TheMadAdmin

TrueCrypt

New Version Released.

Main Features:

• Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
• Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.
• Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot authentication).
• Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
• Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password:
  1) Hidden volume (steganography) and hidden operating system.
  2) No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (volumes cannot be distinguished from random data).
• Encryption algorithms: AES-256, Serpent, and Twofish. Mode of operation: XTS.

  Further information regarding features of the software may be found in the documentation.

What is new in TrueCrypt 6.0   (released July 4, 2008)

Tags: Security // Add Comment »

Cheat Sheets list from SixRevisions.com

HTML,XHTML,CSS, Java Script…nice collection.

Tags: Web Dev // Add Comment »

This last weekend I figured out how to tunnel through SSH.

I used TIghtVCV and Putty. 

Putty to make the connection in SSH and create the tunnels, TightVNC to use the tunnel to hit machines inside my network.

Very cool way of getting to machines on your network.

http://members.shaw.ca/nicholas.fong/vnc/

That is the link to a page I used to get going on this.  It is easier than you think.

Tags: I.T. // Add Comment »

OK,

I know the first time I called I was talking to someone that was not from America.  Nothing personal but I also had a feeling they were not that well versed in the tech aspects of the sprint data world.

So I called back.

IT took 45 Minutes.  I got transferred 6 times. People getting confused and trying to sell me another phone or data card or changing my plan.

I finally got one person who realized that my Blackberry 8830 was a Blackberry and they could add the $15/month data line to it.

30 minutes later, bam I have internet. 

So now I have simply everything.

Thanks to that knowledgeable tech I got, and sorry I forgot your name.  But I am glad it worked.

TheMadAdmin

Tags: Cell Phone // 1 Comment »

OK I have the Sprint Simply Everything plan.

Data, GPS, Phone, all unlimited for one price.

Today I call to add Phone as a Modem (I need it for work).  The price on the site says $50.  I Call and ask.

30 minutes later.  "Sorry we can’t add it because it won’t work with your everything plan."

This is pissing me off.  Maybe because I am tired. maybe because it is stupid because they are loosing money.

If I need a modem I will go to Verizon, just cause I am pissed.

Sprint you are my fucktard of the week.

Tags: Fucktard, Fucktard of the week // Add Comment »

Life Hacker

HABIT #1 - BE AWARE YOU HAVE A CHOICE

The most common reactions to politics at work are either fight or flight. It’s normal human reaction for survival in the wild, back in the prehistoric days when we were still hunter-gatherers. Sure, the office is a modern jungle, but it takes more than just instinctive reactions to win in office politics. Instinctive fight reactions will only cause more resistance to whatever you are trying to achieve; while instinctive flight reactions only label you as a pushover that people can easily take for granted. Neither options are appealing for healthy career growth.

Winning requires you to consciously choose your reactions to the situation. Recognize that no matter how bad the circumstances, you have a choice in choosing how you feel and react. So how do you choose? This bring us to the next point…

HABIT #2 - KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO ACHIEVE

When conflicts happens, it’s very easy to be sucked into tunnel-vision and focus on immediate differences. That’s a self-defeating approach. Chances are you’ll only invite more resistance by focusing on differences in people’s positions or opinions.

The way to mitigate this without looking like you’re fighting to emerge as a winner in this conflict is to focus on the business objectives. In the light of what’s best for the business, discuss the pros and cons of each option. Eventually, everyone wants the business to be successful; if the business don’t win, then nobody in the organization wins. It’s much easier for one to eat the humble pie and back off when they realize the chosen approach is best for the business.

By learning to steer the discussion in this direction, you will learn to disengage from petty differences and position yourself as someone who is interested in getting things done. Your boss will also come to appreciate you as someone who is mature, strategic and can be entrusted with bigger responsibilities.

HABIT #3 - FOCUS ON YOUR CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE

At work, there are often issues which we have very little control over. It’s not uncommon to find corporate policies, client demands or boss mandates which affects your personal interests. Bitching and complaining are common responses to these events that we cannot control. But think about it, other than that short term emotional outlet, what tangible results do bitching really accomplish? In most instances, none.

Read More

Tags: Office Life // Add Comment »

Yep totally off topic.

Went to the park on Friday.  Got there at 10:30AM and stayed until 10PM.  Took my daughter and two nieces along with my wife.  (Only the kids were riding).

We got the Flash pass so there was no waiting in line.  Makes it a lot more enjoyable.  Kids got to ride 22 times.

They Rode almost every coaster Except Kingda Kha (If I am spelling it right.)  They did not want to go straight up 45 stories and then down.  Can’t blame them.

Everyone had a great time and the park felt cleaner and safer than it’s felt in years.

Now back to work.

TMA

Tags: Fun // Add Comment »

Very Cool Little Robot Toy coming out from Tiger.  I need it to run around my office and make me look all techie.

Tags: Something to Talk About // Add Comment »

Sorry for the lack of posts but I have been busy.  But it has been an education.

Here are a couple of links to things I did not know before starting this new job.

SPLUNK  Managing data centers in silos used to make sense. Things change. Distributed, scale-out computing, complex web-based applications and virtualization defy the old ways. Splunk breaks through the silos, indexing data from every component. Search, alert and report on all your IT data from every application, server and device — all in one place. Finding and fixing problems, following the trail of an attacker or tracing transactions is a whole lot faster and really easy.

Nagios  is a host and service monitor designed to inform you of network problems before your clients, end-users or managers do. It has been designed to run under the Linux operating system, but works fine under most *NIX variants as well. The monitoring daemon runs intermittent checks on hosts and services you specify using external "plugins" which return status information to Nagios. When problems are encountered, the daemon can send notifications out to administrative contacts in a variety of different ways (email, instant message, SMS, etc.). Current status information, historical logs, and reports can all be accessed via a web browser.

Centreon is a network, system, applicative supervision and monitoring tool, it is based upon the most effective Open Source monitoring engine : Nagios. Centreon provides a new frontend and new functionnalities to Nagios.

It allows you to be more efficient in your network monitoring, but also allows you to make your supervision information readable by a largest range of users. Indeed, a non technical user can now use the Centreon/Nagios couple to easily understand your network infrastructure thanks to charts and graphical representations of the gathered information. Skilled users still have access to specific and technical information collected  by Nagios though.

Those tools are very cool and should help you I.T. geeks out there.

Have fun.

TheMadAdmin

Tags: I.T. // Add Comment »

Facebook has caught up to Myspace in the number of unique hits/month.

This was reported today on TechCrunch

I am not surprised.  Facebook is way better than the old and ailing Myspace.  As people move to Facebook, sooner or later their friends will move.

Right now I feel that Facebook will become the standard "My Page" site on the Internet.  Until the next big thing comes along.

This is not only because I have joined the Facebook Developer Group in NY either.  I really believe it.

What do you think?

TMA

Tags: Internet // 1 Comment »