to do with this. Most people not only do not know they are being lied to, they additionally do not know they have options outside of Microsoft.
This is why people need to be educated about freedom and taught about their options.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Spread Firefox.com under attack again.
The Spread Firefox Team became aware this week that the server hosting
Spread Firefox, our community marketing site, has been accessed by
unknown remote attackers who attempted to exploit a security
vulnerability in TWiki software installed on the server. The TWiki
software was disabled as soon as we were aware of the attempts to
access
SpreadFirefox.com. This exploit was limited to SpreadFirefox.com and
did not affect mozilla.org web sites or Mozilla software.
We have scanned Spread Firefox servers and at this time do not believe
any sensitive data was taken, but as a precautionary measure we have
shutdown the site and will be rebuilding the web site from scratch. We
also recommend that you change your Spread Firefox password and the
password of any accounts where you use the same password as your Spread
Firefox account. We will notify you again when the site is back up
with
instructions on how to change your password. (Note: We do use MD5
hashing on the passwords, but MD5 cannot protect all passwords against
off-line dictionary style attacks.)
After Spread Firefox was compromised in July, we instituted procedures
to ensure that we apply all security fixes to the software running the
site (Drupal and PHP) as soon as they become available. Unfortunately,
those procedures overlooked the installation of the TWiki software
since
it is not used by the main Spread Firefox site. When the system is
rebuilt, all the software will be audited to ensure that security
updates will be applied in a timely manner. We deeply regret this
incident and any inconvenience this may have caused you. Sincerely,
Spread Firefox Team
Mozilla Foundation
Spread Firefox, our community marketing site, has been accessed by
unknown remote attackers who attempted to exploit a security
vulnerability in TWiki software installed on the server. The TWiki
software was disabled as soon as we were aware of the attempts to
access
SpreadFirefox.com. This exploit was limited to SpreadFirefox.com and
did not affect mozilla.org web sites or Mozilla software.
We have scanned Spread Firefox servers and at this time do not believe
any sensitive data was taken, but as a precautionary measure we have
shutdown the site and will be rebuilding the web site from scratch. We
also recommend that you change your Spread Firefox password and the
password of any accounts where you use the same password as your Spread
Firefox account. We will notify you again when the site is back up
with
instructions on how to change your password. (Note: We do use MD5
hashing on the passwords, but MD5 cannot protect all passwords against
off-line dictionary style attacks.)
After Spread Firefox was compromised in July, we instituted procedures
to ensure that we apply all security fixes to the software running the
site (Drupal and PHP) as soon as they become available. Unfortunately,
those procedures overlooked the installation of the TWiki software
since
it is not used by the main Spread Firefox site. When the system is
rebuilt, all the software will be audited to ensure that security
updates will be applied in a timely manner. We deeply regret this
incident and any inconvenience this may have caused you. Sincerely,
Spread Firefox Team
Mozilla Foundation
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Opera Browser is now ad-free
The Opera browser has been released free of advertising. (article from arstechnica.)
Last month they were giving free registrations, and it seems the idea was fruitful, as we are now presented with an ad-free browser.
Still no news about opening up its code, though.
But this is a good step. Opera is my second choice browser, and I like it a lot.
Last month they were giving free registrations, and it seems the idea was fruitful, as we are now presented with an ad-free browser.
Still no news about opening up its code, though.
But this is a good step. Opera is my second choice browser, and I like it a lot.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Macs and Open Source
Happy equinox everyone.
Newsforge is running a very interesting article about running open source applications on Mac's that every Mac user should check out.
Newsforge is running a very interesting article about running open source applications on Mac's that every Mac user should check out.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Beautiful wallpaper
I've found this gorgeous wallpaper today at kde-look.org and I thought about sharing with you. ^_^ I have made it my default wallpaper.Additionally, I want to recommend kde-look and gnome-look to all of you for desktop eyecandy.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
20 things the Technology Industry doesn't want you to know
PC world is running an interesting article titled 20 things they don't want you to know.
While the most techie-inclined won't find any earth-shattering information in it, those of you with a real life outside of your computer boxes (^_~) will probably find it interesting.
Be sure to check it out for a numinous experience. haha.
While the most techie-inclined won't find any earth-shattering information in it, those of you with a real life outside of your computer boxes (^_~) will probably find it interesting.
Be sure to check it out for a numinous experience. haha.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Chair Tossing chez Microsoft
"I am going to fucking kill google!" Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer is reported to have said after tossing a chair against the wall when learning one of his employees was leaving Microsoft to go work for Google.
This is so funny, I think I don't need to watch soap operas for some time now. Hahaha.
Anger management issues anyone?
This is so funny, I think I don't need to watch soap operas for some time now. Hahaha.
Anger management issues anyone?
Friday, September 02, 2005
Linspire giveaway
The people at Linspire are giving away free copies of this GNU/Linux distribution through digital download at their site.
Linspire is a paid Linux distribution, whose most notable feature is looking very similar to Microsoft Windows.
I don't like Linspire very much, for reasons that should be obvious by now:
a) It looks like Windows.
b) It contains closed source software.
But if you want to check it out and try it, go ahead. Remember the offer will expire soon.
Linspire is a paid Linux distribution, whose most notable feature is looking very similar to Microsoft Windows.
I don't like Linspire very much, for reasons that should be obvious by now:
a) It looks like Windows.
b) It contains closed source software.
But if you want to check it out and try it, go ahead. Remember the offer will expire soon.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Update regarding Creative Zen
From Slashdot.org
I thought I'd mention it, just in case any Zen user is reading.
TheChillPill wrote to mention a Register article which reports that Creative has instituted a recall for some 5GB Zen Neeons. The reason? About 3,700 were shipped with the Wullik-B email worm. From the article: "Creative is reporting that the virus affects players with serial numbers between 1230528000001 and 1230533001680 that have shipped in Japan in late July. According to a translation of Creative's statement (in Japanese) on the security flap the firm has temporarily stopped shipping Zen Neeons players while its partners assist in the recall of the infected batch. The firm said it has identified the source of the outbreak and fixed the problem. Creative said the virus contamination issue was confined to Zen Neeons players and didn't affect any of its other products."
I thought I'd mention it, just in case any Zen user is reading.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
The Open Source PC
Yahoo! News is running a very interesting article called The Open Source PC.
You should check it out, as it offers a set of open source solutions to replace proprietary / closed source applications in your computer.
Another interesting Yahoo! News article that you might want to check out is "Open Source for all", which discusses the basics (very basics) of Open source for the regular, non-geek computer user.
Both links provided via slashdot.
Another very interesting article on this topic comes from newsforge.com: Free Software's replacements for Desktop Applications.
Be sure to check them out and have fun! ^_^
You should check it out, as it offers a set of open source solutions to replace proprietary / closed source applications in your computer.
Another interesting Yahoo! News article that you might want to check out is "Open Source for all", which discusses the basics (very basics) of Open source for the regular, non-geek computer user.
Both links provided via slashdot.
Another very interesting article on this topic comes from newsforge.com: Free Software's replacements for Desktop Applications.
Be sure to check them out and have fun! ^_^
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Opera Browser turns 10 years old
Oh, Opera turns 10 years old today and opera.com is giving out free registrations for their browser. If you want to get rid of the banner ads on top of it, you might just crash the party site and get yourself one.
Hurry, the offer will be up only while the party lasts. ^_~
In less happy news, Creative Zens ship with worm. If you own one of these digital music players and you bought it recently, please check out the article.
Now, yes, have fun.
Hurry, the offer will be up only while the party lasts. ^_~
In less happy news, Creative Zens ship with worm. If you own one of these digital music players and you bought it recently, please check out the article.
