Vista Fucking Sucks
Seriously, why make it such a pig you assholes?
Archive for March, 2009
LDoA II
Booyeah! If all goes well [no disconnection] tonight my ranger will hit lvl17 in the morning… on the way to being my second LDoA character. Yay!
Well Smack My Ass!
Of course, just to make a liar of me, the http://files.edin.dk/php/win32/mcrypt website is back up again. I swear it was down all day yesterday when I was lookin' for it!
PHP on Windows with mcrypt?
I was recently screwing around with some PHP based apps, some of which require mcrypt to be installed. But I had a hard time finding the binaries because everyone seemed to be linking to HERE. Eventually I found a forum post that said to get the files from an XAMPP installation. So I fired up a virtual machine and installed XAMPP v1.7.0 on it… et voila! There were the files I needed. You can download the files from me here [libmcrypt.zip] or if you don't trust me you can go download and install XAMPP to get them.
Once you have them, place libmcrypt.dll in your "Windows\System32" directory as well as your "Apache\Bin" directory. Then place the other two in your "PHP\ext" directory. Add the following to your PHP.INI file.
[libmcrypt]
extension=php_mcrypt.dll
Restart Apache and you should be god to go. If you want to test your installation, create a file called test.php and paste the following into it:
<html>
<head>
<title>Snork Rocks!</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
</body>
</html>
then stick it inside your htdocs directory and then surf to it. If your PHP installation is working you should see a crapload of information. Search the page for "mcrypt" and you should see a section describing the library you just installed.
Mark Hare Rocks
This week[end] I was trying to setup Apache 2.2.x with OpenSSL so that I could screw around with some certificate stuff. I was quite disappointed with Apache's Documentation on the subject and had to start searching for a nice step-by-step on SSL with Apache for Windows. I found a couple of websites that were helpful, one of which really made it easy. Apachelounge has their own builds of Apache with SSL and most of the documentation there seems to be related to those custom builds. However, Mark Hare had THIS writeup that pretty much nailed down exactly what has to be done.
Booyeah Mark!
Sniping Tools For eBay
I don't use eBay a whole lot, but I use it enough to want a snipe tool. I used to use Auction Sentry and paid for it back when Dan was still the owner/developer of it. He did a great job of maintaining it and unfortunately when he sold it, the new owners well, they seem to have dropped the ball. Something I have been wanting to do is switch to Linux as my primary workstation, and frankly, it's been a bit of a pain. Sniping software seems to be one of the major deficiencies of the Linux world. I tried a few applications (including Auction Sentry) under Wine but none of them seem to work. Problems ranged from applications that wouldn't even start to being fully functional except for the ability to log in to eBay). When asked in forums, some Linux junkies like to simply suggest that jbidwatcher is perfect and occasionally suggest that the person asking has not done enough homework on the subject. My conclusion is that these people have not actually tried jbidwatcher… it's a pig and has a crappy rough interface. For those who have not figured it out yet, Java sucks even more than .NET does. Am I going to be stuck using an online service like Gixen or Goofbay? Bah!
Running Mozilla Thunderbird As A Windows Service?
Yes, as silly as it might seem to some, I wanted to do this… and successfully did. Don't as WHY I might want to do this, just know that I actually found some other people who wanted to do the same thing. If you are as mentally damaged as we are and want to try this here's how:
Step 1 is to get your hands on INSTSRV.EXE and SRVANY.EXE. They are both Microsoft applications and can be obtained by downloading 11.8M of the Resource Kit Tools or you can just download the two files you need from me here.
Put both files in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory. It doesn't really matter where you extract these two files, just that system32 happens to be in your path and makes life easy.
Open a DOS Prompt and type in INSTSRV "My Service" "C:\PATH\SRVANY.EXE" the quotes help for names/paths with spaces. You should replace "My Service" with whatever name you want to give your service (Thunderbird in my case) and the path should point to wherever you put SRVANY.EXE (hopefully in system32 like I told ya to).
You should hopefully be greeted with a message telling you that the service has been successfully installed. Now you need to type in REGEDIT which should give you the Registry Editor. Some people would give a warning here about how dangerous it is to use the registry editor, but I like to live dangerously and let people learn from their mistakes. In the Registry Editor you should use the left pane to browse to HKEY_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services where you should hopefully find the name of your nifty new service.
Right click on your cool new service name and select New -> Key. When it asks you to name this new key, use the name Parameters. Now click once on the Parameters key to highlight it and you should see a "default" value in the right pane. Right click below that default value (in the whitespace) and select New -> String Value. Name this string Application and give it a value of the path to the thing you want to run as a service ("C:\Program Files\Thunderbird\Thurnderbird.exe" in my case).
Now close up regedit and start the service (either by the MMC applet or by rebooting).
Now in the case of Thunderbird, you have to run it as a particular user account rather than just the SYSTEM account. This means you have to run Thunderbird at least once as a regular user and set it up the way you want it. Then go to the Services MMC applet (found under Administrative Tools) and set that name and password for that user. There are some other things you can set here as well, like the ability for it to interact with the desktop session etc.
One of the reasons I found this to be kind of cool is because you can setup a dummy email address and have Thunderbird constantly checking it. Then if you throw in the Thunderbird plugin Attachment Extractor, you can have a setup where you just email yourself attachments and they will automatically be saved to a particular directory. Now I just need to find a use for this.
Adblock Plus Filters Subscription
So I am going to see if I can maintain my own personal subscription list of Adblock Plus filters. I have a few minor items added in already and simply can't wait to add more. If you are not familiar with Adblock Plus you are seriously missing out (or perhaps I should say you are seriously looking at too much garbage). It is a plugin (or addon) for Firefox that allows you to use regular expressions to block all kinds of crap. I typically use it to block domains that suck, ad images, tracking domains, and annoying scripts. Here is a parade of links to lots of free software that can help make your browsing experience a little sweeter.
