DD-WRT and wireless...

DD-WRT is to wireless what Firefox is to IE...something better than the alternative. Hehe...at least that is my perspective on it. For those that don't know what DD-WRT is...well it is as follows:

DD-WRT is a third party developed firmware released under the terms of the GPL for many 802.11g wireless routers based on a Broadcom chip reference design. For a list of supported devices, please see the Supported Devices page.

Which means that it is an alternative firmware for those Wireless Routers listed in it's supported device list. By replacing the firmware on said routers you can open up the offerings that the router has initially. There are so many tweaks and alternate uses that DD-WRT gives your router it is amazing. Personally, since I have been using DD-WRT on my routers I have managed to not only improve the performance of the router, but make signal improvements across the whole wireless network I have made. Most firmware will not give you the options to tweak out the router that DD-WRT does and NO firmware that I have seen allows you to change the purpose of the router (i.e. bridge, repeater, etc...). The latter benefits of DD-WRT really lets one expand their network without sacrificing performance throughout.

I can't recommend DD-WRT enough...by all means check it out!

- DD-WRT WIKI
- DD-WRT Hompage

Mozilla 2.0.0.5 came out...

Ok we have a new Mozilla update that came out yesterday and addressed the following issues:

- MFSA 2007-25 XPCNativeWrapper pollution
- MFSA 2007-24 Unauthorized access to wyciwyg:// documents
- MFSA 2007-23 Remote code execution by launching Firefox from Internet Explorer
- MFSA 2007-22 File type confusion due to %00 in name
- MFSA 2007-21 Privilege escallation using an event handler attached to an element not in the document
- MFSA 2007-20 Frame spoofing while window is loading
- MFSA 2007-19 XSS using addEventListener and setTimeout
- MFSA 2007-18 Crashes with evidence of memory corruption

Having set my Firefox browser to auto update I got this in an expedited fashion with no problems. However, over the last 24 hours I have noticed a particular issue that has popped up post update that is annoying the crap out of me. Seems if I follow an image link I cannot hit the back button to get to the page with the original link. It acts as if I opened the link in a new window with no link history. Although...if you load the page again that contained the image link and click it the image link again...all is fine and you can hit the back button as you should be able to. Not a serious issue, but one I will report nonetheless.

Leave a comment if you too are having issues with this latest update to Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.5.

- "Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.5 Final" @ MSFN
- "Mozilla Firefox v2.0.0.5" @ Mozilla

PDF Creation tools...

As any of you know that have visited my blog in the past...I am all about the FREE or Open Source goodies. So, when I discovered the various methods of making PDFs without having to use Adobe Reader I was ecstatic. Now mind you this road of PDF making has been a long one and over the years I have played with the many apps that have come and gone. However, more recently I stumbled upon two that I can't speak enough about, BullZIP and LOOP.

BullZIP is a PDF creator that substitutes as a printer...meaning that you send a print job to the BullZIP PDF Printer and BOOM you have a PDF of your document. I have found this particular tool helpful at those times that I did not have a printer handy and had to have a copy of whatever it was. It is a great utility with many features that I will list below and I highly recommend people check it out:

BULLZIP FEATURES
* Print to PDF from almost any Windows program.
* Supports 64-bit operatings systems.
* Direct output to the same file each time or prompt for destination.
* Control if the printer should ask if you want to see the resulting PDF document.
* Control output and prompts programmatically.
* Setup can run unattended.
* Graphical user interface.
* Password protect PDF documents.
* 128/40 bit encryption.
* Quality settings (screen, printer, ebook, prepress).
* Set document properties.
* Watermark text, size, rotation, and transparency.
* Supreimpose/background documents.
* Appending/prepending documents.
* User interface control.
* Command line interface to all settings.
* COM/ActiveX interface for programmatic control.
* Support for Citrix MetaFrame
* Support for Windows Terminal Server

The next PDF goodness on the list is LOOP...a Firefox plug-in that will create PDFs on the fly while you are browsing. LOOP doesn't generate the PDFs locally unfortunately, but it is in fact generated on the LOOP web servers. For those with privacy concerns this might freak you out, but I don't see the process as anything too concerning and I am paranoid about everything. You also have to enable it with a login w/ an email on their site. Worth a look anyhow!