Now, yes, have fun.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Talk about google-talk
Google-Talk encryption
I'm taking a look at the dev's pages again and also at the KDE wiki, and what I'm gathering is that:
a) Google talk uses QCA for encrypted connections, just like jabber (because it's a jabber spin-off).
b) Apparently they use SSL protocol encryption.
c) Their (buggy) dev page is here.
Because this is very new and google talk is in beta, I guess the information changes all the time and tends to be somewhat incomplete.
How to use Google talk with gaim.
Forget Google talk's howto because it contains errors. If you follow their instructions you'll never be able to connect.
Follow Michelle's instructions instead and you'll be able to talk to your friends through the newest IM and prove that you are a cool nerd. =P
1) Open Gaim, and click on the "Accounts" button (bottom, left).
2) A new window will pop-up. In this window you will see a list of all the accounts you have added to gaim. Click on the "Add" button.
You will get a dialog that says "Add account"
3) Chose the following:
Protocol: Jabber
Screen name: The part of your gmail account before the @gmail.com (example: if your gmail address is johndoe@gmail.com, your screen name is johndoe.)
Server: gmail.com
Password: This should be your gmail password, but you don't need to type it now. What's more, if I were you, I wouldn't type it.
Alias: A fancy nickname that you want to call yourself. The Google Talk pages say you don't have to type anything here, but you can go ahead and type something if you wish. Nothing will break.
Remember Password: If you want to use this feature and you typed your password before, go ahead. I wouldn't, but that's just me.
Auto-login: It will log you in every time you start gaim.
Now, to the fun part:
Before you click "save" you will see a "+" sign that reads "show me more options". Click it.
You will see the window expands and you get more options as promised. XDD
Here is where we get the most dissimilitudes with the Google talk pages, because if you follow their instructions at this point, you won't be able to connect.
Fill the options as follows:
Jabber Options: Check the box next to 'Use TLS if available,' AND the Force old SSL box.
They actually tell you to check only the TLS box and leave the others unchecked. Unfortunately if you do that, it won't work.
Port: 5223
They say port 5222. AFAIK nobody has been able to connect through port 5222. Port 5223 seems to work fine though.
Connect server: talk.google.com
Proxy type: Use Global proxy settings.
Click save and login.
To add people you need to add their gmail addresses. (johndoe@gmail.com) which supposedly you know because they are your friends.
I'm taking a look at the dev's pages again and also at the KDE wiki, and what I'm gathering is that:
a) Google talk uses QCA for encrypted connections, just like jabber (because it's a jabber spin-off).
b) Apparently they use SSL protocol encryption.
c) Their (buggy) dev page is here.
Because this is very new and google talk is in beta, I guess the information changes all the time and tends to be somewhat incomplete.
How to use Google talk with gaim.
Forget Google talk's howto because it contains errors. If you follow their instructions you'll never be able to connect.
Follow Michelle's instructions instead and you'll be able to talk to your friends through the newest IM and prove that you are a cool nerd. =P
1) Open Gaim, and click on the "Accounts" button (bottom, left).
2) A new window will pop-up. In this window you will see a list of all the accounts you have added to gaim. Click on the "Add" button.
You will get a dialog that says "Add account"
3) Chose the following:
Protocol: Jabber
Screen name: The part of your gmail account before the @gmail.com (example: if your gmail address is johndoe@gmail.com, your screen name is johndoe.)
Server: gmail.com
Password: This should be your gmail password, but you don't need to type it now. What's more, if I were you, I wouldn't type it.
Alias: A fancy nickname that you want to call yourself. The Google Talk pages say you don't have to type anything here, but you can go ahead and type something if you wish. Nothing will break.
Remember Password: If you want to use this feature and you typed your password before, go ahead. I wouldn't, but that's just me.
Auto-login: It will log you in every time you start gaim.
Now, to the fun part:
Before you click "save" you will see a "+" sign that reads "show me more options". Click it.
You will see the window expands and you get more options as promised. XDD
Here is where we get the most dissimilitudes with the Google talk pages, because if you follow their instructions at this point, you won't be able to connect.
Fill the options as follows:
Jabber Options: Check the box next to 'Use TLS if available,' AND the Force old SSL box.
They actually tell you to check only the TLS box and leave the others unchecked. Unfortunately if you do that, it won't work.
Port: 5223
They say port 5222. AFAIK nobody has been able to connect through port 5222. Port 5223 seems to work fine though.
Connect server: talk.google.com
Proxy type: Use Global proxy settings.
Click save and login.
To add people you need to add their gmail addresses. (johndoe@gmail.com) which supposedly you know because they are your friends.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Updating from an onion
Last night I managed to install Tor and get it running, although I didn't manage to route the connection through a proxy. Why? Because I was stupid enough to not run the proxy. (DUHH!!!!) Right now, as I type, the next tab says I'm in Sweden. The fascinating thing about this is that I am absolutely certain that I am NOT in Sweden.
So, how did I manage to do this? Very easily. In fact, a lot more easily than I had expected.
Steps to installing and using Tor with GNU/Linux.
1) Download Tor from http://tor.eff.org . Config, make, make install. If you are using Debian, apt-get install tor. You will need libevent to configure and install and make it work.
2) Donwload and install privoxy. (Same procedure)
3) Run privoxy by positioning yourself in the /etc/privoxy folder at the command line and type privoxy (easy, hehe.) Some distros make it run by default. You can find information on how to tweak settings at privoxy's home page: http://www.privoxy.org .
4) Add the following line to /etc/privoxy/config
forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 .
Don't forget the dot at the end. You can add it at the very beginning of the file (I did that).
5) Open Firefox, go to Edit > Preferences > General > Connection Settings and redirect your http traffic and ssl traffic to 127.0.0.1 port 8118
5.a) You can use the "switchproxy" extension for firefox if you wish, it works too.
6) OK everything. Empty your cache, close firefox and re-open it. Point it to http://config.privoxy.org It should tell you whether you're using the proxy correctly.
So far so good.
7) Go to the command line as REGULAR USER. DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING AS ROOT. type tor
Tor will start and if it's correctly installed, it'll say so.
8) Open a new tab in Firefox, and go to http://www.whatsmyip.com/ Supposedly, you know what your ip is, and if everything is working fine, the site will show you a different ip which can be in any country.
9) That's it. Have fun. ^_^
So, how did I manage to do this? Very easily. In fact, a lot more easily than I had expected.
Steps to installing and using Tor with GNU/Linux.
1) Download Tor from http://tor.eff.org . Config, make, make install. If you are using Debian, apt-get install tor. You will need libevent to configure and install and make it work.
2) Donwload and install privoxy. (Same procedure)
3) Run privoxy by positioning yourself in the /etc/privoxy folder at the command line and type privoxy (easy, hehe.) Some distros make it run by default. You can find information on how to tweak settings at privoxy's home page: http://www.privoxy.org .
4) Add the following line to /etc/privoxy/config
forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 .
Don't forget the dot at the end. You can add it at the very beginning of the file (I did that).
5) Open Firefox, go to Edit > Preferences > General > Connection Settings and redirect your http traffic and ssl traffic to 127.0.0.1 port 8118
5.a) You can use the "switchproxy" extension for firefox if you wish, it works too.
6) OK everything. Empty your cache, close firefox and re-open it. Point it to http://config.privoxy.org It should tell you whether you're using the proxy correctly.
So far so good.
7) Go to the command line as REGULAR USER. DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING AS ROOT. type tor
Tor will start and if it's correctly installed, it'll say so.
8) Open a new tab in Firefox, and go to http://www.whatsmyip.com/ Supposedly, you know what your ip is, and if everything is working fine, the site will show you a different ip which can be in any country.
