Easton (The Quince Man Quincy) Royce

My last few days looked like this:

Unfortunately, I was away on “1 Day to Go”, so I wasn’t able to get a screen grab, but I think you get the idea. My days of using Windows Live One Care, were over! Trust me, I celebrated!

The inclusion of Windows Live OneCare in my 90 day stint, was most certainly a disaster, and also the cause of most of my stress during my use of Windows Vista. Just like other Virus/Spyware detection combo software suites, it too was always scanning in the background. Scanning so much infact, that it would often make reading my email near impossible. I would sometimes wait up to 5 minutes for an email to load into view. The Windows Live OneCare firewall was a pain in the butt, not to mention that Windows Vista itself, did not even acknowledge that it had a firewall installed. For the entire 90 days, Windows Vista was bugging me to enable Windows Vista Firewall, because apparently I didn’t have one installed! For some unknown reason, Windows Live OneCare continued to disable Windows Defender. I found this to be a pain, because every few days Windows Defender would make it to the top of the pile saying “Hey! I am disabled! Enable me Again!”. Of course after enabling Windows Defender, I would then have to do a spyware scan, even if I didn’t want to! “Later” I would click, only to see my CPU usage go way up as it started scanning in the background instead.

One very irritating caveat of Windows Vista, is physical memory usage. During my 90 days, I was unable to get Windows Vista to really function the way I wanted it too. For example, I have 2GB of DDR Memory. So I figure “what do I need a swap file for”. So I disable the swap file, and immediately Windows Vista complains that it does not have enough memory! It even performed sluggishly! Now, if I were to do this in Windows XP, the system would be forced to push as much as possible into physical memory. Which in the case of my laptop with 2GB of DDR Memory, was perfectly fine! I never exceeded 2GB and my laptop never skipped a beat. Come Windows Vista, and I am able to perform the same feat! The best I could get was a compromise, which was still horrid. I was able to push the swap file down to a minimum size of 200MB (instead of the “Windows Managed” 3.5GB). However, if a program on my laptop should use more then 200MB of Memory (Firefox for example, as I am sure many of you have experienced), I would still get the memory warning errors. Sure, I can ignore them, but eventually, Windows Vista would crash Firefox altogether, or whatever offending programs were “taking up too much memory”. As I said above, this was never a problem in Windows XP. Hopefully there is a work around for this out there somewhere. I share my HDD with a Linux Partition, so 3.5GB wasted on a swap file is a lot for me, especially since Fedora 7 is quite capable of running smoothly with no swap partition at all!

Overall, my 90 days of Vista has been fun, and for the most part, I have had next to no troubles. I have swamp of applications installed, and they all work fine, including the ones I had to install in “Windows XP SP2 Compatibility Mode”. Heck, I was even able to install Command and Conquer Windows 95 Edition. With an extra piece of software, I was able to battle against my younger brother.

The slick new interface is funky, and easy to disable when it gets in the way (like when it is sucking up too much of my 200MB swap file for example!). Windows Aero is handy, but it’s not the be all of Windows Vista, it’s just the icing on the cake.

I also opted to include Microsoft Office 2007 in my 90 day stint. The latest version of the Microsoft Office Suite, and boy is it something! Most of the applications have been completely re-written, others updated. If you haven’t tried Microsoft Office 2007 yet, you should give it a shot!

I am sure that Windows Vista has far more to offer then what I have experienced so far, and for the moment, I am going to stick to using Windows Vista and Office 2007, to get the most out of both of them, and broaden my knowledge. I am somewhat established here now, and it would be a shame to just leave it all. I miss using linux, however I think I will continue my use of Windows Vista, at least until Fedora 8 is released.

I will even continue to post my findings and discoveries of Windows Vista, and hopefully at some point, I write a “Windows Vista – The Perfect Setup” guide. Actually, I have one in the works already… so stay tuned!

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: 2007, 90 Days, aero, Blog, care, fedora, live, Microsoft, office, one, Rant, Recounts, Support, Ultimate, Vista, Windows, XP

Your Graphics Card Sucks

I know that there are plenty of people out there that will vouch against what I am about to say, so if you are one of those, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

While running Windows XP Professional, my graphics card performed as a Radeon 9800 Pro (I actually have an ATI Radeon 9800se – the card that ATI knows nothing about). Thanks to a software modification, I was able to have my Radeon 9800se function as a Radeon 9800 Pro, and boy what a difference did it make! Staggering frame rates in all my games, including Half Life 2 and associated games! Needless to say, I was happy I had been a cheap skate, and bought the 9800se from eBay. Up until installing Windows Vista Ultimate, and a couple of games, my 9800se reborn, was “the ownage” in my little world. Come now the days of my Windows Vista adventure, and my 9800se reborn, plays games the same games like a 16MB Voodoo 2.

In other words, my graphics card now totally SUCKS the big one!!!1111. Even though I downloaded the Vista software modification, the resulting increase in performance was only that of a slight percentage, and for the first time (in regards to my graphics card), it caused my system to become unstable, and even blue screen! Yes! Vista has blue screens!

It seems that Windows Vista, really claims a lot of your video memory, just to run Windows, especially with Windows Aero enabled. Which is interesting, considering the same effects, in fact, even cooler and better effects, can be run on a 16MB voodoo 2, on a machine running Fedora 7, with Beryl/Compiz installed.

