A Helpful Guide Through Our New Digital Age

I’m taking a class for the hell of it on web development and first day in we find it’s going to be taught by downloading and using XAMPP, which is an Apache Distribution of just about everything you’d need to host your own site. It setups an Apache web server with PHP, MySQL, SQLite, Perl and a good deal of other useful adds for ones website. This is ideal if you’re setting up a website on your home box.

It is fairly straightforward on how to set it up. Instructions can be found at the download site on starting up the Apache and MySQL database. It only takes about 7 steps to get a web site up and running.

Here are the instructions Prof. Batzinger gave the class to follow.

Running XAMPPlite for the first time

1. Download XAMPPlite (ZIP version) from http://www.xampp.org
2. Unzip the XAMPPlite folder on to your flash drive
3. Open a DOS window and make the XAMPPlite folder your working directory
4. Run xampp-portcheck and close any applications that are using ports 80, and 3306
5. Run setup_xampp to reconfigure the server for your drive
6. Run xampp_start to start the service
7. Use FireFox or IExplorer to browse the server at http://localhost

Shutting down XAMPPlite

1. Run xampp_stop to halt the service
2. Close the DOS windows
3. Unmount the drive from your computer

Restarting XAMPPlite

1. Run xampp-portcheck and close any applications that are using ports 80, and 3306
2. Run setup-xampp to reconfigure the server for your drive
3. Run xampp_start to start the service
4. Use FireFox or IExplorer to browse the server at http://localhost

I have my own MySQL and Apache server running on my Suse box in the livingroom so I haven’t taken the time to get this to work on Linux but if you’re interested in downloading the distribution for linux just go to: LAMPP, XAMPP for Linux.

I’ve been having a bit of an issue with bandwidth management. Any time I’d decide to download something over my Bittorrent client anyone wanting to view my website would either have most of the images missing and issues with text placement or just find my site wouldn’t respond. Bittorrent like most of the filesharing clients on the web eat up a good deal of one’s available bandwidth by default. I’ve downloaded and tested quite a few different clients but the best ones I’ve found are Azureus and µTorrent. My basis for judgement is that both of the clients have, in their options, the ability to optimize bandwidth usage.

Most sites go on about how just limiting the upload speed will improve you bandwidth but another important tip is to limit the number of active connections allowed per torrent file. Most are set so some gargantuan number and will increase with the number of active torrents you have running. I cut back drastically on my bandwith by seeting the max number of connections per torrent to a small number like 10 or so and reduced the number of active torrents to 3. I’ve also limited my upload speed to about 20 kB/s and maintain the share ratio to 1 to 1, which I change if I feel the torrent needs to be seeded longer due to lack of supporting seeders. You can also change the upload rate on a per torrent basis but I’ve not played with this option since I don’t see a logical reason to do so. Both of these programs have a scheduler, Azureus uses a plugin, that lets you manage what times of the day you want it to run, which can be handy if you know when you’re network utilization goes up during the day.

Between the 2 clients I’d suggest using µTorrent if you’re running a windows platform. Azureus uses way more available resources both in memory and in cpu usage, probably due to it’s use of JVM, Java virtual machine.

This is a quick tutorial to download, install, and run Azureus remotely on a Linux machine. The purpose for this is to remotely que downloads on your Linux box without having to be at your box and then be able to logout of your box and keep azureus running in the background. It’s useful to be able to add/remove torrents remotely as well as check on each torrents status.

To start off you’ll want to make sure you have the latest version of Java installed on your box which can be found here, I installed the JRE version. You may have to compile java and put it’s location in your environment path variable. This may be located in your .{csh,bash,…}rc file depending on which shell you’ll be running azureus under.

Next you’ll need to download the Java version of Azureus which can be found at SourceForge’s Azureus - Bittorrent Client. You’ll want to pick the appropriate file which will probably be Azureus_x.x.x.x_linux.tar.bz2 which you’ll have to untar using the “tar -jxvf filename’ command.

