Copy music off your iPod Touch to your PC | Free | Howto

This is an easy and quick guide to copy music off your iPod Touch to any computer for free.

I did this on Windows Vista if you have XP it should also work.

First we need to download the softwares we need to get things done.

• Make sure that you don't have 2.0.* firmware on your iPod touch or iPhone as ml_ipod does not support it yet, if you do your out of luck.
• iTunes - You need iTunes for the iPod driver and nothing else, make sure to install this for it to work, for your Windows to detect your iPod touch properly.
  
• Winamp - download the latest Winamp media player
  
• ml_ipod - now we need to download the Winamp iPod plugin, I know that it said that Winamp already have it install, but base on my personal experience I had to install ml_ipod for Winamp to detect mu iPod touch.

Now to the steps

Step 1 - Install Winamp and follow the onscreen instruction
Step 2 - Install ml_ipod and click yes when a screen popup asking you to confirm that you have 1.1.* firmware
Step 3 - Once installation is done connect your iPod touch to your computer
Step 4 - Run Winamp it will take a while as it initialize(?) the plugins, once its up go to media library - > devices you should see iPod under it and you will see all the list you have on your iPod.
Step 5 - Configure Winamp to transfer files from iPod to a specific directory oether wise it will just copy it over to "c:", which we don't want, click on edit -> preference, ipod -> download -> transfer directory once this is set, We are ready to copy it over to your hard disk, right click on iPod then select Transfer to Hard disk this will take a while depend on the how much content you have on your iPod it will download Audio and Video files to your Hard Disk.

Thats it, Enjoy!

iPod related

• iPod charging on DVD player w/o dock
• Apple Ipod Jailbreak - 1.1.4 firmware guide and Quickpwn
• Create iTunes Store account | Without Credit Card
  

Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk
• Full filesystem backup | ufsdump - For *nix
  

Network Security System | IDS | IPS | Howto on Linux

• Part 1 -Installing and Configuring ACID
• Part 2 - Installing and Configuring Snort with MySQL
• Part 3 - Installing and Configuring MySQL for ACID and Snort
• Sendmail | Banner change | Disabling VRFY | EXPN
  

Create iTunes Store account | Without Credit Card

If you live in a country where iTunes is not available or you don't have a credit card and you want an iTunes store account so that you can automatically download album covers, your in luck as there are ways to get an iTunes account without card.

All you need is to get your self a iTune redeem code which you can get (Promotion is close) Updated Oct 14, 2008

Make sure to follow the instruction and take note that this will only work on iTunes US, the link also keep track of IP so you can only get/generate 1 code per IP.

Enjoy!

iPod related

• iPod charging on DVD player w/o dock
• Apple Ipod Jailbreak - 1.1.4 firmware guide and Quickpwn
• Copy music off your iPod Touch to your PC | Free | Howto

Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk
• Full filesystem backup | ufsdump - For *nix

Sendmail | Banner change | Disabling VRFY | EXPN

Here is a quick howto on changing the Sendmail banner (usually to obscure information) and disabling VRFY and EXPN

To change Sendmail's baner just edit /etc/mail/sendmail.cf, make sure to backup before editing it, then look for "SmtpGreetingMessage" and edit the line after "$j" then restart Sendmail, the line below is the default entry in sendmail.cf.

# SMTP initial login message (old $e macro)
O SmtpGreetingMessage=$j Sendmail $v/$Z; $b

First a brief description of VRFY and EXPN before e disable it

• VRFY permits someone to telnet to your server and verify that an email address is valid. Its purpose is to permit a remote server to check whether a particular email address is valid before sending email.
• EXPN permits someone to telnet to your server and expand an alias into the list of actual email recipients. For example, if you have an email list called "greyhound-adoption", anyone could "expn greyhound-adoption" and get the list of all the member addresses in "greyhound-adoption".
  

I have been asked by security people to disable VRFY and EXPN on my servers running Sendmail, anyway to do this just look for "PrivacyOptions" line in your /etc/mail/sendmail.cf, make sure to backup the file first before editing it, then add "novrfy,noexpn" to the line like the sample below, then restart your Sendmail.
# privacy flags
O PrivacyOptions=authwarnings,novrfy,noexpn

Just incase your new to command line, to backup a file just do the command below
$ cp fileyouwanttobackup filenameofbackupfile.datehere

To restart Sendmail, on most Unix and Linux use the following command
$ /etc/init.d/sendmail restart

On Solaris 10, you will need to use svcadm refresh Sendmail service to have sendmail reread teh configuration file.

Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk
• Full filesystem backup | ufsdump - For *nix
  

Network Security System | IDS | IPS | Howto on Linux

• Part 1 -Installing and Configuring ACID
• Part 2 - Installing and Configuring Snort with MySQL
• Part 3 - Installing and Configuring MySQL for ACID and Snort

Acer | Aspire 8920-6432 | Laptop Review

Been busy at work and still out of the country, anyway I recently bought myself a new laptop, and have been using it for almost a month now and now I'm going to do a quick review of it, this time I got myself an 18"Acer Aspire 8920 Gemstone Blue series laptop from Best Buy, I know its not mobile friendly and not practical it is heavy around 9 pound, but the laptop cost me $1100 including taxes so I think Acer Aspire 8920 is a very good laptop for my money, anyway I find the feel of the laptop to be solid, it made of plastic but very good quality plastic, I don't see/feel any flex when I try to lift the laptop using 1 hand, the LCD screen feel solid when opened and not flimsy at all, the screen is bright, large and beautiful, this is the first time I use an 18" laptop and I might not go back to a smaller one hehe.. when you open the laptop you will immediately notice the full keyboard on it which also feels solid, the sound on this laptop is great, anyway I find this laptop worth my money and would recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind the weight and the size, I was able to play Gears of War on low to medium setting, Spore and Titan Quest on high settings without problems, the only thing I would complain is that this laptop doesn't have blutooth and its really difficult to find a bag that would fit specially backpack, anyway if your looking for a bag for Acer Aspire 8920 buy the Targus City gear messenger bag, it will fit Acer Aspire 8920 perfectly.



Picture below Acer Aspire 8920 18" compared to my Dell D630 Latitude 14.1".

Acer Aspire 8920 Specification

Intel Core 2 Duo T7500
3072MB DDR2 SDRAM
18.4 in TFT active matrix Screen (Native Resolution 1680 x 945)
NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS (512MB Discrete)
Intel PM965 Express(Sound)
Acer CineSurround, 5 Built-In Speakers(Dolby Home Theater, DirectSound)
Card reader SD, MMC, MMCplus , MS, MS PRO, xD
HDMI Port
ExpressCard /54 Slot
Touchpad
4 USB port
Webcam (1.3mp)
Dual-Band Tri-Mode 802.11a/b/g
Ethernet 10/100/1000
Fax / modem
Fingerprint reader
DVD writer | reader
8-Cell Lithium Ion
2 Hard Disk Bay
Stereo microphone

Weight 4.1 kg

Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk
• Full filesystem backup | ufsdump - For *nix

What is Melanine? | Detecting Melanine Contamination

Melanine was detected when four infants in China died and at least 53,000 are reportedly ill, many seriously so, having been fed milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical Melamine | Melanine.

Now lets find out what is Melamine | Melanine

Melamine | Melanine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses. combines with cyanuric acid to form Melamine | Melanine cyanurate, which has been implicated in the Chinese protein export contaminations.

Melamine | Melanine is also a metabolite of cyromazine, a pesticide. It is formed in the body of mammals who have ingested cyromazine. It has been reported that cyromazine can also be converted to Melamine | Melanine in plants.

The only way to detect Melamine | Melanine is by sending a sample to a laboratory.

iPod related

• iPod charging on DVD player w/o dock
• Apple Ipod Jailbreak - 1.1.4 firmware guide and Quickpwn
• Create iTunes Store account | Without Credit Card
  

Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk
• Full filesystem backup | ufsdump - For *nix
  

Optimize Windows XP | VIsta

Optimize your Windows XP and Windows Vista performance easily you can go to pcpitstop.com and use their optimization scan for free, do the scan and see what can be done to optimize your Windows' performance.

Or you can try to use Agent Tweak, I just found this on the net and seems to do optimization very welll, according to the website I found its a tool used by best buy to optimize their client computer for $129, anyway the tool will be able to tweak and optimize your Windows XP and Vista in less than a minutes, it modifies registry keys and desktop setting to imporve and optimize your Windows performance.

Anyway if your interested with Agent Tweaks and want more information about it click here


Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk
• Full filesystem backup | ufsdump - For *nix
  

Network Security System | IDS | IPS | Howto on Linux

• Part 1 -Installing and Configuring ACID
• Part 2 - Installing and Configuring Snort with MySQL
• Part 3 - Installing and Configuring MySQL for ACID and Snort

New iPod Nano | Chromatic | Available NOW!

New iPod Nano Chromatic its thin and rounded, it has some iPod touch / iPhone feature such as the accelerometer, it got a better bigger screen and comes in more than the previous color, iPod Nano Chromatic comes in 8gb and 16gb.

Full filesystem backup | ufsdump

ufsdump backs up all files in filesystem, where filesystem represents a special device, or files changed after a certain date, to magnetic tape and ufsrestore is the utility for restoring data backup from a ufsdump. We can use restore interactively to restore certain files or directories.

