From pete at heypete.com Wed Dec 1 12:18:00 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 1 15:20:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Generator for computers? Message-ID: Greetings all, I'm looking for a generator to run several computers (and maybe a lamp or two) during a power outage. Likely load is less than 1,000 watts. The POS Coleman generator we have right now puts out totally unregulated power that is completely unsuitable for the computer. Even my APC UPS can't filter it right and simply runs off battery until it runs flat. I'm looking at the Honda EU1000, which is small, lightweight, quiet, and boasts the "Honda Inverter Technology" -- evidently it has a CPU-controlled inverter which provides clean power to computers. They claim it offers better sine wave power than commercial mains power. Does anyone here have any experience on the EU1000 or EU2000 generators, a good source for them, and any other useful knowledge or information? Cheers! -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Dec 1 15:51:36 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Wed Dec 1 15:55:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > > Does anyone here have any experience on the EU1000 or EU2000 > generators, a good source for them, and any other useful knowledge or > information? Not particularly, but almost all Honda products are pretty safe bets as far as reliability and good design, be it a Civic, a lawn mower, or a generator. From pete at heypete.com Wed Dec 1 13:08:22 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 1 16:10:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , "indigo" wrote: > Not particularly, but almost all Honda products are pretty safe bets as far > as reliability and good design, be it a Civic, a lawn mower, or a generator. Oh, completely agreed. Honda makes incredibly good engines. I'm amazed that they can make so many of them, so precisely, and so inexpensively. This particular generator looks to be a pretty safe bet, although it's a bit pricey. Of course, my computer hardware is fairly pricey too, and has a damned good APC UPS acting as a proxy[1] between the systems on my network and the mains power. I guess you get what you pay for, you know? Now I just need to find a job. :-P [1] I'll never understand why people skimp on things that really matter. Buy a $4,000 computer...get a $10 surge protector. Hell no. My UPS cost about $200. Sure, some of it's the brand...but APC == Good Stuff. I've had an old UPS (still have it lying around for the memories) that ate a lightning surge one day and kept ticking. No way in hell am I buying some off-brand UPS. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Dec 1 17:00:24 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Wed Dec 1 17:05:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > In article , > "indigo" wrote: > > > Not particularly, but almost all Honda products are pretty safe > > bets as far as reliability and good design, be it a Civic, a lawn > > mower, or a generator. > > Oh, completely agreed. Honda makes incredibly good engines. I'm amazed > that they can make so many of them, so precisely, and so > inexpensively. A buddy of mine who lives on a well/septic system designed and installed a seamless power generation system for his house. He has a relay set to trip if the power goes off, the relay is wired to the electronic ignition switch of his generator, and the generator feeds his house fuse box. All he needs to do is refill the gas tank on the generator every 12 hours or something. Pretty cool, eh? He has something else installed or wired a certain way to prevent the power from going *out* of his house back into the grid so his neighbors don't get free juice from him ;-) Going without power (and water) for 2 weeks like he did two years ago due to a horrible ice storm will certainly get the creative juices flowing! (like me and my emergency backup sump pump system, one guess as to why I built that ;-) From pete at heypete.com Wed Dec 1 17:18:05 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 1 20:20:06 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , "indigo" wrote: > A buddy of mine who lives on a well/septic system designed and installed a > seamless power generation system for his house. He has a relay set to trip > if the power goes off, the relay is wired to the electronic ignition switch > of his generator, and the generator feeds his house fuse box. All he needs > to do is refill the gas tank on the generator every 12 hours or something. > Pretty cool, eh? He has something else installed or wired a certain way to > prevent the power from going *out* of his house back into the grid so his > neighbors don't get free juice from him ;-) Hehe. Isolation switches like that are good stuff. The automatic ones are particularly good. We had some manual ones at the ambulance company I used to work for...but they were in the garage (with the generator and power-operated metal door...bonehead maneuver there considering it was dark...). Very handy. The isolation switches are partially so your neighbors don't mooch juice from you (and would thus overload the generator), and so when the mains power comes back online the overwhelming amount of power coming from the grid doesn't melt/explode/ka-blooie the generator. I want the uber-huge generators they have at major datacenters that can run for days. I've never understood why datacenters don't have dual-fuel generators (i.e. one that feeds off the natural gas pipeline and a diesel one) -- in major events like 9/11 diesel supplies went to 911 centers, rescuers, hospitals, etc. Datacenters and cell towers ran out of diesel over the next few days. Natural gas supplies would (hopefully) be uninterrupted. Redundancy and all that. > Going without power (and water) for 2 weeks like he did two years ago due to > a horrible ice storm will certainly get the creative juices flowing! (like > me and my emergency backup sump pump system, one guess as to why I built > that ;-) Damn straight. We didn't have problems like that there, but we did go for a few days without power. No power = no computers. No computers = Unhappy Pete(tm). That, combined with the fact that there's usually copious amounts of rain means that we need the generator to keep the basement from flooding (evidently both of us share the sump pump problem). Anyway, I did pick up the EU1000, and that's a quiet little sucker. The Coleman generator was noisy as hell and produced power good enough for the sump pump, but wasn't anywhere near as "clean" as it should be for computers and whatnot. The EU1000 has some nifty electronic stuff to regulate the voltage (and throttle down the engine to the minimum RPMs necessary to generate power to save gasoline and extend runtime) so that it's "computer friendly". Very slick stuff. Hmm. Now I need to spend what remains of my money on Christmas shopping. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From borgholio at storymind.com Wed Dec 1 17:24:39 2004 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Wed Dec 1 20:25:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > > Hmm. Now I need to spend what remains of my money on Christmas shopping. > :) > *cough*rifle*cough* From pete at heypete.com Wed Dec 1 17:30:34 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 1 20:35:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , Borgholio wrote: > *cough*rifle*cough* Already got two. Now I just need ammo. This is christmas shopping for *other* people. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From borgholio at storymind.com Wed Dec 1 17:36:55 2004 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Wed Dec 1 20:40:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > In article , > Borgholio wrote: > > >>*cough*rifle*cough* > > > Already got two. Now I just need ammo. > > This is christmas shopping for *other* people. :) > I repeat. ;-) From pete at heypete.com Wed Dec 1 18:07:19 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 1 21:10:07 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , Borgholio wrote: > I repeat. ;-) That's actually illegal in California, believe it or not. I cannot legally buy a firearm as a gift to another person. I can purchase it for myself, pay the $25 processing fee, wait 10 days, pick it up, turn around, pay $35 ($10 person-to-person fee plus $25 state fee), have the recipient fill out the paperwork, wait ten days, and then pick it up. In short -- $60 and 20 days later, they can take the rifle or shotgun home. It's even more expensive to buy a handgun (more fees and paperwork). Oh, and it's supposed to prevent criminals from transferring weapons amongst themselves...as if they'd bother to do any paperwork, pay fees, or otherwise obey the law when they plan to use their guns for criminal acts. It costs us law-abiding folks money and time to transfer a gun that'll never be used in crime. Absolutely ludicrous. This is .geeks, and we're supposed to be talking about generators. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From me at privacy.net Wed Dec 1 21:41:04 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Dec 1 21:45:06 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" | I'm looking for a generator to run several computers (and maybe a lamp | or two) during a power outage. Likely load is less than 1,000 watts. | | The POS Coleman generator we have right now puts out totally unregulated | power that is completely unsuitable for the computer. Even my APC UPS | can't filter it right and simply runs off battery until it runs flat. | | I'm looking at the Honda EU1000, which is small, lightweight, quiet, and | boasts the "Honda Inverter Technology" -- evidently it has a | CPU-controlled inverter which provides clean power to computers. They | claim it offers better sine wave power than commercial mains power. | | Does anyone here have any experience on the EU1000 or EU2000 generators, | a good source for them, and any other useful knowledge or information? | RV groups have been using them for years most go for higher powers though. Might do a google groups seach on rec.outdoors.rv-travel using the key word Honda generator or honda genset FWIW you could use a bank of batteries (golf cart 6 volts are available @ Sams for very reasonable) and charge off the car alternator. From me at privacy.net Wed Dec 1 21:43:14 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Dec 1 21:50:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "indigo" < . | | A buddy of mine who lives on a well/septic system designed and installed a | seamless power generation system for his house. He has a relay set to trip | if the power goes off, the relay is wired to the electronic ignition switch | of his generator, and the generator feeds his house fuse box. All he needs | to do is refill the gas tank on the generator every 12 hours or something. | Pretty cool, eh? He has something else installed or wired a certain way to | prevent the power from going *out* of his house back into the grid so his | neighbors don't get free juice from him ;-) It's called a transfer switch and is the ONLY way to go unless you are willing to use drop cords. From pete at heypete.com Wed Dec 1 19:09:12 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 1 22:10:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , "Frog Prince" wrote: > RV groups have been using them for years most go for higher powers though. > Might do a google groups seach on rec.outdoors.rv-travel using the key word > Honda generator or honda genset Indeed, that seems to be what they're mainly targeted for. The computer-grade inverter seems to target RV users with computers. Still, it's good enough for me. A thousand watts can run just about everything I need -- Cobalt machine, LCD screen, PowerMac G5, a small lamp (the flourescent replacements for incandescent type), and a mini-fridge. Life is good. :) > FWIW you could use a bank of batteries (golf cart 6 volts are available @ > Sams for very reasonable) and charge off the car alternator. Really? Does the alternator generate sufficient power? Even with my hybrid car, I think the generator would be more fuel efficient. Having a huge bank of lead-acid batteries in my basement would be kinda neat, though. Probably hazardous. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From me at privacy.net Wed Dec 1 22:24:41 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Dec 1 22:30:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" | > RV groups have been using them for years most go for higher powers though. | > Might do a google groups seach on rec.outdoors.rv-travel using the key word | > Honda generator or honda genset | | Indeed, that seems to be what they're mainly targeted for. The | computer-grade inverter seems to target RV users with computers. Not targeted at computers as most RVs have some very sophisticate inverters (some are powerful enough to run small air conditionsers) | Still, it's good enough for me. A thousand watts can run just about | everything I need -- Cobalt machine, LCD screen, PowerMac G5, a small | lamp (the flourescent replacements for incandescent type), and a | mini-fridge. Life is good. :) | | > FWIW you could use a bank of batteries (golf cart 6 volts are available @ | > Sams for very reasonable) and charge off the car alternator. | | Really? Does the alternator generate sufficient power? Even with my | hybrid car, I think the generator would be more fuel efficient. Having a | huge bank of lead-acid batteries in my basement would be kinda neat, | though. Probably hazardous. Not really. There are any number of home that are off grid. I'm playing with a design for our retirement that will run off grid but is interned to 'back feed' to the power grid (as soon as NC goes net billing). Texas has been net billing for years and we're helping my daughter to plan her house the same way. From pete at heypete.com Wed Dec 1 20:39:26 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 1 23:40:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , "Frog Prince" wrote: > Not targeted at computers as most RVs have some very sophisticate inverters > (some are powerful enough to run small air conditionsers) Well what then? The brochure specifically indicated it was "computer friendly", which is a plus. Clearly it's not powerful enough to power a house or datacenter (it's the size of a large briefcase, definitely not enough for a house) and most home computer users have bigger things to worry about than if their computer is up and running...most of them. > Not really. There are any number of home that are off grid. I'm playing > with a design for our retirement that will run off grid but is interned to > 'back feed' to the power grid (as soon as NC goes net billing). Texas has > been net billing for years and we're helping my daughter to plan her house > the same way. Indeed. When I get my own home, I will definitely be investing in solar cells, battery storage (hey, if they make fuel cells better by then maybe using fuel cells instead of batteries would be cheaper and longer-lasting), etc. I like my independence, and I like having smaller bills...even if it requires paying a bit more upfront. I'm goofy like that. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From borgholio at storymind.com Wed Dec 1 23:34:22 2004 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Dec 2 02:35:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > > Absolutely ludicrous. Agreed. My dad and I are getting 10/22s for each other...so it might be easiest just to buy our own and say it's the thought that counts. :) > > > > This is .geeks, and we're supposed to be talking about generators. :) > Who says firearms aren't geeky? Ever hear of Doom? :) From nobody at nowhere.invalid Thu Dec 2 11:42:46 2004 From: nobody at nowhere.invalid (Steven Maesslein) Date: Thu Dec 2 05:45:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: On Wed, 01 Dec 2004 18:07:19 -0800, Pete Stephenson coughed into spamcop.geeks and left this in : > That's actually illegal in California, believe it or not. So is buying a firearm "for" someone and not actually planning on giving it to them, if you see what I mean :) -- Steve BOFH excuse #393: Interference from the Van Allen Belt From me at privacy.net Thu Dec 2 07:16:36 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Dec 2 07:20:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" wrote in message news:pete-EDC906.20392601122004@news.cesmail.net... | In article , | "Frog Prince" wrote: | | > Not targeted at computers as most RVs have some very sophisticate inverters | > (some are powerful enough to run small air conditioners) | | Well what then? The brochure specifically indicated it was "computer | friendly", which is a plus. Clearly it's not powerful enough to power a | house or datacenter (it's the size of a large briefcase, definitely not | enough for a house) and most home computer users have bigger things to | worry about than if their computer is up and running...most of them. The quality of the power is a 'good thing' and something that is to be used to sell the product. 1KW may not be enough to run a MH but is more then enough for a small camp site (boon dock camping). I've run several homes on less for over a week during power outage after hurricanes. The secret is load balancing. Don't run the fridge and the freezer at the same time. Heat water only when needed. (we had cut outs so that both elements did not turn on at the same time). We would have joint meals so that we did not separate microwaves and coffee makers at the same time. | > Not really. There are any number of home that are off grid. I'm playing | > with a design for our retirement that will run off grid but is interned to | > 'back feed' to the power grid (as soon as NC goes net billing). Texas has | > been net billing for years and we're helping my daughter to plan her house | > the same way. | | Indeed. When I get my own home, I will definitely be investing in solar | cells, battery storage (hey, if they make fuel cells better by then | maybe using fuel cells instead of batteries would be cheaper and | longer-lasting), etc. I like my independence, and I like having smaller | bills...even if it requires paying a bit more upfront. I'm goofy like | that. Plan on a mixed energy source. Like I said my daughters home will be able to run completely off grid but she will essentially be using the grid as an (economic) energy storage. That way she will be able to benefit from the net billing without having to spend big bucks providing for her peak usage. From Kilgallen at SpamCop.net Thu Dec 2 07:29:42 2004 From: Kilgallen at SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen) Date: Thu Dec 2 08:30:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , Pete Stephenson writes: > Oh, and it's supposed to prevent criminals from transferring weapons > amongst themselves...as if they'd bother to do any paperwork, pay fees, > or otherwise obey the law when they plan to use their guns for criminal > acts. It costs us law-abiding folks money and time to transfer a gun > that'll never be used in crime. But remember, the charges on which Al Capone went to jail were income tax charges -- not filling out his paperwork. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Dec 2 12:44:53 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Thu Dec 2 12:45:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: That, combined with the fact that there's usually > copious amounts of rain means that we need the generator to keep the > basement from flooding (evidently both of us share the sump pump > problem). Of course I've only lost power in the middle of terrible thunderstorms dumping copious amounts of rain ;-) That's actually almost true -- most power lines in my county are buried, lightning zapping a transformer is the most frequent cause of power outages, not downed lines (which can take days to weeks to fix). From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Dec 2 12:45:33 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Thu Dec 2 12:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > In article , > Borgholio wrote: > > > *cough*rifle*cough* > > Already got two. Now I just need ammo. > Your pallet full of 10,000+ rounds t'aint enough?! From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Dec 2 12:53:05 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Thu Dec 2 12:55:10 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > RV groups have been using them for years most go for higher powers > though. Might do a google groups seach on rec.outdoors.rv-travel > using the key word Honda generator or honda genset > > FWIW you could use a bank of batteries (golf cart 6 volts are > available @ Sams for very reasonable) and charge off the car > alternator. But he'd still need some pricey electronics to boost them up to 120 VAC. I just used a deep-discharge marine battery, a trickle charge, and a 12 volt marine bilge pump for my sump pump system. The biggest pain was tying it into the existing sump discharge pipe (it was like trying to get pipe fittings for tubes, if you get my drift). From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Dec 2 12:55:51 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Thu Dec 2 13:00:06 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: The secret is load balancing. Don't run the fridge and > the freezer at the same time. How do you do that? IIRC my freezer adjustment knob goes from 1-10, there's no "off" position. And since the freezer is part of the fridge..... From pete at heypete.com Thu Dec 2 10:41:09 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Thu Dec 2 13:45:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , "indigo" wrote: > Your pallet full of 10,000+ rounds t'aint enough?! Never! One can never have too many kisses, too much bandwidth, or too much ammo. :) All my friends have said things along the lines of "Dude, if there's ever rioting in the streets or the end of the world, I'm coming to your house" and "Dude, if there are ever hordes of zombies roaming the streets, I'm coming to your house". Fuel, food, and ammo. Can't go wrong. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Dec 2 14:13:04 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Thu Dec 2 14:15:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > All my friends have said things along the lines of "Dude, if there's > ever rioting in the streets or the end of the world, I'm coming to > your house" and "Dude, if there are ever hordes of zombies roaming the > streets, I'm coming to your house". Guess I'm in trouble then, I only got enough to wing mebbe 400 zombies.......or is it 200....I dunno if those plastic boxes hold 50 rounds or 100.....besides the fact that they're over 15 years old! From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Dec 2 15:35:09 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Thu Dec 2 15:40:06 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Firefox Java applet problem Message-ID: Has anyone downloaded the latest Sun Java Runtime 2 software for Firefox 0.9? I did yesterday so I could use the streaming stock ticker app on Ameritrade and it locked up Firefox -- 99% CPU resources and I couldn't close the windows, I had to terminate the Firefox process via Task Manager. This was on a Win 2000 machine, I tried it at work today on my XP SP1 machine and had no problems. From pete at heypete.com Thu Dec 2 13:40:41 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Thu Dec 2 16:45:11 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , "indigo" wrote: > Guess I'm in trouble then, I only got enough to wing mebbe 400 > zombies.......or is it 200....I dunno if those plastic boxes hold 50 rounds > or 100.....besides the fact that they're over 15 years old! Hehe. Remember: With the living, shoot for the chest. With the undead, shoot for the head. Everyone in zombie movies forgets that. Well, you *could* shoot the living in the head, but I keep having this mental playback of my drill sergeant yelling "AIM CENTER MASS, PRIVATE!" and stomping around. I have no idea what type of ammo you have, so I obviously have no way of knowing. I think I'm fairly well-equipped here: * 6,000rds of 22LR (mostly Federal JHP with some CCI lead round nose, Velocitors, Stingers, and Subsonics) * 3,000rds of 9mm FMJ * 50rds of 9mm JHP * 400rds of .30-06 FMJ (military surplus M2 .30 caliber ball rounds) * 300rds of 12ga 00 buckshot * 50rds of 12ga 7 1/2 birdshot * 50rds of 12ga rifled hollowpoint slugs That should be quite sufficient for some large-scale zombie-whacking, though I wonder if the guns themselves could withstand the heat of near-continuous firing. Doubtful. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From me at privacy.net Thu Dec 2 16:39:30 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Dec 2 16:50:24 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "indigo" | > RV groups have been using them for years most go for higher powers | > though. Might do a google groups search on rec.outdoors.rave-travel | > using the key word Honda generator or Honda genset | > | > FWIW you could use a bank of batteries (golf cart 6 volts are | > available @ Sams for very reasonable) and charge off the car | > alternator. | | But he'd still need some pricey electronics to boost them up to 120 VAC. I | just used a deep-discharge marine battery, a trickle charge, and a 12 volt | marine bilge pump for my sump pump system. The biggest pain was tying it | into the existing sump discharge pipe (it was like trying to get pipe | fittings for tubes, if you get my drift). Static inverters are cheap these days. Regardless you don;t want to go more than 50% discharge on any battery even though DD units are better at surviving the abuse. As to the trickle changer you would be better advised to use a three state charge as TC will eventually toast your battery. From me at privacy.net Thu Dec 2 16:41:12 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Dec 2 16:50:25 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "indigo" | The secret is load balancing. Don't run the fridge and | > the freezer at the same time. | | How do you do that? IIRC my freezer adjustment knob goes from 1-10, there's | no "off" position. And since the freezer is part of the fridge..... One 'ice box' one full time freezer. Run one OR the other. Run the stove OR the water heater. Turn off lights in rooms you are not in a the time. From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Dec 2 13:48:22 2004 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Dec 2 16:50:26 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > > * 6,000rds of 22LR (mostly Federal JHP with some CCI lead round nose, > Velocitors, Stingers, and Subsonics) > * 3,000rds of 9mm FMJ > * 50rds of 9mm JHP > * 400rds of .30-06 FMJ (military surplus M2 .30 caliber ball rounds) > * 300rds of 12ga 00 buckshot > * 50rds of 12ga 7 1/2 birdshot > * 50rds of 12ga rifled hollowpoint slugs > Got any Claymores? :) From pete at heypete.com Thu Dec 2 14:51:05 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Thu Dec 2 17:55:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , Borgholio wrote: > Got any Claymores? :) Nope. Even if I could, I probably wouldn't. A pound of C4 and 700 steel balls is generally not something to have around in the garage next to the cans of gasoline for the generator and old paint buckets. (All the ammo is stored in a closet in the house, quite far away from the garage.) If you're referring to the obscenely-large swords...then no, I don't have those either though they're really cool. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From wb8tyw at qsl.network Thu Dec 2 21:01:34 2004 From: wb8tyw at qsl.network (John E. Malmberg) Date: Thu Dec 2 21:05:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Larry Kilgallen wrote: > In article , > Pete Stephenson writes: > >>Oh, and it's supposed to prevent criminals from transferring weapons >>amongst themselves...as if they'd bother to do any paperwork, pay fees, >>or otherwise obey the law when they plan to use their guns for criminal >>acts. It costs us law-abiding folks money and time to transfer a gun >>that'll never be used in crime. > > But remember, the charges on which Al Capone went to jail were income > tax charges -- not filling out his paperwork. From what I have read, the U.S. courts have already ruled that criminals who intend use a gun in a crime can not be expected to have legally registered and therefore can not be prosecuted for that violation. The means that gun control laws can only affect people who intend to use a gun for lawful purposes. -John wb8tyw@qsl.network Personal Opinion Only From wb8tyw at qsl.network Thu Dec 2 21:07:06 2004 From: wb8tyw at qsl.network (John E. Malmberg) Date: Thu Dec 2 21:10:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > The isolation switches are partially so your neighbors don't mooch juice > from you (and would thus overload the generator), and so when the mains > power comes back online the overwhelming amount of power coming from the > grid doesn't melt/explode/ka-blooie the generator. I thought the primary concern is that they do not light up the poor lineman out in the rain that is working to get your power back working. -John wb8tyw@qsl.network Personal Opinion Only From pete at heypete.com Thu Dec 2 18:13:34 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Thu Dec 2 21:15:12 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , "John E. Malmberg" wrote: > I thought the primary concern is that they do not light up the poor > lineman out in the rain that is working to get your power back working. That is also a big concern, of course. Remember that most people don't understand electricity more than "I flip the switch and the light comes on. Oh, and it hurts when I touch it", so the electric companies focus on the you-might-hurt-the-lineman approach. Running a sufficiently powerful generator that backfeeds into the grid would result in some power being distributed to the neighboring homes (though attempting to feed the loads of even a small neighborhood on a residential generator would cause it to overload and likely shut down to prevent damage to itself), but it probably wouldn't be enough to light up even the light bulbs in more than a house or two. The incoming surge from when mains power is restored would have some rather dramatic effects on the generator as well. Since most people don't understand electricity, it's sometimes better to stick to the don't-zap-the-lineman approach. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From me at privacy.net Thu Dec 2 22:02:18 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Dec 2 22:05:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" | > I thought the primary concern is that they do not light up the poor | > lineman out in the rain that is working to get your power back working. | | That is also a big concern, of course. THAT IS THE KEY CONCERN, PERHAPS THE ONLY CONCERN! The system can protect and heal itself. If anyone from the city inspector to the power company finds a back feed they will pull the meter AND red tag the service. Reconnection will be ONLY after a complete reinspection and certification of the entire property. I can guarantee that any out of code or discrepancy will be fixed or no reconnect. Any electrical contractor that might accept the job will place one H*LL of a price on the project as he and his will be under a proctor scope by anyone and everyone remotely associated with permitting the project. From pete at heypete.com Thu Dec 2 19:43:38 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Thu Dec 2 22:45:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: In article , "Frog Prince" wrote: > THAT IS THE KEY CONCERN, PERHAPS THE ONLY CONCERN! The system can protect > and heal itself. It is a key concern, yes, but surely not the only concern. Protecting life is critical. Protecting important and expensive infrastructure (both that of the grid and that of other customers) is something to keep in mind. > If anyone from the city inspector to the power company finds a back feed > they will pull the meter AND red tag the service. Reconnection will be ONLY > after a complete reinspection and certification of the entire property. I > can guarantee that any out of code or discrepancy will be fixed or no > reconnect. Oh, I'll bet...but I'm curious about houses with solar panels and whatnot that backfeed onto the grid (and reverse their meters) like what several here in California do? They don't have an isolation switch, so (based what I know about the systems, which isn't much) they'd backfeed if there was a power failure on the grid and thus create a hazard. > Any electrical contractor that might accept the job will place one H*LL of a > price on the project as he and his will be under a proctor scope by anyone > and everyone remotely associated with permitting the project. Oh, damn straight. Electricity is awesome, but it scares the bejeezus out of me. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Fri Dec 3 07:18:43 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 3 02:20:12 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Firefox Java applet problem References: Message-ID: On 02 Dec 2004 indigo entered spamcop.geeks and left news:conu9u$qlc$1@news.spamcop.net: > Has anyone downloaded the latest Sun Java Runtime 2 software for > Firefox 0.9? I did yesterday so I could use the streaming stock ticker > app on Ameritrade and it locked up Firefox -- 99% CPU resources and I > couldn't close the windows, I had to terminate the Firefox process via > Task Manager. This was on a Win 2000 machine, I tried it at work today > on my XP SP1 machine and had no problems. > > > Did you uninstall the JRE 1.4 before installing 1.5? -- | Ric | From me at privacy.net Fri Dec 3 05:51:37 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Dec 3 05:55:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" | > THAT IS THE KEY CONCERN, PERHAPS THE ONLY CONCERN! The system can protect | > and heal itself. | | It is a key concern, yes, but surely not the only concern. Protecting | life is critical. Protecting important and expensive infrastructure | (both that of the grid and that of other customers) is something to keep | in mind. Been doing electrical work since I was in grade school. Trust me the concern for the safety of the line folk is PARAMOUNT. In the cases where there has been inappropriate back (I come from a hurricane prone area) it takes long mounts to get the power back on for this very reason. They want everyone to know how the powers that be approached this problem and the best way is to make an example of each and ever instance. | > If anyone from the city inspector to the power company finds a back feed | > they will pull the meter AND red tag the service. Reconnection will be ONLY | > after a complete reinspection and certification of the entire property. I | > can guarantee that any out of code or discrepancy will be fixed or no | > reconnect. | | Oh, I'll bet...but I'm curious about houses with solar panels and | whatnot that backfeed onto the grid (and reverse their meters) like what | several here in California do? They don't have an isolation switch, so | (based what I know about the systems, which isn't much) they'd backfeed | if there was a power failure on the grid and thus create a hazard. Power company knows about those (it's part of the permitting process) and takes appropriate precautions that are similar to how line troops work on other live systems. If the backfeed is not documented then the service is pulled. | > Any electrical contractor that might accept the job will place one H*LL of a | > price on the project as he and his will be under a proctor scope by anyone | > and everyone remotely associated with permitting the project. | | Oh, damn straight. Electricity is awesome, but it scares the bejeezus | out of me. Not a problem if you have the appropriate respect. The thing that the contractor is wary of is that his every step will be watched and watched closely. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Dec 3 07:15:21 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Maxx Excaliber) Date: Fri Dec 3 07:20:05 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Fedora 3 Mouse problem Message-ID: I just upgraded my home linux box to Fedora Core 3 from RH9. Now, whenever I use the KVM to switch between my PC and my wife's the mouse goes crazy and starts moving all over the screen at the slightest touch and clicking things, even without me touching the button. I'm pretty sure it's a combination of my mouse and X settings, but I'll be darned if I know what the problem is... Heck, I'm not even sure what they are calling the config file for X these days... Any help? I'm using a WiseTech optical mouse with scroll and a Sun CRT monitor (not sure what the model is...) on a Riva TNT (Graphics Blaster Riva TNT) -- Maxx Excaliber mrmaxx@spamcop.net Just a user, NOT an Admin/Deputy From gospamming at yourdomain.invalid Fri Dec 3 16:29:52 2004 From: gospamming at yourdomain.invalid (D.Diaz) Date: Fri Dec 3 11:30:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Fedora 3 Mouse problem References: Message-ID: Maxx Excaliber wrote in news:pan.2004.12.03.12.15.21.512989@homelinux.org: > I just upgraded my home linux box to Fedora Core 3 from RH9. Now, > whenever I use the KVM to switch between my PC and my wife's the mouse > goes crazy and starts moving all over the screen at the slightest > touch and clicking things, even without me touching the button. I'm > pretty sure it's a combination of my mouse and X settings, but I'll be > darned if I know what the problem is... Heck, I'm not even sure what > they are calling the config file for X these days... Any help? I'm > using a WiseTech optical mouse with scroll and a Sun CRT monitor (not > sure what the model is...) on a Riva TNT (Graphics Blaster Riva TNT) > Hmmm... I don't know about KVM, but I have Fedora in my own box at home. Fedora's X server is Xorg, (a fork from XFree86) and its main config file is located at /etc/X11/xorg.conf IIRC. -- Daniel Diaz SpamCop User From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Dec 3 12:31:44 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Fri Dec 3 12:35:08 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Firefox Java applet problem References: Message-ID: Blammo wrote: > On 02 Dec 2004 indigo entered spamcop.geeks and left > news:conu9u$qlc$1@news.spamcop.net: > > > Has anyone downloaded the latest Sun Java Runtime 2 software for > > Firefox 0.9? I did yesterday so I could use the streaming stock > > ticker app on Ameritrade and it locked up Firefox -- 99% CPU > > resources and I couldn't close the windows, I had to terminate the > > Firefox process via Task Manager. This was on a Win 2000 machine, I > > tried it at work today on my XP SP1 machine and had no problems. > > > > > > > > Did you uninstall the JRE 1.4 before installing 1.5? > hmmm.....don't know if I had it installed or not (I rebuilt the system a couple of months ago from scratch, reformatted the HD etc.). I didn't see any warnings about there being a previously installed java engine in place though.......if that helps any. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Dec 3 14:23:43 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Maxx Excaliber) Date: Fri Dec 3 14:25:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Fedora 3 Mouse problem References: Message-ID: On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 16:29:52 +0000, D.Diaz wrote: > > Hmmm... I don't know about KVM, but I have Fedora in my own box at home. > Fedora's X server is Xorg, (a fork from XFree86) and its main config file > is located at /etc/X11/xorg.conf IIRC. > Yep. That's it. I think I remember telling RH9 that it's a genuine MS Scroll Mouse. At least I'm hoping that's what I said... I plan on testing it when I get home. :-) -- Maxx Excaliber mrmaxx@spamcop.net Just a user, NOT an Admin/Deputy From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Dec 3 16:52:46 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Fri Dec 3 16:55:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > Static inverters are cheap these days. Regardless you don;t want to > go more than 50% discharge on any battery even though DD units are > better at surviving the abuse. As to the trickle changer you would > be better advised to use a three state charge as TC will eventually > toast your battery. Say what? Why would a trickle charge kill a battery? I don't have a standard charger anyway, mine only "trickles" if the battery needs it, otherwise it does nothing. It also has a switch for full-bore charging. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Dec 3 16:53:36 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Fri Dec 3 16:55:06 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > > I have no idea what type of ammo you have, so I obviously have no way > of knowing. > 4 boxes of .22LR, vintage ;-) From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Dec 3 16:54:44 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Fri Dec 3 16:55:11 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > "indigo" > > | The secret is load balancing. Don't run the fridge and > | > the freezer at the same time. > | > | How do you do that? IIRC my freezer adjustment knob goes from 1-10, > | there's no "off" position. And since the freezer is part of the > | fridge..... > > One 'ice box' one full time freezer. Run one OR the other. Run the > stove OR the water heater. Turn off lights in rooms you are not in a > the time. If you're lucky enough to have the space for two separate appliances........ From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Dec 3 16:58:07 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Fri Dec 3 17:00:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > Oh, damn straight. Electricity is awesome, but it scares the bejeezus > out of me. Always keep one hand in your pocket when you're working on the breaker box....... From me at privacy.net Fri Dec 3 18:43:05 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Dec 3 18:50:26 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "indigo" wrote in message news:coqn7e$kum$1@news.spamcop.net... | | | Frog Prince wrote: | > Static inverters are cheap these days. Regardless you don;t want to | > go more than 50% discharge on any battery even though DD units are | > better at surviving the abuse. As to the trickle changer you would | > be better advised to use a three state charge as TC will eventually | > toast your battery. | | Say what? Why would a trickle charge kill a battery? I don't have a standard | charger anyway, mine only "trickles" if the battery needs it, otherwise it | does nothing. It also has a switch for full-bore charging. Typical trickle charges use low current but also use a higher input voltage dropped by resistance to give a quasi constant current. Works for short term but if use as a charge maintenance device will eventually sulphate the battery by very slow cooking. Best for standby power systems are 'tri-mode' charges which have somewhat complex voltage/current sensing and provide a) fast charging b) maintenance charging and back switch the voltage as a keep alive function but do not cook the battery. I've had standby system last 5-8 years without any degradation of the battery performance. From me at privacy.net Fri Dec 3 18:44:41 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Dec 3 18:50:32 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "indigo" | > Oh, damn straight. Electricity is awesome, but it scares the bejeezus | > out of me. | | Always keep one hand in your pocket when you're working on the breaker | box....... If that your safety program best not to put even one hand in the breaker box. From me at privacy.net Fri Dec 3 19:19:47 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Dec 3 19:20:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "indigo" | > Oh, damn straight. Electricity is awesome, but it scares the bejeezus | > out of me. | | Always keep one hand in your pocket when you're working on the breaker | box....... If that's your safety program best not to put even one hand in the breaker box. From SpamNScamsReporter# at gmail#.com# Fri Dec 3 16:39:54 2004 From: SpamNScamsReporter# at gmail#.com# (Spam N Scams Reporter) Date: Fri Dec 3 19:45:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Remote video monitoring ideas needed Message-ID: A friend of mine had her restaurant burglarized and in the process, the perp(s) took the tape from her security camera recorder. She would like to be able to monitor and capture the stream off site on her home pc which is on a dsl connection. At present there is no computer at the restaurant. She has a QSP-660 four camera real time quad from Advanced Technology Video. The manual - if this would be helpful - can be found here: http://atvideo.com/Sales/Manuals/660.pdf This connects to a Sony SVT-3050 Videocassette Recorder which is not supported anymore by Sony it seems. I've emailed Sony and am waiting to hear back from them. The manual suggests a SVT-RS1 Computer Interface Board for connecting to a PC. I have emailed a couple of possible places that may have one of these. This may be the preferred method, allowing for the time lapse recording on side and remote viewing and recording at the home pc. It would require some method for transmitting and receiving of the stream. All suggestions and comments welcome Thanks, Brian From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Sat Dec 4 00:40:22 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Fri Dec 3 19:45:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Base 64 garbled Message-ID: I receive a newsletter from the Global Ideas Bank, but, they send it in Base 64!!! Normally I never have problems with Base 64 although it normally comes from spammers. This newsletter is illegible though with text looking like: NzuA*Z~-zPU0,E^ 1]#9B~K۝[NsT\<K۝[N>[sK۝[N~X ]TKK۝[Ns\]Y,Y>۝ Y~[Z etc. If I use opinionatedgeeks to convert the raw Base 64 I can read it, but, OE garbles it. I've asked them to send newsletters in ordinary encoding, but, got a sharp reply that they were a small voluntary organization and didn't have resources to fix that sort of thing!!! This is from the header: Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary = HTMLDEMO41b0fe7102120 and: --HTMLDEMO41b0fe7102120 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Anyone any idea how I can configure OE 6 to read this? Rob From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Dec 3 16:58:41 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Dec 3 20:00:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: Rob wrote: > I receive a newsletter from the Global Ideas Bank, but, they send it > in Base 64!!! Normally I never have problems with Base 64 although > it normally comes from spammers. This newsletter is illegible though > with text looking like: > > N???z? u?A?*Z~?-zP?U0,E^ > 1?]#9B~K? ???[??? Ns?T\<K? ???[??? N>[s?K? ???[??? N~X? > ]TKK? ???[??? N?s\?]Y ?,Y>?? Y~[Z > > etc. If I use opinionatedgeeks to convert the raw Base 64 I can read > it, but, OE garbles it. I've asked them to send newsletters in > ordinary encoding, but, got a sharp reply that they were a small > voluntary organization and didn't have resources to fix that sort of > thing!!! > > This is from the header: > > Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary = HTMLDEMO41b0fe7102120 > > and: > > --HTMLDEMO41b0fe7102120 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 > > Anyone any idea how I can configure OE 6 to read this? I left your post untrimmed because I'm confused and don't know how to trim it. I'll start with my recent experiments with b64 to study a completely different problem which isn't relevant here. I used b64 to send messages to myself to see what they looked like in both the raw message source [also compared to uue encoding] and just opening and reading. If I configure OE in Tools/ Options/ Send tab/ Mail: Plaintext settings/ Message sending format - check Mime - Encode text using: menu select base 64 and then send my plaintext message that way; what I get is a message which I can read just fine upon opening, but it is not multipart alternative as you described above. The header is: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 and then when the body starts, it is b64 encoded in the raw message source, but when I open it, I can read it as plaintext. That is, OE automatically decodes the b64 into plaintext for me to read. The structure you are getting is not the same structure you would get if I sent you a plaintext message b64 encoded with my OE6. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Dec 3 17:21:07 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Dec 3 20:25:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: Rob wrote: > I receive a newsletter from the Global Ideas Bank, but, they send it > in Base 64!!! Why don't you 'forward as attachment' one of your GIB newsletters to mike.easter@gmail.com > Anyone any idea how I can configure OE 6 to read this? I'm not even completely sure that will work at my gmail account the way I want it to, but the experiment will also be informative. If it doesn't work at gmail, I'll figure out another way to get one of those things in the condition that you do. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Dec 3 17:44:58 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Dec 3 20:45:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: Rob wrote: > I receive a newsletter from the Global Ideas Bank, but, they send it > in Base 64!!! Besides emailing it as an attachment to the gmail, you could also paste it into the webparser, copy the tracker url, and cancel the report. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 4 03:36:56 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 3 22:40:07 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Firefox Java applet problem References: Message-ID: On 03 Dec 2004 indigo entered spamcop.geeks and left news:coq7u1$a1o$1@news.spamcop.net: >> Did you uninstall the JRE 1.4 before installing 1.5? >> > > hmmm.....don't know if I had it installed or not (I rebuilt the system > a couple of months ago from scratch, reformatted the HD etc.). I > didn't see any warnings about there being a previously installed java > engine in place though.......if that helps any. > > Well I can't run XP right now because of hardware problems, but I've seen it mentioned that you need to remove 1.4 first. I have Java Plug-in 1.4.0_01 in the Control Panel, as well as an old Java 1.3 Plug-in and Mozilla seems to work fine. If you look in Add Remove and see if you can uninstall Java 1.4 if it's there, it was probably installed by FireFox. You may need to install the latest Java2 again after. Also under Program files there may be a j2re1.4 somewhere, I didn't use the default location myself, could be under a Java folder. I suspect FireFox may be trying to use the Java Plug-in 1.4 which is conflicting with Java 1.5. In the FireFox\Plugins folder there's also a dll file "NPJPI140_01.dll". But like I said, I can't check that at this time, the dll could be located somewhere else. Also if you type in the Location in FireFox - about:plugins - it should list what version of the Java Plugin it's using. -- | Ric | From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Sat Dec 4 03:25:22 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Fri Dec 3 22:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:cor4qo$tm9$1@news.spamcop.net... > Rob wrote: > > I receive a newsletter from the Global Ideas Bank, but, they send it > > in Base 64!!! > > Besides emailing it as an attachment to the gmail, you could also paste > it into the webparser, copy the tracker url, and cancel the report. > > > -- > Mike Easter > kibitzer, not SC admin > Just got back from another work shift, will send it all shortly Thanks, Rob From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 4 03:55:54 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 3 23:00:08 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Remote video monitoring ideas needed References: Message-ID: On 03 Dec 2004 Spam N Scams Reporter entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cor113$r7o$1@news.spamcop.net: > All suggestions and comments welcome > I have a catalog from DBL Distributing that might have what you need. The website is www.dbldistributing.com But I had another idea, if they used a DVR there's be no tape to steal, such as the Panasonic DMR-E80H or the JVC DR-MXV1 which I think has VHS too. I don't know if this is practical, but it seems like a good idea to me. I know a guy that monitors his laundramat by sending the video through the phone line to his home PC. I never did see what equipment he used to do that though. Oh, looking in the DBL catalog there's a 4 channel DVR with 100 hours and remote monitoring $449, under "Observation and Security". -- | Ric | From wb8tyw at qsl.network Fri Dec 3 23:47:05 2004 From: wb8tyw at qsl.network (John E. Malmberg) Date: Fri Dec 3 23:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Remote video monitoring ideas needed In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Spam N Scams Reporter wrote: > A friend of mine had her restaurant burglarized and in the process, the > perp(s) took the tape from her security camera recorder. She would like > to be able to monitor and capture the stream off site on her home pc > which is on a dsl connection. A video system should be able to feed two tapes. Run the camera to a hidden tape recorder, and then feed the output of that to a visible tape recorder. Chances are as that the thieves will assume that there is only one recorder. Cameras are now small enough that they can also be hidden, but have visible ones to be used as a deterrent or target practice. As has been pointed out, a PC can be used as DVR locally and then relay snapshots down the DSL line. The smarter criminals will cut the line first if they can get to it, and if they can find the PC, they will likely steal it, even if they do not realize what it is doing. And make sure someone checks and changes the tapes regularly. If you have ever watched videos shown on TV of the security tapes, most of them have so poor quality that there is almost no way to identify the perpetrator. It may be because the tape was reused too many times. A DVR avoids some of that. With a restaurant, it may, from an economic point of view, be a good idea to put tamper alarms on the vents to the ovens and the fryers. Every so often, some stupid criminal becomes a candidate for the Darwin awards by trying to get in a restaurant through them. What happens is that they get stuck part way. The morning manager gets in early, and turns on the friers to get them up to temperature for when the higher paid cooks arrive and then goes into the sound proof office to get the daily paperwork done. Through all this, the criminal is silent as either he has fallen asleep, or still thinks that he has a chance of escape. By the time the stuck criminal realizes that it is getting too hot, and starts screaming, even if the manager could hear them, it is too late to cool things down fast enough to save them, even if a rescue squad was available. While many people might think that is justice, it effectively closes down the restaurant until all the resulting mess is cleaned up, and I would expect that the vents and the roof would need some major repairs after the recovery of the body. -John wb8tyw@qsl.network Personal Opinion Only From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Dec 3 22:03:47 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sat Dec 4 01:05:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: Rob wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> Rob wrote: >>> I receive a newsletter from the Global Ideas Bank, but, they send it >>> in Base 64!!! It's not really the b64 that is the fault here, it is what spam motel is doing to the structure. >> Besides emailing it as an attachment to the gmail, you could also >> paste it into the webparser, copy the tracker url, and cancel the >> report. > Just got back from another work shift, will send it all shortly I got the tracker link at my gmail. If you don't want me to post the tracker here so others can see it I won't. Spam motel is screwing up the whole thing. They are sticking their crappy banner into the 'structure' and aren't handling the mime correctly. I'm no expert at this stuff, but what you have gotten is clearly a mess caused by spam motel's alteration of the original improperly to put in their banner. I think the software for inserting the banner wasn't 'expecting' the b64. OE may be noncompliant in some areas, but that structure is a mess that isn't the fault of OE to not be able to unscramble. I've removed the spam motel stuff 'carefully' [after a few experiments in which I screwed it up] and if you would like for me to post the tracker of what your item should have originally looked like I will. That is, I've put it into the parser and I have a tracker. What you would do is go to the tracker copy it and cut off the top little part and save it as 'something.eml' and then open that item and it is like the way you should've received the item in the first place if spam motel hadn't screwed it up with their banner insertion into the middle of the b64. I can take the item which I have saved as 'Rob2.eml' and open it in my OE and everything is perfectly fine. I can open it without rendering the html and it is fine, and I can open it with rendering the html and it is fine. My 'specimen' has 2 different b64 sections, one in plaintext and one in html, and they both decode just fine. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From pete at heypete.com Sat Dec 4 00:03:40 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Sat Dec 4 03:05:20 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Intercom disconnecting DSL? Message-ID: I have a very odd technical problem so, of course, I come to spamcop.geeks. My house has two telephone lines. One is the main "home" voice number, and the other is the fax line that has the DSL service on it. On the home line, we have several RadioShack Phone LIne Intercoms[1] that we use for communicating throughout the house. On the fax/DSL line we have filters installed on all the appropriate jacks to prevent interference. Obviously, the jack that feeds the DSL modem is not filtered. In my room, I have two lines wired to one jack and a two-line splitter that allows me to have the home line (with intercom) and the fax/DSL line separated and be routed to the appropriate devices (i.e. the intercom and telephone, and DSL modem respectively). Even though the two lines are physically separated, using the intercom for more than about 10 seconds at a time results in the DSL modem losing its connection. Upon cessation of using the intercom, the DSL modem wakes back up and takes about 30 seconds to reestablish a connection. This is particularly annoying, as my VoIP phone runs over the DSL and I get disconnected from the net -- and thus the websites that I'm hosting on my Cobalt machine next to the desk are inaccessible for that time period. Any advice? The intercoms must continue to be used, and the DSL must continue to be used. I've done everything I could think of, but it still doesn't work right. Perhaps I need a new two-way splitter. *shrugs* [1] -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Sat Dec 4 15:10:35 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Sat Dec 4 10:30:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:cork00$6n1$1@news.spamcop.net... > Rob wrote: > > "Mike Easter" > >> Rob wrote: > >>> I receive a newsletter from the Global Ideas Bank, but, they send it > >>> in Base 64!!! > > It's not really the b64 that is the fault here, it is what spam motel is > doing to the structure. > > >> Besides emailing it as an attachment to the gmail, you could also > >> paste it into the webparser, copy the tracker url, and cancel the > >> report. > > > Just got back from another work shift, will send it all shortly > > I got the tracker link at my gmail. If you don't want me to post the > tracker here so others can see it I won't. > > Spam motel is screwing up the whole thing. They are sticking their > crappy banner into the 'structure' and aren't handling the mime > correctly. I'm no expert at this stuff, but what you have gotten is > clearly a mess caused by spam motel's alteration of the original > improperly to put in their banner. I think the software for inserting > the banner wasn't 'expecting' the b64. OE may be noncompliant in some > areas, but that structure is a mess that isn't the fault of OE to not be > able to unscramble. > > I've removed the spam motel stuff 'carefully' [after a few experiments > in which I screwed it up] and if you would like for me to post the > tracker of what your item should have originally looked like I will. > That is, I've put it into the parser and I have a tracker. What you > would do is go to the tracker copy it and cut off the top little part > and save it as 'something.eml' and then open that item and it is like > the way you should've received the item in the first place if spam motel > hadn't screwed it up with their banner insertion into the middle of the > b64. > > I can take the item which I have saved as 'Rob2.eml' and open it in my > OE and everything is perfectly fine. I can open it without rendering > the html and it is fine, and I can open it with rendering the html and > it is fine. My 'specimen' has 2 different b64 sections, one in > plaintext and one in html, and they both decode just fine. > > -- > Mike Easter > kibitzer, not SC admin > Thanks Mike, I'll contact SpamMotel and let them know what is happening. They seem to be pretty much on the ball when it comes to getting reports of bugs etc. with their software even if they take a little time to get around to it. No, I don't mind if you post the tracker here. Regards, Rob From MikeE at ster.invalid Sat Dec 4 07:47:49 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sat Dec 4 10:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: Rob wrote: > I'll contact SpamMotel and let them know what is happening. They > seem to be pretty much on the ball when it comes to getting reports > of bugs etc. with their software even if they take a little time to > get around to it. What I would do about that newsletter is to give them your real addy and leave spammotel out of the loop. Well, I don't know for sure if I would do that, because you might think they would be giving their addresses out to the spammers, but that is the first thing that comes to mind. If spammotel were 'smart', they would be able to look at that item you posted into the tracker and figure out what was going wrong, ie how they are screwing up your mail. > No, I don't mind if you post the tracker here. This is the first one you sent my gmail: spamcop.net/sc?id=z699020769zefe85d789ac86c71cd5b8046dce13e83z This is the body repaired to what it should be before spammotel messed it up. www.spamcop.net/sc?id=z699050284zaf812eb9156812c0bd09e9101436781cz I'll also take that repaired item and make it be an attachment to a message with this subject in .spam. The attachment's name will be rob2.eml. If you open the newsmessage, you can save the attachment to disk. Then when you open it, it will be opened by your OE and you will see how the item would've looked without the spammotel banner insertion. I don't have the ability to forward the rob2.eml as an attachment to you from the gmail account. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Sat Dec 4 16:37:45 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Sat Dec 4 12:00:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:cosm70$ph7$1@news.spamcop.net... > > What I would do about that newsletter is to give them your real addy and > leave spammotel out of the loop. Well, I don't know for sure if I would > do that, because you might think they would be giving their addresses > out to the spammers, but that is the first thing that comes to mind. > > If spammotel were 'smart', they would be able to look at that item you > posted into the tracker and figure out what was going wrong, ie how they > are screwing up your mail. > > > -- > Mike Easter > kibitzer, not SC admin > Thanks Mike, I considered using my real address, but, subscription to the newsletter was also a part of general membership of the group and a lot of the work in it is done on their forums. I feel confident that they wouldn't pass on addresses to spammers, but, I always feel it's a bit risky to use a real address in forums even if it isn't revealed in the postings. A mail link even when encoded in a posting is often show on the task bar when the link is hovered over and I have this suspicion that if I can see it on the task bar then there is a possibility that a spam bot could too. I'd rather SpamMotel could fix their banner insert, if not I'll un-subscribe to the newsletter. What puzzles me is that Global Ideas Bank are able to send out another newsletter in non Base 64 so why send this one in Base 64? Some years ago before getting MailWasher I created a filter to delete all mail sent me in Base 64 as the only people whoever sent Base 64 to me were spammers. It's still the case now, no legit mail is sent me in Base 64 except for this newsletter! I'll keep an eye open for that mail, thanks. Rob From nobody at nowhere.invalid Sat Dec 4 18:49:58 2004 From: nobody at nowhere.invalid (Steven Maesslein) Date: Sat Dec 4 12:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: On Sat, 4 Dec 2004 00:40:22 -0000, Rob coughed into spamcop.geeks and left this in : > N???z? u?A?*Z~?-zP?U0,E^ > 1?]#9B~K? ???[??? Ns?T\<K? ???[??? N>[s?K? ???[??? N~X? > ]TKK? ???[??? N?s\?]Y ?,Y>?? Y~[Z Don't know what that is but it definitely isn't base64. -- Steve BOFH excuse #266: All of the packets are empty From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Sat Dec 4 22:30:09 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Sat Dec 4 17:40:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Base 64 garbled References: Message-ID: "Steven Maesslein" wrote in message news:slrncr3u66.1mou.nobody@127.0.0.1... > On Sat, 4 Dec 2004 00:40:22 -0000, Rob coughed into spamcop.geeks and > left this in : > > > NzuA*Z~-zPU0,E^ > > 1]#9B~K۝[NsT\<K۝[N>[sK۝[N~X > > ]TKK۝[Ns\]Y,Y>۝ Y~[Z > > Don't know what that is but it definitely isn't base64. > > -- > Steve > > BOFH excuse #266: > > All of the packets are empty Well, it was Base 64 before the badly inserted SpamMotel banner. What you are seeing there is after the Base 64 had been decoded, but, it decoded wrongly due to the inserted banner. From me at privacy.net Sat Dec 4 19:28:55 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Dec 4 19:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" | I have a very odd technical problem so, of course, I come to | spamcop.geeks. | | My house has two telephone lines. One is the main "home" voice number, | and the other is the fax line that has the DSL service on it. On the | home line, we have several RadioShack Phone LIne Intercoms[1] that we | use for communicating throughout the house. On the fax/DSL line we have | filters installed on all the appropriate jacks to prevent interference. | Obviously, the jack that feeds the DSL modem is not filtered. | | In my room, I have two lines wired to one jack and a two-line splitter | that allows me to have the home line (with intercom) and the fax/DSL | line separated and be routed to the appropriate devices (i.e. the | intercom and telephone, and DSL modem respectively). | | Even though the two lines are physically separated, using the intercom | for more than about 10 seconds at a time results in the DSL modem losing | its connection. Upon cessation of using the intercom, the DSL modem | wakes back up and takes about 30 seconds to reestablish a connection. | | This is particularly annoying, as my VoIP phone runs over the DSL and I | get disconnected from the net -- and thus the websites that I'm hosting | on my Cobalt machine next to the desk are inaccessible for that time | period. | | Any advice? The intercoms must continue to be used, and the DSL must | continue to be used. I've done everything I could think of, but it still | doesn't work right. Perhaps I need a new two-way splitter. *shrugs* I'm trying to access the data on the intercoms. (please post a make and model -- include the FCC type approval number if you can) My best guess is that these intercoms operate on RF and in either the 27 MHz or 74 MHz frequency band. This is close to what the DSL operates at. There are several possible fixes but I need a *lot* more info on what in use before I can make any suggestions. (BTW I'm way understating the complexity of the issue) From pete at heypete.com Sat Dec 4 21:19:10 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Sun Dec 5 00:20:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: In article , "Frog Prince" wrote: > I'm trying to access the data on the intercoms. (please post a make and > model -- include the FCC type approval number if you can) RadioShack Catalog Number: 43-483. FCC REgistration Number: AAOCHN-20659-OT-N > My best guess is that these intercoms operate on RF and in either the 27 MHz > or 74 MHz frequency band. This is close to what the DSL operates at. There > are several possible fixes but I need a *lot* more info on what in use > before I can make any suggestions. (BTW I'm way understating the complexity > of the issue) I have no doubt that it's absurdly complex, which is why I'm appealing to higher authority. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From me at privacy.net Sun Dec 5 09:09:12 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sun Dec 5 09:15:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" wrote in message news:pete-6F566F.21191004122004@news.cesmail.net... | In article , | "Frog Prince" wrote: | | > I'm trying to access the data on the intercoms. (please post a make and | > model -- include the FCC type approval number if you can) | | RadioShack Catalog Number: 43-483. | | FCC Registration Number: AAOCHN-20659-OT-N | | > My best guess is that these intercoms operate on RF and in either the 27 MHz | > or 74 MHz frequency band. This is close to what the DSL operates at. There | > are several possible fixes but I need a *lot* more info on what in use | > before I can make any suggestions. (BTW I'm way understating the complexity | > of the issue) | | I have no doubt that it's absurdly complex, which is why I'm appealing | to higher authority. :) BTW what's the data on the DSL hardware? I'd be interested in the operating frequency which may be posted on the product ID if not your ISP tech support should have the data. (You might have to go to the 2 nd level). I checked the RS web site and they apparently don't make that or similar intercoms any longer. I wonder if the reason is the interference with DSL systems? From pete at heypete.com Sun Dec 5 13:03:15 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Sun Dec 5 16:05:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: In article , "Frog Prince" wrote: > BTW what's the data on the DSL hardware? I'd be interested in the operating > frequency which may be posted on the product ID if not your ISP tech support > should have the data. (You might have to go to the 2 nd level). It's a ZyXEL Prestige 645 ADSL modem. FCC ID 1R0DL01B312. > I checked the RS web site and they apparently don't make that or similar > intercoms any longer. I wonder if the reason is the interference with DSL > systems? I don't know...it has a somewhat "old" look, being made of beige plastic. It's not all slick and modern looking, but it works. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From nobody at nowhere.com.INVALID Sun Dec 5 13:17:27 2004 From: nobody at nowhere.com.INVALID (GregR) Date: Sun Dec 5 16:20:10 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Adventures in Wireless Networking In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Steven Maesslein wrote: > Please note that I'm going on the findings of the person who started > this thread in NANAE. I agree that there are some people in that froup > who could be best described as nutjobs, but this person is not one of > them. Some? Most 'normal' people in my neck of the woods wouldn't expend the energy to create a 300+ article thread about this 'issue'. As always, YMMV. :-) > From what I understand of the "feature", it occurred after a firmware > upgrade. There were no warnings of any kind, HTTP requests (or maybe all > SYN packets with destination port 80, I don't know) were redirected to > Belkin's website. It was assumed by Belkin that nothing other than a > browser operated by a sentient human being could ever possibly be behind > these HTTP requests, so they returned a page with an image and > instructions on how to deactivate the "feature". Sounds like to me that it was either an honest oversight on Belkin's part, or maybe the marketing people won out over other objections - without being there none of us can say with any degree of certainty. But logic (and fairness) has never been a hallmark of the typical NANAE "attack-dog" mentality. For most of them, it's gone way beyond spam-fighting (if it ever really was about spam-fighting) into their own weird brand of religion where if you don't agree with the prevailing group-think you're automatically labeled as a spam-supporter or worse. -- GregR - Another Beemer Biker ...o&o> I voted for Kerry, it's not my problem. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush 8/5/04 From bar_n0ne at hotmail.com Mon Dec 6 14:58:25 2004 From: bar_n0ne at hotmail.com (Berny) Date: Mon Dec 6 06:00:19 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Adventures in Wireless Networking References: Message-ID: "GregR" wrote in message news:covtt9$lik$1@news.spamcop.net... > Steven Maesslein wrote: > SNIPPED > > But logic (and fairness) has never been a hallmark of the typical NANAE > "attack-dog" mentality. For most of them, it's gone way beyond > spam-fighting (if it ever really was about spam-fighting) into their own > weird brand of religion where if you don't agree with the prevailing > group-think you're automatically labeled as a spam-supporter or worse. > Maybe they just get too fsck-ing much spam? Personally I'd love to hand a few spammers over to Lindy Englands shift at Abu Ghraib. Especially the gang over at the haha-net and the cnoc-noc net who I believe are retaliating for reports by swamping me with the stuff. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Dec 6 12:13:00 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Mon Dec 6 12:15:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > Best for standby power systems are 'tri-mode' charges which have > somewhat complex voltage/current sensing and provide a) fast charging > b) maintenance charging and back switch the voltage as a keep alive > function but do not cook the battery. I've had standby system last > 5-8 years without any degradation of the battery performance. That's the kind of charger I have. It has a volmeter that checks the battery voltage and only trickle charges when it notices a drop in battery charge (or something like that). It was designed to be hooked up to a battery permanently. I've been lucky so far, I've never had to use it in the four years I've had the system. I just manually check the bilge pump a couple of times a year to make sure it and the pump switch are still functioning (it gets pretty cruddy in a sump). From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Dec 6 12:19:20 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Mon Dec 6 12:20:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > "indigo" > > | > Oh, damn straight. Electricity is awesome, but it scares the > | > bejeezus out of me. > | > | Always keep one hand in your pocket when you're working on the > | breaker box....... > > > If that's your safety program best not to put even one hand in the > breaker box. I'm not about to kill the power to the entire house just to install one friggin breaker......rubber soled shoes, gloves, a dry floor, and try not to touch the box with both hands at the same time if you can help it is plenty safe enough. We're not talking about playing with high voltage power lines here, after all. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Dec 6 12:28:37 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Mon Dec 6 12:30:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Firefox Java applet problem References: Message-ID: Blammo wrote: > I suspect FireFox may be trying to use the Java Plug-in 1.4 which is > conflicting with Java 1.5. In the FireFox\Plugins folder there's also > a dll file "NPJPI140_01.dll". But like I said, I can't check that at > this time, the dll could be located somewhere else. > Actually, it was Firefox that told me I had to download Java to view the streaming app, but whether that means I already had Java on the machine (but had not registered it with Firefox) or not I don't know. Point is moot now, its seems. I ran it again last night and it worked fine, must have been a temp glitch. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Dec 6 12:33:36 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Mon Dec 6 12:35:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > In article , > "Frog Prince" wrote: > > > BTW what's the data on the DSL hardware? I'd be interested in the > > operating frequency which may be posted on the product ID if not > > your ISP tech support should have the data. (You might have to go > > to the 2 nd level). > > It's a ZyXEL Prestige 645 ADSL modem. FCC ID 1R0DL01B312. > > > I checked the RS web site and they apparently don't make that or > > similar intercoms any longer. I wonder if the reason is the > > interference with DSL systems? > > I don't know...it has a somewhat "old" look, being made of beige > plastic. It's not all slick and modern looking, but it works. :) Have you tried wrapping the plastic box in foil and grounding it? If the RF interference is between the phone wires and not within the box you got bigger problems.........are the wires twisted pair type or just plain straight wires? You might have to shield the wiring too. From pete at heypete.com Mon Dec 6 17:36:07 2004 From: pete at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Mon Dec 6 20:40:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: In article , "indigo" wrote: > Have you tried wrapping the plastic box in foil and grounding it? If the RF > interference is between the phone wires and not within the box you got > bigger problems.........are the wires twisted pair type or just plain > straight wires? You might have to shield the wiring too. They're just plain straight wires. And no, I haven't made a Faraday Cage for the intercom yet. I'm going to head down to RadioShack in the next few days and will pick up an extra DSL line filter and a new dual-line splitter. We'll see how that works. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From me at privacy.net Tue Dec 7 06:31:07 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Tue Dec 7 06:40:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: "indigo" | > | > | > Oh, damn straight. Electricity is awesome, but it scares the | > | > bejeezus out of me. | > | | > | Always keep one hand in your pocket when you're working on the | > | breaker box....... | > | > | > If that's your safety program best not to put even one hand in the | > breaker box. | | I'm not about to kill the power to the entire house just to install one | friggin breaker......rubber soled shoes, gloves, a dry floor, and try not to | touch the box with both hands at the same time if you can help it is plenty | safe enough. We're not talking about playing with high voltage power lines | here, after all. My point was that the one hand rule has as much (if not more) chance of getting a person in trouble as it (typically) implies that the person does not know what they are doing in the first place. From me at privacy.net Tue Dec 7 06:33:35 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Tue Dec 7 06:40:11 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: "indigo" | > | > I don't know...it has a somewhat "old" look, being made of beige | > plastic. It's not all slick and modern looking, but it works. :) | | Have you tried wrapping the plastic box in foil and grounding it? If the RF | interference is between the phone wires and not within the box you got | bigger problems.........are the wires twisted pair type or just plain | straight wires? You might have to shield the wiring too. Not likely to be much help as the RF is most assuredly getting in via the phone lines. The coupling effects of four wires run parallel throughout the house is a major problem. From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Dec 7 10:49:32 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Tue Dec 7 10:50:06 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Generator for computers? References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > > My point was that the one hand rule has as much (if not more) chance > of getting a person in trouble as it (typically) implies that the > person does not know what they are doing in the first place. Well, I'd never claim to be an electrician, but I have picked up a enough knowledge here and there a long the way to be able to safely do any type of household electrical work that needs done. If I'm not sure how to do something safely and to code, I always ask some of the electrical techs at work for help (splitting 3-phase 240 V into multiple single phase 120 V outputs for instance always seems to slip my mind because I don't do it often enough to remember the proper way to do it). Same with 3-way light switches, although I do have the basic wiring schematic stashed somewhere in my workshop for refreshing my memory before I start opening electrical boxes. I do have sufficient respect (ok, call it fear if you want) of a live 200 amp service box to be extremely careful when I'm working around it. From ube_never at YAHOO.COM Tue Dec 7 13:25:38 2004 From: ube_never at YAHOO.COM (R. Asby Dragon) Date: Tue Dec 7 16:20:19 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" wrote in message news:pete-CA465F.17360706122004@news.cesmail.net... > In article , > "indigo" wrote: > > > Have you tried wrapping the plastic box in foil and grounding it? If the RF > > interference is between the phone wires and not within the box you got > > bigger problems.........are the wires twisted pair type or just plain > > straight wires? You might have to shield the wiring too. > > They're just plain straight wires. Been thru a lot of strange problems with phone lines in the past; never seen *quite* what you have. But... it's reeeaaaalllyy close to similar problems found on "special services" lines around radio sites and such. SCADA; video over twisted pair; specialised modems -- you name it; it's all some form of RF in some part of the system and it does weird things . Just replacing "old" phone cabling that has almost no twists can do wonders. Unfortunately that can be a pain in the ass/back/etc . Here's a good place for help : http://www.homephonewiring.com/index.html > Pete Stephenson > HeyPete.com -- -- I'm personally in favor of finding some way to make Robert A. Heinlein's corpse "President Forever" and making it mandatory that any public official memorizes "The Notebooks of Lazarus Long" . --R. Asby Dragon From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Wed Dec 8 03:15:22 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Tue Dec 7 22:20:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Firefox Java applet problem References: Message-ID: On 06 Dec 2004 indigo entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cp24s5$2ve$1@news.spamcop.net: > Actually, it was Firefox that told me I had to download Java to view > the streaming app, but whether that means I already had Java on the > machine (but had not registered it with Firefox) or not I don't know. There used to be a problem with that, but now it may search your computer for JRE, it should search for Quicktime and WMP, and Flash now detects Firefox and installs the plugin for it. > Point is moot now, its seems. I ran it again last night and it worked > fine, must have been a temp glitch. > Maybe a reboot fixed it? -- | Ric | From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Wed Dec 8 03:25:30 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Tue Dec 7 22:30:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: On 07 Dec 2004 R. Asby Dragon entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cp56nt$56n$1@news.spamcop.net: > Been thru a lot of strange problems with phone lines in the past; > never seen *quite* what you have. > > But... it's reeeaaaalllyy close to similar problems found on "special > services" lines around radio sites and such. SCADA; video over twisted > pair; specialised modems -- you name it; it's all some form of RF in > some part of the system and it does weird things . > > Just replacing "old" phone cabling that has almost no twists can do > wonders. Unfortunately that can be a pain in the ass/back/etc . > I was thinking of running a Cat 5 (or Cat 3) line out to the Telephone Network Interface for just the DSL, for just that reason. However I think Cat 5 is LVD and I don't know if it would make any difference with telco which is sending a voltage. Wouldn't that need HVD? Or some kind of HVD filter? -- | Ric | From eddie at eddie.web Wed Dec 8 01:44:28 2004 From: eddie at eddie.web (eddie) Date: Wed Dec 8 01:45:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review Message-ID: I just got my copy of MS's Virtual PC 7 for my G5. I got the empty version since I have access to XP via MSDN. Amazon's price is about the cheapest I found. Just a tad over one hundred bucks. It installed without a single problem - but that's probably because the box is a Mac. It connected itself to the internet through a pseudo-server created in the Mac, and registered itself. Later, when I did an ipconfig, I discovered that the IP address was not in my usual 192.168.1.xxx range, but rather in the 192.168.131.xxx, as I recall. The virtual machine was 192.168.135.65, and a gateway was created at 192.169.131.254, and a DNS was created at .252. Very interesting. There is a switch to let the virtual XP access the LAN directly through the NIC rather than through the G5 proxy. I then installed XP/SP1a from the DVD I got from MSDN. Again, I was amazed that it simply installed without a hitch. It connected to the internet through the Mac and registered itself as easily as did the Virtual PC itself. Then, I updated to SP2 via the DVD. After a reboot (which is only a virtual reboot in the XP window) it started and ran perfectly. I think it actually runs better than XP does on a dedicated machine. I installed the AVG AV software and it was completely fooled into thinking it was a real XP box. I then did an MS critical update via the control panel. Again, no problems. And, of course, a reboot is a virtual reboot. The actual OS never goes down, only the XP window. It apparently keeps the file system in RAM and synchs it with a virtiual image on the harddrive, either in real-time and/or when shutting down. I even plugged in an old USB 100 Meg iomega zip drive, which XP recognized and installed, even though the Mac wasn't aware of it without the Mac drivers, which I have not installed. I have to give whoever wrote this piece of software (the Virtual PC, not XP) a lot of credit. I would say it's more Mac than MS, but whatever, I am very pleased with it. For $100, it's a nice toy and even better, a functional piece of software for those who live in both worlds. So far I am pleasantly surprised. I expected some problems of some kind, but none have appeared. I haven't started installing any other software yet, but I will start doing so later today. I hope to migrate a lot of XP stuff onto this machine and get rid of some older hardware. The virtual XP picked up my network printer automatically and printed a test page without a hitch. I am a believer. -- "I don't understand what happened. Nobody I know voted for Bush." Dan Pauline Kael-Rather From rcarlton at spamcop.net Tue Dec 7 23:27:37 2004 From: rcarlton at spamcop.net (Rick Carlton) Date: Wed Dec 8 02:30:10 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Interesting.... I've had a not-quite-as-stellar experience with VPC7 on my PB G4 1.25. Mainly seems to be a horsepower problem. The main reason I got it was to get into a client's remote network hosted by a Symantec Firewall/VPN Router 200R. Required a firmware update unavailable from Symantec or the Symantec VPN Client. The VPN client does connect under VPC7, but only if it's connected via the tethered ethernet connection; wireless won't work (too much latency I am guessing). So, no billing from Starbucks. But SFPL does have tethered connections at the Main Library, so all is not completely lost. I'm thinking of paying the client to place a terminating VPN router on their end that supports the Mac's native VPN client - because with Office 2004 and Remote Desktop Client for Mac OS - I can do just about everything. Note to other Mac guys - none of the AirPorts are terminating VPN routers, but Linksys/Cisco has a decent one for a coupla hundred. Don't get me wrong, this is mainly grousing - as I can make it do what I purchased it for in the first place. It just doesn't do so particularly well. I'm not even gonna try running Unreal Tournament 2004 on it. ;-) Lastly, in case your copy wasn't patched for 7.01, you might want to. From eddie at eddie.web Wed Dec 8 12:25:18 2004 From: eddie at eddie.web (eddie) Date: Wed Dec 8 12:30:12 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review References: Message-ID: On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 23:27:37 -0800, Rick Carlton scratched out the following: > Interesting.... > > I've had a not-quite-as-stellar experience with VPC7 on my PB G4 1.25. > > Mainly seems to be a horsepower problem. I have the dual 2Gig G5. Still, it's an emulator and there are some small timing lags here and there but not enough to be a problem. snip > The VPN client does connect under VPC7, but only if it's connected via the > tethered ethernet connection; wireless won't work (too much latency I am > guessing). So, no billing from Starbucks. But SFPL does have tethered > connections at the Main Library, so all is not completely lost. I have a wireless USB link I might play with, but tethered is fine with me for now. snip > Don't get me wrong, this is mainly grousing - as I can make it do what I > purchased it for in the first place. > It just doesn't do so particularly well. I'm not even gonna try running > Unreal Tournament 2004 on it. ;-) snip I see it as a small investment to consolidate a few old boxes into this package and have less hardware to kick around :) > Lastly, in case your copy wasn't patched for 7.01, you might want to. First thing I checked. The update was for 7.01 so I checked and that is the version I have. Probably why they delayed shipping it until December 1. Curiously, the version that contained the XP image shipped a month ago. The instructions are a little confusing: they say it supports only XP and 2K, but the menu for selecting an OS lists all the MS OSs, and I read somewhere that it did support all previous OSs. I may try Win98SE just for fun, one of these days. -- "I don't understand what happened. Nobody I know voted for Bush." Dan Pauline Kael-Rather From ube_never at YAHOO.COM Wed Dec 8 13:01:55 2004 From: ube_never at YAHOO.COM (R. Asby Dragon) Date: Wed Dec 8 16:00:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: "Blammo" wrote in message news:Xns95B8C5B7E679Bblammo@216.154.195.61... > On 07 Dec 2004 R. Asby Dragon entered spamcop.geeks and left > news:cp56nt$56n$1@news.spamcop.net: > > > Been thru a lot of strange problems with phone lines in the past; > > never seen *quite* what you have. > > > > But... it's reeeaaaalllyy close to similar problems found on "special > > services" lines around radio sites and such. SCADA; video over twisted > > pair; specialised modems -- you name it; it's all some form of RF in > > some part of the system and it does weird things . > > > > Just replacing "old" phone cabling that has almost no twists can do > > wonders. Unfortunately that can be a pain in the ass/back/etc . > > > > I was thinking of running a Cat 5 (or Cat 3) line out to the Telephone > Network Interface for just the DSL, for just that reason. However I think > Cat 5 is LVD and I don't know if it would make any difference with telco > which is sending a voltage. Wouldn't that need HVD? Or some kind of HVD > filter? Never heard of LVD and HVD used on phone cable (but yes on SCSI drives and some telemetry) . Yes; networking has gone to lower signal levels (ala LVD) to reduce crosstalk ; but that's a function of the levels; not the wire. Are you taking about insulation rating?? CAT(x) is rated the same as UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) phone cable. Reality is that most wire plants now use the same basic stock for making phone cables and data cables. The only difference is the test/certification levels done after manufacturing. Using CAT3/5/5e/6 cable for telephone wiring is no problem. We do that at work; the only time we use "jake" or "quad" is for old locations where wire size is critical . From rcarlton at spamcop.net Wed Dec 8 17:59:53 2004 From: rcarlton at spamcop.net (Rick Carlton) Date: Wed Dec 8 20:55:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: eddie wrote: > On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 23:27:37 -0800, Rick Carlton scratched out the > following: > First thing I checked. The update was for 7.01 so I checked and that is > the version I have. Probably why they delayed shipping it until December 1. > Curiously, the version that contained the XP image shipped a month ago. > The instructions are a little confusing: they say it supports only XP and > 2K, but the menu for selecting an OS lists all the MS OSs, and I read > somewhere that it did support all previous OSs. I may try Win98SE just for > fun, one of these days. Oh yeah, did you notice the very explicit "Does not support BeOS" note? Think I may have to try it just to be difficult. ;-) From eddie at eddie.web Thu Dec 9 00:52:50 2004 From: eddie at eddie.web (eddie) Date: Thu Dec 9 00:55:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review References: Message-ID: On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 17:59:53 -0800, Rick Carlton scratched out the following: >snip > Oh yeah, did you notice the very explicit "Does not support BeOS" note? > > Think I may have to try it just to be difficult. ;-) I didn't notice, but since it's an MS product why should it support anything non-MS? :) Besides, doesn't the hardware support BeOS directly? I haven't tried it, and don't know all the particulars yet, but supposedly I can run Linux on the G5 as a separate OS. I enjoy the fact that all those command line commands like ipconfig run properly. I wonder what happens when I plug in a DVD? Will OSX or XP attempt to play it? Maybe both? :) As I mentioned, the zip drive is seen by XP even though OSX cannot detect it. Ahh, the marvels of 21st century technology. :) -- "I don't understand what happened. Nobody I know voted for Bush." Dan Pauline Kael-Rather From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Thu Dec 9 06:19:05 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Thu Dec 9 01:20:14 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: On 08 Dec 2004 R. Asby Dragon entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cp7pna$oh4$1@news.spamcop.net: > Never heard of LVD and HVD used on phone cable (but yes on SCSI drives > and some telemetry) . Yes; networking has gone to lower signal > levels (ala LVD) to reduce crosstalk ; but that's a function of the > levels; not the wire. > Right, I was just thinking about whether it could be done. Like using a balanced circuit for audio lines. > Are you taking about insulation rating?? CAT(x) is rated the same as > UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) phone cable. > > Reality is that most wire plants now use the same basic stock for > making phone cables and data cables. The only difference is the > test/certification levels done after manufacturing. > That's what I figured. > Using CAT3/5/5e/6 cable for telephone wiring is no problem. We do > that at work; the only time we use "jake" or "quad" is for old > locations where wire size is critical . > I see. I just usually use Cat5 as well, I figure it's going to be at least as good, if not better, than the existing wire. But I figure it's not so much the type of wire, as it is the quality and location of the wire. BTW, that's a pretty interesting site, I learned a couple things. -- | Ric | From asterix at no_where.net Thu Dec 9 20:21:37 2004 From: asterix at no_where.net (Asterix) Date: Thu Dec 9 14:25:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review References: Message-ID: <1gojmy4.1k9sihzvmf772N%asterix@no_where.net> eddie wrote: > Besides, doesn't the hardware support BeOS directly? I haven't tried it, > and don't know all the particulars yet, but supposedly I can run Linux on > the G5 as a separate OS. Linux, yes, probably, but since it's quite a few years since BeOS was available for Mac, I find it hard to beleive that it support any Mac hardware later than PPC604 - and I don't think it ever supported USB. It did run well wnen I tested it for a week on my trusty Performa 6400. -- I recommend Macs to my friends, and Intel machines to those whom I don't mind billing by the hour From rcarlton at spamcop.net Thu Dec 9 13:40:31 2004 From: rcarlton at spamcop.net (Rick Carlton) Date: Thu Dec 9 16:40:12 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review In-Reply-To: <1gojmy4.1k9sihzvmf772N%asterix@no_where.net> References: <1gojmy4.1k9sihzvmf772N%asterix@no_where.net> Message-ID: Asterix wrote: > Linux, yes, probably, but since it's quite a few years since BeOS was > available for Mac, I find it hard to beleive that it support any Mac > hardware later than PPC604 - and I don't think it ever supported USB. > It did run well wnen I tested it for a week on my trusty Performa 6400. There are a couple of nice BeOS x86 builds out and about. Since VPC 6 supported almost anything - when it was Connectix, I am supecting that VPC 7 will, it'll just complain about it a bit. From Kilgallen at SpamCop.net Thu Dec 9 18:19:32 2004 From: Kilgallen at SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen) Date: Thu Dec 9 19:20:12 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review References: <1gojmy4.1k9sihzvmf772N%asterix@no_where.net> Message-ID: In article , Rick Carlton writes: > Asterix wrote: >> Linux, yes, probably, but since it's quite a few years since BeOS was >> available for Mac, I find it hard to beleive that it support any Mac >> hardware later than PPC604 - and I don't think it ever supported USB. >> It did run well wnen I tested it for a week on my trusty Performa 6400. > > > There are a couple of nice BeOS x86 builds out and about. > > Since VPC 6 supported almost anything - when it was Connectix, I am > supecting that VPC 7 will, it'll just complain about it a bit. It is important for a vendor to draw the line at what they will support. That does not necessarily mean it won't work. Consider the parallel with cable modems, where the cable company will only "support" a couple of operating systems, but if you run something else that works they will not complain. From eddie at eddie.web Thu Dec 9 21:25:43 2004 From: eddie at eddie.web (eddie) Date: Thu Dec 9 21:30:50 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review References: <1gojmy4.1k9sihzvmf772N%asterix@no_where.net> Message-ID: On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 13:40:31 -0800, Rick Carlton scratched out the following: snip > Since VPC 6 supported almost anything - when it was Connectix, I am > supecting that VPC 7 will, it'll just complain about it a bit. Not to sound pedantic, but "support" can mean that the software itself does not support the OS in question - meaning that it simply won't work, in the same way the G5 did not support VPC6; or it could mean that the manufacturer will not supply any support, which is a completely different thing. So when MS says, "xxx" is not supported in VPC7, it could mean either. As I noted, many OSs were listed in the VPC7 setup, from Win95 through XP, plus Linux, UNIX, DOS and "Unspecified" so it's worth a shot to see what happens. Since it's virtual, I don't think anything bad could happen. The whole thing runs in RAM and uses a file on the HD. -- "I don't understand what happened. Nobody I know voted for Bush." Dan Pauline Kael-Rather From asterix at no_where.net Fri Dec 10 21:47:15 2004 From: asterix at no_where.net (Asterix) Date: Fri Dec 10 15:50:13 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Virtual PC 7 for the G5 - a mini review References: <1gojmy4.1k9sihzvmf772N%asterix@no_where.net> Message-ID: <1golln7.i0wexgvzv4rhN%asterix@no_where.net> Rick Carlton wrote: > Asterix wrote: > > Linux, yes, probably, but since it's quite a few years since BeOS was > > available for Mac, I find it hard to beleive that it support any Mac > > hardware later than PPC604 - and I don't think it ever supported USB. > > It did run well wnen I tested it for a week on my trusty Performa 6400. > > > There are a couple of nice BeOS x86 builds out and about. *That* I know - but Eddie asked: > > > doesn't the hardware support BeOS directly? Hence my comment. BeOS started as a system for PPC processors. They even started with their own hardware - the BeBox with dual 66 Mhz PPC601 chips. -- I recommend Macs to my friends, and Intel machines to those whom I don't mind billing by the hour From pete+usenet at heypete.com Mon Dec 13 21:13:17 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Tue Dec 14 00:15:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] iTunes conversion question... Message-ID: I presently have a substantial collection of music with iTunes (3,745 songs). Most of it is directly ripped from CDs. The collection is presently encoded as AAC (not "protected" AAC, just regular). I wish to convert these files to MP3 so that I can burn MP3s to play in my MP3-enabled car stereo. Indeed, iTunes offers a conversion option that is able to do precisely this. The problem, however, is that in doing so it makes duplicates of all my music. While I have ample storage space (several hundred gigabytes) for the conversion and storing the duplicates, going file-by-file to select and delete the duplicates will be a huge pain in the ass. Is there a better/more efficient way of doing this? -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From bar_n0ne at hotmail.com Tue Dec 14 17:32:36 2004 From: bar_n0ne at hotmail.com (Berny) Date: Tue Dec 14 08:35:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] what to View a blah-blah.cx.rm presentation with? (Windows) Message-ID: It seems rm are "Real Media" files, but gargling seems to indicate that Real Player phones home and generally tries to preempt other players. Is there a better alternative? I just want to play the damn thing! Any good suggestions out there? From 47p772ok02 at sneakemail.com Tue Dec 14 13:49:07 2004 From: 47p772ok02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Tue Dec 14 08:50:07 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: what to View a blah-blah.cx.rm presentation with? (Windows) References: Message-ID: In article , Berny wrote: > It seems rm are "Real Media" files, but gargling seems to indicate that Real > Player phones home and generally tries to preempt other players. Is there a > better alternative? I just want to play the damn thing! > > Any good suggestions out there? Try Media Player Classic http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358&release_id=227046 http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/ From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Dec 14 13:57:37 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Tue Dec 14 14:00:07 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: iTunes conversion question... References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > The problem, however, is that in doing so it makes duplicates of all > my music. While I have ample storage space (several hundred > gigabytes) for the conversion and storing the duplicates, going > file-by-file to select and delete the duplicates will be a huge pain > in the ass. > > Is there a better/more efficient way of doing this? Is there an option to deposit the freshly cut MP3's in a user-defined separate directory? That's how I keep my digital movies and photos organized. From pete+usenet at heypete.com Tue Dec 14 14:46:44 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Tue Dec 14 17:50:15 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: iTunes conversion question... References: Message-ID: In article , "indigo" wrote: > Is there an option to deposit the freshly cut MP3's in a user-defined > separate directory? That's how I keep my digital movies and photos > organized. I don't believe so, but I will have to check. iTunes has some very cool features, but is quite limited in other respects. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From TJLWBECGSGWU at spammotel.com Tue Dec 14 23:11:47 2004 From: TJLWBECGSGWU at spammotel.com (Mathew Hendry) Date: Tue Dec 14 18:15:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: what to View a blah-blah.cx.rm presentation with? (Windows) References: Message-ID: <5lsur0hmst34mc868url0mqe3dcj0lt0iu@4ax.com> On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:32:36 +0400, "Berny" wrote: >It seems rm are "Real Media" files, but gargling seems to indicate that Real >Player phones home and generally tries to preempt other players. Is there a >better alternative? I just want to play the damn thing! > >Any good suggestions out there? Google for Real Alternative, and QuickTime Alternative if you fancy that too. Gives you the codecs without the nasty players. -- Mat. From baloo at ursine.dyndns.org Tue Dec 14 16:45:40 2004 From: baloo at ursine.dyndns.org (Paul Johnson) Date: Tue Dec 14 19:50:11 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: what to View a blah-blah.cx.rm presentation with? (Windows) References: Message-ID: <1103071541.94083@ursine.dyndns.org> Berny wrote: > It seems rm are "Real Media" files, but gargling seems to indicate that > Real Player phones home and generally tries to preempt other players. Is > there a better alternative? I just want to play the damn thing! Windows: RealPlayer is it, love it or leave it. Linux: RealPlayer (which doesn't pull the nasty stuff it does under Windows), any player supporting w32-codecs if you have w32-codecs installed. -- Paul Johnson baloo@ursine.dyndns.org http://ursine.dyndns.org/~baloo/ From rcarlton at spamcop.net Tue Dec 14 23:40:38 2004 From: rcarlton at spamcop.net (Rick Carlton) Date: Wed Dec 15 02:45:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: iTunes conversion question... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > In article , > "indigo" wrote: > > >>Is there an option to deposit the freshly cut MP3's in a user-defined >>separate directory? That's how I keep my digital movies and photos >>organized. > What about placing the differently formatted files under a separate user account's iTunes Library? Then, to move the MP3s, you log in under thhat account. Otherwise, what about using something like Audion (now free) for the MP3 side and iTunes for the AAC side? From m at remove.this.part.rtij.nl Wed Dec 15 22:58:54 2004 From: m at remove.this.part.rtij.nl (Martijn Lievaart) Date: Wed Dec 15 17:00:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: what to View a blah-blah.cx.rm presentation with? (Windows) References: Message-ID: On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:32:36 +0400, Berny wrote: > It seems rm are "Real Media" files, but gargling seems to indicate that Real > Player phones home and generally tries to preempt other players. Is there a > better alternative? I just want to play the damn thing! > > Any good suggestions out there? IIIRC mplayer has a windows port and plays most rm files just fine. Google for mplayer. M4 -- Ah, the beauty of OSS. Hundreds of volunteers worldwide volunteering their time inventing and implementing new, exciting ways for software to suck. -- Toni Lassila in the Monastry From joegill at removethis Wed Dec 15 18:50:22 2004 From: joegill at removethis (Joe Gill) Date: Wed Dec 15 18:55:26 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" wrote in message news:pete-9ABAC6.00034004122004@news.cesmail.net... > I have a very odd technical problem so, of course, I come to > spamcop.geeks. > > My house has two telephone lines. One is the main "home" voice number, > and the other is the fax line that has the DSL service on it. On the > home line, we have several RadioShack Phone LIne Intercoms[1] that we > use for communicating throughout the house. On the fax/DSL line we have > filters installed on all the appropriate jacks to prevent interference. > Obviously, the jack that feeds the DSL modem is not filtered. After reading all the other posts... I have an idea (actually 2) that may be 'from left field' but here goes.... My thoughts are the internal wiring... somewhere .. or somedevice is screwed up... There are two things to check out. 1) You could spend a lot of time checking out the wiring, on to the spot you are using and all other 'drops' for that line. It could be someone 'mis-wired' one or more jacks. When the phone-line intercom is used, it triggers the problem. -or- 2) You could end it all , by gettting and using what is known as a 'NID splitter'. and that is where my knowledge of it ends! Basically, what I know of it, is that it goes inside the TELCO connection box and splits the DSL, ONCE . Bad news is you need to run another 'pair' You may also be able to get some assistance on this over in http://www.dslreports.com. If you are in SBC territory, there is tremendous support in the user forums there, and if that fails, you can post in the SBC direct forum, too! HTH From pete+usenet at heypete.com Wed Dec 15 15:52:05 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 15 18:55:49 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: iTunes conversion question... References: Message-ID: In article , David Dean wrote: > I have the exact same problem. Let me know if you figure out a way to > automate this. Hmm. It would seem that there's several ways of doing this, it just required some creative thinking. ----- Method 1: * First, ensure that the "Kind" column is enabled. Sort by "Kind". * Configure iTunes to use the MP3 encoder, rather than the AAC encoder. * Select all the AAC files (but not the "Protected AAC audio files" and "MPEG audio files", of course). * Select "Convert Selection to MP3". * Wait. I'm getting 17-19x speeds for the conversion, but I have a dual 2Ghz G5. * After the process is completed (make sure it finished properly), select all the AAC files again, then delete them. You've converted them all to MP3, so there's no sense in keeping the originals. If you simply type "AAC audio file" into the search field and make sure you don't accidentally select the "protected" ones, this might help speed things up. * You're done. ----- Method 2: * First, change the name of the iTunes Music folder to something else...like "iTunes Music - Import". * Open iTunes. Note that there's nothing in the library. It'll automatically recreate an empty iTunes Music folder. Open the Preferences, go to Advanced, and uncheck the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to the library". * Open up the "iTunes Music - Import" folder, open the "iTunes Music" sub-folder which actually contains all your music files organized by folders, and select-all and drag all the folders into iTunes. It should take a few minutes to import them (though it actually doesn't copy them, it's like making aliases). * Proceed with the normal encoding as described in Method 1. In this case, all the newly-converted files will be in the new iTunes Music folder, which may make sorting through them somewhat easier (at least I thought so, until I discovered the "Kind" column). ----- Obviously, I was thinking in the standard army way and decided to do it the complicated way, Method 2. Now that the process has started I don't want to stop it. Method 1 is probably far, far more easier and faster. Unfortunately, I came to this conclusion *after* starting Method 2. Either way, converting nearly 4,000 songs is going to be a Mighty Pain In The Ass. In case anyone's wondering, here's my reasons for MP3 over AAC (even if AAC has a slightly better sound quality, but I can't detect it): 1) Who knows if there's going to be some push to make /all/ AAC files, even ones you create yourself, "protected". There's no "protected" MP3 format, so that's a plus. 2) My car stereo plays MP3 CDs, not AAC CDs. 3) Christmas gifts for family members. At least it'll stop them from coming up here to mooch files one at a time. Finally, does anyone here have any experience, positive or negative, about Variable Bit Rate (VBR) encoding? I've just used fixed bit rate encoding my entire MP3 life (usually at 128k) -- it makes the megabyte-per-minute estimate much easier, though I'm not sure if this has some negative effect on audio quality or file size. Opinions? Cheers! -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From puoti at inwind.it Thu Dec 16 00:54:29 2004 From: puoti at inwind.it (Ivan Leo Puoti) Date: Wed Dec 15 18:55:51 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Give this phone number if you don't want to give your real one Message-ID: If someone asks for you number and you don't really want to give it to them, please give them this number instead +447774598750 Ivan. From pete+usenet at heypete.com Wed Dec 15 15:55:30 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 15 19:00:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: In article , "Joe Gill" wrote: > 1) You could spend a lot of time checking out the wiring, on to the spot you > are using and all other 'drops' for that line. It could be someone > 'mis-wired' one or more jacks. When the phone-line intercom is used, it > triggers the problem. After doing some tests, some re-wiring of a few jacks, etc. it doesn't look like there's any crossed wiring. It looks like the intercoms are just inducing a current on the line with DSL. Oddly enough, it only happens when the intercom I have in my room, right next to all the DSL equipment, is transmitting. Other stations in the house can transmit all day long and it doesn't cause problems. Maybe it's a local thing. More testing is in order. Oh, installing DSL filters on all the intercoms has had the frustrating effect of blocking all the intercom connections. It would appear that the DSL and the intercoms do indeed broadcast and receive on similar frequencies. > 2) You could end it all , by gettting and using what is known as a 'NID > splitter'. and that is where my knowledge of it ends! Basically, what I know > of it, is that it goes inside the TELCO connection box and splits the DSL, > ONCE . Bad news is you need to run another 'pair' That's certainly an option, but not one that I'm willing to undergo right now. > You may also be able to get some assistance on this over in > http://www.dslreports.com. If you are in SBC territory, there is tremendous > support in the user forums there, and if that fails, you can post in the SBC > direct forum, too! *shudders* SBC *shudder* Thanks for all the help folks. I'll do some more poking around on my end. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From TJLWBECGSGWU at spammotel.com Thu Dec 16 00:13:22 2004 From: TJLWBECGSGWU at spammotel.com (Mathew Hendry) Date: Wed Dec 15 19:15:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Give this phone number if you don't want to give your real one References: Message-ID: On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 00:54:29 +0100, Ivan Leo Puoti wrote: >If someone asks for you number and you don't really want to give it to >them, please give them this number instead >+447774598750 UK mobile number by the looks of it. Whose is it? -- Mat. From pete+usenet at heypete.com Wed Dec 15 17:58:02 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 15 21:00:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: iTunes conversion question... References: Message-ID: In article , David Dean wrote: >lucky bugger... but oddly my 1 GHz Emac gets 8-9x I'm surprised your >performance isn't a whole lot better. *shrugs* I needed /something/ to play Halo, didn't I? I needed a decent desktop for slacking off in the army and for doing schoolwork back at home. I had a bit of money to burn from the army and said "What the hell..." It's a nice computer, that's for sure, but I did have a bit of buyer's remorse afterwards...just looking at my bank account was somewhat troubling. :) > I'd change this to choose burn as MP3 Disc here. after disc is burned > delete the MP3 files. (If you need them again they're on the CD) I plan on burning a copy just to keep around the house or to use in my car. My main reason for doing this mass conversion is that I need the flexibility and portability of MP3, and I can't detect any audible difference between AAC and MP3. > My reasoning is: unless the originals are encoded with AAC lossless > encoding, you seriously degrade the sound quality by changing > encoding formats. Agreed. However, I've been unable to detect any difference between the ripped-from-CD AACs and the converted MP3s. I'm no audiophile (and my hearing's probably somewhat degraded from the army...tanks are loud, even with ear protection), but I have a nice Monsoon sound rig here and I should be able to hear some difference... > There will always be AAC without protection, it is an open standard. True. Still, better safe than sorry, you know? :) > I imagine that in a few years, there will either be AAC capable CD > players, or that there will be a better way to integrate an iPod into > your car. Indeed. Unfortunately, I lack an iPod so the only real acceptable way of storing and playing large amounts of music on my car is to use MP3 CDs. > Of course, none of the above really answered my question. I was > already doing what you suggest manually. I guess I'll just have to > write an applescript that'll do it in a more automated fashion. I'll > let you know if I ever get around to coding it. Heh. Indeed. Still, some step-by-step instructions are always helpful for others as well. It would be nice to get some sort of AppleScript to do it, though I've never had luck in crafting my own scripts -- the ones I actually *do* make have this annoying tendency to go crazy and do all sorts of unwanted things until they recognize the Cmd-.'ing that I've been doing madly for a few minutes. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From me at privacy.net Wed Dec 15 22:10:17 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Dec 15 22:40:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Give this phone number if you don't want to give your real one References: Message-ID: "Ivan Leo Puoti" | If someone asks for you number and you don't really want to give it to | them, please give them this number instead | +44777459XXXX | | Ivan. I find the local dial-a-prayers works well. From me at privacy.net Wed Dec 15 22:14:44 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Dec 15 22:40:07 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" | After doing some tests, some re-wiring of a few jacks, etc. it doesn't | look like there's any crossed wiring. It looks like the intercoms are | just inducing a current on the line with DSL. | | Oddly enough, it only happens when the intercom I have in my room, right | next to all the DSL equipment, is transmitting. Other stations in the | house can transmit all day long and it doesn't cause problems. Maybe | it's a local thing. More testing is in order. Very useful information. Try moving either the DSL or the intercom in your room to another jack. | | Oh, installing DSL filters on all the intercoms has had the frustrating | effect of blocking all the intercom connections. It would appear that | the DSL and the intercoms do indeed broadcast and receive on similar | frequencies. from the limited info I've been able to find on the equipment DSL filters won't do the job. FWIW no off the shelf filter will likely help. From bar_n0ne at hotmail.com Thu Dec 16 15:03:21 2004 From: bar_n0ne at hotmail.com (Berny) Date: Thu Dec 16 06:05:14 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: what to View a blah-blah.cx.rm presentation with? -Thanks References: Message-ID: "Martijn Lievaart" wrote in message news:pan.2004.12.15.21.58.54.732700@remove.this.part.rtij.nl... > On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:32:36 +0400, Berny wrote: > > SNIPPED > To all who responded , thanks Real Alternative and MPC from source forge do the trick From joegill at removethis Thu Dec 16 10:52:04 2004 From: joegill at removethis (Joe Gill) Date: Thu Dec 16 10:55:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Intercom disconnecting DSL? References: Message-ID: "Pete Stephenson" wrote in message news:pete+usenet-80A440.15553015122004@news.cesmail.net... > In article , > "Joe Gill" wrote: > Thanks for all the help folks. I'll do some more poking around on my > end. :) > While 'poking around'.... 1) Are you the only room in the house with a 'two line box'? 2) If so, open that box up, you probably will see 'bare metal' contacts visible. It might behoove you to attempt to build a barrier their, no 'design winner' ..but functional! 3) Do you try 'googling' newsgroups and the web for DSL and that RadioShack box? From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Dec 16 11:06:21 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Thu Dec 16 11:10:17 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: iTunes conversion question... References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > Heh. Indeed. Still, some step-by-step instructions are always helpful > for others as well. It would be nice to get some sort of AppleScript > to do it, though I've never had luck in crafting my own scripts -- > the ones I actually *do* make have this annoying tendency to go crazy > and do all sorts of unwanted things until they recognize the > Cmd-.'ing that I've been doing madly for a few minutes. :) Sounds like my (purposely) infrequent attempts to write data manipulating Excel macros ;-) From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Thu Dec 16 20:47:45 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Thu Dec 16 15:50:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Proxy Configuration: No proxy? Message-ID: Why is it that when I launch my browser and go to a certain web site my Java Consol comes up saying Proxy Configuration: No proxy ---------------------------------------------------- c: clear console window f: finalize objects on finalization queue g: garbage collect h: display this help message l: dump classloader list m: print memory usage o: trigger logging p: reload proxy configuration q: hide console r: reload policy configuration s: dump system properties t: dump thread list v: dump thread stack x: clear classloader cache 0-5: set trace level to ---------------------------------------------------- It does not do this on any other server I've come across, only on http://www.grahamhancock.com/phorum/list.php?f=1 and only does it after I have launched a fresh browser to navigate there. Rob From puoti at inwind.it Fri Dec 17 00:50:39 2004 From: puoti at inwind.it (Ivan Leo Puoti) Date: Thu Dec 16 18:55:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Give this phone number if you don't want to give your real one In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: > UK mobile number by the looks of it. Whose is it? It's the BBC flirt divert number, they play the messages on the air during the Scott Mills show. It's really funny to listen to, recently the BBC put this page up too http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/scottmills/features/flirt_divert.shtml You can get a free live stream of BBC Radio 1 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio Ivan. From me at privacy.net Thu Dec 16 20:13:33 2004 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Dec 16 20:15:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Give this phone number if you don't want to give your real one References: Message-ID: "Ivan Leo Puoti" wrote in message news:cpt70g$b1h$1@news.spamcop.net... | > UK mobile number by the looks of it. Whose is it? | It's the BBC flirt divert number, they play the messages on the air | during the Scott Mills show. | It's really funny to listen to, recently the BBC put this page up too | http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/scottmills/features/flirt_divert.shtml | You can get a free live stream of BBC Radio 1 from | http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio For most on this ng it's (very) long distance. From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Fri Dec 17 04:17:03 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Thu Dec 16 23:20:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Proxy Configuration: No proxy? References: Message-ID: On 16 Dec 2004 Rob entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cpss8l$2k9$1@news.spamcop.net: > Why is it that when I launch my browser and go to a certain web site > my Java Consol comes up saying > > > Proxy Configuration: No proxy > > Mine actually says: Proxy Configuration: Browser Proxy Configuration And I have no proxy set in my browser. Maybe the OS or browser makes a difference, don't know. But what's happening is that the site has a Java Applet there and you have Java set to show the Java console. You can turn that off by going to Control Panel and clicking Java Plug-in.. and clicking the "Do not start Console". I don't see any errors there, it's just showing you debugging commands. -- | Ric | From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Fri Dec 17 04:23:35 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Thu Dec 16 23:25:16 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Proxy Configuration: No proxy? References: Message-ID: On 16 Dec 2004 Blammo entered spamcop.geeks and left news:Xns95C1CE77CFBCCblammo@216.154.195.61: > Proxy Configuration: Browser Proxy Configuration > > And I have no proxy set in my browser. Maybe the OS or browser makes a > difference, don't know. Actually I see there is an option for that in the Java control Panel under the Proxies tab. I would imagine you would want it to use the browser settings, but if you have no proxy I doubt it matters. -- | Ric | From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Fri Dec 17 11:48:47 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Fri Dec 17 06:50:10 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Proxy Configuration: No proxy? References: Message-ID: "Blammo" wrote in message news:Xns95C1CF937B5EFblammo@216.154.195.61... > On 16 Dec 2004 Blammo entered spamcop.geeks and left > news:Xns95C1CE77CFBCCblammo@216.154.195.61: > > > Proxy Configuration: Browser Proxy Configuration > > > > And I have no proxy set in my browser. Maybe the OS or browser makes a > > difference, don't know. > > Actually I see there is an option for that in the Java control Panel under > the Proxies tab. I would imagine you would want it to use the browser > settings, but if you have no proxy I doubt it matters. > > -- > | Ric > | I'm just a bit puzzled. I often visit sites that have Java Aplets and never see this. I don't enable the Java Consul normally and this is the first time it popped up by itself. The only Proxy that is in the loop is my IP's Proxy i.e. that shows up as my IP number instead of my true IP number. Could the sites Java Aplet be trying to penetrate my IP's Proxy to establish my true IP number? If I had come across this on numerous sites I would have accepted it by now, but, one site out of the many I've visited over the years is puzzling. I've visited this site often in the past, but, after a long break have just visited it again and it's something new. Rob From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 18 02:39:07 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 17 21:40:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Proxy Configuration: No proxy? References: Message-ID: On 17 Dec 2004 Rob entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cpuh3e$5bl$1@news.spamcop.net: > I'm just a bit puzzled. I often visit sites that have Java Aplets and > never see this. I don't enable the Java Consul normally and this is > the first time it popped up by itself. The only Proxy that is in the > loop is my IP's Proxy i.e. that shows up as my IP number instead of my > true IP number. Could the sites Java Aplet be trying to penetrate my > IP's Proxy