Next you’ll need to grab 2 more files, placing them in the root azureus directory, to get the client to run without an XWindows session (from the command line). The most current of the two files, log4j.jar and commons-cli.jar, can be located here.
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Have you ever deleted something and emptied your Recycle Bin and become overwhelmed by the sense of “Ohhh nooooo, I just didn’t do that” and realized you deleted something fairly precious to you. Well if you’re one of those people or know someone who has then offer them this miraculous piece of software.

It’s called PC Inspector File Recovery, provided by CONVAR – Die Datenretter™, and it’s capable of scanning your hard drives for files that had once thought to have been deleted. It’s totally free as is all their other products and they leave it to you to donate to them. This can be a life saver to just about anyone. If you’re a system admin and accidently delete your file allocation tables for those databases you can recover them. You delete those last remaining digital photos of your important ones then there’s a chance you can recover those too.

Just keep in mind the sooner you use the program the less likely those files get written over and the greater the chance you’ll have of recovering them. There are other file recovery tools but this one beats them out because it’s free and it’s an all around nice application.

How many of you enjoy having 4 internet explorer’s open when browsing the web? I have a feeling that there’s a good portion of people who don’t know what tabs are in a web browser and that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or IE doesn’t have them. Unfortunatly Mircosoft doesn’t believe in tabs. Tabs are wonderful once you get use to them. You’ll get them if you’re using Mozilla, Firefox, or Opera.

In Mozilla and Firefox just press: ctrl + t for a new tab. This will create an empty location you can type or paste a hyperlink into and have the browser display it. This is all done in the same window and saves on taskbar space and your visual area on your monitor. You can navigate the tabs either by clicking on them with your mouse or usually pressing: shift + tab and to navigate backwards ctrl + shift + tab.

Once learned you’ll probably stop using IE and switch to a broswer with tabs enabled. There are many other features to explore in the above mentioned internet explorers but as of yet none that are as useful as tabs.

I recently posted an article about protecting yourself online using a firewall. Well in the spirit of securing your pc I’ll give you a few more good tips to help you cope with the ever expanding and malicious Internet.

Having a firewall is a good way to protect yourself in terms of being attacked by people from the web but sometimes you are your own worste enemy, or those other individuals who use your computer at home. All it takes is one mouse click and your computer could be infected with a malicious piece of software that will take over your computer and make your life on the web a nightmare.

Malware will disable your pc or personal computer and make you vulnerable. Your passwords to important sites could be recorded/read and sent to a website that will let everyone know your personal information. You pc may no longer work because important files that are needed to boot your pc are deleted and security crackers can log onto your machine and install or copy software that was bought and paid for by the owner of the compromised pc.

You can take steps to protect you from these horrors by purchasing or download antivirus software or AVG software. For those who can afford it Norton and McAfee have some very decent software to remove viruses and prevent viruses from infecting your computer in the first place. Both feature real-time protection which means that the programs stays loaded in the background and scans files before you access them for malware. Another free antivirus application is called AntiVir, which is just like Norton and McAfee but doesn’t have all the bells and whisles like Adware/Spyware detection.

In addition to installing antivirus applications you’ll want to install Adware/Spyware detecting and removal software like Ad-Aware and Spybot - Search and Destroy. Both are free and have the same features except Spybot includes a Immunization feature to prevent known Spyware from infecting your personal computer.

The key to all this software is to keep it up-to-date and to scan your computer regularly for any malware. Make sure you have the latest security patches for your operating system by using the update program for you system. And don’t open files from other individuals unless they are trusted and you know they are expecting that file from them. Taking these precautions will only help in protecting your computer. There is no 100% solution to protecting yourself from malware but this is taking your closer to the next best thing.

There are a lot of different applications availiable on the web that let you listen to music. Windows comes with it’s own called Windows Media Player but it doesn’t always do the job. You can also download ITunes which has a few neat tools to manage you media library and play video files. Another not so well known but tends to get packaged with HP and Compaq’s Personal Computers is Musicmatch Jukebox.

