Throw A Mouse

In order to access the Apple Time Capsule via Linux machine, here is what has to be done:

Step 1:

Make sure that you have smbfs and smbclient packages installed. In the popular Ubuntu distribution they are installed by default. In order to check you can use the terminal as follows:

sudo apt-get install smbfs
sudo apt-get install smbclient

Step 2:

Create a mount point:

cd /media
sudo mkdir capsule

Step 3:

Mount the drive:

sudo mount.cifs //10.0.1.1/"Capsule-Network-Name" /media/capsule -o pass=capsulepassword

The 10.0.1.1 address is the address which which the capsule identifies itself in the network. Respectively, Capsule-Network-Name is the name of the time machine in the network, capsulepassword is the password of the capsule.

Step 4:

You can now access the Time Capsule from Nautilus. If you want to write files into the Capsule you need to be identified as root. You ca open Nautilus as root by opening terminal and:

sudo nautilus

Enjoy!

Wolfram Alpha is finally launched for everyone. It really seems capable of answering some complicated questions but on my opinion it still needs some work. However, the job of the artificial intelligence behind it is remarkable.

What many people expected was that Wolfram Alpha will challenge Google as a search engine, but what I see now is that it has different purpose. The A.I. seems more like a giant encyclopedia with very “clever” search engine and network abilities than a web search engine. What is more, if you want to search the web, there is a special button for that on every search page in Wolfram. So, it is meant to work with Google, not against it.

However, I wonder how Wikipedia will handle that…

That’s it. Ubuntu is going “cloudy” too.

Since the project of Ubuntu’s 9th version arrived there were rumors that it will be cloud oriented. Finally, UbuntuOne service is launched. As it was launched today not everyone can subscribe currently. However, I am sure that soon enough we can have a glimpse of the new “cloud”. Stay tuned!

I’m a real Linux user. I admit. I have got rid of the bad habit to use Windows and now i feel uncomfortable using it. However, even though I find Linux the better operating system, I find sometimes some limitations in compatibility. The example:

None of the build in Linux software can edit RAW image files normally. By “normally” i mean without taking forever and reporting error message when trying to manipulate an image. This has been quite a problem for me lately as I now have a pile of pictures waiting to be edited.

RAW image editing software for Linux

So far I have tried a plugin for Gimp which did manage to make the software handle .NEF files. However it is still a bit slow and I cannot have overview on all the files I want to edit. So i tried with F-Spot Photo Manager but it cannot handle .NEF file at all, it can only display them.

Then I found the solution. It was simple but it took me a while to get what I need. Rawstudio. It is in the normal repository of Ubuntu, a search away. It looks a bit like Adobe Lightroom. It seems to have the basic things I need to manipulate images and that’s quite satisfactory for me. If you have the same problem I advice you to give it a try.

Enjoy!

A little customer’s questions:

• i keep having problems with tracking cookies viruses.  i think it is affecting my other programs.  how did i get this virus? and how can i stop this virus from continuing to infect my computer?
• This morning, by 9:00 am I found a “Complete test” found one dangerous file, mom@pro-market[1].txt, TrackingCookie.Promarket
  ***** is not doing anything to stop it,the timer indicates the activity has been going on for over 1 hr.
  How does exactly ***** protect me, if it doesn’t eliminate the infection?
  WHAT DO I DO NOW to reverse the action of the cookie?
  How to stop its activity in my PC?
  how to get back all the info they got from me?
  What exactly is the damage this cookie did?-
• Do you have Jihadists on your staff? That kind of programming, on your part, equals cyber terrorism to me.
• I would like to buy the [anti-virus software] for my lap top.  I have it on my Desk Top and I love it.  But the problem is, I don’t have an email address on my lap top.  If I send it to my Desk Top email address will it be loaded to my lap top.
• hello, I have four hackers who have sent my computer down. they can change web pages all the time.
• When I installed ATKKBService.exe my left nut exploded.I would say that this is because it is known to give testicular cancer
• and I describe this issue in more details:
  the Weather – boom! – a flash ( fire from the sky)= electrical shock = boom = dead!
  that’s all. all harddisk’s – broken – kaputt – feierabend! – ENDE – Fin -
  No Programms – no Back Ups – …..Ups! all gone!
  # oh … ah … i got a “back up” CD – your welcome! please install!
  I#m shure i win – because I got  a licence number – I pay for it! – I#m shure i win! ……( the
  battle agains the maschine…… if you use windows…… you  know what i mean . #####)
  but ……murphys law ……..
  ..so, I’ll be shure —- to install, and do everything in the explicite right order, … but…..!
  ..don’t ask me stupid questions about install your programm! please!
  ——–Install – - -  bla bla —-
  Licence Number -  – - -
  Tip tip…
  Enter – -
  Your  licence  is not …… – - – ???????
  So please tell me why?
  We got a contract about 2 years, and only 6 month gone.!
  So what happened?
  R4i – tck
• I paid for lifetime support and not feeling the love here.
• click on download link-how do I do this?
• RECENTL Y FOUND OUT THAT I HAVE THOUSANDS OF PARASITES INVADING MY COMPUTER.
• - What type of Internet connection do you use? (ADSL modem, wireless,
  cable etc.)
  - I am in an apartment in South Korea and the internet connection plugs into the wall.
• I have installed the download many times. Each time I open it it reinstalls again?
• This time I re-booted even when i wasn’t prompted, just to make sure Windows was happy.
• I am also unsure if I have which Windows is in computer.  My computer will be 3 years old this month.
• I can’t seem to extract any problem files?
• Oh, now that was an answer that did not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.
• I got fed up trying things and leaving my PC open to virus’ so I bought a
  new AVG and that’s working fine
• Good Morning:
  For the life of me I am unable to decide if
  1-I am stupid,
  2-the programe hates me or
  3-my computer hates me.
• I am NOT able to use copy & paste–the system does not  allow this feature.
• I am fully installed, but now I’m incredibly slow.
• I have performed all steps up to 5 – but I don’t know what you mean by the
  ‘Start’ menu. I can’t find this.
• wow, if you can believe it, I actually did it right the first time!
  and it was ONLY 40 steps!
  how could anyone short of Bill Gates or Chuck Norris pull that off on the
  first shot??
  not to toot my own horn, but I may just have to send my resume in to NASA
  after that!
  thanks for the help, I like your product very much.
• my computer shut itself down to protect itself from damage
• Should I shoot the machine … myself … or the rabbit?
• PLEASE REPLY ALSO THRU OUTLET EXPRESS AS I AM NOT SURE I CAN ACCESS MY GMAIL ACCOUNT
• If I am connected to the Internet, then update works, but if I am not connected then if fails to update.
• I have a CDR however I have never copied a software program to a CD, do I copy it from the web site or my hard drive?
  unable to copy and paste the lic number how do  you keep both windows open at the same time. and can not type the number in manuely. still not happy
• now I have a trojan trying to eat my computer. Great

