well i am having a fun job working. well i don't really call it work since i treat it like playing. i am a systems administrator for a school and although the pay is not high compared to the US tech job pay, i do have a very fun time meeting with other people and doing things and see them accomplished and be appreciated by other people.
we get to play with expensive equipment (good thing this is a university and we are in spend mode all the time.)
but the main thing is when you do things, you do it great. your output should be dependent on the input (salary). bring out the best and people will see it. you'll not worry about finding other jobs.
for our past times, we play counterstrike with all the other employees in work. we even have regular tournaments. that is fun. we also do have parties, excursions, etc. mingle with other people. humans are social creatures and do not stare all day in front of the monitor.:-(
for projects, well if you see things that can be done better, why not. from web sites, workstation management, hardware management, etc. you do it good.
i hope that everyone will have a happy time in their jobs and they will have stable work.
johnlaw
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
if you are using a microsoft iis server, i suggest you do the following:
run the tool IISLockdown from Microsoft to strip of features in IIS that you do not use that might be a potential source for hacking. it can be found Here.
The better way is to use the URLscan tool option from Microsoft that strips out possible malicious URL requests coming to your site. It discards the request even before accessing your web site. The tool can be found Here.
the best way is to keep up with the patches and subscribe to security mailing lists for latest updates.
it seems that we have been attacked by this worm too. for us, the worm first hit us around 9:15pm (+8GMT). it seems to originate from Korea (KRNIC) since our IP prefix is 210.
As a fix, remove the/scripts directory in IIS or temporary deactivate it. it seems to be targeting a bug somewhere in frontpage extensions or something similar.
I tried it in IIS5. I redirected the default.ida from the root folder to the scripts page with the real default.ida.
I am not sure though if it really reboots the infected machines. But there is no error in the script. I am using Activestate's Perl program for IIS (PERLIS.DLL)
A little off topic, how do you know if the infected computer is version 1 or 2?
Also, earlier, the IIS service keeps on getting errors (tiemouts) is it due to the code red? After I patched the system, everything seemed well.
I am one of the IT administrators in a university.
I should say that preventing a virus attack in any computer in the university will be almost impossible. The only good think is to prevent an outbreak of the virus.
We should look at sources of viruses before we can prevent them. Most common viruses come from downloaded files, e-mail, and sharing through disks.
Currently, we are also using Norton Antivirus for the workstations with Autoprotect enabled (so everything will be scanned as they are run.) Honestly, it is a good program but comes with a hefty price (since we have lots and lots of computers.)
We also limit the amount of access to the workstations. All workstations are installed with Windows 2000 Professional and we use the profiles system to prevent people from installing most files and crashing the system. All of the files of an account (settings, my documents, etc)are stored centrally in our file servers. We can disable an account and prevent further infection of a virus has been reported.
We are in the process of phasing out/restricting the use of floppy drives to prevent outside virus from infecting a computer.
For the e-mail service, we discourage the use of outlook (we try to disable the POP3, IMAP services) and use web based e-mail system(Exchange 2000). At least in an event of a real outbreak, we can immediately shut down the mail services and prevent people from accessing attachments. We also plan of installing an antivirus software together with the e-mail server.
We are equipping our proxy servers (ISA) to be installed with antivirus software. This allows realtime scanning of downloaded files from the Internet if they happen to download any.
Lastly, one method is really education of the users. Since we are an educational institution, we try to educate people the proper use of computers to prevent attacks, viruses, and common problems. Since we also have our own TV/Radio station, it will be much easier for us to give annoucements easily.
Remember, we are serving 30,000 students and around 2,000 in faculty and staff. The number of computers currently being upgraded is around 200. We have around 1500+ more to go.
Sorry to those Linux people, we are using Microsoft products here. But it helps us a lot especially with 30,000 users. Believe me, there are plans to give alumnus accounts for life. The features of Microsoft products are very useful and clustering is very very effective.
it is very good that people always find a way of circumventing those big companies. if the big companies are smart, the consumers are even smarter.
the whole p2p and file sharing industry should cooperate and try to develop a file sharing system that will NOT be countered by any government or institution or at least be stopped.
after the napster controversy, there are numerous programs out there spawning in the hope of gaining market share from napster. better features are included in their program that is deemed to be 'unstoppable'.
i just suggest that all of those product makers like freenet, aimster, etc. create a universal program with plug-ins for each other.