I know I only mentioned the two...but I cannot talk about PDFs and not mention Foxit and Open Office. Foxit is the bomb of PDF readers and I highly recommend everyone go and snag that up...FREE. Also, for those of you who want to create PDFs right from your doc...or office suite...hit up Open Office...does everthing MS Office does...and then some...i.e. create PDFs.

- BullZIP
- LOOP *Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration also has an article on this.
- Open Office
- Foxit

Learning to develop...

I know that there are some readers out there that have an interest in developing and can attest to the benefits of learning through tutorials or labs. Well for those of you looking for more labs or tutorials the fine blogger at Somasegar's WebLog has laid out quite a few links to this very thing. Albeit that all of these labs and tutorials are specifically geared towards Microsoft's various offerings...it is still pretty darn cool.

Now time for the link whore....here ya go:
ASP.NET 2.0
ASP.NET
BizTalk Server
Commerce Server
Connected Systems
Data Access and Storage
Internet Information Services (IIS)
JPlusN (J+N)
Microsoft Expression
.NET Framework 3.0
Office
Security
Smart Client
Soup to Nuts
SQL Server 2005
SQL Server 2005 Upgrade
TechNet Virtual Labs
Visual Basic
Visual C#
Visual C++
Visual J#
Visual SourceSafe
Visual Studio .NET 2003
Visual Studio 2005
Visual Studio Team System
Web Services
Windows Embedded CE 6.0
Windows Mobile
Windows Vista
Windows XP Embedded

- "Hands-on Labs - A great resource for developer learning" @ Somasegar's WebLog
- "Helping developers with "How Do I" information" @ Somasegar's WebLog
- "Welcome to the MSDN Virtual Labs" @ MSDN

Do you program or are interested in programming with Powershell

Well here is a book by Frank Koch that he has made available for free download:

Windows Powershell

This is an introduction to programming with Powershell...pretty cool...and FREE!

Cool Vista tweak...

Here is an interesting little tweak to get a little more out of you CPU under Vista. I found it while reading the Microsoft Technet Blog:

Get more performance out of Vista. The default power plan in Vista is set to Balanced. Changing it to High Performance will increase the CPU utilization up to 50%. That’s in Control Panel, Power Options.

- "Vista CPU performance" @ John Roller Blog

HTML ART...holy crap this guy can code..

Asus EEE PC701 Laptop

This is going to be the shizzy of laptops and if you ask why...well at $199-$250 it will be something cool to have. The last projected date of sale I saw was this August and I will be the first to say that I will be getting one. Granted this isn't going to be the type of laptop you are going to Game or do any hardcore crunching with...it will still be a great laptop to do those mundane tasks and more. Check the specs:

Display：7"
CPU & Chipset: Intel mobile CPU & chipset
OS: Linux/ Microsoft Windows XP compatible
Communication: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet; 56K modem
WLAN: WiFi 802.11b/g
Graphic: Intel UMA
Memory: 512MB, DDR2-400
Storage: 4/ 8/ 16GB Flash
Webcam: 300K pixel video camera
Audio: Hi-Definition Audio CODEC; Built-in stereo speaker; Built-in microphone
Battery Life: 3hrs (4 cells: 5200mAh, 2S2P)
Dimension & Weight: 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1~3.5cm, 0.89kg

This little laptop will be portable and fun...hit up the links below to read up more on it and by all means check out the ASUS slide show for this bad boy to get an idea on just how big it is.

- "The $199 computer from Asus" @ TGDaily
- "ASUS EEE PC 701 200-250$ NOTEBOOK" @ XtReview
- "Asus Eee PC First Thoughts" @ BrightHand
- "Asus EEE PC701 - Reviewed" @ GadgetTastic
- "Asus Eee PC First Thoughts" @ Notebook Review
- "EEE PC 701" @ ASUS (THIS IS THE MUST SEE SLIDESHOW)

PC-BSD Unix for the desktop...