9) That's it. Have fun. ^_^
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Verification required
In other news, you might want to check this out if you are an expee user: Microsoft will require users to verify the legitimacy of their Windows, if your copy of it is found to be a pirated one, you will be unable to download software updates from them. If you don't verify your copy of windows, you'll also be unable to download software from them.
Unless you pay, that is.
Well, read the article. I've nothing to add about it because those are the rules, and if you accepted those rules (ie: you installed the software) you gotta play by them.
GNU/Linux is free and open source.
Unless you pay, that is.
Well, read the article. I've nothing to add about it because those are the rules, and if you accepted those rules (ie: you installed the software) you gotta play by them.
GNU/Linux is free and open source.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
CSS recommendations
I haven't done a software rec in a while, so I thought it was about time I did. =]
Only instead of recommending "applications" I am going to recommend web resources.
Enter the 10 best resources for CSS.
You know you want to check it out if you design websites, either for fun or professionally.
Only instead of recommending "applications" I am going to recommend web resources.
Enter the 10 best resources for CSS.
You know you want to check it out if you design websites, either for fun or professionally.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
New Mozilla / Firefox release this week.
News.com reports that apparently a coding misstep in the newly released Firefox 1.0.5, Thunderbird 1.0.5, and Mozilla 1.7.9 might leave without functionality some of its extensions. For this reason the Mozilla foundation plans to upgrade its products once again this week.
On the bright side, it seems (according to news.com) that the next Firefox will have bit torrent support as well.
In other firefox news, you probably noticed the Firefox Google Bar is already out and ready. Additionally, some security issues with its prior releases (google bar's) have been fixed.
This afternoon it seems I'm "patching entries", I'm not actually touching any new topic. =/
Remember about Microsoft's Windows XP Remote Desktop control vulnerability? Well, it affects other windows versions as well.
From news.com:
Which is pretty much disabling the service. It's good to see they are not throwing a "Buy anti-virus software! Download and install our patches!" sentence at users any longer, like they usually do in these cases, because we all know there is no anti-virus or patch for this flaw.
In days like this I feel like hugging my GNU/Linux box.
Talking about which, I hope to have a little spare time tomorrow to review some very interesting applications running on Linux; among them BRL-CAD.
Technorati tags: Firefox, Security, Windows, Software
On the bright side, it seems (according to news.com) that the next Firefox will have bit torrent support as well.
In other firefox news, you probably noticed the Firefox Google Bar is already out and ready. Additionally, some security issues with its prior releases (google bar's) have been fixed.
This afternoon it seems I'm "patching entries", I'm not actually touching any new topic. =/
Remember about Microsoft's Windows XP Remote Desktop control vulnerability? Well, it affects other windows versions as well.
From news.com:
Until a patch is available, Microsoft suggests users block TCP port 3389 (the port used by RDP) on their firewall, disable Terminal Services or Remote Desktop if not required, or secure remote desktop connections using either Internet Protocol Security or a virtual private network connection.
Which is pretty much disabling the service. It's good to see they are not throwing a "Buy anti-virus software! Download and install our patches!" sentence at users any longer, like they usually do in these cases, because we all know there is no anti-virus or patch for this flaw.
In days like this I feel like hugging my GNU/Linux box.
Talking about which, I hope to have a little spare time tomorrow to review some very interesting applications running on Linux; among them BRL-CAD.
Technorati tags: Firefox, Security, Windows, Software
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Security bug in fully patched Windows XP SP2
After last week's roundup of security advisories (and some patches) for MSWindows and other MS products (MSWord, MSIE, etc), a new and potentially dangerous security bug has been reported, although there is no patch for it as of yet.
This bug affects users turning on the Remote Desktop feature in Windows XP, and allows the remote execution of code (that is, someone whom you haven't authorised to access your computer might, from another computer, get into yours and execute code on it with malicious intentions).
What is the remote desktop function? It's a feature that allows you to control your computer while you are not at it. For example, from work or while you are away on travel. (If you have ever seen those ubiquitous "PCAnywhere ads", you probably have an idea of what I'm talking about). Ideally such a feature should only allow the computer owner (and his workgroup) to access the computer in question. Well, thanks to this bug an ill-intentioned anonymous person might access your computer and cause a DoS attack from a remote location (remote location = from another computer).
The bug affects Windows XP users in spite of their Windows firewalls being turned on, SP2 installed and being fully patched.
Microsoft recommends users of its products to enable their firewall, install antivirus software and download Microsoft's security fixes, however none of these actions seem to prevent this particular remote exploit (in other words: their recommendation is useless in this case).
Microsoft has reported they are working on a patch that could be available in August. *points at date today... ahem*
Secunia advises to "Restrict incoming traffic to affected systems to reduce the risk."
Michelle (not half as a reputable source as secunia.com, although perhaps a lot more radical in this case) advises to turn off the service.
Oh, well. I'm warning you about this because I know many of you -in spite of my shameless propaganda for GNU/Linux- are using MSWindows. I am not. ^_^
Technorati tags: Security, Microsoft, Windows
This bug affects users turning on the Remote Desktop feature in Windows XP, and allows the remote execution of code (that is, someone whom you haven't authorised to access your computer might, from another computer, get into yours and execute code on it with malicious intentions).
What is the remote desktop function? It's a feature that allows you to control your computer while you are not at it. For example, from work or while you are away on travel. (If you have ever seen those ubiquitous "PCAnywhere ads", you probably have an idea of what I'm talking about). Ideally such a feature should only allow the computer owner (and his workgroup) to access the computer in question. Well, thanks to this bug an ill-intentioned anonymous person might access your computer and cause a DoS attack from a remote location (remote location = from another computer).
The bug affects Windows XP users in spite of their Windows firewalls being turned on, SP2 installed and being fully patched.
Microsoft recommends users of its products to enable their firewall, install antivirus software and download Microsoft's security fixes, however none of these actions seem to prevent this particular remote exploit (in other words: their recommendation is useless in this case).
Microsoft has reported they are working on a patch that could be available in August. *points at date today... ahem*
Secunia advises to "Restrict incoming traffic to affected systems to reduce the risk."
Michelle (not half as a reputable source as secunia.com, although perhaps a lot more radical in this case) advises to turn off the service.
Oh, well. I'm warning you about this because I know many of you -in spite of my shameless propaganda for GNU/Linux- are using MSWindows. I am not. ^_^
Technorati tags: Security, Microsoft, Windows
Friday, July 15, 2005
Spread Firefox (dot) com under attack
This is the e-mail I received today:
Yesterday and the day before yesterday when I tried to access the spreadfirefox.com site, I found it was down. =/ I thought the server was down for different reasons, though.
It is quite of an annoying time to do this (not that there is actually an OK time to hack a site... at least not from the point of view of users), especially considering a new release has been available since Tuesday. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I bet it isn't.
Technorati tags: Firefox, Security, Computers and Internet
On Tuesday, July 12, the Mozilla Foundation discovered that the server hosting Spread Firefox, our community marketing site, had been accessed on Sunday, July 10 by unknown remote attackers who exploited a security vulnerability in the software running the site. This exploit was limited to SpreadFirefox.com and did not affect other mozilla.org web sites or Mozilla software.
We don't have any evidence that the attackers obtained personal information about site users, and we believe they accessed the machine to use it to send spam. However, it is possible that the attackers acquired information site users provided to the site.
As a Spread Firefox user, you have provided us with a username and password. You may also have provided us with other information, including a real name, a URL, an email address, IM names, a street address, a birthday, and private messages to other users.
We recommend that you change your Spread Firefox password and the password of any accounts where you use the same password as your Spread Firefox account. To change your Spread Firefox password, go to SpreadFirefox.com, log in with your current password, select "My Account" from the sidebar, select "Edit Account" from the sidebar, then enter your new password into the Password fields and press the "Save user information" button at the bottom of the page.
