Posts by kc0arf

What, exactly, is free speech? What is allowed by the US 1st Amendment? Where are the lines drawn concerning what people can say, and how they can be liable for their statements?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I caught an article the other day that talked about some employees BLOGGING after hours discussing how bad their business was, and how they were going to sabatoge the business. Investigations showed that the accussed employees used personal computers on personal time. A number of them were fired.

Most companies have some sort of policy concerning the use of computers for business reasons, along with a use concerning mail-forwarding, and no porn at work. Workers should expect their email to be snooped on and stored, the websites they visit inspected, and their telephone calls tracked. In the interest of protecting the business, expect new policies concerning BLOGGING to come forth.

I personally equate actions like this similar to yelling FIRE in a theater, or calling in a bomb-threat -- these actions show poor choices of character, and that people deciding to make them should be held liable for their actions. I support the actions of firing the conspiring employees. Airing of "dirty laundry" is irresponsible, and costs money. More …

Hello,

You are correct: there are different security paridgms in use out there. More often than not, you need to make a user a local administrator of a machine for certain software to work, and that just opens the door to machine compromise and infection. Linux and Mac users are not encouraged to be root (admin) users, therefore the damage pattern is much more restrictive.

Yet, with a shell account, you can as a average user, cause a unix machine to halt. Just write something that consumes all of the available processes, and that will force a restart. Technically, it is not a virus or an infection, but if you do it with any regularity, you may find your account closed, and legal teams hot on your trail.

Security is a shield with many different pieces. Each piece has to do his/her own job.

Christian

On August 17, CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) released information about Apple Mac products facing several security Vulnerabilities.

Systems affected: Mac OS X 10.3.9 and 10.4.2 (both workstation and server)

Apps affected: Apple Safari Web browser.

Apple has addressed these issues in "Apple Security Update 2005-007"

According to CERT's writeup, the most serious vulnerabilities may allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code, and may open the door to bypassing security restrictions and a denial of service.

Some of the cited errors and corrections--

* A buffer overflow error in OS X Directory Service
* Buffer overflow error in OS X Server's authentication process
* Buffer overflow problem concerning rich text files
* Buffer overflow problem concerning MS Word files
* A problem inside Safari that may execute arbitrary commands via URLs within PDF files
* Safari fails to perform security checks on links in rich content

To resolve these issues, Apple recommends that Mac users install Security Update 2005-007.

Christian

Hi,

This is not related to Danny's entry. He was talking about the social aspects, and didn't offer any technical information on it. He also titled his posting on CNN, and anyone who doesn't give a damn about CNN probably won't read it. Mine is titled to the point.

I also see Windows as being Buggy software. It is a virus. But Windows is buggy software.

I am going to check my traffic graphs later this evening to see if the noise floor has grown or not.

Christian

Attention Microsoft Users --

As of late Tuesday afternoon Chicago time, major news networks are reporting being affected by a new bug called Zotob. It affects Microsoft systems, as described in a Microsoft Bulliton MS05-039, a document that was released earlier this month. CERT sources say that they have seen several variets of the Zobot [sic] worm. The Worm is reported to scan for vunerable systems on port 445.

Port 445 is part of the protocols that Microsoft uses for directory services.

Interestingly enough, as I am typing this to you, Microsoft has not made any publications on it's main website about the situation, nor has provided a "protect yourself now" link.

People are encouraged to do the following:

* Close port 445 on your firewall.
* Update your computer to the latest set of Microsoft fixes using Windows Update. Install those updates, and REBOOT your computer
* Update your Antivirus technologies
* Check your computer to see if you have an FTP server running on TCP port 1117

According to Symantec's website, the worm iaffects all flavors of Windows out there, except for Windows 3.1 It will also affect Windows Servers.

As for me, I will be watching this play out from the comfort of my Macintosh.

Christian

Congress is debating an Energy bill, and one of the measures of that bill is to lengthen Daylight Savings Time about a month.

For those who may be outside of the US, or places along the equator, there are some countries that change their time clocks to take advantage of more sunlight during the local summer months. In the United States, we change our clocks at the first Sunday in April, and again at the last Sunday in October. In April, we move our clocks ahead one hour (Spring Ahead), and in October, we move them back (Fall Back). By doing this, we add more hours of daylight to be more active, and during our colder winter months, it encourages more inside / sleep time.

