It's a Windows' world

You want to do amateur or power-level computing? Then there is no other choice than Windows! Period. As a Windows user you don't have to spend tons of a money for a Mac PC (sorry Mac guys but Mac is nothing else than an expensive PC now) and you don't have to waste time on forums to learn how install stuff. All that Linux/Mac can offer you can get on Windows and get is better. I spent many years working with Linux but it was always only my second choice. Sorry Linux friends, but I said it.

Monday, December 24, 2012

How to configure port forwarding for DC++

For a Comtrend WAP-5813n router do this:

Enter this into your browser address bar: http://192.168.1.1
Enter user and password. Default should be '1234' (both for user and psw) or 'user'.
Go to Advanced setup -> NAT
You will see this text:

NAT -- Virtual Servers Setup

Virtual Server allows you to direct incoming traffic from WAN side (identified by Protocol and External port) to the Internal server with private IP address on the LAN side. The Internal port is required only if the external port needs to be converted to a different port number used by the server on the LAN side. A maximum 32 entries can be configured.

Press 'Add' and enter the following data:

Use Interface: eth0.3
Service name (custom): DC++
Server IP Address: 192.168.1.xx (where xx is you computer's internal IP address. Type 'IPCONFIG' in a DOS box to find out your IP).
External port start: 7777
External port end: 7777
Protocol: TCP/UDP

Do all this stuff one more time for the 9999 port.
Now you can apply/save the settings.

In DC++ enter the 7777 port in the 'Transfer port' field and 9999 in the 'Search port' field. Activate the 'Active mode (I have configured my router)' option.

Note: There is a better option: in your router config panel, go to 'Advanced -> UPnp' and check the 'Enable or disable Upnp protocol' box. This will allow DC++ to directly interact with your router and configure it.

Enjoy.

__________________________________________________________

BioniX Wallpaper Changer

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Putting the computer in energy-saving mode is evil?

On Toshiba support forum a kid name Bob sustains that two Toshiba tech guys sais to him that is dangerous to keep your computer in stand-by/hibernate mode. So he would like to start his computer faster but without using the stand-by/hibernate mode:
> The holy grail for me would be to use sleep mode 100% but I'm worried that would be too much extra wear and tear on the machine (energy consumption is not a factor). Opinions please.

So, here is my answer to that kid:
Bob is time for you to learn some stuff about computers. Go buy a good book instead of listening to Toshiba support tech.
First of all if you really care about your computer you should care about ENERGY CONSUMPTION! Decrease the energy consumption to half and you will expand the life of your computer with few years! How? Simple. Keep your processor to 100% utilization and it will start to overheat so badly that your mainboard will turn brownish. Probably I should post some pictures from my old Toshiba laptop (though this is true for all laptops) to see how the heat affected the main board. The next to fail is the coolers because they will start to work at maximum speed in order to remove the heat from your laptop. Also, don't care about power saving and keep your hard drive always on and if possible, working (transferring data). The heat literally kills the hard drive! The tubes that are illuminating the screen have also a limited life. Keep the laptop on overnight and I guaranty that you will get a "nice" milky/dark image in only one year.
If you have a powerful graphic card just don't use the utility provided and keep it at maximum power all the time (even if you don't play games) and if will suck A LOT of power which of course will generate even more heat.
All these power sucking devices will drain a lot of power from your power adapter which will also start to overheat and when you are mobile they will empty your battery in 50 minutes instead of 2-3 hours. The more discharge/charge cycles you put on your battery the sooner it will die.

So, all this was the receipt for killing your laptop by not carrying about power consumption. Now, if you make your computer to live long (and prosper) all you have to do is to choose a power saving profile in control panel. Just few clicks and you have hundreds of dollars on energy and hundreds of dollar on hardware (you won't have to buy a new laptop next year).

Toshiba, Energy Star program, Microsoft are struggling to make computers to consume less energy for a reason. IF you think you are better than them you should write a book on how bad is to have a eco-friendly computer.