The Mozilla Foundation deeply regrets this incident and is taking steps to prevent it from happening again. We have applied the necessary security fixes to the software running the site, have reviewed our security plan to determine why we didn't previously apply those fixes in this case, and have modified that plan to ensure we do so in the future.
Sincerely,
The Mozilla Foundation
Yesterday and the day before yesterday when I tried to access the spreadfirefox.com site, I found it was down. =/ I thought the server was down for different reasons, though.
It is quite of an annoying time to do this (not that there is actually an OK time to hack a site... at least not from the point of view of users), especially considering a new release has been available since Tuesday. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I bet it isn't.
Technorati tags: Firefox, Security, Computers and Internet
Thursday, July 14, 2005
About Browsers and Improvements
Interesting news about two browsers that you might want to check out. Mozilla's Deer Park and Opera. Both are available for Linux and windows; amd Deer Park is also available for Mac's OSX.
In the first place, please take a look at Mozilla's Deer Park announcement. Deer Park offers some new and interesting functionality, like the ability to download and install security patches to the browser without having to re-download and re-install the browser itself. This feature was, perhaps, among the most requested ones by Firefox and the Mozilla suite users. It's really nice to have this functionality at last. Kudos to the Mozilla development team. =)
(download link from ftp)
I think I'll be playing with it later today or maybe tomorrow and I'll write a more thourough report about it.
Deer Park also includes improvements to the pop-up blocking feature as well as security enhancements.
The second browser-related news I mentioned has to do with Opera. Apparently it's official that the new release of Opera browser will support bit torrent. (Whee!) In spite of the FUD campaign against bit torrent that we've seen lately (by those who want to associate the technology behind bit torrent with piracy... don't make me name names...) the feature is very interesting, since it would allow Opera users to manage software downloads in a fast and reasonably secure way from the browser. (I've always loved their download manager, and quite especially its "resume" feature).
As per the whole FUD campaign I mentioned before, remember that you can't blame technology for the use people give to it.
If you could do that, then if a driver ran over someone crossing the street it wouldn't be the driver's fault, it'd be the car's and the car maker's.
If you stuck your fingers in the electricity outlet and you got electrocuted, it wouldn't be your fault for being stupid; it'd be electricity's fault.
This kind of faulty reasoning is what those who try to blame bit torrent for piracy are trying to impose on us. Bit torrent can be used (and in fact, is used) for legal downloads of software (ex. Linux, and several applications), documentation, etc. Bit torrent doesn't "hypnotize" you or subliminally convince you to download illegal copies of movies, warez or music; and using bit torrent doesn't mean that you are doing something illegal per se, in the same way that driving a car doesn't mean that you are a criminal.
As usual, the question is how people use technology, and that does not depend on technology but rather on the users' moral.
Technorati tags: Browsers, Computers and Internet, Opera, Mozilla, Bit Torrent
In the first place, please take a look at Mozilla's Deer Park announcement. Deer Park offers some new and interesting functionality, like the ability to download and install security patches to the browser without having to re-download and re-install the browser itself. This feature was, perhaps, among the most requested ones by Firefox and the Mozilla suite users. It's really nice to have this functionality at last. Kudos to the Mozilla development team. =)
(download link from ftp)
I think I'll be playing with it later today or maybe tomorrow and I'll write a more thourough report about it.
Deer Park also includes improvements to the pop-up blocking feature as well as security enhancements.
The second browser-related news I mentioned has to do with Opera. Apparently it's official that the new release of Opera browser will support bit torrent. (Whee!) In spite of the FUD campaign against bit torrent that we've seen lately (by those who want to associate the technology behind bit torrent with piracy... don't make me name names...) the feature is very interesting, since it would allow Opera users to manage software downloads in a fast and reasonably secure way from the browser. (I've always loved their download manager, and quite especially its "resume" feature).
As per the whole FUD campaign I mentioned before, remember that you can't blame technology for the use people give to it.
If you could do that, then if a driver ran over someone crossing the street it wouldn't be the driver's fault, it'd be the car's and the car maker's.
If you stuck your fingers in the electricity outlet and you got electrocuted, it wouldn't be your fault for being stupid; it'd be electricity's fault.
This kind of faulty reasoning is what those who try to blame bit torrent for piracy are trying to impose on us. Bit torrent can be used (and in fact, is used) for legal downloads of software (ex. Linux, and several applications), documentation, etc. Bit torrent doesn't "hypnotize" you or subliminally convince you to download illegal copies of movies, warez or music; and using bit torrent doesn't mean that you are doing something illegal per se, in the same way that driving a car doesn't mean that you are a criminal.
As usual, the question is how people use technology, and that does not depend on technology but rather on the users' moral.
Technorati tags: Browsers, Computers and Internet, Opera, Mozilla, Bit Torrent
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
X.org welcome to Debian
After a very long wait, XOrg's X11 has finally arrived at Debian Sid (unstable). For those of us who cling desperately to use Debian GNU/Linux this is something we were looking forward to for some time, and of course, it's happy news.
David Nusinow, the main maintainer of the package, has made some comments about it on his blog that you might be interested in reading.
Personally, I think X11 is more advanced that Xfree, especially considering that a lot more programming has been going on at Xorg than at Xfree, and I find xorg to be more stable in addition to it.
For the record, if you are still in doubt about what X11 is, you might want to check this.
Technorati tags: Software Debian Xorg Linux
David Nusinow, the main maintainer of the package, has made some comments about it on his blog that you might be interested in reading.
Personally, I think X11 is more advanced that Xfree, especially considering that a lot more programming has been going on at Xorg than at Xfree, and I find xorg to be more stable in addition to it.
For the record, if you are still in doubt about what X11 is, you might want to check this.
Technorati tags: Software Debian Xorg Linux
Firefox 1.0.5 released
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Technorati doesn't love me
It looks like technorati doesn't like this blog. Isn't it a shame?
I've e-mailed support, but according to what I've been reading online, it might take them quite a long time to actually get to check the error I keep getting.
Insert sad pout here.
I know the internet will survive without this blog being indexed by technorati, but you know... I'd be a very happy puppy if it worked.
If you want to learn what technorati is, just take a look at it. I'm sure their main page does a much better job at explaining what they are all about than I could ever dream doing.
Edit at 0:38AM: They have actually replied very fast to my support ticket (Thank you, Ryan!) but I'm still unable to find a solution for my error bound blog. I guess I'll keep waiting for a while longer.
Edit at 8:10AM: It works now! Thank you, Technorati!
Technorati tag: technorati
I've e-mailed support, but according to what I've been reading online, it might take them quite a long time to actually get to check the error I keep getting.
Insert sad pout here.
I know the internet will survive without this blog being indexed by technorati, but you know... I'd be a very happy puppy if it worked.
If you want to learn what technorati is, just take a look at it. I'm sure their main page does a much better job at explaining what they are all about than I could ever dream doing.
Edit at 0:38AM: They have actually replied very fast to my support ticket (Thank you, Ryan!) but I'm still unable to find a solution for my error bound blog. I guess I'll keep waiting for a while longer.
Edit at 8:10AM: It works now! Thank you, Technorati!
Technorati tag: technorati
Live bookmarks in Firefox
You've probably heard of news syndication before, and you probably thought it was just one more of those complicated and useless things that become quickly fashionable on the internet only to die away a few months along the path.
So, here I am today only to tell you that live bookmarks are actually very useful, that they don't seem to be going to die away any time soon, and that they are very easy to set up and offer an interesting feature that you might become addicted to in almost no time.
Basically, syndication of news and blogs means you don't need to go to the news source (or blog) in question's website to see if there are any new articles. You can move your cursor over the live bookmark and a list of recent articles will appear. Clicking on the article name will take you to the article itself.