With Congress considering these bills, think of the following:

* How do computers handle the time change? When decisions of what files are older/newer for backups and databases, how is that handled? Do the programs consult the "system time", or do they go with a hard-coded routine?

* How will other programs outside your enterprise be affected by the time change?

* How about hard-coded devices, like your VCR, that knows how to change the time today, but will not know the new standard enforced by Congress?

Considering that most programs have been written since the 1970's, they have lived in an era of a standardized time scheme. Now, with some ink from Congress, think of all the IT …

The purpose of Marketing is simple: get your message to a customer, with as little cost as possible, and motivate them to purchase your product. As an engineer / scientist, I thought some of the gizmos such as free pens, the little footballs, the shirts and coffee cups were all neat gestures, and nice subtle advertising. The most useful thing that I ever picked up at a tradeshow was the retractable telephone cord.

But these products cost things. What about the marketing team that comes up with free, or renewable forms of advertising?

I caught a brief blurb the other day that large companies, such as McDonalds, Budweiser, and others are collecting cell phone information to create databases, ready to use with cellular Short Message Service (SMS). How can they collect this information? By offering free downloading of various cell phone games, perhaps offering real-time messaging of sports scores, or offering cell phone ring tones. No one reads the fine-print anymore concerning promotions. Some of that fine print is so small that older folk cannot even read it.

It will not take long for companies to turn this database of phone numbers into an advertising campaign. And they should legally be able to -- they provided the source ringtone and paid the fees for you to download it. I am concerned, however, that the precious wireless bandwidth will be consumed with this advertising that phone service quality and performance will suffer. I also want to find ways …

Hello,

I confirmed with the source, and it is the SERVER version that is on the limited release, not the general Vista that is aimed at the Workstation.

Sorry CSCGAL. :)

Christian

Hi,

I was under the impression that Vista was the WORKSTATION OS, not the Server. There is a difference. I will review the article again.

Christian

According to hardware.silicon.com, Microsoft revealed Longhorn Server (Windows Server 2007?) to 5000 people this week. Microsoft confirmed the release that these people will receive a beta for the next-generation OS. The Longhorn Server is not available for public download.

There is no date schedule for when a beta may or may not be made available to the general public.

As a recent certification graduate for Windows Server 2003, I am interested in the release, and would not mind having my hands on it. Windows Server 2003 (W2K3) features many new improvements from Windows 2000 Server, such as improved IIS tools, a poor-man's email server, more adjustments to the OS without requiring a restart of the server (this one is big!), and a host of other features. The OS has definately grown up since the days of NT!

I can only wonder what is going to be new for Longhorn -- perhaps more web extensions that work in a Microsoft-only world, such as IE things that only work with IE, and nothing else. Perhaps there will be other things rolled in -- unlimited terminal services, or licensing management tools. We should also see more support for 64-bit processors, along with more optimized code for the larger caches that are shipping today. Perhaps they will even optimize the libraries for the servers, so that the OS will adjust itself slightly depending upon the hardware platform.

While I can see why I still prefer Linux servers over …

According to Information week, AMD and Intel have cut their prices on their processor platforms, anywhere from 10 to 30 percent on some models, such as the Centrino and Athlon64 X2 dual-core chips. This is interesting news, considering that there is a lawsuit in Federal Court in Deleware, where Intel and AMD are going at it legally concerning improper actions in the marketplace.

As people in the industry are aware, CPU speeds have not increased greatly over the 3.5 GHz levels, and attention has turned to side technologies, such as cache levels, the depth of the instruction pipeline, direct memory accessing, and power (heat) concerns. Generally, the faster the CPU chip operates, the more power it draws, and the more heat it generates. While it may be fine and cool to install a water radiator on a desktop system, laptops cannot dissapate the heat fast enough.

Also, we need to consider the computer's subsystems with the CPU. Remember that the CPU operates at one clock rate, and the rest of the system boards, such as the PCI bus and the serial ports, often run at different clock rates. They do this to save cost -- no one needs a Parallel Port operating at 3.5 GHz... the connecting technology could never keep up at that speed, so why provide it?

I do not think that AMD is out to become the low-cost leader of the manufactures though. Ideally, the company will continue to to offer high-power chips, along …

Hello,

The shuttle was delayed another day. I also think it is doing remarkably well. I am also really ashamed that as Americans, who got to the moon in the late 60's, could not put together a mission within a year to return to the moon. We are looking at 40 years, folks.