Continue reading »

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: 90 Days, Support, Tutorials, Ultimate

Well, I finally did it. I finally managed to import all my old blog posts from my original Drupal driven blog site, to this lovely new WordPress driven blog. How? It’s 5 minutes past 12:00am in the morning. My girl friends fish died today, and I am really cold. In other words, I’m not not going to bother posting a tutorial show-you-how for importing all your Drupal blog entries into WordPress right now. If someone should ask me via the comments, then perhaps I will devise something for you. For now, just be happy for me, that I no longer need to deal with Drupal. Drupal was great, but it was over kill for my needs. In my case, anything that is over kill, leads to endless fiddling and testing!

In the mean time, you can find the solution to Drupals 30 Item RSS Maximum here: http://drupal.org/node/57569

FCOL: I then downloaded the entire feed with FeedForAll. Saved the feed as an XML file and then uploaded that to WordPress 2.2 using the Import facility and choosing RSS.

The only caveat in the whole process, is that all the posts were imported into the default category (blog) where they should rightfully be I guess. It’s just that I created a category called “old blog” and I wanted them all to go there instead…

FCOL = For Crying Out Loud

Oh an FYI: Any links in any posts under Blog, that are “pre 2007″ probably don’t work! If they do, well that’s nice.

Another FYI: quincy.roycesoftware.com now points to this website, not the old website. Yes, I know about the Google API error. Do I care? no.

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Random, Support, Tutorials, Wordpress

Click Here Nerds

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Advanced, Beginners, Networking, Support

Enabling 48-bit LBA for ATAPI in Windows 2000/XP.Windows 2000

Start the registry editor. Click Start, Run, and type “regedit32.exe” (omitting the quotes).

Drill down to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters\

On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:

Value name: EnableBigLba
Data type: REG_DWORD
Value data: 0×1

Quit the registry editor and reboot.

Windows XP/SP1/SP2

Start the registry editor. Click Start, Run, and type “regedit” (omitting the quotes)

Drill down to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters\

Under the last value, right click and from the New drop out menu, select “DWORD value”.

Rename the new DWORD value to “EnableBigLba” (omitting the quotes).

Double click the new DWORD value, and type a “1″ (omitting the quotes”) in place of the 0.

Make sure that Hexadecimal is selected on the right.

Quit the registry editor and reboot.

Where is the space? My drive didn’t get any bigger!

Right click My Computer, on your Windows Desktop, and select Manage. Alternatively, you can go to the Administrative tools and select Computer Management.

On the left hand side, click “Disk Management”. In the Disk Management window you should see a block of space called “Un-allocated Space” from here you can format that space into a drive, and mount it under a folder (NTFS only) or you can merge it into another existing partition.

Further Information

If you would like further information, and other details about this problem, you can visit the Microsoft Knowledge Base pages where I got the information for this guide from.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305098/EN-US/

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Advanced, Beginners, Support

Why Warez is Wrong! – Spyware, Adware and More…Why is Warez Wrong?

Warez is wrong for many reasons. Firstly, it is depriving many software developers and companies of rightfully earned money for their own hard work. Software developers spend many hours and many cups of coffee creating software applications and games for you. How would you feel it you put your heart and soul for 3 years straight into a computer application or project, and then found out after it had been released, that there were more illegal copies of it available on the internet and being downloaded, then being sold in a store?

Why is Warez Bad For Your Computer?

Warez sites are driven by the evil’s of the internet. SPAM, SPYWARE, AD-WARE, CRIPPLEWARE, CRAPWARE, JUNKEMAIL, ILLEGAL and ILLICIT MATERIAL. It’s because of all these evils, that these Warez sites are able to survive.

Usually when you access a Warez site, you have to click many buttons, vote for many sites, and….. install many “plug-ins”. The sites them selves download all sorts of tracking bugs and want not on your computer the second you access them, so when you install the plugins as well (otherwise you can’t get the software), your just asking for trouble.

SPAM and JUNKEMAIL

SPAM and JUNKEMAIL are very much an annoyance. They are responsible for more then 65% of the worlds internet traffic and that statistic is continually rising. A valid email address is usually required during the process of obtaining the software, and just because they say they wont sell your email address, means nothing. It just means they’ll pass it on to other companies for free, that will then sell your email address.

If you need to use an email address for something on the internet, but aren’t sure about giving out your real email address, consider a service like Mailinator .

SPYWARE

SPYWARE is software installed on your computer that has no particular use to you, but allows a website to track you and much more.

Want someone to spy on your every move and activity on your computer? Go to a Warez site then, and install any or all of the plug-ins offered. Better still, at the same time, your processing power and hard drive storage will probably be used to better a Warez site somewhere. Whether it be for traffic bandwidth, or the storage of Warez material on your computer! Better still, SPYWARE will provide you with ADS, as soon as you logon to your computer, eliminating the need to start your web browser yourself and find your own ADS.

ADWARE

ADWARE, is not as bad as SPWARE, but is generally just as annoying. ADWARE, is usually bundled along with free software, in order to keep the software free. In some cases this is ok, provided the ADWARE is not invasive, and does not make your computer available for use on the internet.

As with SPYWARE, you should also avoid ADWARE at all costs for best protection.

CRIPPLEWARE

CRIPPLEWARE is software that you download and use for a while, but once it runs out (as its more then likely a trial or demo) it begins to destroy your computer untill you register it or un-install it. CRIPPLEWARE is often in the form of SPYWARE and ADWARE, and could basically be considered as dangerous and offensive as a virus. CRIPPLEWARE in the form or SPYWARE or ADWARE, is usually a peace of software that a Warez site will say that you need to download to your computer in order to be able to access their files. This may very well be the case, however, the integrity of your computer begins to fail straight away. Never install any plug-ins or software from a website that you do not know. Unless it’s from a reputable company like Microsoft (r) or Macromedia (r) then you should veer away from it instantly.