But, words can be confusing (especially if it's me who's typing them) so let's take a look at a few images and I'll teach you how to use live bookmarking on Firefox.
I like to keep things organized, because I believe the more organized you are, the less time you waste (and the more free time you will get in the end). So, I usually manage my bookmarks accordingly.
Since I'm assuming you are new to live bookmarking, I'll advise you to be organized in order to make the best out of it and learn fast.
So, first click on "Bookmarks" (upper menu) and select "Manage Bookmarks" (Usually the second option). A new window will appear in front of your browser window. This window is split in two. It looks like this.
Click on "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder" and then click on the "New Folder" icon.
A new folder will appear and you will have to give it a name. When you close the Bookmarks Manager, a new folder will appear on your toolbar, like this.
Now you are ready to start adding live bookmarks for blogs and news sites in an orderly way.
Let's try:
You are, I assume, reading this blog. You will see an icon on the lower right corner of your browser that looks like this:
(It might look a little different according to what Firefox theme you are using. In some themes you'll get an orange rectangle that reads RSS.)
If you move your cursor over it, you'll see the following tag:
click on it and a tag reading "subscribe to this page's feed" will appear. Click it. a small menu with your bookmarks will appear, chose the folder you created specifically for this purpose (Live bookmarking). Click OK and go check your toolbar folder.
When you click it, a list of live bookmarks will appear, if you move your cursor over them, you'll get a list of recent articles that you can easily navigate at a glance.
That's it.
Technorati tag: RSS
So, here I am today only to tell you that live bookmarks are actually very useful, that they don't seem to be going to die away any time soon, and that they are very easy to set up and offer an interesting feature that you might become addicted to in almost no time.
Basically, syndication of news and blogs means you don't need to go to the news source (or blog) in question's website to see if there are any new articles. You can move your cursor over the live bookmark and a list of recent articles will appear. Clicking on the article name will take you to the article itself.
But, words can be confusing (especially if it's me who's typing them) so let's take a look at a few images and I'll teach you how to use live bookmarking on Firefox.
I like to keep things organized, because I believe the more organized you are, the less time you waste (and the more free time you will get in the end). So, I usually manage my bookmarks accordingly.
Since I'm assuming you are new to live bookmarking, I'll advise you to be organized in order to make the best out of it and learn fast.
So, first click on "Bookmarks" (upper menu) and select "Manage Bookmarks" (Usually the second option). A new window will appear in front of your browser window. This window is split in two. It looks like this.
Click on "Bookmarks Toolbar Folder" and then click on the "New Folder" icon.
A new folder will appear and you will have to give it a name. When you close the Bookmarks Manager, a new folder will appear on your toolbar, like this.
Now you are ready to start adding live bookmarks for blogs and news sites in an orderly way.
Let's try:
You are, I assume, reading this blog. You will see an icon on the lower right corner of your browser that looks like this:
(It might look a little different according to what Firefox theme you are using. In some themes you'll get an orange rectangle that reads RSS.)
If you move your cursor over it, you'll see the following tag:
click on it and a tag reading "subscribe to this page's feed" will appear. Click it. a small menu with your bookmarks will appear, chose the folder you created specifically for this purpose (Live bookmarking). Click OK and go check your toolbar folder.
When you click it, a list of live bookmarks will appear, if you move your cursor over them, you'll get a list of recent articles that you can easily navigate at a glance.
That's it.
Technorati tag: RSS
Monday, July 11, 2005
Microsoft and Claria, a match made in... hell.
About 2 weeks ago it was mentioned that Microsoft intended to buy adware/spyware company Claria (formerly known as Gator). I also explained what Claria/Gator was all about and why their products have been often questioned in regards of privacy and business practices.
A couple days ago, while browsing random tech-related news, I found this article telling us how Microsoft's anti-spyware (beta) application has downgraded Claria adware detection and removal. Basically (and in simple terms) this means that whereas Microsoft's Anti-spyware manages to detect Claria/Gator/GAIN software, it doesn't take any action on it and lets it silently do its malicious job in your computer.
Microsoft has denied giving Claria special treatment, and claims that the downgrade in threat level aims to be "fair and consistent with how Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) handles similar software from other vendors,". Unfortunately Microsoft fails to tell us who these "other vendors" are.
Allow me to remind you that Claria/Gator/GAIN software is, according to a Webroot report, the second most prolific adware install, being detected on 2% of all the computers connected to the internet (in case you didn't figure it out already, 2% of all the computers connected to the internet in the entire world = a huge number of computers); other reports place it the the #1 position with over 6% of worldwide computers affected by it.
Claria software, which is in itself very hard to remove, is included in applications such as Dashbar, Gator, PrecisionTime and Weatherscope (among others). This kind of software collects and sends information about you, which is later sold to Claria's customers (this might compromise your privacy and security to varying levels). It downgrades your computer performance (for example: it makes your internet connection slower), and pops up unrequested advertisement while you navigate the internet, often displaying ads for competitors of the vendors who have paid to be featured in a certain spot of a certain commercial site (disloyal business practice).
Additionally I would like to point out that this change in MS anti-spyware application behavior is not being properly informed to the user.
A nice list of free (of cost) anti-spyware software can be found here.
Technorati Tag: Spyware.
A couple days ago, while browsing random tech-related news, I found this article telling us how Microsoft's anti-spyware (beta) application has downgraded Claria adware detection and removal. Basically (and in simple terms) this means that whereas Microsoft's Anti-spyware manages to detect Claria/Gator/GAIN software, it doesn't take any action on it and lets it silently do its malicious job in your computer.
Microsoft has denied giving Claria special treatment, and claims that the downgrade in threat level aims to be "fair and consistent with how Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) handles similar software from other vendors,". Unfortunately Microsoft fails to tell us who these "other vendors" are.
Allow me to remind you that Claria/Gator/GAIN software is, according to a Webroot report, the second most prolific adware install, being detected on 2% of all the computers connected to the internet (in case you didn't figure it out already, 2% of all the computers connected to the internet in the entire world = a huge number of computers); other reports place it the the #1 position with over 6% of worldwide computers affected by it.
Claria software, which is in itself very hard to remove, is included in applications such as Dashbar, Gator, PrecisionTime and Weatherscope (among others). This kind of software collects and sends information about you, which is later sold to Claria's customers (this might compromise your privacy and security to varying levels). It downgrades your computer performance (for example: it makes your internet connection slower), and pops up unrequested advertisement while you navigate the internet, often displaying ads for competitors of the vendors who have paid to be featured in a certain spot of a certain commercial site (disloyal business practice).
Additionally I would like to point out that this change in MS anti-spyware application behavior is not being properly informed to the user.
A nice list of free (of cost) anti-spyware software can be found here.
Technorati Tag: Spyware.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Free as in speech AND beer
Right now, considering that I'm at work and this computer runs windows expee (I'd call it windows-mega-poo, but ignore me) I'd like to make a quick software recommendation.
7-zip.
You are probably quite acquainted with windows programs such as winrar and winzip. Both of them are proprietary applications and both of them require that you pay to keep using them once the trial period has expired.
7-zip, on the other hand, is a free, open source application that runs on windows platforms and can handle several archive types: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB. It is very easy to use; it has a nice, intuitive and unbloated GUI, it's fast and you don't have to pay to use it. You shouldn't be downloading warez versions that are illegal and might contain viruses embedded in them, when you can safely use 7-zip for as long as you like at home and/or at the office and just get the work done.
You might want to give it a try. The official site for 7-zip has some nice screenshots and guidelines that will give you a good idea of how the application works.
The second recommendation will be for another free, open source application: FileZilla.