Christian

Ladies and Gentlemen, stop the presses!

Well, in today's world, I should change that... Stop uploading the websites! This is BIG News. Ever since Apple came out with the Macintosh (1984), they have only shipped with one-button mice. Even mice prepared for the Apple IIe / IIc / IIgs had one mouse button. The reason was clear enough -- the OS was designed to be simple and effective to use. It would just take one button. With the development of USB, PC-based mice would work with Macintosh, and Apple built right-button functionality into OS 9 and OS X.

WOW.

Check the mouse out... http://www.apple.com/mightymouse

What do I like?

* The little scrolling ball. I want to run down to the Mac store and check this out. No big wheel to collect dust and dirt. Having a smaller surface area, it should remain cleaner. And it is 360 degrees, meaning it behaves like a trackball. Can go sideways. My Microsoft-Mouse-Wannabe with a scroll-wheel here cannot go left and right. Wow.

* Thumb buttons. One on each side. The website says it is programmable, but I wonder if they are separate, similar to Left and Right speakers on a stereo system. The web says the buttons are programmable with Tiger. That is nice and flexible.

* SRP of $49 is at a nice price point. Not cheap, but not going to kill me either. I wonder if Amazon will carry it at reduced …

According to Information Week (July 25, 2005), Firefox is facing a release delay. The article mentions that the Mozilla foundation has delayed the release of the next major version of Firefox until September. The current version of Firefox is 1.0.6

Firefox is a major alternative to Internet Explorer, the default web browser for Microsoft Windows, and to Safari, the default web browser of Apple's Macintosh line. Firefox is the default web broswer for RedHat/Fedora Linux (and it may be the default elsewhere -- your author has not installed many other forms of linux to know for sure).

I personally enjoy using firefox due to it's speed, the ability to block pop-up windows (although some other browsers can now do this too). I also enjoy working with the configuration options that allow me to choose where to store downloads, how much cache size I want to work with, and the common configuration interfaces across platforms. I like being able to configure the web browser easily, and have it stay functional.

Some people have argued that Firefox will be a clean environment that is hack-proof and free of all trouble. That is not the case; I don't think there is any software package out there that is completely hack-proof, including a soda machine (fake money!). Firefox can still bring down a virus, can still be spoofed, but in my opinion, the risks are a lot smaller here than in Internet Explorer.

If you would like more information concerning …

Hello Community,

I just wanted to write and say goodbye. With the coming of parenthood, and some other things beyond my control, I am departing DaniWeb and the Community. I wish you all well.

To the folks whom I have had the pleasure of meeting and growing with, I'd like to thank you for your company. As a Super Moderator here, I've had to work with numerous technical questions and responses, and have also experienced organizational / managerial questions that helped me grow in my personal and professional life.

May you all take care, and keep on reaching for the stars.

Christian KC0ARF

Hello,

The stability of Win 98 is comparable to some short-lived radioactive isotopes of Lawrencium.

Christian

Hello,

With knowledge --> power --> responsibility.

It is unethical to circumvent the firewall in place at your institution. Once you mature, you will understand why.

I used to IT consult in educational facilities, and I remember seeing user agreements between the students and the staff for internet access. Perhaps you had to sign one too. Working your way around a firewall would be a violation of that agreement.

Closing thread, as I don't want to get into an ethics discussion here, and I don't want to give someone a chance to illegally assist you.

Christian

Hello,

This one really depends on the family dynamics, and what the items in question are all about. You mention paying bills... did they take a vacation, and want you to pop for it, or did their car break down, and you got them a rental car for the time being?

When my folks come out to visit, we take care of the food bill, and once in a while I will cover for dinner at places, or if Dad asks for a part, I may go out and take care of it and never submit a recipt. But I am not paying their electric or water bills.

At some point, the question of nursing home / advanced age will come to my wife and I. Since we are not there yet, I cannot begin to speculate all the strings attached. A parent may move into a spare bedroom, or perhaps assisted living down the road and I may have to drive them to family gathering things, but that is a pleasure / honor of mine to be generous and take care of things.

I would rather pick up grandma, and get her to the birthday party safely, than to pull her car out of the ditch, replace the mailbox she hit, and attend the funeral.

