15 years

Own House
Almost be out of debt
Have a PhD
Get Married
Start a web company
Teach

Vista Media Center and Pod Casts

Ok, so I have been trying to get podcasts in VMC. After installing several plug ins that broke my computer I decided to see if there was an alternate route. With a few google queries, I found a plugin that would allow Windows Media Player to play files in the MP4 format. http://shark007.net/ is a good place to find a package that will give you everything you could what or need to make playing podcasts in VMC possible. The developer does create a x86 and x64 plugin package (NOTE: if you are running an x64 computer, install both packages). Once the plugings are installed, now it is time to get your podcasts. I have started to use the Zune software from MS but it doesn't launch in the background and get my podcasts automagicly, so I am going with iTunes. Just subscribe to your podcasts and have the software manage the storage for you. Next it is time to configure VMC. In your libraries area, have VMC scan each individual folder; you can also have it scan the root podcasts folder, it all depends on your preferences. Now your podcasts will be in one of 2 places in VMC, video casts will be under the videos section and audio will be under the music section.

Make FireFox Better

Lately I have been having some issues with my (current) favorite browser Firefox. It has started to get a bit slower loading pages, pop-ups have been getting by it's protection, and I am starting to get frustrated. This is really starting to remind me of Goldfish Crackers, I started off loving them then after too many I start to hate them. So this lead me to making a resolution for the New Year that I know I could do: make Firefox the beautiful browser she once was. After about an hour of web searching I came across a few consistent tips hack the about:config and a few extensions.

about:config
These are the 2 main hacks that I did to my about:config area to help make the browser faster
-Pipelining
Search for "network.http.pipelining" and enable it (set value to true), also note that you may also want to enable the proxy "network.http.proxy.pipelining" component also.
Next set the "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to 40

-nglayout
Right-click in a white space and select New > Intiger
Set the Name to "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and the value to "0"
This may not actually speed up the browser but it will display content as it loads, giving the illusion of faster load times

Extentions
There were 3 main extentions that I added to help fight ads and make browsing the web a bit safer.
-Adblock Plus
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
This will do just what it says, block ads. Actually it will go farther than that and strip the ad's tag out of the code when the page loads. So instead of gettting a "blocked" white windows over the ad you will see nothing. In addition, it provides a tab over flash based content that may be an ad for easy removal.

-NoScript
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722
This program will disable 3rd party scripts that can be malisious to your browser and computer.
See my notes on "Click Jacking" for some more info.

-TrackMeNot (optional)
http://www.mrl.nyu.edu/~dhowe/trackmenot/
For the more paranoid out there (I am somewhat) this program is for you. If you are afaid that
'big brother' is watching your search queries this program will help make you more anonymous; you can set it to auto query 4 major search engines every few minutes with random search term making it harder for the powers that be to actually see what you are searching for.

Hope this helps someone out there

why i am dropping my business major

1) I want more computer science courses, more dealing with computer languages and data architecture.
2) Business believes that open source is a fad and shouldn't be taken seriously.
3) Tired of taking so many accounting courses. I understand that I will need them if I become a manager, but 1 or 2 should be enough, not 5!
4) Its too Microsoft based, yes they rule the world; but I want to know other languages besides .Net based.
5) I'm just a number. I hate huge lectures, here the prof doesn't even know my name.

---
I am now a BSIR Major! and an business minor

Posting Errors

Ok, every time I make a change to the template and then try to re-post my blog I get a funky error message. Its kind of annoying but that's life. So far the work around has been to make fake blog posts then remove them. Don't know why I just know that it works. Oh well, on the bright side I just reserved my tickets to go back home to Houston, Tx for part of winter break. It's a good thing too because I am starting to miss everyone. Maybe my next post should be the reason(s?) [<-- bad joke] why I decided to move to Milwaukee and go to UWM.

ClickJacking

Think of ClickJacking like Phishing, but using web pages the way they were meant to be used. Broken down, it is nothing more than Dynamix HTML and CSS or just an iFrame. So because of this just disabling scripting within your web browser will not work; doing this may actually help cause it. Real world scenario: you log into a page like Yahoo; then you go to a site where they call an iFrame into Yahoo Mail. From there on top of the iFrame you would have something else, say a picture or game; acting like a cover over your email. You would click on it and underneath would lie the iFrame of your email that is being deleted, forwarded, ect. To see an example, go to http://www.planb-security.net/notclickjacking/iframetrick.html#really

NOTE* you will need to have a MySpace account that is set to private before doing this example.

So how can you stop this? Part if it is a Flash vulnerability, so make sure you are at least running Flash 10.x; to get the latest version go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/. FireFox users are in luck, they are currently the only users that can be proactive at preventing this. By installing the No Script add on (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722) just make sure that clearclick on page is enabled for both trusted and untrusted pages. Your next option is to use a text based browser, as they have been shown not to be effected by ClickJacking.

Web Developers can try to prevent this by adding the following Java script to their index page only if it doesn't use iFrames:

<script language="Javascript">

if (top.location != self.location) {
top.location = self.location.href
}

</script>

Of course, the person using this exploit more than likely knows how to disable javascript with the iFrame tag.

As usual following best security practices is probably the best way to prevent this exploit; by going to sites you know you can trust and sign out of pages you sign into.

Ubuntu and WebDav...

Ok, if you are UWM then you know about pantherfile and if you are tech savy then you know about Ubuntu. With the release of 8.* thus far you cannot connect to pantherfile with a secure webdav connection; it was is 6.* (I think) and 7.* but not in 8.*. So this is how you can work around it.

Use a custom location under connect to server and type in:
davs://pantherfile.uwm.edu/Your-ePantherid

That will connect you to pantherfile and keep your password with other info in an encrypted string.