General

ShellShock – How to test your system

In the past few weeks the number of security incidents in the news has increased.  Home depot, Jimmy John’s and also Shellshock.  From credit card theft via malware to online security vulnerabilities you need to keep on guard. This most recent ShellShock vulnerability is going to be big.  Since a very large portion of the web is using Linux or some …

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Minimal Footprint online – No Google

I attempted a while back to see if I could limit my exposure on the web.   Looking at all the security concerns and even my own security fun I decided to see what i could limit. First Steps The first place I looked was to stop all the online leakage and “free info” I was sharing while browsing.  You know …

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To use WWW or not – Naked Domains

I recently read an article from Mads Kristensen (http://madskristensen.net/post/url-rewrite-and-the-www-subdomain).  He was posting regarding using a url rewrite for IIS and the use of a subdomain. After reading the article and viewing some info regarding the two camps of “use WWW” and don’t use “www”.  I could not help but reflect on my own experiences. For years, I been fortunate to both …

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Quickbooks Alternative

My old Thinkpad that I used as a mini server died, and on that machine I ran an old version of Quickbooks.   I have used Quickbooks for invoicing and accounting for about 7 years.    It has served me well, however when the machine died I decided to look at upgrading from my 2009 version to the newest.   As I …

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Install phonegap 3 on Windows 8

PhoneGap 3 I recently wanted to test an idea on an android device.  To quickly write up a proof of concept I decided to use PhoneGap.  I have used PhoneGap in the past but the current Version 3.1 (at the time of writing) is more mature than when I previously developed with it. I was prepared to walk through a few …

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Magento 1.8 has been released

Magento

Magento 1.8 I am a huge fan of Magento.  It is a great ecommerce and shopping cart system.   In the last year I have launched a few sites using this system.   The flexibility of Magento allowed me to create a B2B site and also B2C.    eBay purchased Magento and I have heard a few people trying to figure …

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Fun Computer Tricks (Possible Inappropriate tricks)

I read a great blog by Troy Hunt frequently.  He is an architect and MVP over at Microsoft, he typically talks about security.   He recently sent out a quick tweet regarding locking your computer.  After the tweet regarding what to do when someone does not lock their screen. http://www.troyhunt.com/2013/10/40-inappropriate-actions-to-take.html I love some of the options.  One favorite was to set …

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Windows 8 Upgrade – Windows.old folder

After upgrading to windows 8 on my laptop with an SSD drive. I found that the drive had lost a lot of space. This was due to the size of the c:\windows.old folder. I had attempted to remove this folder a few times through DOS and also Windows Explorer. The attempts to delete the folder did not work. The permissions would …

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Nest

I don’t often go out for Black Friday. I like the idea of deals, but do not like dealing with people. So this year my wife asked to get the nest (nest.com) – The learning thermostat. Lowe’s had the system on sale. So instead of heading to their store with thousands of other people. I got up in the morning and …

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Windows Store App – Send Email

I have just submitted my first app to the Windows app store. I will send the link out once it gets approved. During the development process I had experimented with a lot of options for my applications. I finally decided to use an html / javascript app type. The choices in for the Windows Store Apps are C#/VB, C++, or HTML/Javascript. …

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Pfsense – SARG (SQUID REPORTS) – 2012 v2

A few months back I posted how to setup SARG on pfsense router. Since then there has been a great package created for SARG that works on p. I have uninstalled the components I earlier configured and now use this package. Here is the config and setup for this on pfsense. A listing from the Packages area (Admin | System | …

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Magento Debug and Modifications

Magento

I have been using Magento more frequently. One of the great benefits of this system is the ablity to customize the application and change it’s behavior. One of the downsides is because of the ability to customize the overall folder structure can be a bit challenging if you are not familiar with it. The structure is well laid out but is …

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Windows 8 – Media Center

I upgraded my media center PC last week to Windows 8. Since that day, I have been missing media center. The Media PC in our basement was running windows 7 and that was the way we watched TV. It is hooked to a projector and has a great media center remote. Today Friday 10/26/2012 Microsoft released the media center pack for …

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Magento – Google Analytics

Magento is a great opensource eCommerce package. If you have not heard of it, you should head to their site and check it out. In a recent project I was working through a transition from ASPdotnetstorefront over to Magento. During the process I wanted to move the Google Analytics over. With great supprise I found that it is built into the …

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Airport extreme export key – equivalent network password

Dear apple, please make any text in your applications available to be copied in windows. In particular the text from the “equivalent network password” section on your airport extreme wireless base station. If there is one thing I hate, it is not being able to copy text. The Control+C keyboard shortcut is my favorite. What upsets me is when I can’t …

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