All boils down to the family dynamics.

Christian

Hello,

I missed #8 too.

I found, however, that some of the questions were misleading. Without spilling the beans on the exam, there are challenges on some of the terms of office, and along the lines of who asks vs. who confirms.

I would word it slightly differently to avoid any confusion, and add a section on some major cities and see if they are capitols or not.

Christian

Hello,

I realize this thread is older, but it is also incomplete. How do you install it on other OS's, such as Linux or Mac OS X? The writer did not specify an operating system, and we need to be careful that we include complete descriptions for all mainstream OS's out there.

Christian

Hello,

It is an unfortunate turn of events with the Blog contest.

To MovieLad, I wish you well on your external projects (the move and adoption), but I also wish for you a period of reflection on your immature actions.

Even in today's "wired" day and age, it is unacceptable to expect a volunteer organization like DaniWeb to review internal policies and make an action in 24 hours. Your request is very unique, and options were being discussed internally. A sudden change of heart on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part.

I realize it is likely that you are not going to return to reflect on our comments above and from those who follow me. I only hope that a curious reader will ponder your actions, and learn from your mistake.

When you are ready to return to the DaniWeb family, give us a buzz. I bet after a quick greeting, all will be forgiven, and life will move on.

Christian

Hello,

If you are interested in exploring a bit, you could try installing linux onto the computer. Not sure if it will support the wireless cards or not, but it may give you something to work with, and you could learn a few things from it.

Check out Fedora for PPC, and Yellow Dog Linux.

I have run YDL on my Powerbook G3 (333) and it was noticably faster than OS X on the computer. I to also agree that more RAM is required. Plus, the iBook has a slower internal motherboard / components, so you are working with those issues against you. The iBook was not engineered for heavy-duty processing that you are looking for.

Christian

Hello,

I am not sure if you were using OS X or OS 9 with your powerbook.

Anyways, either an OS 9 or an OS X install disk will give you the option to format the hard drive. You may need to look into the customize button before making the install, and there are options there to format the hard drive, or keep data in it's place.

Older computers could be booted with a Floppy disk and format the hard drive that way, and some of the older powerbooks had what was called SCSI Disk Mode that you could attach it to another system, and format the drive that way.

Easiest to do is to boot with an install disk, and find the format option.

Christian

Hello,

This is a nice post / topic.

A Mac should work with any ISP that a PC works with, unless you have one that specifically does something Windows only, such as needing Microsoft or Citirix VPN solution into a corporate network. But that is not your traditional ISP that a consumer would be attaching to.

The IP protocol is universally accepted. You could even get an Apple IIe on the internet if you wanted to.

Christian

Hello,

I agree that iDVD is the answer to your needs. Gotta be careful when you burn a disk... sometimes you are just burning a bunch of files (a la data backup) and other times, you are making an actual movie/presentation.

Good question, and hope it works well for you.

Christian

Hello,

Is this Outlook, or Outlook express? As your question is in the web browsers section, it implies you are using a web browser to look at your Microsoft Outlook email on some exchange server. If that is the case, you may need to try and delete the message from Outlook itself on the main network (use the Outlook client to access your mailbox). You may also need to contact your network administrator, and see if they can help.

If this is not the case, please clarify more on what you are trying to do. Perhaps this is a webmail question.

Christian

Hello,

I think he is referring to the Daystar (or comparable) accelerator card that could be installed inside of a PMac 7100.

The original 7100 was a 66 MHz PPC 601, not a G3 processor. If anything, you could have called it a G1.

The family went from 601 (the first) to a 603 (low power) and a 604 (better than 601, a G2), and then finally the G3 processor.

To use the Daystar card, you had a special extension that you needed to load.

I think I still have mine around. The question is, what is the version of your accelerator board?

CHristian

Hello,

A Mac is a computer, and even under OS X, a very cool and awesome OS, it is possible to get a virus. Not likely, but possible.

If you are running on Mac OS X as a local administrator, you have a better chance of deeply infecting your machine than if you are a normal user.

Also, the standard rules of needing to backup to avoid loosing materials during a hardware failure also apply.

If you are interested in scanning your computer (I scan mine once a week), check out ClamAV.

Christian

Hello,

Yes, it is dangerous to delete a 0 byte file.

Linux / Unix scripts allow you to touch a file, meaning, make a file, and have it filesize=0. Programs can do that to keep track of things, or simulate a lockfile condition for programming.