If two Toshiba guys said that conserving power (by keeping the computer in standby/hibernate) is bad (which I doubt) it was just a mistake. Some other people here are saying the other way. Actually my Toshiba laptop has a green button which puts the laptop in eco-friendly mode where the hibernate and stand-by modes are active. In hibernate mode the computer is 100% switched off. In stand-by mode only the RAM is receiving power. However, the RAM does not wear and tear and the power consumption is so small that almost doesn't count.

The thing about 'unlimited' web hosting

So, iPage hosting tricked me into buying a full year contract. They said that they will provide unlimited hosting. But that's a BIG lie. Here are the actual limits:

Email inbox: 200MB (additional space can be purchased for extra $10 per month)
Email attachments: 5MB
Email attachments note: you cannot send EXE (applications) files.
FTP upload speed: capped at 25KB/sec

PHP limits:
post_max_size = 2M
max_execution_time = 90 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds
max_input_time = 40 ; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data
memory_limit = 12M ; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (8MB)

Important secret: There is an undocumented feature that allows you to change those limits if you go here: iPage Customer Login (takes you to control panel…)>Control Panel>>Scripting and Add-Ons>>CGI and Scripted Language Support>>PHP Scripting

Disk space:
They say its unlimited but the contract says its not. Read this carefully: "we do require all customers to be fully compliant with our Terms of Service and utilize disk space and bandwidth in the normal operation of a personal or small business website".
And then they say this:
"What happens if I exceed "normal" usage?
If we have concerns about your account's bandwidth or disk space utilization, you will receive an email asking you to reduce usage. Generally, we provide customers with a minimum of 48 hours to make adjustments before taking the account offline."

So, if you go over 200-400MB of disk space they will suspend your account. Of course your money will not be refunded since you broke the contract.

____________________

Before buying from iPage read that damn contract entirely!!!!

iPage hosting support is a nightmare!

iPage support is a nightmare!

A part of my site (a script) was down for few days. I contacted the support. I told them that the page is down at random intervals. They loaded the page in their browser once and concluded there is no problem. Those guys from iPage support are too busy playing Solitaire so they pretend my site is ok.

By the way. Don't bother to use the chat support. They are as useless as posting a support ticket. I think there is a single guy at support that answer the telephones, the chat and the tickets:
___________________

Please hold for the next available operator to respond.
Chat Information: You are now chatting with 'iPage hosting'
iPage hosting: Hi, how are you today?
Me: hi
Me: I am doing really bad
iPage hosting: How can I help you today?
Me: I am so pissed of with your support
Me: I have a problem with my site.
Me: I need to get in touch with the tech support now
Me: because the site is not working now. I left a ticket and they checked but probably was at the moment when the server was working
iPage hosting: Thank you for the authentication.
Me: so. can you help me to reproduce the error??
iPage hosting: I will place the ticket #104xxxx
iPage hosting: One of our specialists will contact you as soon as possible.
Me: wow. totally useles.
Me: thanks a lot ipage
iPage hosting: You're welcome!
iPage hosting: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Me: yes
Me: how soon it will be that?
Me: do you have a realistic time table?
Me: hello?
iPage hosting: It will take couple of hours.
Me: its too long. the site was not working already for days.
iPage hosting: Okay.
Me: at least can you help me to reproduce the error?
iPage hosting: I will ask them to check soon.
Me: I need to convince those monkeys from support that the problem is real
iPage hosting: Me, the technical specialists will check it.
Me: I sent a screenshot but probably they think is fake
Me: or something
Me: otherwise I don;t know why they believe me I have problems
Me: can you refresh this page several times?
Me: I send you the link
Me: damn it... not it is working..... can you hold on few minutes and try again?
Me: now
Me: now
Me: now
Me: !
Me: now its not working
Me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: hey!
Me: are you there?
Me: can you refres it now???????
Me: are you still there?
iPage hosting: (aster a too loooong delay) Yes.
Me: do you see this?
Me: The connection was reset The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading. The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments. If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection. If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.
iPage hosting: the site is working fine here.
Me: ok. If I send you a movie it will be a proof good enough?
Me: or your support will keep saying "we don't care. its working on our side" ?
iPage hosting: I will ask the technical specialists to check from server side.
Me: ok. before you go, can you refresh the page several times more?
Me: another question is: how do I apply for a refund? I mean, if I move my web site.
Me: I think I have to go back to my old host
iPage hosting: I can see that it works after refresh also.
Me: I asked you something else. Do you have a didicated email address where I can ask for a refund?
iPage hosting: support@ipage-inc.com
iPage hosting: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
Me: no, not really. you didn't helped anyway.