Below is a quick guide on doing a full backup using ufsdump

Remember to run ufsdump backup on single usermode.
$ init -s

To Dump a backup of the root filesystem issue the following command
$ ufsdump 0uf /path were you want to dump backup/ /

Then Verify your dump
$ ufsrestore tf /path were you dump the backup/file

To Restore your dump | backup
$ ufsrestore rvf /path were you dump the backup/file

Do man ufsdump to find out what other switches is available

Thats is for now

Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk

Network Security System | IDS | IPS | Howto on Linux

• Part 1 -Installing and Configuring ACID
• Part 2 - Installing and Configuring Snort with MySQL
• Part 3 - Installing and Configuring MySQL for ACID and Snort

FireFTP | Very Nice Firefox FTP client

This is a truly great FTP client! I first tried FireFTP a couple of months ago, It's convenient to have your FTP client always near in a Firefox tab, but the 'keep local and remote directories in sync' feature on its own would make me use it even if it was not built into Firefox. This feature of FireFTP means that as you navigate through directories on your local copy, the remote directory changes in sync. Anyway get your Firefox FTP Client here http://fireftp.mozdev.org/


Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk

Network Security System | IDS | IPS | Howto on Linux

• Part 1 -Installing and Configuring ACID
• Part 2 - Installing and Configuring Snort with MySQL
• Part 3 - Installing and Configuring MySQL for ACID and Snort

Free Windows Diagnostic tool | Registry Cleaner

Here is a Diagnostic Tools for identifying what in your computer, this can even help you identify that one piece of hardware that you can't identify, so that you will be able to download the drivers for it, below probably also one of the best tool for cleaning up your computer as well as your registry of crap.

This tools have saved my life a loads of time, specially when I'm trying to fix old hardwares that we can't even remember when we bought it, alos use one of the tools to clean crap of old desktop system of our offices staff when I was working as heldesk tech 7 years ago.

If your having problem with your Windows like identifying hardware, need to clean your computer of useless files and registry entry try the following free tools, which I find very useful.

• CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner - www.ccleaner.com
• Belarc Advisor - This tool is for identifying computer hardware, if you want to identify which model of hardwrae you have so that you can get the proper driver for it this is the tools for you. www.belarc.com/free_download.html

The Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server.

Computer and Network problem | Windows | How to below:

• 10 Steps | Remove Virus | Spyware Scanner Download | Free Software
• Easy Network troubleshooting | DNS Problem Guide
• Howto change DNS Server IP to OpenDNS
• Fix | COM Surrogate Error | Windows Vista
  
• 9 Easy Steps | Setting up a secured home wireless network
• Howto Permanently deleting files | data on your hard disk

Network Security System | IDS | IPS | Howto on Linux

• Part 1 -Installing and Configuring ACID
• Part 2 - Installing and Configuring Snort with MySQL
• Part 3 - Installing and Configuring MySQL for ACID and Snort
  

Google Chrome Browser | Looks cool feels like Firefox

Just downloaded and installed Google Chrome Browser, I was impress with the looks and how fast Google Chrome is, the look of the browser is very nice and clean that its almost relaxing just to look at it, I also like that Google Chrome Browser feels a lot like your using Firefox and doesn't try too reinvent the wheel. all in all its very very good, and I would definitely be using this as well as Firefox.

Recover forgotten Windows password

Creating a Windows Vista password reset disk can really come in handy if you forget your account password. With it, you can easily reset your password and get right in to Windows Vista.

While there are ways to recover lost passwords without a password reset disk, they are often complicated and time consuming.

Be proactive by creating a password reset disk today. With a password reset disk, forgetting your password is no longer a crisis.

Follow the easy steps below to create a password reset disk for your Windows Vista account:

Here's How:

1. Click on Start and then Control Panel.

2. Click on the User Accounts and Family Safety link.

   Note: If you're viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, you won't see this link. Simply double-click on the User Accounts icon and proceed to Step 4.

3. Click on the User Accounts link.

4. In the task pane on the left, click the Create a password reset disk link.

5. When the Forgotten Password Wizard window appears, click Next

   Note: You will need some kind of portable media before being able to create a password reset disk. This means that you will need a flash drive or a floppy disk drive and blank floppy disk.

6. In the I want to create a password key disk in the following drive: drop down box, choose the portable media drive to create a password reset disk on.

   Click Next to continue.

7. With the disk or other media still in the drive, enter your current account password in the text box and click Next.

8. Windows Vista will now create the password reset disk on your chosen media.

   When the progress indicator shows 100% complete, click Next and then click Finish in the next window.

9. You can now remove the flash drive or floppy disk from your computer.

   Label the disk "Password Reset" and store it in a safe place.

Notes:

1. Not a Windows Vista user? Creating a password reset disk in Windows XP is very similar to creating a password reset disk in Windows Vista.

2. You only need to create a password reset disk for your Windows Vista logon password once. No matter how many times you change your password, this disk will always allow you to create a new one.

3. While a password reset disk will certainly come in handy if you ever forget your password, keep in mind that anyone who possesses this disk will be able to access your account at any time, even if you change your password.