CRAPWARE

CRAPWARE is everything else that could other potentially cause damage and malicious harm to your computer. Stay away from CRAPWARE and all other forms of SPYWARE, CRIPPLEWARE and ADWARE as if they were contaminated with Nuclear Radiation. After too much exposure, and then loss of 4 or 5 university theases’. You’ll wish you never went there.

Why do Warez Sites Have So Much Porn and SPYWARE/AD-WARE/CRIPPLEWARE?

They have all of these in order to pay for their website hosting, bandwidth usage, domain name allocation and various other services. They pay their hosts by having all these terrible software programs forced onto viewers. When the software is accessed, a service fee is payed along the way somewhere, and the hosting service and other services is payed for. The SPYWARE and AD-WARE always gets first time viewers, and since most first time viewers are out for a free lunch, the software always gets used, and the hosts always get paid. See where this is getting? Stop viewing the sites, stop using the software, and the warez sites will have to shutdown. Suddenly the internet becomes a better place to be? Maybe…

ILLEGAL and ILLICIT MATERIAL

This is the gold at the end of the rainbow. The software that you have finally obtained after installing all that nasty software and providing your email address to hundreds of nasty mailing lists, and infecting your computer to the point where you will need to format your PC after you restart when the program has finished downloading.

Having any form of software on your computer that you didn’t pay for (operating systems, applications, games, whatever) is stealing. It doesn’t matter how you got it, or where you got it. If you didn’t pay for it, then you stole it. Maybe not directly, but you stole it.

NOTE: This doesn’t apply to software that is otherwise free

In other words, if you have it, then you are in posession of stolen goods. This is ILLEGAL. If you want the latest and greatest software, then it is in your best interest to purchase it. If you can not afford it, then you can not have it.

PORN IS BAD, WEAPONS ARE BAD, DRUGS ARE BAD. These are the electronic form of ILLICIT materials. If you have them, you are in trouble. If you have them and you are under – aged, then you are even far worse trouble then you think.

The storage of ILLICIT materials on your computer is against the law! We strongly discourage any the storage of any form of ILLEGAL or ILLICIT materials on your computer.

How Can I Make Sure None of This Is On or Happening To My Computer?

Easy.

Install a Good Firewall. Zone Alarm is very popular. You can download the 30 day trial, or the free personal edition. This will ensure you are in control of what access the internet, what is comming in and what is going out. Zone Labs usually has updates for this software on a monthly basis.

Install a good virus scanner. There are many good virus scanners. NOD32-2 is a popular free virus scanner that is updated multiple times a week.

Install a good AD-WARE and SPYWARE Remover. The internets best choice is AD-AWARE . The free version is more the adequate for your everyday needs, and also has multiple updates every week.

Keep a record of the software that gets installed on your computer. If you have children, be careful of the software they may borrow from friends. If you have software on your computer, but you don’t have disk or CD for it, chances are, it’s probably not yours.

By following these steps, and updating your software virus/firewall/AD-AWARE programs regularly, you can ensure that your computer will be well protected while accessing the internet.
In Summary

-:- Warez is wrong and deprives hard workers of their own money.
-:- Warez is bad for your computer due to the amount of SPYWARE, and other bad content that gets onto your computer.
-:- When asked for your email from a site you are unsure about, consider a service like Mailinator.
-:- Beware of Spyware
-:- Beware of AD-WARE
-:- Beware of CRIPPLEWARE
-:- Beware of CRAPWARE
-:- Warez sites use all of these in order to pay for their hosting, bandwidth charges and other services.
-:- Don’t use stolen software on your computer.
-:- Don’t store ILLEGAL and/or ILLICIT materials on your computer.
-:- Use a good virus scanner
-:- Use a good Firewall
-:- Use a good AD-WARE and SPYWARE remover.

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Beginners, Networking, Random, Support

What is an IP Address?

An IP (Internet Protocol) Address is a four-part number, with each part represented by a number from 0 to 255 (256 Numbers total). Part of the IP Address represents the network the computer exists on, whereas the remainder identifies the specific host of that network.

Here is an example of an IP address:
192.168.45.128

IP Addresses used to be grouped together and assigned to an organization that needed IP addresses, based on IP Address class. Later, a more efficient method, known as Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR), was created to improve routing and waste fewer IP Addresses. So there are two IP Address Methods, Class based IP Addresses and Classless Based IP Addresses. These two IP Address methods are described below.

IP Addresses Classes

The way IP Addresses are assigned is that a network administrator is given a pool of addresses. The administrator can assign specific host addresses within that pool as new computers are added to the organization’s local network. There are three main basic classes of IP Addresses, each representing a different size network.

Class A

Each Class A IP Address has a number between 0 and 127 as its first part. Host numbers within a Class A network are represented by any combination of numbers in the next three parts. A Class A network therefore contains millions of host numbers. Approximately 256 x 256 x 256, with a few special numbers being invalid. A workstation, computer, server etc that is physically connected to the network is a host.

Some examples of valid Class IP Addresses are:

124.128.192.252; 10.0.0.54; 45.85.65.98

Class B

A Class B IP Address has a number between 128 and 191 as it’s first part. However, with a Class B network, the second part also represents the network, but is not restricted to a number between 128 and 191, rather it should be a number between 0 and 255. The other parts of the IP Address can also be any combination of numbers between 0 and 255. This enables a Class B network to have more then 64,000 host addresses. It is rare that all these IP addresses would be used in one organization.