to establish my true IP number? I think you mean your ISP's (Interent Service Provider) proxy IP? Or are you referring to your local network IP? > > If I had come across this on numerous sites I would have accepted it > by now, but, one site out of the many I've visited over the years is > puzzling. I've visited this site often in the past, but, after a long > break have just visited it again and it's something new. > You didn't say which browser you are using, but if you are using IE then you could also be using two different Java "machines" - Sun Java and MS Java. Some sites may require one or the other, depending on how the HTML is written. Or if you have the Java console set to "hide", I suppose it could sometimes pop-up, it loads but should be hidden (why yoou would want that I don't know). I don't recall ever having that pop up, and I used to be on an ISP that used a caching proxy (and I assume that's what you are referring to), if you gave me some links I could see if it happens here. I'm no Java expert, but I can't think of any reason why you would need to be concerned, your ISP proxy just caches files to save bandwidth. Or if you use an "internet accelerator" the "proxy" would be "cache compressing" files. All this should be transparent to you, and your true IP will show up on a new page hit anyway. -- | Ric | From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 18 03:07:31 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 17 22:10:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Proxy Configuration: No proxy? References: Message-ID: On 17 Dec 2004 Blammo entered spamcop.geeks and left news:Xns95C2BDE2D4B3Cblammo@216.154.195.61: > I don't enable the Java Consul normally and this is > the first time it popped up by itself. I tried your www.grahamhancock.com link and couldn't get the Java console to pop-up unless I set it to show console, I tried unchecking the "use Browser Proxy" and it made no difference. Interesting that I can't even get it to say just "No Proxy", mine actually says something different. Could be because of a different Java version. -- | Ric | From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 18 03:34:20 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 17 22:35:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Proxy Configuration: No proxy? References: Message-ID: On 17 Dec 2004 Blammo entered spamcop.geeks and left news:Xns95C2C2B399E84blammo@216.154.195.61: > Could be because of a different Java version. Looks like the Java Plug-in 1.3 does say "Proxy Configuration: no proxy" if you have no proxy set. This is not an indication that Java is trying to discover your proxy IP, it simply means you have no proxy set. Actually, looking at Java 1.3, there is only one option for Show Console - on or off. I haven't used that version for quite some time, so I don't remember, it's possible it did sometimes pop-up. -- | Ric | From pete+usenet at heypete.com Fri Dec 17 21:05:27 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Sat Dec 18 00:10:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] AOL Instant Messenger and SSH? Message-ID: Does anyone know how to configure AOL Instant Messenger to tunnel over SSH? Alas, I lack access to HTTP or SOCKS proxies on the remote side of the tunnels, so that makes things somewhat more difficult. Google has gobs of information on how to get AIM configured with SOCKS, or SOCKS-over-SSH, but nothing about plain-old SSH. Any advice? Cheers! -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 18 05:16:37 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Sat Dec 18 00:20:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: AOL Instant Messenger and SSH? References: Message-ID: On 17 Dec 2004 Pete Stephenson entered spamcop.geeks and left news:pete+usenet-575854.21052717122004@news.cesmail.net: > Any advice? > No problems using Trillian http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/learn/ It seems to work fine over just an HTTP proxy. -- | Ric | From pete+usenet at heypete.com Fri Dec 17 21:20:53 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Sat Dec 18 00:25:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: AOL Instant Messenger and SSH? References: Message-ID: In article , Blammo wrote: > No problems using Trillian > http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/learn/ Alas, the site indicates that there's no Mac support. > It seems to work fine over just an HTTP proxy. I lack access to an HTTP proxy too...I'm just looking to create an SSH tunnel to a middle-man server, then have it connect to the AIM systems. I've done this before with other protocols, but AIM just doesn't want to play nice I guess. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 18 05:34:57 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Sat Dec 18 00:35:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: AOL Instant Messenger and SSH? References: Message-ID: On 17 Dec 2004 Pete Stephenson entered spamcop.geeks and left news:pete+usenet-8FD631.21205317122004@news.cesmail.net: > I lack access to an HTTP proxy too...I'm just looking to create an SSH > tunnel to a middle-man server, then have it connect to the AIM systems. > I've done this before with other protocols, but AIM just doesn't want to > play nice I guess. > Oh, crap, sorry. That's interesting since they support Apple's Rendezvous... http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/learn/index.php?select=9 there are other IM clients out there though. I really don't know anyone on AIM anymore, so I don't know. ICQ does have quite a few proxy settings, still, SSH/ Mac, I don't know. You ever heard of Jabber? http://www.jabber.org/ -- | Ric | From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 18 05:45:22 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Sat Dec 18 00:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: AOL Instant Messenger and SSH? References: Message-ID: On 17 Dec 2004 Blammo entered spamcop.geeks and left news:Xns95C2DBB2A31C1blammo@216.154.195.61: > Oh, crap, sorry. ...sorry that I didn't quote the "don't work on Mac" part. -- | Ric | From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Sat Dec 18 15:17:53 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Sat Dec 18 10:30:16 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Proxy Configuration: No proxy? References: Message-ID: "Blammo" wrote in message news:Xns95C2C73F5DE63blammo@216.154.195.61... > On 17 Dec 2004 Blammo entered spamcop.geeks and left > news:Xns95C2C2B399E84blammo@216.154.195.61: > > > Could be because of a different Java version. > > Looks like the Java Plug-in 1.3 does say "Proxy Configuration: no proxy" if > you have no proxy set. This is not an indication that Java is trying to > discover your proxy IP, it simply means you have no proxy set. > Actually, looking at Java 1.3, there is only one option for Show Console - > on or off. I haven't used that version for quite some time, so I don't > remember, it's possible it did sometimes pop-up. > > -- > | Ric > | I'm using IE 6 and Sun Java 1.4.2_06. Java consul was disabled in IE Options > Advanced, but, just noticed that it was enabled in Sun Java. There are three options in Sun Java 1.4.2_06, Show, Hide and Do Not Start, I've just selected Do Not Start. Under the Advanced Tab in the Java Plug-in Control Panel the Java Runtime Environment, Use Java Plug-in Default is selected (by default), I wonder if I should point it to 1.4.2_06? That's an aside though. Yes, I'm referring to my ISP's Proxy. When testing out on sites that can reveal to me what my IP number is and where I am located it is this ISP proxy that tends to be revealed and my location is given incorrectly as somewhere in the US whereas I'm in UK. I think I've only come across one site that could correctly determine my true IP number and can't remember what that site was now. As I said though, I'm just a bit puzzled why grahamhancock.com should be the only site I've ever come across where this behavior of Java Consul popping up and informing me of No Proxy should happen. Cannot figure what is different or special about this site that should make it do so. Now that I've disabled the consul I'll never notice this quirk again...think I'll enable it again so that I can puzzle over it if it ever happens on another site and hence see if there is any similarity between them. Rob From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sun Dec 19 06:22:37 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Sun Dec 19 01:25:05 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Proxy Configuration: No proxy? References: Message-ID: On 18 Dec 2004 Rob entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cq1i99$ih$1@news.spamcop.net: > I'm using IE 6 and Sun Java 1.4.2_06. Java consul was disabled in IE > Options > Advanced, but, just noticed that it was enabled in Sun Java. > There are three options in Sun Java 1.4.2_06, Show, Hide and Do Not > Start, I've just selected Do Not Start. Under the Advanced Tab in the > Java Plug-in Control Panel the Java Runtime Environment, Use Java > Plug-in Default is selected (by default), I wonder if I should point > it to 1.4.2_06? That's an aside though. It appears that the "No Proxy" message only appears when using MSIE, because of the way that Java gets the proxy information. Using Mozilla here it gives a different message. Of course Opera may say "No Proxy" as well. The real question is why the console pops up, which I'm sure has to do with MSIE and the way Java is called in that particular page. You figured out there are two places where you can turn off the console, which probably explains that. -- | Ric | From PossumTrot at dont.spam.me Thu Dec 23 09:22:50 2004 From: PossumTrot at dont.spam.me (Possum Trot) Date: Thu Dec 23 12:30:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer Message-ID: I happened upon this page (www.ozoneasylum.com/4999) while trying to answer the above question. It works! I'm no longer plagued by the ridiculous Flash crap or it's nag screens asking to install. Welcome to the OzoneAsylum FaqWiki Frequently Asked Questions Flash How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Flash can be annoying for users who have no interest in it at all for the following reasons: 1. If you don't have the very latest version it will nag you until you do upgrade. 2. Companies are now using Flash for pop-ups which cannot be stopped with conventional pop-up killers. 3. In older computers big movies can eat your CPU. 4. People on dialup connections can struggle with some of the bloated movies that some people produce. -------------------------------------------------------- Here's a way to disable flash that won't require any additional software, but you'll need to be comfortable using regedit: This method will disable flash in win XP without any pop-up errors, messages, or prompts. Click Start, Run, type regedit Go to following dir: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/ActiveX Compatibility Click Edit, New, Key Name New Key: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (including the {}) Now create new DWORD value inside this key. Rename this DWORD value to "Compatibility Flags" Set Value Data to 400 and Base to Hexadecimal, i.e., Compatibility Flags REG_DWORD 0x00000400 This may seem complicated but you will see along the way it makes much more sense. If you want to disable flash correctly without compromising performance this is the way. To enable flash simply delete the key. Neel Shah begin 666 open.gif M1TE&.#EA#P`+`,0?`'4"$^MR(=8>)E,##(L()U8-*&8,*+D"(Z<&*)8!<` M)?K$($1*(W8**,H`)?BP'G +*)X!&ST$"/6F'[\*)_.7'_FV M'^A<(X )*$$0*-X_)?6^(2L$!"'Y! $``!\`+ `````/``L```5:X">.)! I MR4"2%85L4).L(J TTV0PRCH<%]BDP-G,1@E!YP+9%1H'U<>F<7@$#09!`1 - I(@^,51(07(ZB1&#AR$@PC^A*87%+-%S:1VV!4RIZ'P,)"A%=@1\A`#L` ` end begin 666 tline.gif M1TE&.#EA# `-`( ``,# P/!@%"'Y! $`````+ `````,``T```(6A!&GFKOM 2#HR(2FN"WFY&WV$5!CY1`0`[ ` end begin 666 tline2.gif M1TE&.#EA# `-`( ``.UG%____R'Y! $```$`+ `````,``T```(4C .GFKOM 0#HR(2FMFU(X_7&$>$Q4`.P`` ` end begin 666 backlink.gif M1TE&.#EA' `-`.9_`.Z&&=V('8(L"+M/#+-&"W0G!EXC",5F$H4M"*--#E$> M",%?$=V''#4*!,1L%LAG$S8)`\5C$Z%&3X-!.=X%,AL%<=G$[I-#+IA$SP,!.-U%;V@ M*E0?"&LI",]M%>2 &S$,3H+!)-K'>%S%N_:.N2[+W"/+?.U@;!;A?$C((!#,, M!;YJ%<-A$$ZE1#\9F$____R'Y! $``'\` M+ `````<``T```?@@'^"@X2#4 9KA8J+A!4-"D1=.(R4@V18;"A38&V5E')+ M43%.3U1*GHIC,%4_# P!`7=\"G(9&R @&+H@)E 0$X)S/E=%```?'\,EA,[XDCI8TF1 %0@`.P`` ` end From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Dec 23 09:59:04 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Dec 23 13:00:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: Possum Trot wrote: > I happened upon this page (www.ozoneasylum.com/4999) while trying to > answer the above question. It works! I'm no longer plagued by the > ridiculous Flash crap or it's nag screens asking to install. Thanks, but incidentally.... I don't understand how you [accidentally] managed to paste the .gif/s from the page into your message. If I copy into my Win98se clipboard from a webpage, all that I paste is the plaintext. That is true whether I paste it into something like Notepad or if I paste it directly into OE [your newsagent] in plaintext mode. Your message 'contains' 4 little .gif/s... begin 666 open.gif begin 666 tline.gif begin 666 tline2.gif begin 666 backlink.gif ... from the page in question. Is there something wrong with XP which causes that? -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Dec 23 10:21:21 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Dec 23 13:25:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > Is there something wrong with XP which causes that? Actually, I don't know where I came up with XP, but now that I look, I've found this little zinger again; X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original That is OE6 sp2 and it supposedly has a new 'formatting' condition which I've seen nothing but trouble from. I don't have that version and I don't know if it is configurable. The last time I started talking about it in reference to some shortline problems, the other person ran away. Hopefully we'll find out more here. I brought it up in news.software.readers as an OT remark, and no one jumped in to help; so there's no one in that group presently who has anything to say. We all know what format=flowed is supposed to mean, but MS has never handled these issues compliantly in OE. I've seen it mentioned in a MS group, but not happily. But that poster was using strange strategies to avoid OE shortlining. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From PossumTrot at dont.spam.me Thu Dec 23 10:54:14 2004 From: PossumTrot at dont.spam.me (Possum Trot) Date: Thu Dec 23 14:00:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:cqf10f$1m6$1@news.spamcop.net... > Possum Trot wrote: >> I happened upon this page (www.ozoneasylum.com/4999) while trying to >> answer the above question. It works! I'm no longer plagued by the >> ridiculous Flash crap or it's nag screens asking to install. > > Thanks, but incidentally.... > > I don't understand how you [accidentally] managed to paste the .gif/s > from the page into your message. Mike, I have no idea how that happened. I highlighted/selected the text from the web page ( Ctrl-A), copied it, then pasted into a new OE message which I trimmed. Strangely it did not include the usual little icon after the pasted text that allows you to choose text only or some other format. I didn't notice the attachments before I sent the note. I guess I need to run over and ask Bill what the heck his products are doing (local joke since he lives and works only three miles from my office). It obviously must be a new XP or OE feature since we all know M$ products do not have bugs LOL. > > If I copy into my Win98se clipboard from a webpage, all that I paste is > the plaintext. That is true whether I paste it into something like > Notepad or if I paste it directly into OE [your newsagent] in plaintext > mode. > > Your message 'contains' 4 little .gif/s... > > begin 666 open.gif > begin 666 tline.gif > begin 666 tline2.gif > begin 666 backlink.gif > > ... from the page in question. > > Is there something wrong with XP which causes that? > > -- > Mike Easter > kibitzer, not SC admin > From ftabor at direcway.com Thu Dec 23 14:17:33 2004 From: ftabor at direcway.com (Frank Tabor) Date: Thu Dec 23 14:20:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Possum Trot wrote: > "Mike Easter" wrote in message > news:cqf10f$1m6$1@news.spamcop.net... > >>Possum Trot wrote: > > Mike, I have no idea how that happened. I highlighted/selected the text > from the web page ( Ctrl-A), copied it, CTRL-A highlights everything on the page. Use the mouse to select text. From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Dec 23 11:28:30 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Dec 23 14:30:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: Frank Tabor wrote: > CTRL-A highlights everything on the page. Use the mouse to select > text. Highlighting is one thing, copying it into the clipboard is another thing, pasting it from the clipboard into a text only news message is still another thing. What I'm saying is that apparently there has been an evolution and change in the copy into clipboard => paste into the plaintext news message function from Win98se OE6 sp1 to XP OE6sp2. Whether that is both an XP clipboard /and/ OE6sp2 change is up for discussion. If I highlight a webpage's text + graphics and copy and paste them into a newsmessage, I don't get that pasted graphic effect, only the plaintext. The graphic/s are left behind. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Thu Dec 23 22:10:26 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Thu Dec 23 17:15:09 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: On 23 Dec 2004 Possum Trot entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cqev3b$o4$1@news.spamcop.net: > I happened upon this page (www.ozoneasylum.com/4999) while trying to > answer the above question. It works! I'm no longer plagued by the > ridiculous Flash crap or it's nag screens asking to install. > You know they are the typical dumasses as that only works for Internet Explorer. -- | Ric From PossumTrot at dont.spam.me Thu Dec 23 14:26:26 2004 From: PossumTrot at dont.spam.me (Possum Trot) Date: Thu Dec 23 17:30:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: "Blammo" wrote in message news:Xns95C8902FF69DDblammo@216.154.195.61... > On 23 Dec 2004 Possum Trot entered spamcop.geeks and left > news:cqev3b$o4$1@news.spamcop.net: > >> I happened upon this page (www.ozoneasylum.com/4999) while trying to >> answer the above question. It works! I'm no longer plagued by the >> ridiculous Flash crap or it's nag screens asking to install. >> > > You know they are the typical dumasses as that only works for Internet > Explorer. > > -- > | Ric Yes, I realize some of us look like dumbasses, but we are just following the Golden Rule. You all know it: "He who has the gold makes the rules". In this case the boss (or his lackey) says IE and OE, and that's what we must accept. From notgiven at nodomain.net Thu Dec 23 20:32:22 2004 From: notgiven at nodomain.net (C. S.) Date: Thu Dec 23 20:35:19 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: <5trms0lnmk03gtlmhppurm54nudlf8au3v@4ax.com> Sometime around Thu, 23 Dec 2004 22:10:26 +0000 (UTC), Blammo deemed it necessary to offer: > On 23 Dec 2004 Possum Trot entered spamcop.geeks and left > news:cqev3b$o4$1@news.spamcop.net: > > > I happened upon this page (www.ozoneasylum.com/4999) while trying to > > answer the above question. It works! I'm no longer plagued by the > > ridiculous Flash crap or it's nag screens asking to install. > > > > You know they are the typical dumasses as that only works for Internet > Explorer. I'm not sure I'd agree with the derogatory names, though I do endorse using browser(s) other than IE. It seems that the recent announcement of a major US university encouraging the use of alternative browsers, combined with the US federal agency proclaiming much the same a few months back, are exceptional arguments against the Redmond giant's addled browser. I use, enjoy, endorse, and customize the dickens out of the Opera browser(www.opera.com). I can disable/enable Flash content on a site-by-site basis with a single mouse-click, among countless other useful tweaks. From none at domain.invalid Thu Dec 23 18:43:10 2004 From: none at domain.invalid (Anonymous) Date: Thu Dec 23 21:45:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: "Possum Trot" wrote in message news:cqev3b$o4$1@news.spamcop.net... >I happened upon this page (www.ozoneasylum.com/4999) while trying to >answer the above question. It works! I'm no longer plagued by the >ridiculous Flash crap or it's nag screens asking to install. You can also use Spyware Blaster: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html It's got a setting in there that will disable Flash. HTH, HAND... From sharvey at pdsheart.com Fri Dec 24 12:00:24 2004 From: sharvey at pdsheart.com (Sharon Harvey) Date: Fri Dec 24 12:00:26 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 21 Message-ID: <832069644@mail.pdsheart.com> I had received your message, but I will be out of the office from Dec 20-26, 2004. If you need immediate assistance please contact techsupport@pdsheart.com. Thank you Sharon Harvey PDSHeart Technical Support Office: 866-744-4677 ext 107 Fax: 877-451-8100 Voicemail: 877-733-4624 ext 107 Cell: 678-859-3601 From nobody at devnull.spamcop.net Fri Dec 24 12:01:31 2004 From: nobody at devnull.spamcop.net (WazoO) Date: Fri Dec 24 13:05:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 21 References: Message-ID: "Sharon Harvey" wrote in message news:mailman.46.1103907628.4572.spamcop-geeks@news.spamcop.net... > I had received your message, but I will be out of the office from Dec 20-26, 2004. > > If you need immediate assistance please contact techsupport@pdsheart.com. > > Thank you > > Sharon Harvey > > PDSHeart Technical Support > > Office: 866-744-4677 ext 107 > Fax: 877-451-8100 > Voicemail: 877-733-4624 ext 107 > Cell: 678-859-3601 Called the number, the entire IT staff is already gone for the holidays. Best offer made was to leave a message on her voice-mail account. Suggested either turning off the out-of-office thing or unsubscribing quickly before this gets out of hand. From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 25 02:20:58 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 24 21:25:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: Message-ID: On 23 Dec 2004 Possum Trot entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cqfgsi$aga$1@news.spamcop.net: > Yes, I realize some of us look like dumbasses, but we are just > following the Golden Rule. You all know it: "He who has the gold > makes the rules". In this case the boss (or his lackey) says IE and > OE, and that's what we must accept. > What the hell are you talking about? Weren't we talking about a plugin? -- | Ric | From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 25 02:29:07 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 24 21:30:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: <5trms0lnmk03gtlmhppurm54nudlf8au3v@4ax.com> Message-ID: On 23 Dec 2004 C. S. entered spamcop.geeks and left news:5trms0lnmk03gtlmhppurm54nudlf8au3v@4ax.com: > I use, enjoy, endorse, and customize the dickens > out of the Opera browser(www.opera.com). > I can disable/enable Flash content on a > site-by-site basis with a single mouse-click, > among countless other useful tweaks. > Exactly, and there's an extension for Mozilla browsers as well. http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/flashblock which just might be a little easier than hacking your computer? Actually Possum Trot's tip is easy to compile into something more practical, but I don't think it will disable all Flash content anyway. -- | Ric | From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sat Dec 25 03:49:06 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Fri Dec 24 22:50:14 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: <5trms0lnmk03gtlmhppurm54nudlf8au3v@4ax.com> Message-ID: On 23 Dec 2004 C. S. entered spamcop.geeks and left news:5trms0lnmk03gtlmhppurm54nudlf8au3v@4ax.com: > I'm not sure I'd agree with the derogatory names, In defense of the dumasses I checked the site and it does mention easier ways to do this, such creating reg files to enable-disable, and other options. But still, I don't see it stated that this is an "IE only" solution. In defense of all browsers, this is a feature that should be built-in to Flash by Macromedia. In defense of Flash and Macromedia in general, it does have many benefits when designed well, such as compression and streaming. If you've ever created Flash you might know that it has a nice bandwidth testing tool. -- | Ric | From sharvey at pdsheart.com Sat Dec 25 12:00:05 2004 From: sharvey at pdsheart.com (Sharon Harvey) Date: Sat Dec 25 12:00:11 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22 Message-ID: <832135170@mail.pdsheart.com> I had received your message, but I will be out of the office from Dec 20-26, 2004. If you need immediate assistance please contact techsupport@pdsheart.com. Thank you Sharon Harvey PDSHeart Technical Support Office: 866-744-4677 ext 107 Fax: 877-451-8100 Voicemail: 877-733-4624 ext 107 Cell: 678-859-3601 From nobody at nowhere.invalid Sat Dec 25 19:06:19 2004 From: nobody at nowhere.invalid (Steven Maesslein) Date: Sat Dec 25 13:10:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22 References: Message-ID: On Sat, 25 Dec 2004 12:00:05 -0500, Sharon Harvey coughed into spamcop.geeks and left this in : > I had received your message, but I will be out of the office from Dec 20-26, 2004. Yet another good reason to kill the SMTP gateway to these newsgroups... -- Steve BOFH excuse #403: Sysadmin didn't hear pager go off due