it is nice to encrypt the data while having a p2p transfer system. you can also have index servers located worldwide that can be donated by people. you can also use the power of search engines to look for the files that you want thereby making the system rather difficult to shut down.
for the music and movie industry, i think that the concept of pay per view or pay per hear is also good. like a person can donate a $0.01 TO THE ARTIST each time the song/movie is played. in the long run, the artists are happy and you are happy. at least you can get the most updated songs all the time.
ha. RIAA may have won the first round. but let's wait and they will not be able to stop everybody from sharing files.
this concept is not just for the music sharing service. this can be good to share files like newest software versions without having to create a download site. this will reduce costs for companies and improve the overall speed of the net.
i hope that even though the unfortunate event of napster happened, the internet will not be and SHOULD NOT BE controlled.
Well I'm a Filipino and indeed, people here I think do send more text messages than all the other countries combined.
I think the fad of txt messaging comes from its very affordable rate. You can get an sms capable phone for around P3500 (less than $85.) Free text messages are alloted usually at 100msgs/month (or more) with an excess rate of P1 per msg (less than $0.03.) (I think the very attractive rate appeals more than a computer with an Internet account which will cost you around $19/month for around 30 hours.) A cellular voice call costs around $0.19/min. Long distance rates internationally are as low as $0.40/min.
I must say that the rates here are cheaper than more technologically advanced countries developing these phones and protocols.
The drawback, there are around more than 2 million GSM subscribers. Txt messages always lag (like the net - it sometimes take hours and even days for a party to receive a message) and networks are busy (even on the same carrier.) There are more people subscribing every minute than the carrier can keep up by upgrading their facilities.
Cellphones are more affordable in terms of digital communication than the Internet (here.) Landline and computers cost too much.
If prices were as cheap as what foreign carriers provide here, cellular communication would really boom. Vice versa, if Internet and computers are very cheap, Internet services will really boom!
Johnlaw - from the Philippines
"Mabuhay!"
Authors note: I am not a text addict and I don't have any cellphones, beepers, or PDAs. I just 'use' other people's phones to text.:-)
Yeah. It's about time that they thought about that. ICANN should grant more domains like:.corp,.inc,.inst,.plc,.ltd,.comp,.ngo,.isp,.ind,.pub,.free,.nic,.wan,.asia,.euro,.global,.gbl,.america, ,.africa,.pacific,.i,.tel,.data,.ent,.sports,.news,.mail,.web,.ftp,.chat,.per,.home,.world,.adult (.xxx or.sex are fine for me),.shop,.me,.search,.money,.sci,.pol,.law,.health,.travel,.media,.dot etc...? At least there will be more available domains than.com,.net,.org. If people believe that domains are not commodities, then using those TLD will not be a hassle since it will be better for localized comanies that cater to a specific market. The TLD will be used as they are intended for. Hey it is nice to see linux.news, tennis.sports, home.isp, bbc.news, cnbc.asia. They are better (for me) than linux.com, tennis.com, home.net, news.bbc.co.uk, cnbcasia.com. The Internet is an unlimited virtual space. Why register all the companies in the world under the.com? Johnlaw
It would be nice to get www.philippines.gov, www.uk.gov, www.frace.gov. At least, it would be easy to go to those country websites instead of guessing, www.philippines.gov.ph or other domains. Better yet, I would suggest a secondary domain to those root.mil and.gov like www.ph.gov, www.ph.mil. Life would be easier as anybody will be able to go to a country's gov or mil site without guessing.
Also, the ICANN should grant more domains (this is for you seniors IT decision makers.) Appeal to them. Request domains like:.corp,.inc,.inst,.plc,.ltd,.comp,.ngo,.isp,.ind,.int,.pub,.free,.nic,.wan,.asia,.euro,.global,.gbl,.america,.i,.tel,.data,.ent,.sports,.news,.mail,.web,.ftp,.chat,.per,.world, etc...? At least there will be more available domains for.com,.net,.org. If people believe that domains are not commodities, then using those TLD will not be a hassle since it will be better for localized comanies that cater to a specific market. The TLD will be used as they are intended for.
Hey it is nice to see linux.news, tennis.sports, athome.isp, bbc.news, cnbc.asia. They are better (for me) than linux.com, tennis.com, athome.net, news.bbc.co.uk, cnbcasia.com.
