PaulSpoerry.com

My name is Paul… and I’m a geek. Seriously, like in need of a 12 step program kind of geek.

Geeks like us spend a ridiculous amount of time browsing the Web. We get our nerd news online, we converse with like-minded individuals online, we get ideas online, we learn about new products online, and so on. We live and breathe the mighty cloud.

To feed your surfing habits, ExtremeTech presents a list of 25 of it’s own favorite sites.

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The 6 tools you need to Be Your Own IT

1. AVG Anti-Virus - Keep Yours as well as others computers virus free!
2. Memory Upgrade Tool - discover what type of Memory your computer takes and if your upgrading someone else this is the only place to go
3. Newegg Electronics Ordering - The best site for replacing or upgrading almost any part either for yourself, or for resale.
4. Password Recovery Tools - A whole host of password recovery tools, including wireless key finders, windows logins, and much more:All Free.
5. Sysinternals - Yes their owned by Microsoft now, but they still have a huge list of free utilities that can help you troubleshoot either yours or a potential customers computer
6. Ultimate Boot CD - There are CPU tests like CPU Burn-in. Memory diagnostic tools like Memtest86. There are hard drive wiping tools like Darik’s Boot and Nuke and many others popular utilities that can help you diagnose computer problems on your own. All you need to do is download the CD and burn the .iso image to a CD. There are limitless troubleshooting applications here.

Windows Tools

1. Windows Update - Used to get all the latest Microsoft Windows Updates downloaded automatically to your computer. Has a lot of benefit but use with caution stick with the critical updates typically

Data Back Up & File Recovery Software

1. Drive Image XML V1.21 - Backup Your hard drive, copy one hard drive to another and more
2. File Hamster - Free real time backup and archiving of your files while you work
3. Photo Backup LE - Easily back up all your valuable photos. Notice the free version is on the bottom of the page
4. Undelete Plus - Easily recover accidently deleted files
5. Kryptel Lite - Easily permanatly delete files from your hard drive

Hard Drive Utilities

1. Auslogics Disk Defrag - A free program to help defragment and organize your hard drive
2. Darik’s Boot and Nuke - DBAN is a simple, yet powerful utility that will wipe clean most hard drive’s after booting to a floppy disk. This is a great tool for fast formats or shredding of data when selling or throwing out your PC.
3. Cleanup Assistant -A freeware software program that performs various hard drive maintenance tasks, including cleaning, finding large and duplicate files, shredding documents and much more.
4. HD Clone 3.2 - The freeware version is great for transferring data from one hard drive to another. It runs on a bootable floppy or CD that it creates and allows you to easily clone your old drive onto your new drive.
5. Seagate DiskWizard - Seagate’s tool used for installing new Seagate hard drives in computers.
6. Western Digital Data Lifeguard - Diagnostic and other utilities for Western Digital hard drives only. Select your drive model from the list and download
7. MaxBlast - Maxblast is Maxtors hard disk utility. This utility will help users format and copy data from one drive to another in new installations of Maxtor hard disks..

Memory Utilities

1. Memtest86 - Memtest is considered one of the best memory diagnostic utilities out there. This free tool will allow you to make a bootable CD or floppy disk that runs the program automatically when you turn on your PC. By running this program for a few hours you will be able to pinpoint hardware problems with your memory that may have been causing your computer to crash
2. Windows Memory Diagnostic - Windows Memory Diagnostic is a great tool you can download if you do not have Vista (Included in Vista). Download and put the program on a disk. Insert the disk and reboot to that drive and let the diagnostic check your RAM for errors.

Registry Cleaners

1. RegSeeker 1.55 -This Registry program allows you to scan for bad and duplicate files, clean the registry and even optimize the Operating System. It’s available for all versions of Windows.
2. Eusing Free Registry Cleaner - Eusing Free Registry Cleaner is a free registry repair utility that allows you to clean and repair your computer’s registry with a few simple mouse clicks. The Windows Registry is a crucial part of your PC’s operation system.
3. CCleaner - CCleaner is a free system optimization and privacy utility. CCleaner removes unused files from your computer which allows Windows to run faster. It also frees up valuable hard disk space. For privacy, CCleaner also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history

Network and Internet Troubleshooting

1. Network Speed Test - Help determine what kind of performance your network is getting and also diagnose any potential speed issues with your or your clients internet conenction
2. Winsock Fix - Used to solve a variety of internet connection issues. I’ve used it many times to fix computers damaged by spyware or virus’s or computers that just plain cannot access the internet. Has just plain saved my life many times
3. Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1 - The Microsoft Network Monitor is a utility that helps you analyze what is happening on your network behind the scenes
4. AnalogX Fast Cache - This program improves connection speed by caching DNS on your local computer. Each time you go to a web page or perform any other Internet task, your PC contacts DNS servers on the Internet. By caching these servers on your local machine you should, theoretically, connect faster.
5. Network Stumbler - NetStumbler (also known as Network Stumbler) is a tool for Windows that facilitates detection of Wireless LANs using the 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g WLAN standards. It runs on Microsoft Windows 98 and above. A trimmed-down version called MiniStumbler is available for Windows CE.

Wired How-To Wiki shows you how to basically turn a $50 router into a $300 professional grade router using open source firmware.

High-end commercial routers offer features that just don’t come with your basic home package cheaper routers. We’re talking features like quality of service (QoS) management, adjustable transmission power, and support for IPv6.  Not everybody needs these features, but if you are somebody who does then you can get those features on the cheap using open source firmware.