If file exists, then do this.

Christian

Hello,

Rosetta is working well from what I can tell. I do not have firm application profile numbers, but Eudora, Firefox, and a number of others are working well and responsive on my MacBook.

Yes, I am migrating to Universal applications, but I am not afraid to use Rosetta when needed.

Christian

Hello,

I like the idea of virtualization: give me a window with Windoze on it, and all the meyhem can occur inside of it, and leave the filesystem things to OS X.

I need to do more research on things like VMware and Xen. That might be the next step.

I purchased a computer to do things for me, and with OS X, it is so damn exciting and pleasent to do things in. With Fink, I have Gnome and KDE apps working. OpenOffice. Gimp. I am not stuck in a Windows only paradigm. I love it. There are times, however, that I wish OS X was based on Linux instead of BSD. I suppose there are perks to using the Big Stable Distro.

Now, I just need to find an open-source CAD program that behaves like ClarisCAD...

Christian

Hi,

He is exactly right, although I thought expander came with OS X. Perhaps you need a more recent copy of it.

Christian

Hello,

Did you open the Monitors control panel, and adjust the display? Perhaps the settings are not correct, such as stuck in 800x600 @ 256 colors.

Were you running OS X before, or did you have OS 9 on the computer? It is possible that the card is not supported, or you may need to download a driver.

Hope this helps,

Christian

Hello,

I would delete the printer from OS X and install it again. Perhaps some of the settings got mucked up.

Christian

Hello,

I am not sure if OS X will work with OS 9 Font Suitcases or not. I have taken .TTF files from the OS 9 computer and put them on OS X without a problem.

Try moving a single font, such as Arial.TTF, and see if OS X will see it.

Christian

Hello,

I love my MacBook too!

You won't be able to run Classic applications on it, nor will Classic / OS9 programs work with it. If you have such programs, go get your older computer, optimize it for using the old programs, and perhaps use a remote-control utility and bury the computer in a back room somewhere without a monitor.

I have also checked performance of Rosetta vs. Universal, and while I don't have hard numbers, I have to say that Rosetta does a good job. It is not anything as clunky as running Virtual PC / SoftAT back in the day when a worthy G3 struggled with Windows 2K. Rosetta does a nice job. The only place I really notice the slowdown is running PPC OpenOffice instead of the Intel-based OpenOffice.

Christian

Hello,

I would seriously consider getting OUT of IT. Why? Because of the lack of respect of the position in the corporate world. Take a look at recent articles in Network Computing or Information Week. Articles all over about downsizing, outsourcing, mismanagement and the like. People who are working are busting their cans off, and people who are out cannot seem to get back in.

I have seen too many times in too many places where IT was considered an afterthought in the company -- not represented at the senior levels of management, and yet holding the bag when things happen. I also love it when technically superior people are passed over for the boss's buddy. True, that happens outside of IT too.

I love computers, and love helping people out, and taking care of networks and systems and the whole nine yards. I have certs and a BS. But if I had to do it all over again, I would choose something else.

Christian

Hello,

Yep, that is the way to go... have the computer behave like an external hard disk. Older Macs used to call it "SCSI DISK MODE", and the newer ones Target Disk Mode. I don't think the new Intel computers support it though.

The bigger lesson, however, is not to wait until a situation like this to have backups handy. While you may still see the files, if the directory structure is damaged, you may not be able to retrieve them.

After rebuilding your computer, build a solid backup strategy. Stick to it. And then enxt time, you will not need to be worried about this.

Christian

Hello,

The problem is that the creator gives no credit to the despair.com where the words are from. I would call that a copyright violation, and steer clear of it.

Christian

Hello,

I have moved this thread, and am assuming that you have a Win 2K or XP computer that this is happening on. My guess is that you have a registry issue.

Not knowing what is causing the problem, if it was my machine, I would backup the data, and re-install the OS and your applications.

Christian

Hello,

Mac OS 9 and earlier do not have the "multiple users" paradigm that OS X does, therefore, there is no master password that needs to be reset under OS 9. If you are in OS X, and in Classic, there may be administrative things on the OS X side of the picture, but once Classic is runing, you will not need any sort of password or permissions setup.

Christian

Hello,

Just be aware that the new intel Macs do not support classic. If you are going to get into the intel world, that will stop you.