More to come…

Just found the perfect synchronizing solution!

Dropbox can syncronize your files between machines using different OS, it supports Windows, Mac and Linux! The design of the site is very pleasant, they provide web access, encypted connection, real time syncronization, public folder, sharing between users, and 2GB free accounts.

http://dropbox.com

Enjoy!

Assuming that software always has to be compiled…

Who compiled the first compiler? And how?

Screenshot of Google Notebooks plugin for Firefox

Google Notebooks is not the most popular service of Google, but I find it very useful lately. It provides the possibility to create and easily edit lists online, which can be either private or shared. For the way I organize myself this feature is a bit less than perfect.

The only thing i didn’t like is that it is not integrated in my GMail, as all the other Google services I use and this made it a bit difficult to access. However, the Google Notebooks plugin for Firefox browser fixes this issue.

It installs as a normal plugin and is just a discrete button at the bottom of the browser interface. When you need to bookmark a page, or you need to check already added bookmark, you can click the button and a little version of the Google Notebooks interface appears (as shown on picture). It has the full and complete usability as the normal interface of the Notebooks.

You can download the plugin here. Enjoy!

As we all know, Windows is a kind of operating system which is quite vulnerable to malicious code, which we call virus. I wil explain later the kinds of viruses and their damage, but now I would like to focus on virus removal.

What is important to keep your Windows system free of viruses is:

• To apply all security updates provided by Microsoft
• To use a reliable anti-virus software and keep it updated
• To avoid downloading files from suspicious sites and to be careful what kind of e-mail attachments are opened

Of course, as new viruses appear daily, it is qite possible to catch a new virus, which your anti-virus software doesn’t detect yet. In this case, the best (and easiest) procedure is as follows:

1. Scan your computer once again with an anti-virus software. Safe the log.

2. Download HijackThis utility. It is available here.

3. Install the utility and run it. Choose the “Do a system scan and save a log file” option.

4. When the log file is generated, go to hijackthis.de website. There you can parse the generated log file.

5. Check the result. If there are items marked as security risk, do the following:

• Make a google search for the suspicious file. We do not want to delete system files or drivers ;)
• Delete the malicious files. If you do not have access permissions to delete them, you should reboot your computer in SafeMode and try then. Note that some files and folders are hidden by default in windows, so if you don’t find the suspicious file, you have to make them visible.

6. If there are no items found as security risk, and you are sertain there is a virus on your system, you can do the following:

• Check the HijackThis log file manually. This means you have to Google every of the running processes listed in the log manually.
• Check your computer for rootkits*. You can do that using RootkitRevealer. Note that this utility shows all hidden files, not only rootkits.

7. Now, in case you want to help out your anti-virus software and this way safe other people’s computers, you can send them a sampe of the newly discovered virus. You can do this as follows:

• Before you delete a file, pack it in a password-protected archive.
• If deleting the file fixes your computer, send the archive to your anti-virus company as well as the scan results. They will analyze the sample and add to next definitions.

That’s all. Good luck in the fight with the malicious code.

* Rootkt is a malicious code which has the ability to hide itself. That kind of unwanted software is the most difficult to get rid of.

Most people are using too simple passwords, which they change maybe once in life. That is a big security issue. Besides, but with little effort it is possible to generate easily strong and secure passwords.

There is a password system, that is simple to learn and provides secure passwords, which are always different, but still easy to memorize.

The system can be based on two rules only:

1. Generate a random sentence, which you can remember easily. Hint: Create a very special, weird sentence, so you wont forget it too soon, like: “To cook is fun with 5 Germans in town!”. From that sentence take always the first letter, that builds the first part of your secure password in this case: Tcifw5it!
2. If you build a password for a website, then take for example the last letter in the main part of the URL as an addition. For example if you register on youtube.com: it will be the letter “e”.

Put those rules together and you have a dynamic and secure password algorithm. In this case you built Tcifw5it!e

It’s important that you use at least one number and one special character like “?” “!” “.” etc. in your secure password. Of course my own system has other rules, but be creative to make your own rules. For example, instead of the last letter of a URL, you can take the sum of the letters as an additional part to your strong password.