Some examples of valid Class B IP Addresses are:
132.85.192.200; 150.45.152.54; 182.45.65.32

Class C

A Class C IP Address begins with a number between 192 and 223 as it’s first part. With a Class C network, the first three parts of the IP Address represent the network, whereas only the last number represents a specific host. Although the first part of the IP Address must be a number between 192 and 223, the rest of the numbers can be any number combination between 0 and 255. In this case, any Class C network can have 254 hosts (the numbers 0 and 254 cannot be assigned to hosts).

Some examples of valid Class C IP Addresses are:
192.168.0.124; 197.75.95.45; 200.192.184.201

Invalid & Reserved IP Addresses

There are some IP Addresses in each Class that are either completely invalid (it can’t be used) or it is reserved for another purpose. Following is the most common IP Addresses that are classed as “invalid” and why.

127.0.0.1 – This IP Address is the IP address of your local machine. It is internal to the host system that you work on and can only be accessed on your local machine. It is typically used to test some sort of server (web server or ftp server) on the actual machine itself. You do not need to be connected to a network to access your local machine at this number.

X.X.X.254 – Any IP Address with the host number of 254 is generally reserved for the internet gateway and is not used as a host number. However it can still be used as a host number.

X.X.X.0 & X.X.X.255 – Any IP Address that has its host number as 0 or 255 will not function on the network at all. 0 is not a valid IP Address host number and 255 is the maximum host range number.

Telling The Difference Between Networks

The difference between networks is determined by the class it is in as described above.

Class A

The difference between two or more Class A networks is identified by the first part of the IP Address. For example, the IP Address 120.45.65.98 is on a different network to 121.45.65.98. The “120 and 121″ at the beginning of the IP Addresses identify that they are from separate networks. It is these numbers that determine what network the IP Address belongs to.

The other three parts of the IP Address can be any number between 0 and 255 and so long as each IP Address has 120 for example in the first part of the IP Address, the host will exist and be able to communicate in the network with other computers using the same IP Address set (i.e., other computers that have an IP Address that starts with 120).

With only one part of the IP Address being used as the identifier for Class A networks, it is now easy to see why there are so many possible IP Addresses in the A Class.

Class B

The difference between two or more Class B networks is identified by the first two parts of the IP Address. For example, the IP Address 130.85.192.200 is on a different network to 130.84.192.200. Furthermore, 131.85.192.200 and 131.84.192.200 are also on completely different networks. Thus the four different IP Address are all from four different Class B networks.

As you can see, it is the first two parts of the IP Address: X.X.192.200 (The “X” represents the first to parts of the IP Address”) that differentiates one Class B network from another. For example, each host on a network, has an IP Address that starts with 130.48.X.X (The X.X can be any number between 0 and 255), they will be able to communicate with other computers on the network that also have an IP Address that starts with 130.84.X.X.

Class C

The difference between two or more Class C networks is identified by the first three parts of the IP Address. For example, the IP Address 193.168.0.124 is on a different network to 198.75.95.45. The last part of the IP Address is the identifier of the host and can be a number anywhere between 0 and 255. For example, any host on a network that has the IP Address of 197.75.95.X (“X” is a host number between 0 and 254) can communicate with any other host on the same network so long as the IP Address starts the same way (197.75.95).

Private IP Addresses

Private IP Addresses are for use on small networks, although they can also be used on large networks. There is a private IP Address Range in each Class. Private IP Addresses can not be routed across the internet and are therefore reserved for internal use only. They also can not route data over the internet nor are they used publicly on the internet.

Class A:

10.X.X.X – This Private IP Address set has 167,777,216 possible internal IP Addresses.

Class B:

172.16.X.X – 172.31.X.X – This Private IP Address set has 65,536 possible internal IP Addresses.

Class C:

192.168.0.X – 192.168.255.255 – This private IP Address set has 256 possible internal IP Addresses.

Understanding Subnet masks

If you are assigned the Class B IP Address Set of 135.84, but you are only given the pool of numbers available to the address 135.84.118, how do you tell your network that every address beginning with 135.84.118 represents a host or computer on your network? Use a Subnet mask.

A Subnet mask essentially identifies the network number for a network. When you assign the IP Address that is associated with your computer’s NIC, you are asked for a net mask. By default, your computer will fill in a number that masks the part of your IP Address that represents the Class of your network. The default Subnet mask for each Class is as follows

Class A:

255.0.0.0

Class B:

255.255.0.0

Class C:

255.255.255.0

If you network was assigned the network IP Address set of 135.84.118.X, to tell your computer that 135.84.118.X is the network number and not 135.84.X.X (as it normally would be for a Class B Network), you would use the Subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Thus your network has available host numbers from 1 to 254 (Which would go into the fourth part of the IP Address).

Classless Inter-Domain Routing

The class method of allocating IP Addresses has several major drawbacks. Firstly, it is rare that an organization would fall neatly into one class or another. In most cases, a Class C IP Address set (Up To 256 IP Addresses) was too small and a Class B IP Address set (Up To 65,534 IP Addresses) was to large. The result was allot of wasted IP Addresses. Secondly, IP Classes resulted in too many table entries. As a result, routers were becoming overloaded with information.

To deal with these problems, CIDR was developed. This system is similar to IP Address Classes, but offers more flexibility in assigning how much of the 32 bit IP address is the network identifier. Instead of the first 8, 16 or 32 bits identifying the network, 37 to 27 bits could identify the network. As a result, groups of assigned IP addresses could contain from 32 to about 524,000 host addresses.

