Today is the second time that my hard drive tried to fail. I’ve been considering the possibility of selling this computer for awhile now, and this is just one more nudge into that direction. This time around, the HDD decided to randomly lose 20 GB or more of available space. I discovered the problem when I noticed only 385 MBs of free space remaining.

Now that I’ve received (finally!!) the student financial aid I do have the money to buy a new drive. Obviously I would buy a replacement before I try to sell my PC.

I wonder how much money I can get out of my computer? It may be worth it if I can get $600 or more. I’m almost certain that I could, especially if I tossed in my license for Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate. Perhaps I’d add my PC games to it as well, including Mass Effect.

Hmmm..

This “fix” is not a perfect solution, but it will stop the MSN Switchboard error message: “Message could not be sent because an error with the switchboard occurred“.

If you are using Pidgin and the BotSentry plugin then you have almost certainly seen this MSN Switchboard error.

Here is the quick & simple fix:

1. Load Pidgin so that you can see the contact list.
2. Click on “Tools”
3. Click on “Privacy”
A new window will appear
4. Select MSN from the drop down box
5. From the second drop down box, select “Allow only the users on my contact list”
6. Click “Close”

This will make it impossible for people to send you a message if they are not already on your contact list. There are pros and cons to this approach:

• Pro: No more spam! No more Switchboard Error messages!
• Cons: New people can not contact you, so you will have to add them to your contact list FIRST before you can talk to them.

You will have to decide which is best for you, but this is the only way to stop the “Message could not be sent because an error with the switchboard occurred” message until the folks at BotSentry figure out a way to prevent the error.

Enjoy your new peace of mind. Good day!

Technorati Tags: MSN, Switchboard Error, IM

Here’s the Windows Vista SP1 Download link for 64bit systems, for those of you who may be searching for it. At the time of posting this it’s not yet available from Windows Update, so I figured that I’d pass along the link.

Have fun…

Technorati Tags: vista, sp1, windows, windows vista

At this point it’s probably safe to say that this was a result of the SP 1 release candidate. Vista has not (yet) forced me to re-activate. So yes, it seems perhaps that I allowed my (considerable) annoyance at the time to get the better of my judgment while writing my original post.

It wasn’t too long ago that I was forced to re-activate Windows due to a driver change. Additionally, virtually all Windows Update patches fail.

Now here I sit again, without changing my hardware (again!), with the tag “Windows Vista Evaluation Copy” on my desktop. I swear to @#^% god if I have to activate Windows Vista yet again because of a software change….

Life’s too short to deal with this shit. What I do or don’t do will depend on how much money I have remaining from student financial aid. I may pick up a lap top for that trip to Korea, so if I have the money for that after paying for the trip it’s going to be a Mac. That’s it. No more bullshit. I’ve had it.

~Stephen, a very disgruntled owner of Microsoft’s Windows Vista Ultimate (Pain In The Ass)

Technorati Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, windows vista, epic fail

They say that an image is worth 1,000 words. Therefor, let’s allow this image to do most of the talking:

There you have it, ladies and gents: Proof that Microsoft’s Windows Vista is made of failure, straight from the horse’s mouth (so to speak). Sadly, this is only one tiny part of my epic tale of woe.

~Steph

Technorati Tags: microsoft, vista, windows, windows vista, fail

Recently I have experienced an increase in spam messages from the Yahoo network, and prior to this I received spam over ICQ in the form of authentication requests. This sort of spam is worse than any unsolicited junk mail that I’ve received, in my opinion, because it’s delivered directly to my desktop in real time.

Up to this point I have been using the Trillian instant messenger. It’s a great piece of software and I’ve enjoyed its interface and options above the other instant messengers.

The one thing that it’s lacked, though, is spam blocking. So what have I done to stop spam from Yahoo and other chat networks? I’ve switched to Pidgin.

Pidgin is a somewhat unwieldy program, and to be perfectly honest it feels unfinished according to Windows standards. It’s also unnecessarily complicated to install skins and the default interface is a very plain theme that looks like something from the 80’s that’s trying to appear futuristic. Yeah, it’s about as bad as it sounds. These bumps are not surprising considering that it’s originally a Linux program that has been ported to Windows.

Once you get over the adoption bumps though, you may find that it’s quite a nice program. It connects to the same chat networks that Trillian supports and then some, and there is also no Pro version. This means that you don’t ever have to pay to use plugins. Trillian, of course, only supports plugins if you buy the Pro version.

…and it’s the plugins where the magic really happens.

You want to stop Yahoo spam? Or the junk messages that you get from the other networks? No problem, just install Pidgin and then get the Bot Sentry plugin.

The Bot Sentry anti-spam plugin knows when you have received a message from someone who is not on your contact list, and it stops it from ever pestering you. It also sends a message back to the (potential) spammer and challenges them to enter a specific word or phrase. It’s just like posting on a forum: If you can’t pass the captcha then you can’t post. Well, if they can’t pass the test within 10 minutes then they can’t send you their message.

Better yet is the fact that you can customize the question and the answer that it requires. Currently mine is set to require potential spam bots to spell out the number 8, but it can be as simple or as detailed as you want.

It’s so simple that it’s brilliant.

The good news? It actually works. I tested it on a fellow that I know by removing him from my contact list, and I had no idea that he had sent me a message until he passed the test. When he did, the Bot Sentry anti-spam plugin actually sent his original message to me while notifying him that it was doing so. Thus you get to see their original message, and they don’t have to retype it…. and I only knew that all of this happened because he pasted the bot’s response to me.

I don’t know if it will block ICQ authentication spam, but it definitely blocks the other junk. For now I’m enjoying my return to a peaceful spam free IM.

