Community > Posts By > PaulPaulJones

 
no photo
Sun 07/25/10 12:32 AM
Well, there are a few ways to block the content, which also usually blocks the pop-ups.

Add the following to your hosts file:

127.0.0.1 Searchfeed.com
127.0.0.1 Zedo.com
127.0.0.1 xads.Zedo.com
127.0.0.1 URL.CPVfeed.com
127.0.0.1 Upsiral.com
127.0.0.1 Searchlocal.ws.

Or, if you want a simpler/easier solution, add each of the domain names above into the 'restricted sites' in your browser. (leave out the 127.0.0.1 of course)


no photo
Sun 07/25/10 12:27 AM
Well, ClamAV has been around quite a while, kapersky has a linux version, as does AVG.

Linux is rarely susceptible to viruses as such, it's more common to get 'rooted', i.e. have a new, hidden login that gives root access.
This is most common if you don't keep up with security patches.

chkrootkit and rootkit hunter are useful to check for rootkits.

Tripwire is a rootkit preventative, but does take a little work to properly set up.


no photo
Tue 11/10/09 04:59 PM
Disallow guest posting. That's the number one rule before anything else.

I'm assuming you have the captcha turned on. If not, turn it on, that stops 90% of spam right away.
If you are on a 1.1.x version, you can install add-ons that provide captcha.

custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1519
This mod works on 1.1.7, .8, .9, and the last time I used it, 2.0RC1.
This is one of the most effective mods I've seen. It also uses a 'community' lookup, so anyone else using the mod that gets spam adds to the list of blocks. Of course, this can be turned off if it's abused.

Next up, unless you have a VERY international userbase, blocking certain country code domains will cut down drastically on spam:
Go to Administration -> Ban List -> Add New Ban
Name it, say, Russia
for the actual ban, use
*@*.ru

Do the same for .pl, .cn, and .sg (poland, china, and singapore)
I also add .a1, .a2, .ng, and .lt (anonymous proxy, satellite, nigeria, and lithuania)

There's a pretty simple code edit that will disallow registrations from certain timezones. Did you know that the default timezone if you don't select one is in the middle of an ocean? Do you think it very likely that someone is creating an account from there?
Do be sure to add a blurb so that non-bot users know they have to select a timezone. This cut out 99% of auto-registration bots (and thus 98% of forum spam) when I last used it, and that without ANY other modifications. Some auto-reg bots have gotten 'smarter' and now select a timezone, but it's still very rare.

So, think this'll do ya for a while? ;>>

no photo
Tue 11/10/09 04:14 PM
It sounds like you are burning the actual MP3 files to a cd.

What you need is to burn an Audio CD.

If you are on a newer version of Nero, in the SmartStart Screen, go to Rip And Burn, then click the Burn Audio CD button.

You'll have to select the music you want again, prebuilt playlists won't work. Nero does keep the order of the tracks on the CD, so if you put song 2 in before you put song 1 in, song 2 will be the first one on the cd. You can rearrange tracks in Nero by drag-n-dropping them.

A couple of other things to know:
A standard CD-R these days holds a maximum of 80 minutes of music.
Many cd players have trouble with more than 74 minutes of music OR more than 18 tracks. This is VERY common on older cd players, and on many car CD players.
So, to boil it down, keep the number of tracks to 18 or less, and the total minutes below 74.




no photo
Tue 11/10/09 04:01 PM
Free antivirus:

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Assuming, of course, that your windows copy passes tha activation check (in other words, isn't pirated)


no photo
Tue 11/10/09 03:56 PM
You've hit the wonderful SCIM keystroke.

Hit Shift-Space to fix it. :)

SCIM is Smart Common Input Method, if you rt-click the language setting in the tray, you can change the keystroke that toggles it.

If you got rid of SCIM, but want to fix the keystroke, open a terminal, then:
sudo apt-get install xandros-scim


You can use:
sudo apt-get --purge remove xandros-scim
to completely get rid of the whole scim package, which also saves about 27MB (8G goes faster than you'd think)


BTW, you do know that the eeepc is vastly UNDERclocked?
Check out: http://www.eeesite.net/2008/04/eeecontrol-adjust-your-eee-cpu-and-fan.html
I run the fan about 20% over stock, and the CPU at 100% (instead on the normal 75%) and it's been working for well over a year now.


no photo
Wed 08/26/09 01:18 AM
Late, but I had to throw this in:

A quick and cheap solution to a blocked wifi signal is to get a cheapie USB wifi 'dongle', and a six or twelve foot USB extension cable.

Instead of getting a movable, and usually expensive, external antenna, for around half the cost, you can move the whole blinking radio, including the antenna, around beams, up the wall, into a window, etc.

Check your local dollar stores for USB cables as well as 1/4" jack to phono plug cables (i.e., the cable to hook your computer up to your stereo, or vice versa)

The last three times I needed to work around wifi blockages, it cost under $20USD. A buck at a dollar store for the extension and $14.99 for a USB wifi dongle (on sale, but they are always on sale somewhere)

Maybe this will help someone else, and maybe you'll find it a good cheap backup to a hardwired connection. :)

Good Luck!

no photo
Wed 08/26/09 01:12 AM
If you wiped the linux partitions, then it would probably be easier to use a Vista CD/DVD and reinstall the vista loader.
You can always reinstall Linux afterwards.

Boot off the Vista CD, follow the prompts till you get a choice to
"Repair your computer"
Select the Vista installation, next, then choose command prompt.

Now, type in:
cd \boot
bootrec /FixMbr

Reboot and you should be good.

If not, go through the same routine, but type in:
cd \boot
bootsec /nt60 c:

Reboot and check it. If you're still not booting, well, a repair install of vista is probably needed.

In case you're wondering, a code 22 means grub couldn't find it's config file, which is stored in under the boot directory of your root linux partition...which you nuked. :) A code 17 means (among other things), "I can't even find the partition I want to try to load my config from. Ack!"