A CIDR IP Address is followed by a slash (/) and then a number between 13 and 27. A smaller number indicates a network containing more hosts. A larger number indicates a network containing fewer hosts.

Here is an example of an IP Addresses that uses the CIDR system.
128.8.27.18/16

In this example, the first part of the IP Address and the first number of the second part of the IP Address (the first 16 bits) are used to represent the network number (128.Cool. The remainder of the IP Address (27.1Cool is used to identify the specific host. This network number can contain up to 65,536 hosts (the same as a class B address).

Another example is 203.63.28.231

203.6 – is the network number, defined in the same way as a Class does.

3.28.231 – is used to identify the specific host.

The following list shows how many hosts can be represented in networks using different numbers to identify the network.

/13 -:- 524,288 – hosts

/14 -:- 262,144 – hosts

/15 -:- 131,072 – hosts

/16 -:- 65,536 – hosts

/17 -:- 32,768 – hosts

/18 -:- 16,382 – hosts

/19 -:- 8,192 – hosts

/20 -:- 4,096 – hosts

/21 -:- 2,048 – hosts

/22 -:- 1,024 – hosts

/23 -:- 512 – hosts

/24 -:- 256 – hosts

/25 -:- 128 – hosts

/26 -:- 64 – hosts

/27 -:- 32 – hosts

The CIDR addressing scheme also helps reduce the routing overload problem by having a single, high-level route represent many lower level routes. For example, an Internet Service Provider could be assigned a single /13 IP network and assign the 500,000 plus addresses to its customers. Routers outside the ISP would only need to know how to reach the ISP for those half-million addresses. The ISP would then be responsible for maintaining routing information for all of the host routes with that network address.

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Advanced, Networking, Support

These instructions assume you have a an ADSL or Dialup connection to the internet via an ADSL Modem or Dialup Modem.

IP Addresses

Each computer should have a static IP Address. You can use any IP Address class, as long as it is an internal set. Lets assume you are using the 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0 Class C set. This is a common network set and allows for the inclusion of up to 254 computers. However it is commonly used for small networks that have less then 254 computers. Give each computer an IP address like the following:

192.168.0.XXX

The “XXX” can be any number between 1 and 255.
The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0

If your network uses the 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0 set, then each computer should have an IP Address like the following:

192.168.1.XXX

The “XXX” can be any number between 1 and 255.
The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0

The computer with the ADSL modem connection needs to have the IP Address of 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. If you IP address set is neither of the two mentioned, just make sure that each computer has an IP address that follows the same scheme. No matter what IP set you are using, make sure that the computer with the ADSL modem connection has an IP address that has a “1″ (without the quotes) as the last number. Eg: 10.0.0.1. The subnet mask for this IP address is 255.0.0.0.

The other computers on the network should have their Default Gateway IP address as the IP address of the computer with the ADSL modem connection. The computer with the ADSL modem connection should also have its default gateway set to itself.

And thats It! IP Addresses & Internet is set up!

Sharing Your Files

Microsoft Windows 9X/ME

Microsoft Windows 9X/ME is a share level system. This means that you don’t need a password to access the resources on it. When you share a resource (a folder, CD-ROM, Printer or Hard Drive), you can share it with Full Access or Read Only Access. Full Access allows other users to modify the contents of the resource (except where the resource is a CD-ROM or Printer). Allowing Read Only Access means other users can read the data but cannot write to or modify the resources.

In Microsoft Windows 9X/ME, you share a resource by right clicking it and selecting properties. On the Window that appears, click the sharing tab. Click the radio button to share the resource and select weather users have full or read only access. You can password protect resources, however this is the maximum amount of file sharing security that Microsoft Windows 9X offers. When you are done, click the apply button, and then click the OK button.

Microsoft Windows XP (Professional) & 2K

Microsoft Windows XP Professional can be configured to allow share level access or user level access. User level access means that the user accessing the resource from another computer must have a user account or know the username and password of an account on the host computer. Without one you are denied access. You can configure share level access if you wish, but this will have problems due to Microsofts enforcement of user level sharing. This guide will show you how to configure user level share access.

Microsoft Windows XP has a share level access system that is set up for you to use by default. Quite plainly, Microsoft calls it the Shared Documents system. This is a system where you can drag files you want to share into the Shared Documents folder and any user on that computer or on any other computer on the network can access it. While this is usefull, it is not very handy if you want to access your documents from another computer. The only way to access them would be to go back to the computer with your documents on it, and copy them to the Share Documents folder (Accessible via My Computer). You may as well use a floppy disc.

The best way to setup sharing on a network with multiple operating systems (Windows 9X/ME/2K/XP) is to create a common user on each computer (except for the Windows 9X/ME computer).

This guide assumes you are calling your common user LAN and the password is also LAN. In reality, you can make the username and password whatever you like, however, the username and password should be the same on all computers for simplicity. That is, each computer has an account called LAN and the password is LAN. You do not need to ever logon to the computer with this account, so you can disable local login for this account if you wish to further increase secuity on the local machine. Make the user a Power User or Limited User under Windows XP.

Now you need to share your resources to this user. Select the resource you want to share (CD-ROM, Hard Drive, Folder or Printer). Right click it and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Next select the sharing tab. In Windows XP, you should see a sharing tab and a security tab. If you do not see these then you need to disable simple file sharing. simple file sharing is the shared documents system. When you share files using this system, you effectivly copy the contents of the resource you “simple file share” into the shared documents folder.