FileZilla is a fast, nice, easy to use, free and flexible FTP Client. Either if you FTP to your personal site or if you use it for FTP downloads, FileZilla is a reliable solution for windows users.
Additionally, has any of you tried the applications I recommended last time? If you did, let me know what you think about them. ^_^
*is a curious person*
7-zip.
You are probably quite acquainted with windows programs such as winrar and winzip. Both of them are proprietary applications and both of them require that you pay to keep using them once the trial period has expired.
7-zip, on the other hand, is a free, open source application that runs on windows platforms and can handle several archive types: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB. It is very easy to use; it has a nice, intuitive and unbloated GUI, it's fast and you don't have to pay to use it. You shouldn't be downloading warez versions that are illegal and might contain viruses embedded in them, when you can safely use 7-zip for as long as you like at home and/or at the office and just get the work done.
You might want to give it a try. The official site for 7-zip has some nice screenshots and guidelines that will give you a good idea of how the application works.
The second recommendation will be for another free, open source application: FileZilla.
FileZilla is a fast, nice, easy to use, free and flexible FTP Client. Either if you FTP to your personal site or if you use it for FTP downloads, FileZilla is a reliable solution for windows users.
Additionally, has any of you tried the applications I recommended last time? If you did, let me know what you think about them. ^_^
*is a curious person*
Friday, July 01, 2005
All about the penguin
Tux Magazine.
You know you want to read it... and besides, it's free. =P
It might answer some usability questions for those of you who feel curious about linux but don't yet dare to try it.
(pdf download.)
Additionally, I've found this article to be rather interesting... especially because a feature similar to this one has been available for free with linux for some time now. Heh...
[/linux propaganda]
You know you want to read it... and besides, it's free. =P
It might answer some usability questions for those of you who feel curious about linux but don't yet dare to try it.
(pdf download.)
Additionally, I've found this article to be rather interesting... especially because a feature similar to this one has been available for free with linux for some time now. Heh...
[/linux propaganda]
Claria...? Gator...?
Some years ago, an application called Gator that could be downloaded for free on the internet, promised to make your internet experience easier and better by storing your passwords so that you didn't have to remember them every time you logged in to a password protected area (e-mail accounts, etc.) This application became rather popular among a variety of unsuspecting users who, unbeknownst to them, were sending valuable information to a third party. This third party (Gator) superimposed their own ads to the sites Gatorified people navigated.
You might argue that you don't really pay attention to ads (regardless of it being a disloyal business practice), but still there are a few things you should take into account before disregarding the importance of this invasive practice.
a) They were sending information about you to a third party behind your back and in the vast majority of cases, without your knowledge.
b) They were storing your passwords! True, they were being stored into your computer, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have access to them. Such a practice can potentially mean an application developped by them or anyone else can access private accounts such as your banking, credit records, paypal, ebay, etc.
c) They didn't inform you of this correctly.
d) Gator was hard to remove single-handedly.
Later, Gator (enjoying quite a bad reputation after their business practices became better known) changed its name to Claria, but they didn't change their ways. Taking their scum into the next level of corporativeness they decided to enlist major sites among their supporters, and continued to push their ads on top of regular ads, as well as they continued to gather information about you and your navigation habits. Now the adware was embedded in other "attractive" software, like for example Kazaa (p2p client) which people installed blindly and used blindly, ignorant to the fact that while they were downloading the latest U2 song, information about them was being widely transmitted over the net.
Claria/Gator/GAIN is one of the major scumware providers on the internet, infesting hundreds of thousands of computers with their privacy menacing software. Additionally it has been noted that their practices don't meet their lawyers claims.
You can read more about Claria/Gator here.
Additionally I strongly recommend that you NEVER store passwords anywhere other than in your head if you value your security and you NEVER use such kind of software/features ("remember password") if you don't want to find yourself in varying degrees of chaos. (That includes "Roboform")
You probably heard about identity theft on the internet and how fast it is becoming common while governments fail to do anything notable to counteract it or help the victims. Such "remembering" applications might possibly be the perfect vial for these crimes, and if you install them your are exposing yourself to serious danger.
You might argue that you don't really pay attention to ads (regardless of it being a disloyal business practice), but still there are a few things you should take into account before disregarding the importance of this invasive practice.
a) They were sending information about you to a third party behind your back and in the vast majority of cases, without your knowledge.
b) They were storing your passwords! True, they were being stored into your computer, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have access to them. Such a practice can potentially mean an application developped by them or anyone else can access private accounts such as your banking, credit records, paypal, ebay, etc.
c) They didn't inform you of this correctly.
d) Gator was hard to remove single-handedly.
Later, Gator (enjoying quite a bad reputation after their business practices became better known) changed its name to Claria, but they didn't change their ways. Taking their scum into the next level of corporativeness they decided to enlist major sites among their supporters, and continued to push their ads on top of regular ads, as well as they continued to gather information about you and your navigation habits. Now the adware was embedded in other "attractive" software, like for example Kazaa (p2p client) which people installed blindly and used blindly, ignorant to the fact that while they were downloading the latest U2 song, information about them was being widely transmitted over the net.
Claria/Gator/GAIN is one of the major scumware providers on the internet, infesting hundreds of thousands of computers with their privacy menacing software. Additionally it has been noted that their practices don't meet their lawyers claims.
You can read more about Claria/Gator here.
Additionally I strongly recommend that you NEVER store passwords anywhere other than in your head if you value your security and you NEVER use such kind of software/features ("remember password") if you don't want to find yourself in varying degrees of chaos. (That includes "Roboform")
You probably heard about identity theft on the internet and how fast it is becoming common while governments fail to do anything notable to counteract it or help the victims. Such "remembering" applications might possibly be the perfect vial for these crimes, and if you install them your are exposing yourself to serious danger.
Software recs
Now, since I have a spare moment of internet time I'll take advantage of it by recommending two pieces of software.
As you can expect, they are free and Open Source.
1) ClamAV. Antivirus. Primarily intended for *nix-like system (for example, linux) it's been ported to several other OS's. You can find versions for Windoze and MacOSX. Even if you know your OS doesn't attract scumware, it's always a good idea to have an anti-virus around, since the fact that said scumware does not affect your system does not necessarily imply that you aren't spreading it to your friends without knowing.
2) Abiword. Word Processor. Lately I've found myself using Abiword a lot more than OO's writer. Perhaps that's because I find Abiword to be lighter and load faster. Available for Windoze, MacOSX and several GNU/Linux distributions, this is the kind of application that one generally overlooks at first. For those of you who do a great deal of writing and want a nice application that shows documents right, loads fast and comes with "can't-do-without" features such as spellchecking; this is a must have/must try.
In other news... Did you hear Microsoft is going to buy Claria?
Claria (formerly known as Gator) is a well-known spyware/adware provider.
Didn't I tell you already that Windows IS a virus? Geez... I bet they are going to embedd the spyware inside longhorn... XDDD Are you still going to pay to get spammed? Or are you ready to make the switch?
Now, yeah, gotta get myself a cigarette and go to sleep.
As you can expect, they are free and Open Source.
1) ClamAV. Antivirus. Primarily intended for *nix-like system (for example, linux) it's been ported to several other OS's. You can find versions for Windoze and MacOSX. Even if you know your OS doesn't attract scumware, it's always a good idea to have an anti-virus around, since the fact that said scumware does not affect your system does not necessarily imply that you aren't spreading it to your friends without knowing.
2) Abiword. Word Processor. Lately I've found myself using Abiword a lot more than OO's writer. Perhaps that's because I find Abiword to be lighter and load faster. Available for Windoze, MacOSX and several GNU/Linux distributions, this is the kind of application that one generally overlooks at first. For those of you who do a great deal of writing and want a nice application that shows documents right, loads fast and comes with "can't-do-without" features such as spellchecking; this is a must have/must try.