Whatever the case, make sure you get plenty of memory for the new computer, as when running classic, you will have two operating systems installed and functioning!

Christian

Hello,

Mac OS X is a BSD unix, and you may find packages out there like vsftpd to take care of your issue. Unfortunately, I do not have direct experience with OS X server to offer something more concerete.

Christian

Hello,

In your case, the Word Macro virus does all it's damage in Microsoft Word -- and it is on a different layer than the OS. A Macro virus should not affect your OS X install, unless you open Word and let it run it's course.

As you are using OS X, unless you went into the network control panel and moved things off the defaults, you are running a software firewall. That is a good thing.

To locate a nice free OS X antivirus package, look at ClamAV. It works with linux and OS X, and is free, and they are responsive. Check that package out to scan your drives, and make sure things are OK. You will notice that ClamAV doesn't have the usual charm of an OS X program -- that's ok, it is still configurable -- but it will feel a bit different, as it is designed by linux people.

As for your OS 9 friend, I have been out of OS 9 for too long now, and have not kept track of antivirus for the platform.

As for your other issue, please start a new thread about the problem with fontbook.

Christian

Hello,

Clean install. You may also consider partitioning your drive into two, so that you can have a System volume, and a Data location.

Christian

Hello,

You can also use a USB thumbdrive, or put the computer on a network, and transfer the files via wire. Worst case would be a USB floppy drive onto a disk...

Also, I had a Powerbook G3 and a USB DVD burner under 10.2 and 10.3, and never had the option of burning from the desktop. Then again, the G3 was before OS X's time, and I think it was because OS X didn't fully support the Lombard... thus the inability to burn from the desktop. I used Toast to make my disks.

Christian

Hello,

I think it is a great time to make a backup of your current data, and then rebuild the system from scratch. Yes, moving everything to the Applications folder was a bad idea -- I amazed that the thing even started up for you. While you might be able to manually place everything back where it belongs, you will still have a "ghost" lingering about the next time you try to install something, and you get weird errors.

Computers are supposed to be fun -- and you went off on a creative expidition. But it is time to come back to the trail, and clean up the mud. Save yourself the grief of problems down the road by re-installing now. Personally, I'd partition the drive into two... and have your data one place, and your apps in another location.

Christian

Hello,

Welcome to DaniWeb. Hope that you find the community nice and useful.

First, I need to point out a quick note to you -- Macs are not MACs. A Mac is a Macintosh computer, and a MAC is a Media Access Card, as in a MAC address on an ethernet card.

As for your printing issue, I would run the disk permissions repair, and I would also run Software Update, as there may be driver updates and the like available for the system.

I also tried to re-create the steps you took in 10.4, and my selections are different. Before I try it under 10.3, I'd like to know what your OS X version is too. If you are using 10.1, I found that environment to be a printing nightmare... 10.2 was much better at printing.

Also, what kind of printer are you trying to connect to? I have not had any problems connecting to any IP based printing to a Postscript printer. Mac OS X is Unix -- and Unix and Postscript have played well together for a long time.

Take care, and talk soon.

Christian

Hello,

I think the levels are fine right where they are, especially for the Tech Talk forums. I feel that if you lump everything together per category, that you are going to get lost in questions that drill to the specific.

Right now, let's say that I want to install OpenOffice on my Mac OS X computer. I go to Tech Talk --> Macintosh --> Mac Software, and ask the question. If I am having troubles with Windows 2000 Networking adding SPX/IPX protocols, I go to Tech Talk --> Windows --> NT/2000/XP and ask it there. I could see that a new user could have troubles making the distinction of "should I put it in the networking forum or the windows forum", but if you read the instructions, and think a moment, there is a chance that they would realize the question is a client based one, and not a Networking OS (novell/cisco).

I am not a programmer, nor a web/search specialist, so perhaps they could collapse levels to fit the users better. But looking at the hardware support areas, we need a level of stratification on where things go to keep a level of sanity on the site.

I would also look at the volume of posts here that are re-directs, and see how that number compares to the posts that were actually made in the proper place to begin with. If we are getting 4 out of 10 new posts in the wrong place, …

Hello,

For $30 to $40, you can get a small ethernet hub / switch, and remove all confusion involving crossover cables vs. normal ones. Save yourself the grief, and get the proper hardware.

Christian