To disable Simple File sharing, open any explorer window, click the tools menu, and then click folder options. Click the View tab and then scroll all the way to the bottom of the list and un-check the box next to Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended). Click Apply, click OK.

Select the resource you want to share and then select properties. Click the sharing tab. Click the radio button next to Share this folder. You can give it a share name if you like or just use the default. Type a description of the resource into the comment tab if you wish. This will only show on other Microsoft Windows XP computers though.

Next click the permissions button. By default, if you have selected a folder,the share permission for the folder will be the Everyone group. Any user can be a member of the Everyone group.You’ll also notice that the Everyone group has full access. This is fine for small networks where all the users are well known, but to create a little more security in the system, we’ll change the network access to only allow the LAN user to access the shared folder. We will now do this as an exercise.

Close any windows you have open and return to the desktop.

Open My Computer or Explorer.

Open a hard drive and navigate to the folder that you want to share. (you should never share the “C” drive of your computer on a network with unknown members). You can share any hard drive or Removable Drive if you wish. The steps are the same.

Right click the folder or drive that you want to share and select Properties from the pop-up menu.

Click the sharing tab and click the radio button next to Share this folder. Give the folder a share name if you like, or leave it as the default.

Click the permissions button, select the Everyone group and then click the Remove button.

Click the Add Button.

Click the Advanced Button

Click the Find Now button

Scroll down the list and select the LAN user.

Click OK

At this point you can change the level of access. You can change it to full control or read. For the purpose of this exercise, select full control.

Click Apply

Click OK

Click Apply

Click OK

And thats it, you have shared a resource. The process is exactly the same if you want to share a removable drive and or printer. To share more resources or folders, just go through the process above again for another folder.

Network Access

Microsoft Windows 9X/ME

To access a resource on another computer, click start, run.
Enter in: \\ComputerName
Click Ok

If the computerName you typed in has any of the Windows 9X/ME Operting System installed, you should be presented with a window that contains icons with the share names of the resources that computer has shared. To access the resources, just double click them.

If the ComputerName you typed in has Windows XP/2K installed, then you will be asked for a user name and password. Enter in LAN and the password is LAN. You should then be presented with a folder that contains all the resources that have been shared and are available to the LAN user. To access any of the resources, just double click them.

Microsoft Windows XP/2K

To access a resource on another computer, open any explorer window and type into the address box: \\ComputerName\ and press enter.

If the ComputerName you typed in has any of the Windows9X operating Systems installed, you should be presented with a folder that contains all the resources that are shared on the computer. You may be asked for a username and password if the resource was shared depending on password.

If the computerName you type in has either Windows XP or 2K installed, you should be presented with a box asking you for a username and password. Enter in LAN as the username and LAN as the password. Click the check box for “Save This Password” to avoid having to type the username and password again each time you access the computer and click OK. You should then be presented with a folder containing all the resources available on that computer. To access them, just double click them.

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Networking, Support

What is a kilobit?

A kilobit, (represented by a capitalised K and a lowercase b “Kb”) is 1 of 8 bits, that make a byte. Every byte contains 8 bits.

What is a kilobyte?

A kilobyte, (represented by a capitalised KB) is a culmination of 8 bits together to make a byte. You may have heard of “normal bytes” and real “bytes”. A normal byte, is usually a normal number, like 1000. A real byte, is the actual calculation of all the bits in the byte (1024).

Normal bytes and real bytes often get mixed up, which is often the reason why people get confused when someone is talking about real bytes and the other is talking about normal bytes, and neither knows what the other is talking about.

The Official Measurement

The official measurements are:

1 (one) Byte = 8 bits
1 KiloByte = 1024 bits
1 Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes
1 Gigabyte = 1024 Megabytes

So How Do I Work Out My Maximum Download Speed?

Working out your maximum download speed is quite a simple process. All you do is take the number (the speed of your internet connection) and divide it by 8. For example, so you connect to the internet at 42Kbps. You would use the following calculation:

42 / 8 = 5.25KBPS.

This is the maximum possible download speed. Use the guide below.

14.4 Modem Connection – 1.8KBPS (KiloBytes Per Second)
28.8 Modem Connection – 3.6KBPS
33.6 Modem Connection – 4.2KBPS
57.6 Modem Connection – 7.2KBPS

NOTE!: 57.6 is normally referred to as 56 (For simplicity sake), therefore having a download speed of 7KBPS.

As you can see, the same rule can be applied for any speed connection. For example, I use a 1.5Mb (Megabit) ADSL connection to the internet. So my maximum download speed is 1.5 divided by 8 or 1024 multiplied by 1.5 and then divided by 8. This gives a maximum download speed of 192 KiloBytes per second.

Naturally, all downloads do not occur at this speed, often they are much less, and are often dependent on the upload speed of the server the download is coming from.

Some broadband connection speeds are calculated below. These can be applied to ISDN, ADSL, SDSL, Cable & Satellite.

64 Kb (Kilobits) Connection – 8KBPS
128 Kb Connection – 16KBPS
256 Kb Connection – 32KBPS
512 Kb Connection – 64KBPS
1.0 Mb (Megabit) Connection – 128KBPS
1.5 Mb Connection – 192KBPS
…
And so on.
…
…
…
4.5 Mb Connection – 576KBPS

In order to be downloading at 1 MB (Megabyte) per second, or faster, you need to invest in a very high speed connection.

10 Mb Connection – 1280KBPS or 1.28 MegaBytes Per Second.

All these speeds are theoretical, more so then actual possibility. Even with dialup, it is often hard to be able to download at the possible maximum. Regardless of your connection type, the same calculation can be applied to find out your theoretical maximum download speed.

