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Sunday, October 30, 2005

Did you forget to set the clock back? Daylight Savings Time ended at 2 this morning.

Today’s news items

Does the Anti-Spyware Coalition have it right? Are tracking cookies a “low-risk” behavior for spyware? Is modifying the browser a “medium-risk” activity. That’s what the ASC is saying. Read their report then comment.

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11a-Noon

Ollie in Binghamton, NY - remote backup

His brother is in college. Can he backup his data to Ollie’s home server? Sure, but there are several issues he’ll have to address:

1. If you don’t have a static IP address, you’ll need some way to let your brother know where to connect. You can use a service like www.dyndns.com to do this automatically, or have him call you and ask - you can use www.ipchicken.com or www.whatismyip.com to figure out what your public ip address is.
2. Next you have to run some software that he can log into to transfer files. FTP is probably the simplest. I recommend the free GuildFTP. But you might want to investigate other solutions like WebDAV or
3. Finally, depending on what software you use, you’ll have to punch a hole in your router. You’ll want to use IP Forwarding to direct incoming FTP (or whatever) traffic to the system the server is running on. FTP is a little tricky because it uses random ports - stick with passive FTP.

Craig writes:
A great web based program I use is FolderShare. I use it to back-up or sync my files at the office with my files at home… https://www.foldershare.com. This technology was originally used by a PTP program called Audiogalaxy.

Srinivas writes:
Try http://www.beinsync.com/index.php?rfrid=aw_dp_be-in-sync

Scott wrote:
If you are using XP or Windows 2000, you can go to Network Places, and add a network place. One of the options is to add an FTP location. After entering the location and username and password a shortcut will be added to My Network Places. This way you can double-click the shortcut and browse the FTP as if it were a local file system, including all the benefits of copy and paste. I hadn’t found a way to map that to a drive letter so a program can do an automatic backup. Also, Windows has an automatic sync feature, but I only know how to use it with drive letters and making files available offline.

WHAT SCOTT WRITES NOT CLEAR AT ALL— CAN SOME ONE EXPLAIN?
Richard says: Yeah, I know exactly what Scott is talking about.
I followed his instructions exactly and was able to connect to my ISPs online storage page.
Comcast & other ISPs allow users to store stuff online. Comcast gives you 25MB/mailbox(7max).
You can activate an online storage area for each email address you have.
Once the space is activated, follow Scotts directions and this is what you get.
You should see an icon called “Network Places”
1. click on “network Places” 2. click: “Add Network Place” 3. Fill in the blanks
The ftp address for Comcast’s online storage is:ftp://upload.comcast.net
4. Location of the Network Place= ftp://upload.comcast.net
5. Username = emailaddress (without the @comcast.net) or anonymous.
6.Name the Network Place: “Whatever Storage”
For your own network you can logon anonymously, but for Comcast you have to uncheck the box to logon anonymously, and enter you email address as your username.
7. another box pops up to accept your password (if its needed)
You can check the box to “remember” your password.
That’s it! Now you should be looking at your online storage
It maybe on Comcast’s server, or your server at home.

Another Scott writes:
I like to use Remote Administrator to transfer files. While its mostly a product similar to PCAnywhere and VNC, it has a really good file transfer system thats pretty quick, all things considered. Download the trial version here: http://www.famatech.com/

Cecil in La Habra - KnoppMyth creator

Knoppix + MythTV = KnoppMyth - the easiest way to build your own DVR.

Recommended video cards:

HDTV - PCH2000, AirStar, Air2PC
Standard Def - Hauppague

Cindy in Burbank - MP3 players

She’s looking at the Rio Carbon - a great player but D&M - who bought the Rio business a few years back - went out of business announced it was discontinuing the line last August. She’s concerned about battery issues with the iPod. Don’t be - the iPod battery is no worse than that of any other player, it’s just not user replaceable. All Li-ion batteries will die after a certain number of charge/discharge cycles. On some (but not all) MP3 players you can replace the battery yourself. You have to take the iPod in to get its battery replaced. But these batteries last several years. I think it’s highly likely you’ll buy a new MP3 player before that happens.

The biggest issue to consider in choosing an MP3 player is which music store you plan to use. If you buy your music at Apple’s iTunes Music Store, you must use an iPod to play the songs. Conversely, if you buy at any other music store you must use a Windows compatible MP3 player to play them back.

Srinivas Wrote:
Sonic Blue was not purchased but the units of Sonic Blue was purchased by D&M. Rio is a good choice.
ReplayTV, Rio and Escient have moved to Sonic Blue. All Rios play back Protect WMA’s.
http://www.sonicblue.com

Leo replies: Rio is a fine old name in MP3 players, but as I said above, D&M is discontinuing the line.

