Brian's Blog

For some reason Microsoft decided for me that I would like have any document open from an E-mail open in something called "Reading Layout". Reading layout paginates the document so that it will fit the screen better and allow you to view two pages at once side to side on your screen. I personally find this very annoying. And since turning it off wasn't painfully obvious here's how to do it so I don't forget:

1. Click the "Tools" menu and choose "Options".
2. When the "Options" multi-tabbed dialog box appears, click "General".
3. Uncheck "Allow starting in Reading Layout".
4. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

Some ages ago I bookmarked a how-to on setting up OpenVPN on IPcop. Basically it shows you how to install ZERINA OpenVPN addon for IPCop and then use the OpenVPN GUI for Windows to connect your Windows system to your new VPN. I'm sure that a Linux client exists but I really didn't look into that because I'm planning on trying this out with my work laptop which, unfortunately, I'm relegated to using Windows on. Perhaps I'll setup a dual boot one day, but I don't have time for that just now.

The how-to made the setup super easy except for one small problem I ran into. Using the default encryption method for the tunnel I kept getting TLS timeout errors when trying to connect. I changed the default encryption method to one of the AES ones and it started working.

I don't know if I'm going to stick with this VPN solution long term. Up until now I've just tunneled ports through my ssh session as needed to access resources on my network or used scp to transfer files so I'm not sure what advantages I will see but time will tell.

Brian in the LVLUG IRC pointed out this article at PCWorld.com that lists the top 25 worst tech products ever. I just find it amusing that AOL is number one on the list. Realplayer is in the top ten along with Windows ME, IE6, Microsoft Bob, and Sony Music CDs (think rootkit). I also find it mildly amusing that 3 of the top ten are Microsoft products.

Remember way back on Sept 24, 2005 I blogged about Barracuda Networks possibly violating the GPL? Well, I've finally gotten a follow up from gpl-violations.org. The resolution was that Barracuda now includes the GPL license text with their products and will provide a source code CD-ROM upon request. They even have source rpm files available here.

I'm glad it was resolved. It's important that corporations realize that they can't just take and use GPL software as if it was in the public domain. I have a feeling that Barracuda wasn't intentionally violating the GPL and just needed a little bit of education. I wish they would have taken the education from me instead of getting gpl-violations.org involved, but corporations are difficult to persuade.

This morning there were 1331 failed attempts to connect to my sshd over the course of 4.31 minutes. That's 5 attempts a second. How annoying. They are getting better though. This time it wasn't full of attempts at names like test or admin all that much. Actually the majority of them were names, like Jack, Marcus, and Stacy. I feel confident that the kiddies won't get in, but it still fills my logs with crap that I'd rather not see.

While listening to The Linux Link Techshow where they interviewed The Security Monkey it was mentioned to change your default port. I always thought changing the port was more security by obscurity than anything else but I tried it anyway. We'll see how much noise it culls from the logs. Perhaps it's wise to change your default port as a small part of your overall security strategy. By itself I'm sure that it is nearly useless, but combined with other things it certainly can't hurt.

Before I go off on my stupid little rant we first need some background. I'm currently reading Upgrading Your Certification to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 from Microsoft Press in an attempt to, well, ummm...Upgrade my Certification. The entire premise of this book is to just give you what you need to upgrade. In other words, review old concepts and cover new ones. Take this excerpt from the introduction for example:

This training kit requires that students meet the following prerequisites:

• Twelve to eighteen months of experience administering Microsoft Windows technologies in a network environment
• Understanding of Active Directory directory services and related technologies, including Group Policy
• Existing Windows 2000 MCSA or MCSE certification

I've noticed quite a few things that really don't need to be repeated in the context of this book since I would take them as something that any MCSE who's been doing the MS thing for a year or more should just know. For example, how to add a snap-in to an MMC. However, I can see that these things can be included for the sake of completeness. I'm fine with this. But then I ran into this one when going over backing up AD in a section called Preliminary Backup Tasks.

For example, if your backup method will involve using a removable media device such as a tape drive, you must ensure that:

• The backup device is listed on the Windows Server 2003 Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
• The backup device is attached to a computer on the network (or the network itself) and is turned on. If you are backing up to a tape drive using the Windows Server 2003 Backup Utility, the drive must be attached to the system running the Backup Utility.
• The appropriate media is loaded into the device. For example, if you are using a tape drive, ensure that the correct tape is loaded.

Great job Microsoft! You've created a titled section to tell me that I need to use a backup device that will work with Windows, that is turned on and connected, and that I have the correct tape in the drive. Thank you Dr. Obvious! You are targeting this at existing MCSE's with a year or more experience right?