Technorati Tags: spam, anti-spam, spam blocker, spam blocking, yahoo spam, yahoo, icq, msn, aim

We all know how interested I am in personal privacy and our ability to keep our information where it belongs: In our possession and not the world’s. Yes, it is therefor ironic that I have a blog, but I digress..

Earlier this evening I came across a post called How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords. I suggest that my visitors – old and new – read that post. It contains some useful information that I really should have posted here a long time ago.

I’ll expand a bit on that post rather than copy it, and I’ll repeat some of my thoughts here that I posted to the comments of that post. I think that good information should be shared, thought on, and credited and this is one of those situations.

Good password management is a lot easier than the other privacy practices that I have suggested. In fact, it’s one of those things that you can adopt with but a few simple clicks of the mouse. After that you’ll be done and you will have very little concern about someone’s ability to break into your accounts.

My suggestions are very simple:

• Get a free password manager. Here are Google’s results and here are Ask.com’s results. There are many options available to you.
Personally I use a program called Roboform (download). It has a Free and a Pro version, but I find the Free version to be sufficient for my daily web browsing.
• Once you have the software of your choice to manage your passwords you will need to begin using it. Take a little bit of time each day to change your password at each site that you visit. Roboform makes this easy because it can generate secure passwords for you and save them with a few simple clicks, but you can also use the free Perfect Password generator web page at the trusted GRC website.

There are pros and cons to the different password manager software. Roboform could probably use a slightly better interface, for example, but it makes everything wonderfully easy by not only automatically saving your passwords but it also automatically enters them for you. On the flip side, I don’t think that it’s possible to manually enter a password into Roboform.

Other password managers may allow you to manually enter your passwords and thus could be used to store passwords for stuff that you do away from the computer. So they could store your ATM PIN numbers for example. This won’t be as convenient as the automation provided by the software that I use, but it all depends on how robust you want the software to be.

Lastly, don’t forget to back up the data that is saved inside of the password manager. If something should happen and you lose your data then you may face the frustration of resetting passwords at each of your sites via their “lost password” page. That’s never fun. So export the information from your password manager to a second hard drive, a USB stick, or a similar location other than your main computer hard drive.

Then you’re done.

If someone gains access to your social profile, or your youtube profile, or your email because they were able to easily guess your password then that’s more than an inconvenience. That will give them enough information to impersonate you, and that could quickly lead to identity theft. It’s true that we’re all just “average people” that no one would want to target, but that’s not what matters to thieves and vandals.

What matters is that you’re an easy target, so make sure that you do something to change that.

Good day folks.

Technorati Tags: hacking, privacy, security, ID theft, identity theft

Tonight I was forced to activate Windows Vista over the phone because Vista assumed that I changed my hardware.

Despite how much #@$! this is to begin with, the huge problem here is that I did not change a single thing inside of my computer. Vista simply assumed that I did. In fact, the only thing that I changed were drivers.

This situation is even more uncomfortable because I use the OEM version of Vista, and that means that I have a limited number of activations. One of those activations were just wasted because Vista is such a monumental idiot that it believes that changing software drivers is the same thing as changing the physical hardware.

That’s just fantastic, isn’t it?

The pirates keep doing what they’re doing and are never hampered by this stuff. The rest of us pay out the money for it and we get this kind of BS treatment.

Screw you, Microsoft. After this point I am much more likely to turn to The Pirate Bay to get my system running again rather than your cockeyed activation system. If you want to treat me like a pirate, then blast it, I may as well be a pirate. At least then my system will actually work when I need it to.

Technorati Tags: vista, microsoft, windows vista, activation, genuine advantage

I’ll occasionally enjoy looking at forum threads (and the like) where folks display their desktops. Being bored & procrastinating as I am:

Get The Motoko Image By Itself

..there be the new desktop view.

I don’t know who the artist is, but that’s one of the best drawings of Motoko that I’ve found. I love the face, hair, the shading on the character, and the look that she’s giving. Of course the character’s figure doesn’t hurt any either, but anyhow, the city in the background is quite a nice touch too. The colors really draw you in.

What can I say? I love strong women.

It all makes for a fantastic desktop.

~Steph

Technorati Tags: desktop, wallpaper, GITS, Motoko, Kusanagi, Motoko Kusanagi, Kusanagi Motoko, Ghost In The Shell, widescreen, widescreen wallpaper, 1680×1050

You know what I think would be a good feature? The ability to upload our public PGP keys to an e-commerce website.

Why would this be a good idea? Simple: You could enable an option that told their system to ONLY send protected, private messages to your email address. What’s the benefit of this? No one could ever successfully impersonate the business, and all of your business with them would be guaranteed to be private.

Just imagine how much grief would be prevented if you could do this with PayPal. If PayPal (and other e-commerce) emails were sent encoded for your public key then there could be no way to mistake a scam for the real thing.

Another use for it is just plain out privacy. I just ordered a new hard drive off of Newegg.com, and as usual I received multiple emails informing me of the purchase process; the order was placed, then it was charged successfully, and so on. Soon I’ll receive an invoice detailing all of the price and purchase information along with the code to track the package.

This purchase made me think of how much business I do with them. In fact, all of my hardware and computer purchases are made through Newegg. That sure is a lot of email coming in with details about how much money I spend on these types of products, and how often I purchase them.

I don’t know about you, but I would feel a little better if this information was kept as private as possible. What if I could send my public PGP key to Newegg? That privacy would be guaranteed, and there would be no way for a scammer to impersonate them.

Frankly, I think that it’s just a good idea.

~Steph

Technorati Tags: email, privacy, e-commerce, ecommerce, holiday sales, shopping, spam, anti-spam