In other news... Did you hear Microsoft is going to buy Claria?
Claria (formerly known as Gator) is a well-known spyware/adware provider.
Didn't I tell you already that Windows IS a virus? Geez... I bet they are going to embedd the spyware inside longhorn... XDDD Are you still going to pay to get spammed? Or are you ready to make the switch?
Now, yeah, gotta get myself a cigarette and go to sleep.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Racist Spam
Got to the office, sat at the comp, checked office's e-mail... then checked my own private e-mail and there it was: Spam.
Two messages had arrived into my inbox from someone I don't know, with a subject line that surprised me "Trotz Stellenabbau".
It's been some (long) time since I had to give up my German classes due to lack of money but I still remembered enough to understand it, and I did know it was nothing I could be mailed about.
This is a virus's doing.
Actually, the message itself isn't a virus, but this is the result of viral activity.
You can read more about it here. Basically, this is malware that, behind your back, starts sending spam e-mail. The virus spoofs the sender email and uses a random address from a list of e-mail addresses it has retrieved from an infected computer. So, in simple words, the mail looks like it's been sent by someone that you might know (or not) but in truth it's been sent by someone else.
For this reason just blocking the sender's address (like Yahoo! mail lets you do) will just not work and you will be probably blocking out someone who has nothing to do with this. Their e-mail address just happened to be in a list some spammer happened to come by; and now it's being used to make it look as if they were sending spam, which they probably aren't.
Read the article I linked above, and if you are using an e-mail application such as MSOutlookgo shoot yourself in the head follow the instructions here to block the real sender of such spam. After you've done so, please do yourself a favor and download a better tool for reading and sending pop3 email: Thunderbird. Thunderbird will import your address book and old messages, so that you can seamlessly switch.
Aside from this, remember to keep your antivirus updated. If you think an antivirus application is too expensive, you can always use free alternatives which are just as good and effective.
Avast!
AVG antivirus
are two good examples. (there are others)
Additionally, you might want to try free online-scans services that both panda-antivirus and symantec offer in their websites.
You know this is important because of many reasons:
1) Viruses put your privacy at risk. A virus can not only wreck the data kept in your computer, it can also "steal" sensitive information about you and steal your identity. After it has done so, it can go and put your home on a mortgage, buy an expensive car at your expense, or commit online crimes that would all point towards you. You will have a VERY tough time trying to prove it was not you who did these things and chances are you/your family will lose a lot of money while at it.
2) Viruses attack your friends. If you don't give a shit about your personal security or finance, you might perhaps care about your friends.
3) Your computer being a zombie means your computer no longer belongs to you. Since your computer is in your home, it means you have just let someone in.
4) Your ISP might trace malicious activity to your zombie machine and decide they no longer want to give you internet access. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) might just decide to take their service away from you and you'll have no way to go online.
Two messages had arrived into my inbox from someone I don't know, with a subject line that surprised me "Trotz Stellenabbau".
It's been some (long) time since I had to give up my German classes due to lack of money but I still remembered enough to understand it, and I did know it was nothing I could be mailed about.
This is a virus's doing.
Actually, the message itself isn't a virus, but this is the result of viral activity.
You can read more about it here. Basically, this is malware that, behind your back, starts sending spam e-mail. The virus spoofs the sender email and uses a random address from a list of e-mail addresses it has retrieved from an infected computer. So, in simple words, the mail looks like it's been sent by someone that you might know (or not) but in truth it's been sent by someone else.
For this reason just blocking the sender's address (like Yahoo! mail lets you do) will just not work and you will be probably blocking out someone who has nothing to do with this. Their e-mail address just happened to be in a list some spammer happened to come by; and now it's being used to make it look as if they were sending spam, which they probably aren't.
Read the article I linked above, and if you are using an e-mail application such as MSOutlook
Aside from this, remember to keep your antivirus updated. If you think an antivirus application is too expensive, you can always use free alternatives which are just as good and effective.
Avast!
AVG antivirus
are two good examples. (there are others)
Additionally, you might want to try free online-scans services that both panda-antivirus and symantec offer in their websites.
You know this is important because of many reasons:
1) Viruses put your privacy at risk. A virus can not only wreck the data kept in your computer, it can also "steal" sensitive information about you and steal your identity. After it has done so, it can go and put your home on a mortgage, buy an expensive car at your expense, or commit online crimes that would all point towards you. You will have a VERY tough time trying to prove it was not you who did these things and chances are you/your family will lose a lot of money while at it.
2) Viruses attack your friends. If you don't give a shit about your personal security or finance, you might perhaps care about your friends.
3) Your computer being a zombie means your computer no longer belongs to you. Since your computer is in your home, it means you have just let someone in.
4) Your ISP might trace malicious activity to your zombie machine and decide they no longer want to give you internet access. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) might just decide to take their service away from you and you'll have no way to go online.
Existencialism...
If you fancy yourself at least slightly geeky you should definitely read this. Heck, even if you don't think you are geeky you should still read it. It's a comic strip and it's crack funny.
Yesterday I've been trying to build a comp out of a very old/very crummy PC-Chips MoBo and an equally dated PentiumII processor. It was fun. Since this MoBo model is not being manufactured anymore I had to look up a bit to find some way to flash its BIOS and make it "see" a 20GB HD... I managed to flash it but it still didn't see the HD correctly (well, at least I didn't ruin the MoBo for good!). I might try again tomorrow with Maxtor's software... my goal is to install FreeBSD on it, but when I try to it keeps giving me DMA-related errors. Debian just hangs while trying to load Linux-IDE drives.
It was pretty uncomfortable to flash the MoBo's BIOS without having downloaded it from the official site, and flashing only updated it to a 2001 version, but darn, I'll keep looking. I'll be contented if I can find a 2003 version of it (which I doubt) because I think it'd be easier for it to "see" the HD in its full size and work the DMA right (tbh, I suspect the DMA is to blame for all the headaches this MoBo is giving me). Anyway, it's been fun... makes some underexercized areas of my so-called brain work.
In other news, my sister's comp (running Win-ex-pee and AVG antivirus) claims to be infected by a certain trojan horse virus (dropper.small.24.L) that no antivirus except AVG can detect. (Trust me, I've run several online scans last night trying to confirm the trojan horse's existence.)
If any of you are having a similar problem, I'll recommend you to Not do anything, since this small.dropper thing sounds a lot like a false positive. The infected file is part of the OS and makes the language bar work, remove it and you'll lose the functionality.
Yesterday I've been trying to build a comp out of a very old/very crummy PC-Chips MoBo and an equally dated PentiumII processor. It was fun. Since this MoBo model is not being manufactured anymore I had to look up a bit to find some way to flash its BIOS and make it "see" a 20GB HD... I managed to flash it but it still didn't see the HD correctly (well, at least I didn't ruin the MoBo for good!). I might try again tomorrow with Maxtor's software... my goal is to install FreeBSD on it, but when I try to it keeps giving me DMA-related errors. Debian just hangs while trying to load Linux-IDE drives.
It was pretty uncomfortable to flash the MoBo's BIOS without having downloaded it from the official site, and flashing only updated it to a 2001 version, but darn, I'll keep looking. I'll be contented if I can find a 2003 version of it (which I doubt) because I think it'd be easier for it to "see" the HD in its full size and work the DMA right (tbh, I suspect the DMA is to blame for all the headaches this MoBo is giving me). Anyway, it's been fun... makes some underexercized areas of my so-called brain work.
In other news, my sister's comp (running Win-ex-pee and AVG antivirus) claims to be infected by a certain trojan horse virus (dropper.small.24.L) that no antivirus except AVG can detect. (Trust me, I've run several online scans last night trying to confirm the trojan horse's existence.)