http://www.hostin15.com/images/page-2.jpg

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Webshots is dead. Smile!

So Webshots closed their little wallpaper changer software and replaced it with Smile. The Webshots users are very disillusioned because they were left with thousands of images/wallpapers encoded in WB1 format.

But don't worry! I have found a nice (actually a much much much nicer) replacement. It is called BioniX Wallpaper Changer. BioniX is the ultimate wallpaper manager. Recently they added support for WB1 files.

There is a Lite version that is free. It has few minor limitations compared with the Ultimate edition but the WB1 support is not affected.

Bad antivirus! Bad! Bad! (Comodo) [includes DNS fix]

So, few days ago I had nothing better to do so I uninstalled my old antivirus and 'upgraded' to Comodo Antivirus. Boy! That was such a bad idea!

This is why:
First at all, Comodo pretends their antivirus is freeware but it isn't. Its bloated adware. Lots of pop-us and reminders that you should be ashamed that you are using the free version and that you need to upgrade soon! But this is nothing! They will replace your DNS providers with theirs and you will see their ads when you do searched in Firefox URL box. You will see this a page with comodo ads like this:

And once more, this is not all:

* The Comodo antivirus program is rudimentary and shows LOTS of fake positives!
* They will install a new browser (Dragon) and replace firefox with it.
* They will install spyware software (GeekBudy) and ads in your computer. GeekBudy will stay connected to internet all the time!
* The uninstaller will not uninstall the adware but only Comodo.
* There is no support to help you manually remove the leftovers from your computer. There is a support via chat but they will help you ONLY if you buy a license there, on spot! So you have to pay money only to be able to remove the program from your computer!!!

The conclusion is that Comodo Antivirus is worst antivirus that I EVER had installed in my computer. I am still trying to figure out how to uninstall all garbage they left in my computer and especially how the hell they took over my DNS.

I will post more info once I find out how to uninstall they DNS demon.
___________

Update

Default

How disable comodo firewall DNS servers? (The solution)

I have tried to get support from Comodo but there is no such thing as 'support' there. So, I had to do it by my own.After poking around a bit I have realize that Comodo changed my network adapter DNS settings.

Click 'Properties' to get his window:

Here, open the Internet Protocol v4 and put the DNS settings back to automatically:

Lesson learned? Don't you ever install evil software (Comodo) that pretends to be good (antivirus) software.

Horrible product"

November 29, 2012 | By newfedra

Version: Comodo Antivirus 5.9

Pros

None. They pretend that it is freeware but it isn't. Its adware.
They will replace your DNS providers with theirs and you will see their ads when you do searched in Firefox.

Cons

* They will install a new browser (dragon) and replace firefox with it.
* The program is rudimentary and shows LOTS of fake positives!
* They will install spyware (like GeekBudy) and ads in your computer
* The uninstaller will not uninstall the adware only comodo.
* There is no support to help you manually remove the leftovers from your computer. There is a support via chat but they will help you ONLY if you buy a license there, on spot! So you have to pay money only to be able to remove the program from your computer!!!

Summary

Worst antivirus that I EVER had installed in my computer in the last 17 years!