Srinivas repliesRio’s are so good. I just would one on Overstock. Very cheap. :)

Lynn replies: Sandisk the maker of USB flash drives makes the Digital Audio Player which is very inexpensive and easy to use. Its way cheaper and has more features than the Ipod Shuffle and you can get them for under $100. You may even get a better deal during the after Thanksgiving sale next month.

The Digital Audio Player can do the following:
• Plays MP3, WMA, and WMA DRM
• plays digital FM with 20 preset stations
• has a built-in microphone that records voice.

The largest you can get is 1GB which is approximately 480 song using WMA or 240 song on MP3. Check out http://www.sandisk.com/retail/dap.asp for details.

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Noon-1p

Elliot in Long Beach - getting “missing DLL” errors on startup

These happen when a program that’s been incompletely uninstalled tries to start up. You need to turn off the startup entries. The easiest way to do this is to use the Microsoft System Configuration utility. Click Start→Run…. and enter msconfig - then hit return. Click the Startup tab and try to find an entry that looks similar to the error message. Uncheck it and see if that fixes the problem. Don’t worry - there’s nothing you can disable that will keep the machine from booting. Worst case, you’ll disable a feature you like. Just check it again and try a different entry.

Janna in Rancho Santa Magarita - digital camera buying advice

You should be able to get a good quality point and shoot for around $250 (including a additional 512MB memory card). I like the Nikon 5900 - but read the reviews at www.digitalcamerainfo.com.

Consider:

1. optics - just as with a film camera good glass is critical to satisfying pictures
2. shutter lag - film camera users are often disappointed with the slight shutter lag common on digital camera. Try before you buy to make sure you can live with the lag. The more expensive the camera, the lower the lag.
3. megapixels - anything greater than four is plenty
4. battery type - LiON batteries require recharging. If you won’t always be near a plug socket, look for a camera that supports standard batteries, as well

Nik from Australia writes:
A year ago I found that there are some nice Sony Cybershot cameras with no shutter lag for about $400au, thats about $300us

David in Fontana - taking my DVDs with me

He’s a reservist about to go overseas - he wants to put his DVDs on a portable hard drive. The best program for this is still DVDShrink. The MPAA put them out of business, but you can still download a copy by doing a Google search. I found my copy at CD Freaks.

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1–2p

Dan in Yorba Linda - Logitech Wireless iPod headphones

He’s a snowboarder and wants to take the iPod on the slopes. He wants to know if the new Bluetooth wireless headphones from Logitech are worth the price. Checking the reviews at Amazon and it sounds like most users are happy with it - but there is one caveat: it only works with older iPods that have a controller connector.

Larry in line at Best Buy - network neighborhood mystery

Upgraded to a wireless browser and now can’t see his workgroup. He can go directly to the individual computers, though. Sounds like the Master Browser service is cornfused. This can happen when the Master Browser is on a wireless machine. Windows chooses one computer at random to be the Master Browser. Make sure that the Computer Browser service is disabled on any but the wired machines.

Larry reports back —
Wow! This is a deep subject. I googled "windows master browser" and got back a lot of interesting information… such as how to use nbtstat -n at a command prompt to find out which computer thinks it’s the master browser. In my case, as Leo suspected, it was one of the wireless machines. Disabling its wireless card seems to have restored my network. Like so many things Microsoft does, there is no straightforward way to manage this. You just have to hack away at it until you hit on something that works. Thanks for the education.

Duplicate file finder recommendations?
DupeDetector works for photos

Listener jccalhoun adds —
I’ve used DoubleKiller from BigBang Enterprises several times and it works well http://www.bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekiller/ It can find doubles by size, name or by CRC32-checksums.

Try NoClone - http://noclone.net/
It finds duplicate files even if they have different names, and if finds files with the same name that have different pictures in them. I only tried it with .jpg files but it should also work for duplicate music files. They have a free demo but you might find it worth buying.

Listener Bob says —
Try Beyond Compare from http://www.scootersoftware.com
GUI that shows 2 windows and shows differing files and also allows deletion within the program. I like it.

Rick in Parker, CO - Audio Hijack Pro fails from time to time

He uses it to record the KFI stream but sometimes it doesn’t launch Windows Media Player and the record fails. Audio Hijack Pro uses a Haxie, APE, to launch WMP. I would make sure you’ve got the latest version of Haxies on your system. Last time I talked with Apple they said they don’t guarantee Haxie compatibility - it’s using unsupported operating system calls.

Chet in Vista - bring back Steve Gibson

Steve is one of my best friends and always welcome on the show. We’ll get him on again soon. Meanwhile listen to our Security Now! podcast. Subscribe on iTunes or visit Security Now! online.

Make sure to listen to Episode 11 of Security Now to learn why MAC address filtering is useless.

Rodney in Chatsworth - producing an Internet TV show

A webcam just won’t do the trick but any DV Camcorder should be more than adequate. Make sure to get one with external mic inputs for the best audio.

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