If any of you are having a similar problem, I'll recommend you to Not do anything, since this small.dropper thing sounds a lot like a false positive. The infected file is part of the OS and makes the language bar work, remove it and you'll lose the functionality.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Debian Updates at last
Hell has officially frozen over. Debian has updated.
OK, I know those of you who aren't Debian fans (that is, each and every one of my friends) won't find this to be the least interesting or even comprehensible, but... DEBIAN HAS OFFICIALLY UPDATED!!! OMGWTFBRBBBQ!!!!!eleveneleven
Read it here. or here.
Right now I'm feeling a little like nothing goes my way, and it occurred to me that if I was to switch to macs, Steve Jobs would associate Apple with intel.... oops! =P
OK, I know those of you who aren't Debian fans (that is, each and every one of my friends) won't find this to be the least interesting or even comprehensible, but... DEBIAN HAS OFFICIALLY UPDATED!!! OMGWTFBRBBBQ!!!!!eleveneleven
Read it here. or here.
Right now I'm feeling a little like nothing goes my way, and it occurred to me that if I was to switch to macs, Steve Jobs would associate Apple with intel.... oops! =P
Monday, June 06, 2005
Del.icio.us - Portable Bookmarks
Oh, I would like to mention something about del.icio.us ; Think about it as "portable bookmarks" combined with "social bookmarks". Since I don't have a computer* I'm using it a lot lately. If you are interested you can check my del.icio.us bookmarks here (I doubt anyone is, though). I think it is particularly convenient when you want to bookmark a site for further reading but you are not at your computer (for example: work, school, public internet, etc.) and also in order to share interesting articles or sites with friends or colleagues.
Well, gotta stop babbling and do something to justify the monthly pay... that is, I gotta work. =p
* my computer was stolen. Burglars broke into my father's office at night and took it among other things. I had taken my computer there a few days before because I was planning to fix some stuff in it. Yeah, it sucks. Life goes on.
Well, gotta stop babbling and do something to justify the monthly pay... that is, I gotta work. =p
* my computer was stolen. Burglars broke into my father's office at night and took it among other things. I had taken my computer there a few days before because I was planning to fix some stuff in it. Yeah, it sucks. Life goes on.
Friday, May 06, 2005
The reason behind it all
All blogs seem to have some kind of "mandatory" first post where one introduces oneself as well as the purpose of said blog.
I was intending to make a funny post, but I think this is the most suitable place to explain what my motivations are.
Let's see: I am a female, I'm in my mid twenties, I don't feel comfortable posting pictures of myself or revealing too much information pertaining my private life because I believe in privacy. That aside, I can tell you:
1) I am a GNU/Linux user. My favorite distro is Debian, although I'm trying to get away with LFS. I've tried other distros as well... the list gets long.
2) I have a college degree that has nothing to do with computers. I've never taken a single computer-related course or class in my entire life.
3) I love art, literature, music, opera, ballet, traveling and interior design. I love computers as well.
4) Standing at an impressive 5'7" and weighting slightly over 100lbs, I sit at the comp and type. I consider myself the "regular" type of female, aka "girl next door".
5) I speak more than 3 languages fluently... and I don't mean programming languages.
6) I can drive, cook, fix a tap and pull my computer entirely apart only to put it back together later.
7) I don't live at my parents' basement. I actually own the apartment I live in.
8) It is not my intention to flirt over the internet. Much less to use a blog for it.
9) I love my family very dearly.
10) I love pets.
11) I hate obnoxious and whiney people. Snotty nerds with an inferiority complex and lots of pedant attitude are more than unwelcome to be anywhere closer than a 100 mile radius from me. Get yourselves a life outside of your computers.
12) My hair is auburn-ish. Hence the profile picture.
13) I love Italian food (it's a heritage thing, I suppose) and French desserts (it's a heritage thing too, I guess), although I've never lived in Italy nor in France.
14) I am far from being rich.
15) I work hard to pay for my own expenses (food, clothes, electricity, phone, internet, etc.). I am a savvy shopper and it is my ultimate goal to save enough money in my life to not have to work after I'm 50. Right now it doesn't seem like I'll achieve my goal.
16) I have friends. I mean real friends. Real people. Not just screen names. And I go out with them, hang out with them and have a standard social life. My friends are not computer-geeks.
That said, the purpose of this journal is to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances who are interested in computers/internet and particularly in free open source projects. My personal journal is off limits to you.
I am not typing from the point of view of an "expert" who addresses fellow "experts". I am typing from the point of view of a regular user (aka Joe User) who addresses fellow regular users (aka fellow Joe Users). I could do the former and attract a lot of losers here with whom I might have some sort of perverse fun, but I choose to do the latter and share the blog with more normal and friendly people who DO have a life; like me.
If you don't like what I type, you always have the choice to NOT read it. I won't stop writing because you don't like my blog. There are millions of blogs out there, just go elsewhere and you might find what you are looking for.
Additionally, take a look at the CC license below. See it? Break it and I'll take legal action. I do need the money.
I was intending to make a funny post, but I think this is the most suitable place to explain what my motivations are.
Let's see: I am a female, I'm in my mid twenties, I don't feel comfortable posting pictures of myself or revealing too much information pertaining my private life because I believe in privacy. That aside, I can tell you:
1) I am a GNU/Linux user. My favorite distro is Debian, although I'm trying to get away with LFS. I've tried other distros as well... the list gets long.
2) I have a college degree that has nothing to do with computers. I've never taken a single computer-related course or class in my entire life.
3) I love art, literature, music, opera, ballet, traveling and interior design. I love computers as well.
4) Standing at an impressive 5'7" and weighting slightly over 100lbs, I sit at the comp and type. I consider myself the "regular" type of female, aka "girl next door".
5) I speak more than 3 languages fluently... and I don't mean programming languages.
6) I can drive, cook, fix a tap and pull my computer entirely apart only to put it back together later.
7) I don't live at my parents' basement. I actually own the apartment I live in.
8) It is not my intention to flirt over the internet. Much less to use a blog for it.
9) I love my family very dearly.
10) I love pets.
11) I hate obnoxious and whiney people. Snotty nerds with an inferiority complex and lots of pedant attitude are more than unwelcome to be anywhere closer than a 100 mile radius from me. Get yourselves a life outside of your computers.
12) My hair is auburn-ish. Hence the profile picture.
13) I love Italian food (it's a heritage thing, I suppose) and French desserts (it's a heritage thing too, I guess), although I've never lived in Italy nor in France.
14) I am far from being rich.
15) I work hard to pay for my own expenses (food, clothes, electricity, phone, internet, etc.). I am a savvy shopper and it is my ultimate goal to save enough money in my life to not have to work after I'm 50. Right now it doesn't seem like I'll achieve my goal.
16) I have friends. I mean real friends. Real people. Not just screen names. And I go out with them, hang out with them and have a standard social life. My friends are not computer-geeks.
That said, the purpose of this journal is to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances who are interested in computers/internet and particularly in free open source projects. My personal journal is off limits to you.
I am not typing from the point of view of an "expert" who addresses fellow "experts". I am typing from the point of view of a regular user (aka Joe User) who addresses fellow regular users (aka fellow Joe Users). I could do the former and attract a lot of losers here with whom I might have some sort of perverse fun, but I choose to do the latter and share the blog with more normal and friendly people who DO have a life; like me.
If you don't like what I type, you always have the choice to NOT read it. I won't stop writing because you don't like my blog. There are millions of blogs out there, just go elsewhere and you might find what you are looking for.
Additionally, take a look at the CC license below. See it? Break it and I'll take legal action. I do need the money.
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