What this tells me is that Microsoft itself apparently doesn't trust it's own experienced certified professionals to know what they are doing. Please, in an upgrade exam book give me what I need to know. Don't teach me what I learned in Intro to Computers 101. The worst part is that in the review the first question was, "What tasks should you complete before attempting to backup Active Directory data?" This shows that they consider this ultra-obvious section to be of significant importance to reinforce.

Today we went and picked up my wife's new car. Well, it's not 100% new, but it's new to us. It's a Ford Focus ES. Check out the pic.

Also, for those who care, I've finally added some pics to the gallery. I was just a little bit behind.

And, for anyone who may have noticed, my server here was down for a few hours. Not that I get enough traffic for anyone to actually notice but still I thought I'd mention it. I was doing some long overdue backups and general TLC on the web server.

OK, so this morning I'm driving my wife to work and kids to school/daycare. I'm heading down Broad Street towards the Brew Works and I see a green light in front of me. Sunlight was glaring really bad off of a car and all I could see was the green light and that the path in front of me was empty. The entire lane of on coming traffic was in glare and I couldn't make it out which shouldn't matter since I wasn't planning on driving on the wrong side of the road. As I get closer and the glare clears there is this crossing guard on the side of on coming traffic who obviously wanted me to stop. So I did. I didn't lock up the tires or even stop all that hard. In fact, it was only slight harder of a stop than normal. As in, if I had something sitting on my seat it would not have slid off and no tension was on my seat belt that I would expect from a hard stop. Still, trying to be a nice guy, I rolled down the window to apologize and explain that I really didn't see him. Instead I got to listen to this elderly man yell at me and basically give me a high and mighty attitude. All the while I'm trying to explain and apologize. If he had just shut up for 2 seconds he might have actually heard what I was trying to say.

Apparently you have to poses precognitive powers and just intuitively know that, even though you have nothing in your path of travel and a green light that you should stop.

It's not like I went out of the house saying, "I think I'm going to run over some kids today!" Sheesh...

I'd feel utterly horrible if I hurt someone, especially a child. Even if it was a complete accident.

http://pi.ytmnd.com/

Really it is! hehe

We finally got the word from Erie that the accident was ruled as at fault for the other driver. But that was after I called the adjuster's manager and bitched about how the claim was being handled. Initially the adjuster told us that if the other driver didn't make a statement that they would send her a denial letter and cancel her insurance, but since we didn't have physical damage coverage on the car that we wouldn't get compensated. We asked them about the police report and were told that wasn't good enough to determine fault. To me it sounded like they were trying to get rid of a bad client and not have to pay us, even though we were fully cooperating with the investigation. Funny though, after that call to the manager they had the police report the next morning and it was suddenly good enough to make a decision by. They jerked us around for about two weeks and increased the stress in an already stressful situation. For that, they have lost our business. Even though it ultimately worked out well we shouldn't have had to jump through all these hoops to get the protection that we were paying for.

Why do companies look in so much of the short term? If they got away with what they were initially trying to pull they would have had a double win for them. Getting rid of the bad client and not having to pay out for the other. But to what end? Pissing off a good client for the sake of short term gain doesn't seem like the bright thing to do. I'd want to keep the good client because in the long run the sum of the premiums they pay should be greater than the expense of the few claims they make.

So, now it's feedback time. What insurance companies do you use and what do you like and/or dislike about them? What kind of experiences have you had when making a claim?

Inquiring minds want to know.

It's been a while since I actually posted anything. It has been busy over the past couple of weeks. And the need for a new car for the wife has increased the urgency for upgrading the MCSE. So I've been spending time reading and playing about with that instead of learning Linux and FOSS related things. Still, M$ pays the bills for now. At least I'll be ready when the times comes that I need to work with FOSS.

But, I digress some here. I just thought I'd mention that my wife's car has been ruled a total loss. It's not worth fixing it since the value of the car is about half of what it would cost to fix the thing. Actually, it's worth less than half. So, now we get to shop for a car about 3 years earlier than we planned. Understandably Cindy isn't happy because we can't go shopping and get what she wants and instead have to get what we can afford. I understand how she feels, before my Impala every single car I ever owned was because I needed a car now. I was hoping to give her the chance to shop around and have fun. But, live throws ya curve balls sometimes and you just have to deal.

Oh, and here we are. It's a little over 1.5 weeks since the accident and the girl who blew the stop and hit Cindy still hasn't filed here version of what happened. Thus holding up the fault ruling and delaying our recovery. To be fair, supposedly she had just gotten her wisdom teeth removed a day or two after the accident and couldn't' talk but still. That doesn't mean she can't type, or write.

So, that's the way of things.