The Time Sink

Whew. Done. Done. Done. Glad to be back at work. Down late, up early, long day...

...but all in all, it went very well. For those asking about the cookery: yep, the tri-tip turned out just fine. I'd have liked to have had another hour to play with; I could have used a lower heat. ...but since I didn't, I spiked the temp about four hours into it to make sure it would be done and then backed it off for the last two hours. I think the ultimate compliment came when Shelley's Dad 'tested' the meat when I brought in. Repeatedly... By just pulling chunks off with a fork...

Techishness for a bit: I've been using MozillaFirebird (the successor to Phoenix) at the office for nearly three weeks now, and I have to tell you IE is pretty much gone from the work machine (Win95b). Considering it's a ".6" release, I am very happy with it; but heck, I was happy with Phoenix <g>! I've run across three issues so far: Alt tags do not display on pictures (something I can live with), the 'autofill' feature sometimes locks the browser up hard (a known problem), and downloads on my machine complete, but lock both the browser and Windows Explorer (reported though BugZilla, and why IE will be around a bit longer).

So far those have been the only problems. I've been using it for my e-commerce orders and had no problem on two sites that should have shown any limitations. ...and day to day browsing is just a sweet deal. I like the concept of tabbed browsing, especially when I'm doing comparison work or research; that is darned handy. ...and the use of themes? Well, I just like that <g>...

Continuing with fun tech things to play with, I've installed and setup two packages at the server level lately. One is a CMS and the other a BBS. Yeah, a bit of a departure for me...

The CMS is WordPress, the new branch of b2, the system that Dave has been using for a while. I needed a 'blog style' content management system for a group project and that was just the excuse I needed to go for an install of WordPress. Yes, I know I support Moveable Type users and render the occasional design in it, but I wanted to try something a little more bare bones to see how it would work.

Ummm.... Let's see... The slickest installation script I have ever seen. Period. Slick. Tight. Done. ...and at a .71 release. Not bad, gang. Not bad at all. We're still tweaking (lotsa' things to play with) and configuring things for the moment, but I'll let you know when it's open for business... Oh, and that sucker is fast!

The other toy is PHPBB, a bulletin board with quite a nice feature set. I was looking for something a little more powerful than one of the "mini" boards; and while I've used IkonBoard before, I was looking for something a little smaller.

Hmm... Well... I think we came off rather well. I wanted the group I mentioned earlier to have some communications tools and a BBS sounded better than a mailing list. ...and so far PHPBB has done the job. The entire batch of setup dialogs and suggestions is behind the wall. ...and the stuff for public consumption can be worked on there and then pushed out to the public side. Oh, and I can skin the site. Heh. I've already added one in and started on a custom one to match the blog and the website.

Longish day. Everyone made it through okay. ...but there are things that need to be done around the household before I can sleep.

Well, the last few days have been a bit full. ...and I still have a "To Do" list that is starting to look like a MySQL database with a PHP front end is a practical solution.

Okay, this one is a candidate for the "Brian Bilbrey, Let's SSH our way into the server three feet away via Tom's server in Canada Award"...

It started out innocently enough; I just wanted to confirm the wireless router I got in the other day wasn't DOA before the return period expired (a recertified job from Just Deals that I want to use to replace the Belkin unit in the garage). ...but as I opened things up, I realized I didn't have a box up in the garage to configure it with (server duties are currently being covered by an external HDD here in the kitchen). Phooey. Well, maybe I could just fire it up in here and then move it outside to test it; that's a pain, but it would work.

So I plugged it into the local hub (the one bridging the Win2k box and the Linux box {stay with me here}) and set things to 'uplink'. Uh-oh. Yeah, I'd read it, but it hadn't percolated: the blasted default address for the router was the same as the mandatory address for ICS on the Win2k box (which receives the wireless signal from the garage and distributes it to Tux through the local hub. {Remember, sketching this out helps <g>}). Man...

Okay... Lessee'... Got it: Tux is on that hub; I fired up Konqueror and it linked up immediately. One quick change to the IP address and Tux was back on the Net through the Win2k box's link...

K'. Back to the router: Blinky lights? Yep. All okay? Well?? It seems so. ...but how to find out. Off to the garage? Hmmm...

Well, there is the Zaurus. ...and a wireless CF card I've never tested on it. Okay! I mean, I need meds anyway; let's see what happens <g>!

Doodeedoodeedooo... One quick configuration later and I'm reading this site on the Zaurus! ...though the new wireless router. ...that's plugged into the local hub. ...that's getting its feed from the Win2k box. ...which is getting its net connection from its wireless card. ...that's getting its signal from the access point in the garage. ...which is getting its feed from the dialup router a few inches away.

<deep bow>Thank you one and all...</deep bow> Heh. Just coloring outside the lines, a staple here in the land of the Time Sink...

...and so you don't have to kill a bunch of time searching for a solution to a problem, this evening seems like a good time to repeat (for Google's use as well as those searching and ending up here) my annual solution to Time Sink Software (no relation, no link, scum of the earth) and their adware that drops the file tsadbot.exe onto your machine. From the mail files:

> Time Sink keeps invading my computer constantly, and it is really starting to bug me. Could you direct me to who ever and what ever I have to do to stop this

Thinking that most likely he wasn't speaking to an overload of graphics from the blog, I replied:

Hi, xxx. The best tool I've found to get rid of spyware such as timesink and its ilk is AdAware from LavaSoft: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

It's a freebie and does a fine job. You'll be surprised what it will find. It will also allow you to keep 'comet cursor' if you're into that sort of thing.

Good luck. ..and be aware that some game programs load that bit of junk along with their own installs (Google search under 'timesink software' and'tsadbot' or use this link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=timesink+software )

Regards,

Dan Bowman
http://thetimesink.net

Yeah, I know there are other programs for adware out there, but I shill for the outfits I use...

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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