I vaguely remember hearing about this project some time ago, but until recently I haven't done anything with it. The project in question is PC-BSD a Unix system based on FREE-BSD and being a BSD user...I had to check it out. I had no idea what to expect when I downloaded this alternative to the many Linux distros out there, but after reading up on their website...it looked cool.

The installation was a breeze with its graphical menus and it even installed all my hardware without a hitch...yes even my wireless NIC. The only real problem I ran into in the initial setup was connecting to my home wifi network that is secured with WPA-PSK. Connecting to any WPA network seems to be a pain the butt for the many Linux distros...so why shouldn't it be for the Unix platform. It took a little work...but soon I was online and getting updates for this bad boy. After all the automatic updates were done I decided to hit up the PC-BSD website and see what packages they had. This is were this particular distro gets cool and I would imagine make installing things a lot easier for the novice.

The packages, PBI files, are similar to the exe, msi, and etc. files you use with Windows and the people at PC-BSD have done a great job of covering everything from Chat to Web Apps and everything in between. They have even made PBI files for games for goodness sakes...which under Linux can take awhile...but here it is just a single file. Now they don't have PBI's for everything just yet...but they are continually updating their library, which more recently includes viewers for MS WORD, Powerpoint, and Excel.

If you have a spare PC, Laptop, or even a spare partition...this little distro is worth a look.

- PC-BSD
- DistroWatch

Default password list...

I have been going to this site for sometime now and it really does make for a great tool to have in any techy arsenal. It is always good to have the default password for any number or kind of hardware when you want to troubleshoot a situation or something. Also...no matter how much you try to tell someone to change the default password on any of these devices...more times than not...they don't...in that situation there is fun to be had for all :P

Cool web chat...

The people over at ChatMaker have made a pretty cool web chat app using Ajax and WEB 2.0 design. You merely type in your room name and it will create the room, supply you with a link, and you can then chat away. I can see that this would be a great tool for those that want to hook up a chat on the fly.

I personally went with the "test" room name to check it out and well I ended up chatting it up with strangers for some time and from the number of folks that were in there at the time...I can only assume DIGG did it's job and informed many.

- "Make Chat Rooms On The Fly - (AJAX + Web 2.0)" @ DIGG

Been awhile...

Been quite awhile since my last post, but I am here today to say that I will be posting daily once again. So hold on to your socks as ctrl will be rockin' it out.

How much information is too much information when reporting flaws

I don't know, but that is an interesting dilemma. Whereas software companies want to do the responsible thing and let their customers know of a flaw, without disclosing the flaw itself, and provide a workaround until a patch is available, but it seems that there are a few people out there who take the workaround information and figure out what the flaw actually is. Outside of those that intend to do good with the exploit, pen testers and such, you still have that group of people that intend to do harm with an exploit. So this leaves what may have been an unnoticed flaw, until it was reported as such, a real security hazard for those that actually use said vulnerable software. Now they HAVE to do the workaround and the patch as soon as it is available, because X software company published in essence a "how to" expose' on it's own software.

It is a vicious circle this damn responsible disclosure, but I would take the software companies letting this information being known and speeding up the process of patching versus having something in the wild that is widely used but still an unknown hole.

Where do you stand on this debate?

- "MS Giving Exploit Writers Clues To Flaws" @ slashdot
- "Microsoft’s advisories giving clues to hackers" @ ZDNet blogs

Windows Media Plugin for Firefox

In reading the TechNet blog of "The Sean Blog" I found out that Port 25 has made a plug-in for Firefox that allows you to view Windows Media fiiles. Although I might add that I have not had an issue with this...don't know why...but it just hasn't been an issue...although I do think it is cool that there is a specific plug-in for those of you that do.

- "Windows Media now works on Firefox!" @ The Sean Blog
- "Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin - Download" @ Port 25

ON A SIDE NOTE...I DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHY MOST OF THE TECHNET BLOGS DON'T HAVE A DAMN "HOME" OPTION ON ANY OF THEIR PAGES. I WOULD ESTIMATE THAT ABOUT 90% OF THE PAGES I HAVE SEEN ARE LIKE THIS AND WHERE IT ISN'T THAT BAD TO JUST MODIFY THE LINK OR CLICK THE BANNER...YOU WOULD THINK THAT "USEABILITY" WOULD HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THIS SYSTEM BY ADDING A MENU. BOGGLES THE MIND, BUT LEAVE IT TO A SOFTWARE COMPANY TO LEAVE OUT THOSE SMALL DETAILS!