What You’ll Need

• A compatible wireless router

• An Ethernet cable

Customize Your Router

This process involves replacing the manufacturer’s firmware that comes installed on the machine. There are quite a few open-source projects developing alternative firmwares for home routers. Each offers a variety of features and advantages.

DD-WRT is one of the most mature such projects, based on a Linux kernel and offering a wealth of options. Tomato is another firmware choice. Though not quite as feature-rich as DD-WRT, it is significantly easier to work with.

Find a Compatible Router

Linksys’s WRT54GL, shown above, is a good choice. It runs about $40- $60. Older models in the WRT54G series, without the L suffix, work: the WRT54G and WRT54GS versions 1 through 4 work without modification, and the version 5-6 work with ‘micro’ firmwares like DD-WRT micro thanks to the hack that can be found here. Look at the serial number on the underside of the router to check its version. Other routers that use Broadcom chipsets, made by Buffalo, Asus, and others, work as well.

There are numerous firmwares available for this platform. OpenWrt [1] provides a base for most of these firmwares, which extend it through a web based management console. Popular projects include X-Wrt [2], DD-WRT [3], and Tomato [4].

DD-WRT is compatible with a somewhat wider range of routers than Tomato is. Consult Wikipedia or the DD-WRT site for a complete reference.

Get the Firmware

Download the latest firmware, whether it be OpenWrt, X-Wrt, DD-WRT, or Tomato.

For some reason, Tomato is packaged as a 7z archive, one of the less-common file formats. You’ll need to unzip it with a tool such as 7-Zip for Windows, 7zx for Macs, or p7zip for Linux.

Unpack the downloaded firmware into a directory on your computer. It includes several different .bin files for different routers.

Install the Firmware

Follow these steps:

1. Plug your router into a power socket. Do not connect it to the Internet.

2. Use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to one of the router’s LAN ports. Do not use a wireless connection for this, since if the connection dies while you’re installing the firmware, your router may become unusable.

3. Go to the administration page of your router. In a default setup, this is probably accessible at http://192.168.1.1/ . You’ll need to log in. The default Linksys username and password is admin/admin.

Changing the Linksys router’s firmware

4. Go to the Administration tab, and choose Firmware Upgrade. (This is standard for a Linksys router; other routers may offer this option in a different place.) It offers a slot to choose a firmware file from your computer, which will be installed on the router. Browse to the Tomato directory you created and choose the appropriate .bin file for your router. For a Linksys WRT54GL, for instance, choose WRT54G_WRT54GL.bin. Click the Upgrade button and do not interrupt the connection until the process completes! When it’s done, your router will reboot itself. When it returns, it’ll be running Tomato.

Use the Firmware

Monitoring network traffic in real time is just one of the tricks Tomato’s open firmware can do

First, change the administrator password to something that’s not the default, so random internet people can’t log in and change your settings. Tomato’s options are all laid out in a sidebar: click Administration and then Admin Access to get to the password page.

Now connect the router to the Internet and play around.

• One popular thing to do is to boost the transmission power: you can crank it all the way up to 251 mW. But this is unneighborly. It interferes with other signals in the area. It’s also somewhat useless — laptops will be able to find the router’s signal from farther away, but they won’t be powerful enough to transmit back to it at that distance, so the connection won’t work. Be smart and bump it up to 70mW.

• Set up some QoS rules. That way, you can make sure that your high-priority tasks (web browsing, gaming or VoIP) get all the throughput they need, while lower-priority tasks like BitTorrent downloads don’t eat up the bulk of your bandwidth.

• If you have kids (or leeching housemates of another sort), you can gain finer control over their access to the internet. Block P2P file transfers or ActiveX traffic at the router. You can also turn off wireless access during certain times of the day.

• Use your new firmware to run Dynamic DNS, which is essential if you want to set up a mail server, run a BBS or share your music collection through a web interface.

See the Tomato website for more about these (and far geekier) options. video poquer lineaonline slotmaschineslotmaschinen online spielenslotmachine online spielenonline casino spielparty casino bonuscasinospiele mit echtem geldechtes casinocasino on net deroulette gratis downloadkasino comamerikanisches rouletteonline casino softwareslots spieleninternet kasinoglucks spiellotto am samstagonline casino pokerbest casino onlineblack jack online spielegratis casino spielenonline casino deutschwww rouletteblack jackhoyle casino games 2006play video poker online,video poker,online video poker spielenkasino roulettecasino im internetcasino online softwarebicycle casino gamesslots gamesonline roulette wiesbadenrealistisches online kasinoblackjack spieleblack jack online spielenjack black online spieleneigenes online casinorealistische online spielbankonline spiel kasinoslot machines spielencasino online gameswww casino netcasino club roulettekasino spielenroulette gewinneslotmachine spielenonline video poker spielencasino comglucksspiel onlineinternet casino,internet casino poker,internet casino niedersachsen

This blog post is circulating the net claiming Apache is superior to IIS in terms of security. This claim is based on the number of system calls IIS makes versus Apache. The author goes on to show a diagram of those system calls (see below, click the picture for a larger version of the image), claiming this is the reason IIS is less secure.

Apache system calls:

IIS system calls:

I’ve been in web development for years… and yes, Microsoft has had issues in the past in regard to security. However, this claim is totally bogus. If you look at the past years security advisory notices and open issues for Apache versus IIS you’ll see a completely different picture.

Apache v2.0.x - http://secunia.com/product/73/ 33 advisories, 3 unpatched
IIS 6 - http://secunia.com/product/1438/ 3 advisories, 0 unpatched

Nuff said.