However, you are always limited by many factors including:

Line Interference (Noise)
Line Availability
Drop Outs (Cable, *DSL & Modem)
Internet Traffic (other users, not to mention all the junk email)
Availability of Servers
Other users accessing the same content
Your ISP.

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Networking, Support

In Windows XP/2000/NT4.0, Logging off usually drops a dialup Internet connection. The Following registry change maintains your Internet connection when you log off and log on as a different user.
Note that you still have to re-dial if you reboot your PC.

1. Click Start —> Run, type regedit and press Enter
2. Drill down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
3. Click Edit —> New —> String Value edit the name to KeepRasConnections and press Enter.
4. Right-click KeepRasConnections, select Modify, enter “1″ (without the quotes) in the VaueData field and click OK
5. Quit the registry.

Now whenever you log off on your Windows 2000 machine or Windows XP (Not Switch User**) your dial up internet connection will stay active. Eliminating the need to re-dial the internet when you want to change users on the computers.

** Switch Users is a system introduced in Windows XP. It allows you to leave an account logged onto the system in the background, while somone else logs onto the system over the top. Essentially, it means you could switch users while you go out for a little while, without having to actually log off, thus be able to leave any work you are doing open or active. However, if the computer should be restarted, then that account and any unsaved work will be lost.

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Networking, Support

Installing & Playing C&C and C&C- Red Alert in Windows XP & Windows 2000

Windows 2000 note

To get the executables (EXE) files to work under Windows 2000 and Windows XP, we’re going to use a feature of Windows 2000 SP2 and Windows XP called “compatibility mode”. Windows XP users have this feature enabled by default, but users of Windows 2000 (and only users of Windows 2000) must first install at least Service Pack 2 (SP4 is the latest). Once you’ve installed SP2,SP3 or SP4, you must then perform the following, as detailed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 279792.

1. Make sure you are logged on to Windows 2000 as a user with Administrative privileges (or as the Administrator account itself). If yours is the only account on the system then it’s probably an administrator account. Administrators accounts can make any changes in the control panel, so if you can do that, then you’re an administrator.

2. Open the start menu and click on “Run…”

3. Type: regsvr32 %systemroot%\apppatch\slayerui.dll

4. Hit Run (or press enter)

That’s it. Now you have compatibility modes available to you, so move on to the next section.

NOTE: This guide is for the Windows Version of Both C&C and Red Alert – I am providing no support for the DOS versions whatsoever. NB: The Gold Version of C&C is just simply the Windows Version (aka C&C95) of C&C. There are no special features in the game other then the Internet play.

Installation and Playing – C&C

Installation

1. Insert either C&C95 disk into the CD-ROM drive.

2. Close the Command & Conquer Windows 95 Edition CD-ROM Autoplay window that appears (if Autoplay is turned on)

3. Click on the Start button at the bottom Left Of Your screen, and then click on My Computer

4. In the My Computer window, right-click on the C&C95 CD-ROM icon (labeled GDI95 or NOD95) and select Open.

5. In the CD-ROM window, right-click on the Autorun icon, and select Properties.

6. On the Autorun Properties window, click on the Compatibility tab.

7. On the Compatibility tab, make sure the “Run this program in compatibility mode” check box is selected, and that Windows 95 is selected in the drop down box.

8. Click OK.

9. Double-click the Autorun.exe icon to start the setup process. This will start the Command & Conquer Windows 95 Edition CD-ROM Autoplay Program.

10. Select the Install C&C:Win95 button, this will start the installation process.

11. On the Select Components screen, unselect the DirectX audio and video drivers (recommended) option. You do not need to install DirectX on Windows XP.

12. Follow the remainder of the steps until you reach the Install Westwood Online Program. It is important to install this component now if you plan to play C&C95 on the Internet.

13. When installation of all components is complete, select “I will restart my computer later”, then click Finish.

14. Installation is now complete.

Playing

1. Click on the Start button at the bottom Left of your screen, then click All Programs.

2. Click on the Westwood entry in the list that appears, then click on Command & Conquer 95.

3. Right-click on Command & Conquer Windows 95 Edition and select Properties.

4. Click on the Compatibility tab, and make sure the “Run this program in compatibility mode” check box is selected, and that Windows 95 appears in the drop down box.

5. Click OK.

6. Click on the Start button at the bottom Left Of Your screen, then click All Programs.

7. Click on the Westwood entry in the list that appears, then click on Westwood Chat.

8. Right-click on Westwood Chat and select Properties.

9. Click on the Compatibility tab, and make sure the “Run this program in compatibility mode” check box is selected, and that Windows 95 appears in the drop down down box.

10. Click OK.

11. In order to run C&C95 you will need the Latest product update. This will happen automatically if you connect to the Westwood Online service by running the Westwood Chat application, and then following the instructions contained in the manual to play a game. However it is possible (I haven’t checked though) that Westwood online is not longer running, so alternatively, you can update your game without the use of Westwood chat by downloading the XP patch.

The Windows XP Patch can be found here:

ftp://ftp.westwood.com/pub/ccgold/CCGOLDXPPATCH.ZIP

Unfortunately, LAN play is disabled. There is no way to enable LAN play at all. The number one reason is due to the fact that the IPX protocol was re-written in Windows XP/2000, and is now incompatible with C&C. C&C uses a different layer of the IPX protocol to play multiplayer over a network. This layer is no longer used and was phased out of the IPX protocol. Your best bet would be to find a program that can emulate the Westwood online server locally, and play across that. I have no idea if such a thing exists though. There may also be other ways to play across IPX, but that would mean you don’t apply the patch, and therefore can’t run the game in Windows XP or 2000.