Don't forget...today is Oracle Patch day!

Today is patch Tuesday for Oracle admins and the like. Oracle will be releasing a critical Patch update today that will fix some 37 bugs in the following products:

* Oracle Database 10g Release 2, versions 10.2.0.2, 10.2.0.3
* Oracle Database 10g Release 1, versions 10.1.0.4, 10.1.0.5
* Oracle9i Database Release 2, versions 9.2.0.7, 9.2.0.8
* Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 10g Release 1, version 10.1.8
* Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 (10.1.3), versions 10.1.3.0.0, 10.1.3.1.0, 10.1.3.2.0
* Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2 (10.1.2), versions 10.1.2.0.1 - 10.1.2.0.2, 10.1.2.1.0, 10.1.2.2.0
* Oracle Application Server 10g (9.0.4), version 9.0.4.3
* Oracle10g Collaboration Suite Release 1, version 10.1.2
* Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i, versions 11.5.7 - 11.5.10 CU2
* Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, version 12.0.0
* Oracle Enterprise Manager 9i Release 2, versions 9.2.0.7, 9.2.0.8
* Oracle Enterprise Manager 9i, version 9.0.1.5
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools versions 8.22, 8.47, 8.48
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management version 8.9
* JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools version 8.96
* JD Edwards OneWorld Tools SP23
* Oracle9i Database Release 1, versions 9.0.1.5, 9.0.1.5 FIPS
* Oracle9i Database Release 2, versions 9.2.0.5
* Oracle Database 10g Release 2, version 10.2.0.1

The following are things that are fixed in the various components of the above products:

Oracle Database
* Advanced Queuing
* Advanced Replication
* Authentication
* Change Data Capture (CDC)
* Core RDBMS
* Oracle Agent
* Oracle Instant Client
* Oracle Streams
* Oracle Text
* Oracle Workflow Cartridge
* Rules Manager, Expression Filter
* Ultra Search
* Upgrade/Downgrade

Oracle Application Server
* Oracle COREid Access
* Oracle Discoverer
* Oracle Portal
* Oracle Wireless
* Oracle Workflow Cartridge
* Oracle WebCenter Suite - Secure Enterprise Search

Oracle Collaboration Suite
* Oracle Workflow Cartridge fix
* 1 new Specific fix for OCS; no name

Oracle E-Business Suite
* 2 of these vulnerabilities may be remotely exploited without authentication; no other specifics, but "may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password"
* Oracle Application Object Library
* Oracle Applications Manager
* Oracle Common Applications
* Oracle iProcurement
* Oracle iStore
* Oracle iSupport
* Oracle Report Manager
* Oracle Sales Online
* Oracle Trade Management
* Oracle Workflow Cartridge

Oracle Enterprise Manager
* 2 fixes; "both of which may be remotely exploitable without authentication, i.e. they may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password."

Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleTools
* 1 new security fix for PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management
* 1 new security fix for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and JD Edwards OneWorld Tools
* JD Edwards HTML Server
* PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management
* PeopleTools

* All information comes from the following Oracle Security Bulletin: Oracle Critical Patch Update Pre-Release Announcement - April 2007

- Oracle Downloads @ Oracle
- Critical Patch Updates and Security Alerts @ Oracle

IT Professional Step-by-Step Guides for Vista

Just cruising the web and found myself on the MS forums...where I stumbled on these little helpful how-to's for Vista. I haven't read them all...but in scanning the Netsh commands for a wireless network...I can see where they can be handy. Check 'em out!

- "Windows Vista Step-by-Step Guides for IT Professionals" @ Microsoft

Death of XP!