- Firefox can be found at Mozilla's website
- Better yet, use an older version of Firefox (without the Craptastic Bar)
- Get Adblock Plus and the Element Helper at the Adblock website
- Clean up Google with CustomizeGoogle
- Clean up GMail with the GMail Ad Blocker
- There's also CookieSafe at Mozilla's addon site
Once you have Adblock Plus running you can subscribe to my filter list at Snorkuscription
Take Back The Fox Category
Yeah, so I created a new category called Take Back The Fox, because Firefox v3.x frankly has been a big disappointment. I am sure that an anti-Microsoft attitude had at least a little do with me starting to use Firefox but that wasn't the only reason. For quite a while I was pretty happy using Firefox… until they dumped v2.x and released the cartoon version of their browser. I tried Seamonkey and some other browsers but they all seemed to be lacking a certain feel that Firefox v2.x had.
So I started building a package that would let me continue (at least for now) to use FF2. I most certainly didn't create any of the software myself, I am just creating an installer that makes FF2 usable and customizes it with some settings and plugins that I like. Credit should be given to the authors/programmers who actually did the work of making the software:
- NSIS: This is the software I used to make my installer. Flexible and powerful scripting language that I hope to see more of soon.
- Firefox: Mozilla's browser, I just wish they had left it alone
- Customize Google: Very nice plugin for Firefox that can customize a huge array of options for all aspects of Google (including Google Apps)
- CookieSafe: Plugin for Firefox with simple statusbar access to all your cookie settings
- Adblock Plus: Powerful plugin that lets you block almost anything from your browser
- Adblock Plus Element Hiding Helper: An addon that quickly helps you make Adblock Plus rules
- GMail Ad Blocker: Dumps the "Sponsored Links" that can't be handled by the Customize Google plugin
Your Own Domain Name
Recently I was talking to somebody who was thinking of buying a domain name, I offered to write up a little email with some tips, but it turned out to be huge… so I turned it into this. Personally I think that domain name ownership is often made to be more complicated than it has to be. Hopefully this information will help someone who is considering a domain name of their own. I sort of covered some of this material HERE but this entry should hopefully be a little more detailed.
There are three parts to owning a domain name:
- Owning the name
- Setting up DNS
- Offering services (like a website or email)
Frankly, it is entirely possible to host your own services for "almost" free if you are willing to do a little reading and fiddling. The only thing that you should really need to pay for is the name itself… so I'll start there.
1. Owning the name
Domain names are purchased from registrars. Some registrars will offer you everything you need for your name, DNS, website, email and whatever else you can imagine. Some may just offer to sell you the name. The type of domain (sometimes called Top Level Domain or TLD) can sometimes decide your registrar choice for you to some degree. A .com name can be bought almost anywhere but other TLD's such as .ca or .co.uk can only be purchased from certain registrars [Canadian Registrar List] [UK Registrar List]. If you want to do it "on the cheap" you can find a place that just offers the name, or just buy the bare minimum package without all the hosting addons. Whatever you end up choosing, the name alone should not cost more than CDN$15 per year (unless you actually want all the hosting stuff).
2. Setting up DNS
Once you own the name you now have to point the name at some IP Address. An IP address is basically like the address of your house… each computer that wants to be available on the Internet needs an address. You have probably seen an IP address in the form of 12.34.56.78. Basically, when I type in www.yourcooldomain.com my computer has to figure out what the IP address is for that name… and DNS is the beast that will figure it out for me. There are DNS servers all over the world and they spend all their time answering requests like "What is the address of www.mycooldomain.com"? When you buy your domain name, you will need to point some DNS servers at the appropriate IP address. Sometimes your registrar will offer DNS as part of the domain ownership, sometimes not. If you do not get that service with your registrar I would suggest you go to EveryDNS.net. They offer free DNS and are very reliable. If you do use them I would seriously recommend that you donate to them, even ten bucks would pay for itself after the first year.
Here is a screenshot of me managing this website on the EveryDNS website. It may look complicated at first but it's not that bad. The first two entries on the right hand side are the entries that point you to my website, the next seven entries are all for my email which is handled by GMail, and the last entry is something you probably don't need to know about. If you just want a website for your domain name you would only need the first two entries.
3. Offering services
OK, so you own the name and you figured out how to point the name at an IP address… now what? Well if you go to WhatIsMyIP, you can find out what your own IP address is, and if you point your domain name at your IP address then you can host your website right off your own PC. This requires a little configuration but can save you the cost of a hosting package. You need to do this in two parts: (1) setup some webserver software and (2) forward a port on your router to your PC. If your PC is directly on the Internet and you do not have a router… then go get one. Seriously.
If you want to just run a plain old website with fairly static content you might be able to get away with just webserver software (like Apache or IIS). If you want something nifty like Wordpress then you will likely need PHP and MySQL. I personally use all of the ones listed above in some form.
What about email though? Well if you go to Google Apps you can have them host it for you (including spam filtering) for free. There's craploads of features and they'll let you pickup your mail by using the regular webmail interface, POP3 or IMAP. I even use my iPud Touch to do email through Google Apps. If you look back at the EveryDNS screenshot you'll see all the entries I made so that my email would go through them. Don't worry, they have instructions on how to set all that up at the Google site when you sign up. I have some more info on Google Apps in this entry.
I think I am going to put my recent repackaging experience to work by creating a [mostly] automated install of Apache, PHP and MySQL… possibly with Wordpress or something built right in.
There, was that complicated enough for ya?