These are all capable of playing music files such as: .wav, .mp3/4, and .ogg but my single favorite freeware application is called Winamp by Nullsoft, part of Time Warner. It’s been around since 1997 and has grown a lot since. It has a lot of features that keep me hooked on it like: it’s variety of skins, it’s ability to play any video’s in a sizable window, and has plugins for ripping CDs to mp3s and for music visualizations. Winamps visualization plugin is called: Advanced Visualization Studio or AVS and allows for customizable designs and effects that can be saved as a “preset”. The music visualizations are wonderful and winamp now has the ability to make your desktop wallpaper a visualizations. While this is very taxing on your system it looks amazing will impress your friends who like that kind of thing.

Winamp is my choice out of all the windows media players. It’s skin’s can be minimized to create very small skins that take up a very small percentage of your monitor. It’s dockable toolbars let you customize it’s look and can support Internet radio and Internet television.

Need to backup a DVD but you don’t have a dual-layer DVD burner? There’s a program called DVD Shrink, who’s latest version is 3.2.0.15 and it’s a great utility for ripping and then burning DVDs. You have to have a DVD burner in order to burn a DVD but you can still rip them using a standard DVD-rom drive. The program will convert both dual and single layer DVDs to a directory with a similar structure of those found on DVDs. The DVD on your local hard drive can be played with software such as Cyberlink’s PowerDVD and Cliprex’s free DVD Player Pro.

The program is fairly simple to use and has a few useful features like Re-authoring DVDs so you can make your own DVD and can be set up to only copy certain media streams and subtitles.

Just like China we all need a little more security to keep those unwanted individuals from seeing important data. The Internet is filled with important information that needs to be secured, whether it is located on your computer or somewhere on the net. Sensitive information like passwords to our online bank accounts or paypal and information dealing with freedom or Tiananmen Square are kept securely away from the eyes of others.

One important application type is called a firewall, which watches traffic going in and out of your system and managing what applications have the right to communicate with the web on your computer. Most firewalls create what are called Trusted zones. These zones are either computers or networks deamed safe for the particular program to communicate with. Some network services should be kept in your local network while other like your web browser should be able to access sites outside of your local network.

There are quite a few different companies that provide firewall applications. Some of the more successful are: Norton Personal Firewall, McAfee Personal Firewallplus, and ZoneAlarm from Zone Labs. Norton and McAfee will usually sell their firewall with their suite edition that includes their antivirus software and a few other extra features. Both are very good choices becauase they’re very simple to use and generate their own rules for trusted zones without your interaction. ZoneAlarm is a very nice freeware firewall application. It has a nice interface and will allow for users to manually set up and manage the firewall rules. Zone Labs also has ZoneAlarm Pro that you can purchase which is similar to both Norton and McAfees and easier to use than their basic firewall.

For any users of Yahoo’s Chat site you’ll find yourself overloaded with chatroom SPAM. Not just spam but you’ll find yourself confronted with individuals wanting to give you a good “deal”, which is just a “fisher” looking for his next target or you might be the target of boot codes or text floods that will get increasingly annoying as the night goes on.

Well never fear for our good friend, David J. Binette, has a wonderful tool called YahElite, which incorporates a client for both Yahoo Messanger and Yahoo Chat. It provides “boot code”, “text floods”, “unwanted PMs”, “sound bombs” and spam. Most of these you’ll know and understand if you’ve ever logged into Yahoo Chat for an hour. It’s fairly straight forward with a very little learning curve. It uses a lot of colors to mark different types of messages and has all the options you’ve used, and might not even know about, all in one client.

I’d recommend this program to anyone who has a lot of free time to spend in a chat room. You’ll hear a lot about this program because it’s increasing popularity. It also allows for avatars, which helps identify other YahElite users.