to loud music from bar-room speakers From wb8tyw at qsl.network Sat Dec 25 14:51:41 2004 From: wb8tyw at qsl.network (John E. Malmberg) Date: Sat Dec 25 14:55:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Autoresponders, a criminals friend. (Was: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Steven Maesslein wrote: > On Sat, 25 Dec 2004 12:00:05 -0500, Sharon Harvey coughed into > spamcop.geeks and left this in > : > >>I had received your message, but I will be out of the office from Dec 20-26, 2004. > > Yet another good reason to kill the SMTP gateway to these newsgroups... How many years has it been demonstrated on U.S. TV shows that criminals use these out of office messages? An out of office responder that sends out side of the local network is the electronic equivalent to a pile of newspapers left on the porch in front of a house. If someone is expecting an important message, they should forward their messages to a delegate, or set up a remote access. -John wb8tyw@qsl.network Personal Opinion Only From nobody at spamcop.net Sat Dec 25 15:38:49 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (RW) Date: Sat Dec 25 16:40:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22 References: Message-ID: "Steven Maesslein" wrote in message news:slrncsrb0r.jdt.nobody@127.0.0.1... > On Sat, 25 Dec 2004 12:00:05 -0500, Sharon Harvey coughed into > spamcop.geeks and left this in > : > >> I had received your message, but I will be out of the office from Dec >> 20-26, 2004. > > Yet another good reason to kill the SMTP gateway to these newsgroups... At least she's on digest so not responding to every post :-) Richard From user at domain.invalid Sat Dec 25 23:56:02 2004 From: user at domain.invalid (User) Date: Sun Dec 26 00:55:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Autoresponders, a criminals friend. (Was: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 25.12.2004 13:51, John E. Malmberg wrote: --- Original Message --- > Steven Maesslein wrote: >> On Sat, 25 Dec 2004 12:00:05 -0500, Sharon Harvey coughed into >> spamcop.geeks and left this in >> : >> >>>I had received your message, but I will be out of the office from Dec 20-26, 2004. >> >> Yet another good reason to kill the SMTP gateway to these newsgroups... > > How many years has it been demonstrated on U.S. TV shows that criminals > use these out of office messages? > > An out of office responder that sends out side of the local network is > the electronic equivalent to a pile of newspapers left on the porch in > front of a house. > > If someone is expecting an important message, they should forward their > messages to a delegate, or set up a remote access. > > -John > wb8tyw@qsl.network > Personal Opinion Only > I agree in theory, however, in reality how close in reasonable driving miles is the criminal away from the person who is auto-responding? And even more mind boggling is the chance that a criminal is the recipient of an auto-responder email. I think we have a better chance of winning the PowerBall. ;-) From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sun Dec 26 07:06:11 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Sun Dec 26 02:10:12 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Autoresponders, a criminals friend. (Was: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22) References: Message-ID: On 25 Dec 2004 John E. Malmberg entered spamcop.geeks and left news:krydnem3fKtNWVDcRVn-3w@adelphia.com: > If someone is expecting an important message, they should forward their > messages to a delegate, or set up a remote access. > Or, it seems a simple matter to me although I've never tried it, to create a white-list of addresses that may get auto-replies. On the other hand it may be possible for the list to dump these type of auto-replies. -- | Ric | From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Sun Dec 26 08:40:37 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Sun Dec 26 03:45:16 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Autoresponders, a criminals friend. (Was: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22) References: Message-ID: On 26 Dec 2004 Mr K. Mean entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cqlrbm$mct$1@news.spamcop.net: > Blammo wrote: >> >> Or, it seems a simple matter to me although I've never tried it, to >> create a white-list of addresses that may get auto-replies. >> On the other hand it may be possible for the list to dump these type >> of auto-replies. > > So, as you admit, you have never actually done this and have certainly > never used the out of the office feature in Outlook. I don't know why you assume I've never used this feature in Outlook, but considering all the (mostly useless) filters in Outlook, it very well "may" be possible - you may have to think backwards as in "if this do that", rather than "do that if this", if that makes any sense. However it seems rather risky to me to leave Windows connected to the Internet for an extended and unattended length of time, for this sole purpose. In fact, I think it's a really bad idea. I don't know why you think this is an Outlook message anyway, the headers don't say. Perhaps that's the standard message? Even so it still may be server generated. > If something > like that can actually be done, it is not at obvious to me how it > would be done. > It should be quite easy on the server side. I was referring to a server side process, not a client side one, although either should be possible. -- | Ric | From nobody at spamcop.net Sun Dec 26 15:11:31 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (RW) Date: Sun Dec 26 16:15:08 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Autoresponders, a criminals friend. (Was: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22) References: Message-ID: "Mr K. Mean" <47p772ok02@sneakemail.com> wrote in message news:cqn4pl$ca9$1@news.spamcop.net... > I don't see the user agent headers for the auto responder message. I > assume the mail gateway stripped most of them off. If it is from > Outlook/Exchange, which I assume it is, again, I haven't found an easy way > to selectively turn on an autoresponder. If you know some secret I You can set up a message rule, "where the From contains people", "reply with message" Richard From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Mon Dec 27 06:48:33 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Mon Dec 27 01:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Autoresponders, a criminals friend. (Was: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22) References: Message-ID: On 26 Dec 2004 Mr K. Mean entered spamcop.geeks and left news:cqn4pl$ca9$1@news.spamcop.net: > I don't see your point about connecting Windows to the Internet. It > isn't at all related to the question at hand here. I imagine some > companies leave Exchange on the Internet, but I know the fairly large > company I work for doesn't. There is a large LAN/WAN network of > Exchange servers around the world inside the firewall that handle > internal mail and then a mail gateway, I'm assuming it is running > Solaris (well, there is a move in the company to start phasing out > Solaris in favor of Linux, so that might have changed), to the outside > world that runs mail through SpamAssassin and then passes it off to > whatever Exchange server the user's mail lives on. Still this point is > irrelevant to the whole discussion of autoresponders. > I really don't know anything about Exchange, so if it is doing the responding I wouldn't know anything about it. I think RW gave a little better explanation of what I was trying to explain, I once looked at the message rules trying to figure out which headers I can add (by the mail server) for Outlook to filter with, but it seems it's not possible. But filtering by sender should be no problem. Now you mentioned the UNIX server that is probably running Sendmail or Postfix with Procmail/ Spamassassin. This is exactly what I'm talking about and has everything to do with auto-responders, believe it or not MS didn't invent that ;-) Procmail can deliver what's refered to as "Vacation reply". It would probably be better to have the mail server respond so that individual work stations don't have to be left up and running 24/7, that is, as long as replies are only sent to valid senders. Of course you don't want auto-replies replying to spam, viruses or newsletters. There various problems with this which is why it's rarely used anymore, I'm just suggesting that the problems can be fixed or at least reduced to a minimum. -- | Ric | From 47p772ok02 at sneakemail.com Mon Dec 27 11:21:41 2004 From: 47p772ok02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Mon Dec 27 06:25:05 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Autoresponders, a criminals friend. (Was: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22) References: Message-ID: In article , Blammo wrote: > On 26 Dec 2004 Mr K. Mean entered spamcop.geeks and left > > I really don't know anything about Exchange, so if it is doing the > responding I wouldn't know anything about it. > I think RW gave a little better explanation of what I was trying to > explain, I once looked at the message rules trying to figure out which > headers I can add (by the mail server) for Outlook to filter with, but it > seems it's not possible. But filtering by sender should be no problem. > > Now you mentioned the UNIX server that is probably running Sendmail or > Postfix with Procmail/ Spamassassin. This is exactly what I'm talking about > and has everything to do with auto-responders, believe it or not MS didn't > invent that ;-) Procmail can deliver what's refered to as "Vacation reply". > It would probably be better to have the mail server respond so that > individual work stations don't have to be left up and running 24/7, that > is, as long as replies are only sent to valid senders. Of course you don't > want auto-replies replying to spam, viruses or newsletters. There various > problems with this which is why it's rarely used anymore, I'm just > suggesting that the problems can be fixed or at least reduced to a minimum. You are so totally missing my point here. What you are suggesting might actually be possible but it is not even vaguely practical. The fact that the intenet mail gateway might or might not be running on Unix is of no help to me. I don't have access to my mail until way further down the line, way past the possible points where I could use procmail. I have an Outlook client interface to my mail. If I could actually use procmail, I would never have to deal with the crappy rules that are available in Outlook again and I would be quite happy. But I would say that my chances being allowed to write scripts and rules way back on that Unix server are, well I would say less than zero, but I'll settle for just saying zero. I would further say that the possiblity of writing any server side rules on the Exchange server which are not possible through the Outlook client are also exactly zero. It would be crazy of them to allow that and probably a support nightmare. Yes, you can write, sort of, rules in Outlook that run on the server. Well, that's really the only way to go. Client side rules are pretty much pointless since they only run when you have Outlook open. If you check your mail through the web client, you leave everything a mess then. But I suppose that I could write a rule that would reply to something based on the sender. Ok, fine, but practically, how do I construct that list. There are, I think, like 15,000 names in the global address book that I would use as a starting point. There are probably only several hundred names that I would want the reply to go to but I'm not going to take the time to construct such a list. And there is no way to just use the global list that I have found, and I've looked a number of times. Ok, I probably want all the names from these 4 offices where we have users, and then go through my inbox to see where else in the world there are other people. Yeah whatever. I'm going to just click the button that says I'm out of the office instead. Yes, I don't want replies going to spammers and newsletters, but using the tools I have available, it isn't at all practical not to. (And Outlook should only reply once to each unique address which means only one reply to a newsletter during an absense.) And considering the virtual and geographical disperse setup of my team and users, not leaving a reply on when I'm gone is a bad idea. From wb8tyw at qsl.network Mon Dec 27 11:31:57 2004 From: wb8tyw at qsl.network (John E. Malmberg) Date: Mon Dec 27 11:35:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Autoresponders, a criminals friend. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: User wrote: > On 25.12.2004 13:51, John E. Malmberg wrote: > I agree in theory, however, in reality how close in reasonable driving > miles is the criminal away from the person who is auto-responding? Distance makes no difference to the type of criminals that use these tactics. They work through social engineering to either get bogus invoices paid, or to get valuable items shipped to anonymous postal blocks. They do not even need to be in the same country. One company lost at least one secret prototype device, shipped overnight at the companies expense to the alleged out of town employee. The criminals are looking for identities to steal where the person can not be easily contacted for verification. It is estimated that most companies that are victims of this theft do not publicize it, a lot of information on how these criminals work has come from them confessing in order to get lighter sentences. > And > even more mind boggling is the chance that a criminal is the recipient > of an auto-responder email. I think we have a better chance of winning > the PowerBall. ;-) In the case of PowerBall, the game is suppose to be fair. An auto-responder just needs to be probed. A: The criminal can target a company with spam with a real return address going to a throw-away account. B: They can search mailing list archives on the internet for auto-responder messages. The criminals that do these types of crimes are known to war-dial companies to get this information for past exploits, using the internet search engines or a spam run to do the same thing does not seem unlikely. -John wb8tyw@qsl.network Personal Opinion Only From notgiven at nodomain.net Mon Dec 27 22:26:51 2004 From: notgiven at nodomain.net (C. S.) Date: Mon Dec 27 22:30:15 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: <5trms0lnmk03gtlmhppurm54nudlf8au3v@4ax.com> Message-ID: Sometime around Sat, 25 Dec 2004 03:49:06 +0000 (UTC), Blammo deemed it necessary to offer: > On 23 Dec 2004 C. S. entered spamcop.geeks and left > news:5trms0lnmk03gtlmhppurm54nudlf8au3v@4ax.com: > > > I'm not sure I'd agree with the derogatory names, > > In defense of the dumasses I checked the site and it does mention easier > ways to do this, such creating reg files to enable-disable, and other > options. But still, I don't see it stated that this is an "IE only" > solution. It's likely taken as a given, since IE seems to be the only current browser without any options to disable it and/or kill the irritating installation nag. Even so, of the several articles I've perused which attempt to walk a person through disabling Flash for IE, they all indicate that it's quite a complicated task. > In defense of all browsers, this is a feature that should be built-in to > Flash by Macromedia. Agreed. The same should be available for most such multimedia plugins/extensions. While broadband access is fast becoming the norm, dialup users alone would realize huge time benefits from the ability to easily enable/disable such bandwidth hogs on a page-by-page basis. > In defense of Flash and Macromedia in general, it does have many benefits > when designed well, such as compression and streaming. If you've ever > created Flash you might know that it has a nice bandwidth testing tool. I have no experience from the design end of things, though I'm fully aware and appreciative of some of the better efforts on display. Unfortunately, most such attempts are just about as bloated and resource-hungry and/or pathetically incomplete as Micro$oft's and Adobe's latest products, due in large part to the creators' ineptitude and indifference. Those exceptionally irritating, blinking-flashing-pulsing-graphic banner advertisements are one excruciating example of a nifty tool put into the hands of village idiots. From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Tue Dec 28 10:38:44 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Tue Dec 28 05:40:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: How do I completely uninstall or disable Flash's player/plugin? Answer References: <5trms0lnmk03gtlmhppurm54nudlf8au3v@4ax.com> Message-ID: On 27 Dec 2004 C. S. entered spamcop.geeks and left news:lmj1t05p5k19j9lelomrduh9fsooqhqc02@4ax.com: > It's likely taken as a given, since IE seems to be the only > current browser without any options to disable it and/or kill the > irritating installation nag. > I've tested this before in IE, not the above mentioned method, but I mean a "proper method" of embeding Flash in HTML, e.g. using (which is non-standard but works) or using as per the spec (instead of the MS way). I know you won't get the "upgrade nag", but not sure what happens if Flash isn't installed or if the reg hack has any effect on that. I would test this but my vid card died and I don't yet have one that works in XP, but I suspect the reg hack will have no effect if the ActiveX clsid is not specified. Anyone interested in the HTML side of this can checkout http://www.alistapart.com/articles/flashsatay/ and the very long but interesting discussion after. -- | Ric From ric.gates at bigsleep.org Tue Dec 28 11:21:06 2004 From: ric.gates at bigsleep.org (Blammo) Date: Tue Dec 28 06:25:09 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Autoresponders, a criminals friend. (Was: SpamCop-Geeks Digest, Vol 39, Issue 22) References: Message-ID: On 27 Dec 2004 Mr K. Mean entered spamcop.geeks and left news:slrncsvs0p.m6u.47p772ok02@sdf.lonestar.org: > You are so totally missing my point here. What you are suggesting might > actually be possible but it is not even vaguely practical. The fact > that the intenet mail gateway might or might not be running on Unix is > of no help to me. I don't have access to my mail until way further down > the line, way past the possible points where I could use procmail. No, I don't think I am. I have clients that use Outlook (not Exchange, but I know Procmail can be used to deliver mail to Exchange servers). Some of them like to use the web mail interface (actually on a FreeBSD server) in the mornings to check their mail and remove any spam/ viruses and they can even transfer messages to me (an IMAP type shared folder). It also tags anything listed in the spamcop dnsbl and they can delete them with one click (or is it two, I forget). They could use Procmail filters from this interface, and vacation as well, but noone uses it. I am working on ways that they can import their own white-list, I prefer IPs over eMail addresses but both can work, and ways they can create their own block-list. This may sound complex but so far it's working very well, and importing address books (in CSV format) is quite easy, and blocking or white-listing messages could easily be done with just a click. The hard part is mine, trying to get everything to work seemlessly, and at the same time simple for them. The only problem so far is that they can't pop mail while the web interface is open, and I would imagine Exchange would add another level of complication to that. That's too bad you don't have any access to Procmail filters, but you know there are bright people out there who are determined to get these things to work together. Often times things are set up the easy way up front and then sorted out down the line, which makes it real tough for the end user to change anything. > Ok, I probably want all the names from these 4 offices where we have > users, and then go through my inbox to see where else in the world there > are other people. Yeah whatever. I'm going to just click the button > that says I'm out of the office instead. Yes, I don't want replies > going to spammers and newsletters, but using the tools I have available, > it isn't at all practical not to. (And Outlook should only reply once > to each unique address which means only one reply to a newsletter during > an absense.) And considering the virtual and geographical disperse > setup of my team and users, not leaving a reply on when I'm gone is a > bad idea. Actually, I think you can put addresses into a category and just send replies to senders in that category. -- | Ric From pete+usenet at heypete.com Tue Dec 28 04:51:42 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Tue Dec 28 07:55:18 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Computer-related "Argh!" Message-ID: Well, I've finally made the plunge -- I've been an all-Mac guy for years. About a month or so ago, I broke the mold and bought a piece of non-Mac hardware -- a Cobalt RaQ3. Sure, it's a few years out-of-date and no longer supported by Cobalt-now-Sun, but it works, it does what it needs to, and that's all I care about. However, I've recently felt the calling for some sort of PC hardware that's usable as a desktop machine[1]. Looking around the local CompUSA resulted in amazement at how incredibly inexpensive PC hardware is these days. It's incredible that they can sell such advanced computational machinery for such absurdly low prices -- most things involving computers require advanced precision machinery to manufacture, yet they can offer the products at really low prices. Amazing, if you think about it. Anyway, I was walking around CompUSA with my PC-savvy friend doing some product research and realized that I could build a mid-to-high-end PC for about the same price as a low-end retail PC. We noted down some specs of retail machines, came home, browsed a few sites (and wound up buying from newegg.com), and plunked down about $700 for a pretty damned good gaming machine. It's not top-of-the-line, but we got hardware that's about as good as we could get before reaching the point of diminishing returns[2]. All in all, an excellent computer for nearly every mundane task a modern computer has to do, plus a nice video card for gaming. All for under $800 (stupid tax). Only one problem: I forgot to buy a CD-R/RW and/or a DVD player/writer. It'll be somewhat difficult to install an operating system without any sort of optical drive. I suppose I'll have to pick one up at (*shudder*) retail price from a computer store. I don't really need a burner, as my PowerMac G5 has one and I could just transfer files that need to be burnt to disk over the LAN here... Still, it's a bit of a "D'oh!" to realize all this after the order's been submitted, verified, and paid for. Ugh. Oh well. In conclusion: While failing to order an optical drive was somewhat of a pain in the ass, I was otherwise highly satisfied with the ordering process. While I've ordered computers before and purchased ungodly amounts of stuff online, I've never once really dealt with the nitty-gritty PC hardware stuff (i.e. what brand of motherboard to buy and whatnot). A combination of my PC-savvy friend, a recent holiday infusion of money, and a vast selection of goodies available online I've been able to build a decent computer for a very reasonable price. This is a fairly good day. Now I just need to go slap myself a bit more about the optical drive. [1] Mainly to play Half Life 2, but that's a different story all together. Desire for compatibility for school-related assignments (many classes for Computer Science require Windows and Windows-based programs, much to my chagrin). [1] XFX GeForce 6600Gt video card w/ 120Mb VRAM, ABIT KV8 Pro motherboard (lots of other numbers and whatnot not included), AMD Athlon64 3200+ CPU (2.2Ghz, but can be overclocked), 512Mb DDR RAM, 160Gb Maxtor HD, etc. Also purchased were a case w/ power supply and a KVM switch and cables so I could use the same monitor, trackball, and keyboard. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Dec 28 13:08:14 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Tue Dec 28 13:10:08 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > [1] XFX GeForce 6600Gt video card w/ 120Mb VRAM, ABIT KV8 Pro > motherboard (lots of other numbers and whatnot not included), AMD > Athlon64 3200+ CPU (2.2Ghz, but can be overclocked), 512Mb DDR RAM, > 160Gb Maxtor HD, etc. Also purchased were a case w/ power supply and a > KVM switch and cables so I could use the same monitor, trackball, and > keyboard. No heavy duty CPU cooler or extra case fans? For a gaming machine, be prepared to buy some more stuff........stock OEM AMD fans are pretty good, so you may be able to get by without a new cooler, but case fans you'll almost certainly need. Oh, and you'll want some high quality thermal grease too -- AMD chips come with a soft interface material which unfortunately is a one time app -- if you have to take the CPU fan off you can't reuse the thermal pad. See if your motherboard has the capability for variable speed control for the CPU and/or case fans (it should). Mine didn't, I had to install a rheostat control for the variable speed case fan on the side of my box. From nobody at nowhere.invalid Tue Dec 28 22:10:41 2004 From: nobody at nowhere.invalid (Steven Maesslein) Date: Tue Dec 28 16:15:05 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 13:08:14 -0500, indigo coughed into spamcop.geeks and left this in : > Oh, and you'll want some high quality thermal grease too -- AMD chips > come with a soft interface material which unfortunately is a one time > app -- if you have to take the CPU fan off you can't reuse the thermal > pad. Beware of this. Use of thermal grease voids the warranty on AMD chips. -- Steve Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. From notgiven at nodomain.net Tue Dec 28 19:08:58 2004 From: notgiven at nodomain.net (C. S.) Date: Tue Dec 28 19:10:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: <62t3t05h77ekk6soa807b1euitqg18d4mh@4ax.com> Sometime around Tue, 28 Dec 2004 04:51:42 -0800, Pete Stephenson deemed it necessary to offer: > wound up buying from newegg.com I've purchased from them several times in the past. Though they screwed up my first order in entirety, their resolution in response to my scathing review of them at resellerratings.com was far above and beyond the call of duty. They really bent over backwards to gain me as a customer. I highly recommend buying from NewEgg, and will not hesitate to send my business their way again. From pete+usenet at heypete.com Tue Dec 28 17:06:19 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Tue Dec 28 20:10:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: In article , David Dean wrote: > For my day job, I run Borland's C++ Builder X on my powerbook. > (unsupported by Borland, but it works) I also use VPN to remote > control the Dell box they assigned to me for those occasions when I > need to use the two Windows apps I need[1]. I've found that 90% of my > job can be done without ever actually using windows[2]. > Drop me a line if you ever feel the urge to wean yourself back to > the mac side. I'll see what I can do to help. Interesting. I have no intention of abandoning Apple at all. Indeed, with the amount of money I've sank into Apple computers (including my dual-2Ghz G5), they will remain my computer of choice. Alas, certain games and school-related stuff require Windows. Personally, I loathe Windows of any sort, so this will take some intestinal fortitude to use. :) -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From pete+usenet at heypete.com Tue Dec 28 17:10:49 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Tue Dec 28 20:15:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: In article , "indigo" wrote: > No heavy duty CPU cooler or extra case fans? Maybe, but not right away. We'll see how hot the system runs right out of the box. If it requires additional cooling, then it shall receive additional cooling. I'm somewhat tight for money, so getting the bare minimum right now, then buying what I need later is required. I'm also avoiding, for now, the windowed cases and LED fans and whatnot. I consider them to be rather silly. I just got a generic-looking case. This will likely annoy all the "l33t gamerz" out there who like ground-effect lighting on their CPU cases. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From joegill at removethis Wed Dec 29 14:09:44 2004 From: joegill at removethis (Joe Gill) Date: Wed Dec 29 14:10:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: Some thoughts/reflections..... Your said.. "Anyway, I was walking around CompUSA with my PC-savvy friend doing some product research and realized that I could build a mid-to-high-end PC for about the same price as a low-end retail PC." TRUE..... However, it has been my experience in some parts situations... you get what you pay for!! I have a DELL 17" Trinitron Monitor, that cost about 40% more that what people were buying them online and discount places... However,,,I have left mine on (in Power saver mode).over 5 years. It has been in constanct use by up to 5 people..... But it has not lost brightness or resolution or clarity... Friends who bought there other ones, are on their second moniters or looking at very dim displays! It goes that way aslo for other parts... I believe in getting HIGH quality as cheap as I can... For example.. You can get 160G of disk space in many differnent ways with many different specs.... Now if you are really into 'Parts is parts'... wait for a local 'computer show / flea market to roll into town.... BUT on the other hand... Just before Christmas, Dell was offering a PC, for $349 (It's now $499) which included 17" monitor, 256M memory, 40G hard driver CD-ROM AND CR-RW, and a Word Perfect package... Also, as an FYI as you step into PC land.... PC's have more steps to become 'secure' than APPLE... There is a not well-known tool from MS, call Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer which really helps to ensure things are patched up to date. It is more of a 'techie' tool than home user tool, and points out some exposure/fixes not made known to the home user. Current version is 1.2.1 (it will self-update) Seach for it at download.microsoft.com. Use keyword MBSA Most schools will provide one of the two 'suites' of secuity products... McAfee or Norton, too! I am a real strong proponent of not only the anti-virus, but also the software firewall, too!. Once the software firewall is installed, you can disable Microsoft's poor attempt at a software firewall (SP1 or SP2 either of them are inbound only!) Lastly, if thinking 'wireless', some/many schools will provide a wireless 'client', which is more secure than what MS provides and/or may be required... From user at domain.invalid Wed Dec 29 13:19:30 2004 From: user at domain.invalid (User) Date: Wed Dec 29 14:20:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Postcard From Aunt Edna! Message-ID: Ok, funny subject but one of concern. I've received a few emails caught by SpamAssassin that I have a postcard from Aunt Edna waiting. There is no attachment, just some links to "get my postcard". I have no Aunt Edna (obviously) and I haven't been curious enough to visit the link/postcard. Anybody ?? From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Dec 29 14:18:13 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Wed Dec 29 14:20:06 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: Steven Maesslein wrote: > On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 13:08:14 -0500, indigo coughed into spamcop.geeks > and left this in : > > > Oh, and you'll want some high quality thermal grease too -- AMD > > chips come with a soft interface material which unfortunately is a > > one time app -- if you have to take the CPU fan off you can't reuse > > the thermal pad. > > Beware of this. Use of thermal grease voids the warranty on AMD chips. You have no choice unless you plop the chip cooler on once and never remove it, the stuff is a one-shot use. Good thermal grease is better anyway IMO, and how would they know? You pull off the cooler and there's nothing left on the chip except the excess stuff that squeezed out on the sides. From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Dec 29 14:20:02 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Wed Dec 29 14:25:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: <62t3t05h77ekk6soa807b1euitqg18d4mh@4ax.com> Message-ID: C. S. wrote: > Sometime around Tue, 28 Dec 2004 04:51:42 -0800, Pete Stephenson > deemed it necessary to offer: > > > wound up buying from newegg.com > > I've purchased from them several times in the past. > Though they screwed up my first order in entirety, > their resolution in response to my scathing review > of them at resellerratings.com was far above and > beyond the call of duty. They really bent over > backwards to gain me as a customer. > I highly recommend buying from NewEgg, > and will not hesitate to send my business > their way again. I've bought at least 10 products from them and have not had a single bad experience, and they're consistently the cheapest source for parts. From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Dec 29 14:24:15 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Wed Dec 29 14:25:06 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: Pete Stephenson wrote: > In article , > "indigo" wrote: > > > No heavy duty CPU cooler or extra case fans? > > Maybe, but not right away. > > We'll see how hot the system runs right out of the box. If it requires > additional cooling, then it shall receive additional cooling. I'm > somewhat tight for money, so getting the bare minimum right now, then > buying what I need later is required. I highly suggest you get the CPU and MoBo temp monitors up and running as soon as you get the thing assembled and running before you attempt any CPU intensive processes. You could fry the chip in a jiffy if you're not careful, AMDs don't like to run hot. And a variable speed case fan is only $10 from new egg, it comes with the rheostat (you have to change the fan speed manually, but it's better than nothing). From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Dec 29 11:55:23 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Dec 29 14:55:02 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: User wrote: > Ok, funny subject but one of concern. I've received a few emails > caught by SpamAssassin that I have a postcard from Aunt Edna waiting. > There is no attachment, just some links to "get my postcard". I have > no Aunt Edna (obviously) and I haven't been curious enough to visit > the link/postcard. > > Anybody ?? The way you talk about or discuss a spam item is to provide access to the item itself. You can do that by submitting it to the spamcop parser, copying the tracker URL, reporting or cancelling the report, and pasting the tracker in here so that anyone can see the entire item by clicking on the tracking URL and then clicking on the 'View entire message' link Here is the view entire message link to a 'You've received a postcard!' from Aunt Edna which I retrieved from someone's sightings post and fed to the parser.. spamcop.net/sc?id=z707507105z0a92f450b224d1091a8a995bf3c60355z;action=di splay which came from this tracker, which probably won't wrap spamcop.net/sc?id=z707507105z0a92f450b224d1091a8a995bf3c60355z Then, that way anyone can 'dissect' the entire content of the spambody, rather than discuss your sketchy description of something. Also, since it is a spam, it is fodder for discussion in spamcop or .help rather than geeks. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com Wed Dec 29 20:29:48 2004 From: TMHRVMFWREVN at spammotel.com (Rob) Date: Wed Dec 29 15:35:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: "User" wrote in message news:cquvpl$png$1@news.spamcop.net... > Ok, funny subject but one of concern. I've received a few emails caught > by SpamAssassin that I have a postcard from Aunt Edna waiting. There is > no attachment, just some links to "get my postcard". I have no Aunt Edna > (obviously) and I haven't been curious enough to visit the link/postcard. > > Anybody ?? Probably a variation of the Christmas Card Virus. From what I remember clicking on the link will download a Trojan. I can did out a link to further info on it if you really are interested. Rob From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Dec 29 12:34:31 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Dec 29 15:35:09 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > spamcop.net/sc?id=z707507105z0a92f450b224d1091a8a995bf3c60355z;action=di > splay > > which came from this tracker, which probably won't wrap > > spamcop.net/sc?id=z707507105z0a92f450b224d1091a8a995bf3c60355z I can make those clickup in the browser for certain newsreaders which will/can resist wrapping them http://www.spamcop.net/sc?id=z707507105z0a92f450b224d1091a8a995bf3c60355z;action=display http://www.spamcop.net/sc?id=z707507105z0a92f450b224d1091a8a995bf3c60355z As regards the payload mechanism for the spam itself, the spammer is using/abusing a proxified IP to send the message. The message 'uses' the postcard 'appearance' of postcard.org to deliver you to http://4.40.128.96:8180/009/ which shows a frame for http://213.159.117.133/dl/adv50.php -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Dec 29 12:53:02 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Dec 29 15:55:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > As regards the payload mechanism for the spam itself, the spammer is > using/abusing a proxified IP to send the message. > > The message 'uses' the postcard 'appearance' of postcard.org to > deliver you to http://4.40.128.96:8180/009/ which shows a frame for > http://213.159.117.133/dl/adv50.php I had to cut that off there because the exploit was starting to get over my head. It turns out that it does belong in .geeks. I had to go to nanae to find out what spamless had said about the gig, because as I followed the frames I was getting into javascript and applets I couldn't grok. Here's what spamless sez: http://snipurl.com/bnq7 Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.email From: Spamless Subject: Re: Paging SPAMLESS: Malicious code parading as postcards.org Message-ID: Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 21:35:40 GMT where he explains, to make a long story short, how an exploit is used to run the executable start.exe whose purpose on the original one that spamless worked up was to do the trojan W32/Helodor.A@bd Then, he sez the newest one doesn't do that, but that he found a usenet post where someone else made an analysis. He didn't agree and went on to describe that this one used load.exe and load.html to do the W32/Harnig.N@dl The rest of his analysis goes on to define the purpose of the exploit, which is explained at TrendMicro: "This Trojan arrives as a .DLL file and is either installed on a system by another malware or by a malicious script on a Web page." and is given the name TROJ_AGENT.EX So, the 'ultimate' purpose of the Aunt Edna gig is a browser hijacking trojan. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Dec 29 16:17:23 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Ellen) Date: Wed Dec 29 16:30:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:cqv5dt$t9r$1@news.spamcop.net... > > So, the 'ultimate' purpose of the Aunt Edna gig is a browser hijacking > trojan. > It's a sad sad day when you can't trust Aunt Edna .... Ellen From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Dec 29 14:46:03 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Dec 29 17:50:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: Ellen wrote: > It's a sad sad day when you can't trust Aunt Edna .... You're just hurt because Aunt Edna sounds a little like Aunt Ellen or maybe also like Aunt Emily. Whatever happened to Aunt Emily? Did she go off on a seniors' cruise to Bora Bora, or what? ;-) -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Dec 29 17:58:33 2004 From: nobody at spamcop.net (indigo) Date: Wed Dec 29 18:00:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > Ellen wrote: > > It's a sad sad day when you can't trust Aunt Edna .... > > You're just hurt because Aunt Edna sounds a little like Aunt Ellen or > maybe also like Aunt Emily. Maybe she's a fan of Dame Edna? From pete+usenet at heypete.com Wed Dec 29 19:08:48 2004 From: pete+usenet at heypete.com (Pete Stephenson) Date: Wed Dec 29 22:10:04 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: In article , "Joe Gill" wrote: > Some thoughts/reflections..... > > Your said.. > "Anyway, I was walking around CompUSA with my PC-savvy friend doing some > product research and realized that I could build a mid-to-high-end PC > for about the same price as a low-end retail PC." > > TRUE..... > However, it has been my experience in some parts situations... you get what > you pay for!! Indeed. That's why I paid for good stuff. I'll be using the Samsung SyncMaster 192N monitor and Kinesis keyboard that I use for my Mac via a KVM switch. I got the best parts that were decently affordable. > It goes that way aslo for other parts... I believe in getting HIGH quality > as cheap as I can... For example.. You can get 160G of disk space in many > differnent ways with many different specs.... Indeed, which is precisely why I purchased a Maxtor hard disk. > Now if you are really into 'Parts is parts'... wait for a local 'computer > show / flea market to roll into town.... I didn't say that. I was simply saying that I could build a higher-quality PC, using better components, for just slightly more than the low-end equipment available on the retail market. > Also, as an FYI as you step into PC land.... PC's have more steps to become > 'secure' than APPLE... I'm quite well aware of that -- I've contributed to the security of numerous PCs over the last few years. Nothing's perfect, of course, but they're significantly more secure, free from viruses and spyware, and generally not contributing to the huge problem of botnets, proxies, etc. > There is a not well-known tool from MS, call Microsoft Baseline Security > Analyzer which really helps to ensure things are patched up to date. It is > more of a 'techie' tool than home user tool, and points out some > exposure/fixes not made known to the home user. > Current version is 1.2.1 (it will self-update) Seach for it at > download.microsoft.com. Use keyword MBSA Interesting. I'll have to take a look at this. All I've ever really known from Microsoft is their Windows and Office Update sites. > Most schools will provide one of the two 'suites' of secuity products... > McAfee or Norton, too! Personally, I prefer Grisoft AVG for Windows and ClamAV for unix systems. I'm not a big fan of paying for software when I don't need to. > I am a real strong proponent of not only the anti-virus, but also the > software firewall, too!. Once the software firewall is installed, you can > disable Microsoft's poor attempt at a software firewall (SP1 or SP2 either > of them are inbound only!) Indeed. > Lastly, if thinking 'wireless', some/many schools will provide a wireless > 'client', which is more secure than what MS provides and/or may be > required... I've used wireless in the past, and while it is quite handy, the security downfalls outweigh any benefits in my mind. -- Pete Stephenson HeyPete.com From user at domain.invalid Wed Dec 29 23:42:02 2004 From: user at domain.invalid (User) Date: Thu Dec 30 00:40:21 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 29.12.2004 13:55, Mike Easter wrote: --- Original Message --- > User wrote: >> Ok, funny subject but one of concern. I've received a few emails >> caught by SpamAssassin that I have a postcard from Aunt Edna waiting. >> There is no attachment, just some links to "get my postcard". I have >> no Aunt Edna (obviously) and I haven't been curious enough to visit >> the link/postcard. >> >> Anybody ?? > > The way you talk about or discuss a spam item is to provide access to > the item itself. You can do that by submitting it to the spamcop > parser, copying the tracker URL, reporting or cancelling the report, and > pasting the tracker in here so that anyone can see the entire item by > clicking on the tracking URL and then clicking on the 'View entire > message' link > > Here is the view entire message link to a 'You've received a postcard!' > from Aunt Edna which I retrieved from someone's sightings post and fed > to the parser.. > > spamcop.net/sc?id=z707507105z0a92f450b224d1091a8a995bf3c60355z;action=di > splay > > which came from this tracker, which probably won't wrap > > spamcop.net/sc?id=z707507105z0a92f450b224d1091a8a995bf3c60355z > > Then, that way anyone can 'dissect' the entire content of the spambody, > rather than discuss your sketchy description of something. > > Also, since it is a spam, it is fodder for discussion in spamcop or > .help rather than geeks. > > I wasn't interested in reporting it as spam or tracking it or anything else regarding spamcop for that matter. I was instead asking if there is anything sinister about retrieving the postcard, that's all. But thanks anyways for the dialog, I'll keep that in mind next time I want to share thoughts about spam and the reporting of such. From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Dec 30 01:11:07 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Dec 30 04:15:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: User wrote: > I was instead asking if there > is anything sinister about retrieving the postcard, that's all. But you didn't 'show us' the postcard. You 'sorta' described it, vaguely. That's not good enough to answer the question if there was anything sinister about retrieving it. You can't assume that 'everyone' has the same postcard in their hand that you are referring to. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at nowhere.invalid Thu Dec 30 11:36:13 2004 From: nobody at nowhere.invalid (Steven Maesslein) Date: Thu Dec 30 05:40:05 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Computer-related "Argh!" References: Message-ID: On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 14:09:44 -0500, Joe Gill coughed into spamcop.geeks and left this in : > Also, as an FYI as you step into PC land.... PC's have more steps to become > 'secure' than APPLE... ITYM *Windows* requires more steps than Apple to become secure. PC != Windows (see the headers of this posting) -- Steve BOFH excuse #176: vapors from evaporating sticky-note adhesives From user at domain.invalid Thu Dec 30 09:43:05 2004 From: user at domain.invalid (User) Date: Thu Dec 30 10:40:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 30.12.2004 03:11, Mike Easter wrote: --- Original Message --- > User wrote: >> I was instead asking if there >> is anything sinister about retrieving the postcard, that's all. > > But you didn't 'show us' the postcard. You 'sorta' described it, > vaguely. That's not good enough to answer the question if there was > anything sinister about retrieving it. You can't assume that 'everyone' > has the same postcard in their hand that you are referring to. > > But if I would have downloaded the postcard then there would be no need to post the question here now would there? It's like finding a box on the sidewalk with no indication of what's inside and you're afraid to open it. You ask some passersby and one of them answers, "Oh, that box, yah don't open it there's a snake inside". ;-) >From previous replies here it's quite obvious that the "Aunt Edna" postcard is something one doesn't dare delve into, my question has been answered accurately and to my satisfaction. From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Dec 30 09:44:56 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Dec 30 12:45:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: User wrote: > But if I would have downloaded the postcard then there would be no > need to post the question here now would there? I'm not talking about downloading the postcard. I'm not even talking about opening the spam, much less clicking on the link which is inside. I'm talking about taking the unopened spam which you received, accessing its message properties, pasting it into the webparser [still unopened], copying the tracking url and pasting it into the beginning of your discussion. As I described earlier. Then, anyone here could look at it, as I did, and research its potential, like I did. I took the link from inside the spam [which should have been your spam instead of someone else's] and fed it to a websniffer because my own webbrowser GET gizmo won't work on alternate port sites, which this one was. Then, I took the frame links which unfolded from that and found the javascript and applets. Then I ran over to nanae to find out what was up with that, because I knew that people would be asking spamless about it and that spamless would really get the bit in his teeth about it which he did. > From previous replies here it's quite obvious that the "Aunt Edna" > postcard is something one doesn't dare delve into, my question has > been answered accurately and to my satisfaction. Those are mine. They came about because I fetched 'us' a spam to look at. My 'admonition' to you was that the spam which got evaluated should have been yours, not one I had to go get somewhere. There won't always be someone else's spam available to evaluate to proxy for your own. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Dec 30 09:51:29 2004 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Dec 30 12:55:03 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > User wrote: >> I was instead asking if there >> is anything sinister about retrieving the postcard, that's all. > > But you didn't 'show us' the postcard. You 'sorta' described it, > vaguely. That's not good enough to answer the question if there was > anything sinister about retrieving it. You can't assume that > 'everyone' has the same postcard in their hand that you are referring > to. I misspoke here. What I meant was the spam about the postcard. So my post should say instead: But you didn't 'show us' the spam. You 'sorta' described it, vaguely. That's not good enough to answer the question if there was anything sinister about retrieving it. You can't assume that 'everyone' has the same spam in their hand that you are referrng to. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From user at domain.invalid Thu Dec 30 13:14:21 2004 From: user at domain.invalid (User) Date: Thu Dec 30 14:15:48 2004 Subject: [SpamCop-Geeks] Re: Postcard From Aunt Edna! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On 30.12.2004 11:51, Mike Easter wrote: --- Original Message --- > Mike Easter wrote: >> User wrote: >>> I was instead asking if there >>> is anything sinister about retrieving the postcard, that's all. >> >> But you didn't 'show us' the postcard. You 'sorta' described it, >> vaguely. That's not good enough to answer the question if there was >> anything sinister about retrieving it. You can't assume that >> 'everyone' has the same postcard in their hand that you are referring >> to. > > I misspoke here. What I meant was the spam about the postcard. > > So my post should say instead: > > But you didn't 'show us' the spam. You 'sorta' described it, vaguely. > That's not good enough to answer the question if there was anything > sinister about retrieving it. You can't assume that 'everyone' has the > same spam in their hand that you are referrng to. > The 3 blind gentlemen and the Elephant comes to mind. ;-)