To install the Covert Operations, you will need to have installed C&C95 into its default location, or one that is similar to its default location, or the DOS based setup program will not be able to locate your installation due to its limited ability to read long directory names.

Installing and Playing C&C – Red Alert

Installation

1. Insert either C&C – Red Alert disk into the CD-ROM drive.

2. Close the Command & Conquer – Red Alert Windows 95 Edition CD-ROM Autoplay window that appears (if Autoplay is turned on)

3. Click on the Start button at the bottom Left Of Your screen, and then click on My Computer

4. In the My Computer window, right-click on the Red Alert CD-ROM icon (labeled RA1 or RA2) and select Open.

5. In the CD-ROM window, right-click on the Autorun icon, and select Properties.

6. On the Autorun Properties window, click on the Compatibility tab.

7. On the Compatibility tab, make sure the “Run this program in compatibility mode” check box is selected, and that Windows 95 is selected in the drop down box.

8. Click OK.

9. Double-click the Autorun.exe icon to start the setup process. This will start the Command & Conquer Windows 95 Edition CD-ROM Autoplay Program.

10. Select the Install Red Alert button, this will start the installation process.

11. On the Select Components screen, unselect the DirectX audio and video drivers (recommended) option. You do not need to install DirectX on Windows XP.

12. Follow the remainder of the steps until you reach the Install Westwood Online Program. It is important to install this component now if you plan to play Red Alert on the Internet. Yes, this will update the version of Westwood Online you may currently have if you installed it from C&C earlier.

13. When installation of all components is complete, select “I will restart my computer later”, then click Finish.

14. Installation is now complete.

Playing

1. Click on the Start button at the bottom Left of your screen, then click All Programs.

2. Click on the Westwood entry in the list that appears, then click on Red Alert 95.

3. Right-click on Red Alert Windows 95 Edition and select Properties.

4. Click on the Compatibility tab, and make sure the “Run this program in compatibility mode” check box is selected, and that Windows 95 appears in the drop down box.

5. Click OK.

6. Click on the Start button at the bottom Left Of Your screen, then click All Programs.

7. Click on the Westwood entry in the list that appears, then click on Westwood Chat.

8. Right-click on Westwood Chat and select Properties.

9. Click on the Compatibility tab, and make sure the “Run this program in compatibility mode” check box is selected, and that Windows 95 appears in the drop down down box

10. Click OK.

11. In order to run Red Alert 95 you will need the Latest product update. This will happen automatically if you connect to the Westwood Online service by running the Westwood Chat application, and then following the instructions contained in the manual to play a game. However it is possible (I havent’ checked though) that Westwood online is not longer running, so alternatively, you can update your game without the use of Westwood chat by downloading the XP patch. The Windows XP Patch can be found here:

ftp://ftp.westwood.com/pub/redalert/updates/RA108USP.EXE

Download the RA108USP.EXE patch to your Red Alert directory (this is usually C:\REDALERT or C:\WESTWOOD\REDALERT directory). After the files are copied, simply Double click on RA108USP.EXE to begin the update process, and select Y to replace the three existing files.

Now you should be able to run Red Alert using the “Red Alert Windows 95 Edition” icon in your Red Alert folder in the Start Menu.

LAN and Internet Play should function Normally in Red Alert, although there are many people who have found and encounter quirks with it. You may want to search the Internet for solutions to these.

To install the expansions Counterstrike, and Aftermath, follow the same instructions as above to install Red Alert. If you have both expansions, you should install Counterstrike first, and then install Aftermath.

If you are unable to play multiplayer, please refer to the tutorial entitled Command and Conquer Windows Edition Over TCP / IP.

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: C&C, Support

Provided by the Gibson Research Centre (GRC), is a host of utilities and services, all for free! The service’s they are most famous for, are the patches and fixes for some of the more dangerous exploitations in the windows operating systems, and the more well known, “Shields Up” test.

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You can use this test to find out just how good your firewall is functioning!
Check out http://www.grc.com today!

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Networking, Support

Right Here Solider

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Support

Backup your Registry/System State

1. Backup your system state by clicking Start > Run > and typing ntbackup > Click the Advanced Mode button in the Backup Utility Wizard. >Click the Backup tab, then in Click to select the check box for any drive, folder, or file that you want to back up, select the System State.
2. As an alternative, you can backup just the Registry by clicking Start > Run > and type in Regedit From within the Regedit screen, right click My Computer, choose Export, name the file whatever you choose, and click Save

To change the product ID

1. Log in as the local Administrator
2. Click Start > Run > and type in Regedit
3. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\wpaevents
4. In the right pane, right-click OOBETimer, and then click Modify
5. Change at least one digit of this value to deactivate Windows
6. Click OK and close regedit
7. Click Start > Run and type in: “%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a”
8. Click Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows, and then click Next
9. Click Change Product Key (at the bottom)
10. Enter your valid Corporate Product Key
11. Press Update and close the window.
12. If you are returned to the previous window, click Remind me later
13. Restart your computer

Verify the change

1. After the workstation restarts, click Start > Run
2. Type in: “%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a” without the quotes.
3. Make sure the dialog box says ‘your copy of windows is already activated’

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Support

Right Here Solider

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: C&C, Support

Need to change your Office product Key, but don’t want to un-install and re-install Office? Microsoft provides the solution for you!

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895456/en-us?spid=2488&sid=50

written by Easton Royce \\ tags: Support