Okay...I am going to go out on a limb here and say that maybe Paul Thurrott knew something the rest of us did not when we put out his comment about there being no Service Pack 3 for XP. If you are glassy eyed wondering WTF I am going on about...well read up here, "Service Pack wonders...when? and if ever?". Now onto what Paul might have known...it seems that Microsoft has let out of the bag that it will be discontinuing the sell of XP starting during the first quarter of 2008 and with that announcement it has left more than a few wondering if that will mean that Microsoft will also shift some dates around with it's "Service Pack Roadmap" and cut that road short, while putting Vista in the express lane.

Anyhow...read up on some of these links and share your thoughts...kinda sucks if you ask me...the least Microsoft can do is have a viable alternative rather than something that is less than viable from the standpoint of software and driver compatibility. Something that most importantly will not force one to update the majority of their software library or find alternatives that work with the Vista OS.

- "Windows XP to be Phased Out by Year's End Despite Strong Demand" @ OS News
- "Windows XP to be phased out by year's end despite customer demand" @ APC
- "Microsoft to Discontinue OEM sales of XP by the End of 2007" @ Daily Tech
- "Time is Running Out for Windows XP" @ Yahoo News
- "Time is Running Out for Windows XP" @ PC World
- "Windows XP execution date set" @ The Inquirer
- "Service Pack wonders...when? and if ever?" @ CTRL Zone Blog

Symantec issues a patch for it's Enterprise Security Manager...how many will do it?

Now...this is more of a wager post or is that a prediction of failure post...hrm? I am sure most remember the Time Warner screw-up!? If not, you can read up on one of my previous posts on the subject, "Geez talk about a slackin ass IT department...", in which it goes on to tell the tale of an IT department that didn't apply a patch from Symantec that was almost a year old and fell victim to a worm that exploited the very vulnerability that "should have" been patched. My guess is that some IT department in the future will not heed the warning today and let this patch fly on by and do a lot of finger pointing when it is eventually exploited on their network. So, don't be a bonehead and patch it now!

Well, now Symantec has found a vulnerability in it's ESM (Enterprise Security Manager) product that is susceptible to remote code execution. I am proud to say that Symantec found this in it's own testing and disclosed as such, which means a lot in this time when most would just sweep under the rug any vulnerabilities that may have been found under their own testing. Well done Symantec!

You can view the affected versions of ESM and get the patch on the Symantec link below, as well as read more on the vulnerability and related articles.

- "Symantec Enterprise Security Manager™ Signature Fix" @ Symantec
- "Symantec has closed critical hole in its Enterprise Security Manager" @ Heise Security
- "Symantec Patches 'High-Risk' Bug" @ Information Week
- "Geez talk about a slackin ass IT department..." @ CTRL Zone Blog

Peeps are jumping on the bandwagon and rightfully so!

Some may remember the article I wrote about the USBCell rechargeable battery, "Pretty cool battery...". Well, it turns out that Energizer is hopping on the USB rechargeable battery tech with it's own "Dock & Go" and "DUO Charger". I must admit that I actually like the fact that the market for this kind of product or technology is expanding to include the larger battery manufacturers, although USBCell is still the innovator IMO(In My Opinion).

I will include the links for this article after the Energizer pic posts of their two new products:


DUO Charger

DUO Charger

DUO Charger

Dock & Go

Dock & Go

Dock & Go

- "Pretty cool battery..." @ CTRL Zone Blog
- "STAY CHARGED FOR EVERY OCCASION WITH NEW CHARGER INNOVATIONS FROM ENERGIZER®" @ PWR New Media

AC troubles...DAMN and I really like their products!

For those of you that don't know...I am a huge Arctic Cooling fan...haha...fan! Anyhow...I have used AC CPU cooling exclusively for years, when I didn't think the CPU manufacture fan that comes in the retail box wasn't up to snuff. I even use their case fans...as it just seems they put out a quality product. Now...onto the story...it seems that there is a power struggle over at AC between the founders of this company. Turns out the CEO, Magnus Huber, got a controlling interest of the company recently and decided to clean house, which includes '86ing co-founder, Gebhard Scherrer.

I hope this has no effect on the quality of products I have come to expect from AC, if it survives this struggle at all. Anyhow...WORK IT OUT GUYS...think of the children...err...the customers.

- "Company Information" @ Arctic Cooling
- "Police visit Arctic Cooling offices in Hong Kong" @ The Inquirer