Or there should be a way of getting IP address like 111.111.111.111, 123.123.123.123 (something like remembering telephone numbers). Why not get even 12.12 (12.0.0.12) or 1.1? At least, if everybody gets the available domain names, get the numbers.
The Internet is an unlimited virtual space. Why it be like registering all the companies in the world under the.com?
Let say someone launched a series of attacks against CNN. The attacker uses the IP address of Yahoo servers. CNN knowing the source IP will attack Yahoo. Yahoo on the other hand traced the IP address from CNN and launched a counteroffensive against CNN. Now, both Yahoo and CNN will be attacking one another. Of course, by that time, their own systems will be unavailable to regular net users. They will be losing much more than just filtering out the attacks and reporting it to the Feds.
Ha! Let's see about that!
** Take note, assume that both of them "identifies" the source.
I've previously used RealPlayer for streaming audio. However, after I tried Windows Media Player, the quality of sound is better (at the same bitrate.) I don't have to get all the advertisments too.
I downloaded Windows Media Player 6.0 BETA and it is great! Really great visual features but it is a little buggy at the moment.
Try WML, I don't think they (Microsoft) catches data since when you check on the URL, it is usually redirected to a URL but at least it is for them to "track" how many people use the URL (more acceptable for me.) At the same time, you can track the URL and do not need to redirect all the time.
Well maybe better, just listen to the radio and talk over the telephone. At least it is more "secure" than the Internet.
I believe it is more than bundling but integration.
When you buy Windows 98 for example, and Office 2000 is bundled with it, you will get the Office 2000 "free" or discounted. However, Windows does not come installed with the Office and you may opt to install it or not (there is a casing.
In the case of Windows and Internet Explorer, initially, you can install Internet Explorer as an external software (download over the net or get the CD.) But the recent version of Microsoft already installs Internet Explorer whether you like it or not with no option of disabling it. Therefore, Internet Explorer is integrated with the OS.
It is not necessary to integrate IE even though most applications require the installation of certain "files" which they are "supposed" to use which is only "found" in IE. The best solution that I can think of is to install the required DLLs instead of installing IE. Make a distribute file that most software will use like TCP/IP stack, etc...
We cannot blame that they are too successful. Similarly, if your company earns $1 billion a day, what's wrong with it? Others maybe are just envious that Microsoft is too successful.
For the case where Microsoft bundles Internet Explorer, there is nothing wrong with it in a sense that more feature is added to the browser where consumers are benefited from the increased features. However integrating IE without disabling it is maybe too much.
Since Microsoft installed the browser already, people will not download other browsers because one came with your computer. There is just too much hassle for normal computer users without knowing all the Internet stuff. I'm sure, advanced users make up only few of the computer population and most just accept what is installed. This actually reduces but not totally prevent competition for Microsoft.
It is up to you to decide. Simply, if you find Microsoft monopolistic, get Linux. Yeah! It is FREE, STABLE, and FAST. All the requirements of an OS you wished you have (in Windows) is there!
Slashdot Mirror
well i am having a fun job working. well i don't really call it work since i treat it like playing. i am a systems administrator for a school and although the pay is not high compared to the US tech job pay, i do have a very fun time meeting with other people and doing things and see them accomplished and be appreciated by other people.
:-(
we get to play with expensive equipment (good thing this is a university and we are in spend mode all the time.)
but the main thing is when you do things, you do it great. your output should be dependent on the input (salary). bring out the best and people will see it. you'll not worry about finding other jobs.
for our past times, we play counterstrike with all the other employees in work. we even have regular tournaments. that is fun. we also do have parties, excursions, etc. mingle with other people. humans are social creatures and do not stare all day in front of the monitor.
for projects, well if you see things that can be done better, why not. from web sites, workstation management, hardware management, etc. you do it good.
i hope that everyone will have a happy time in their jobs and they will have stable work.
johnlaw
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
if you are using a microsoft iis server, i suggest you do the following:
run the tool IISLockdown from Microsoft to strip of features in IIS that you do not use that might be a potential source for hacking. it can be found Here.
The better way is to use the URLscan tool option from Microsoft that strips out possible malicious URL requests coming to your site. It discards the request even before accessing your web site. The tool can be found Here.
the best way is to keep up with the patches and subscribe to security mailing lists for latest updates.
johnlaw
it seems that we have been attacked by this worm too. for us, the worm first hit us around 9:15pm (+8GMT). it seems to originate from Korea (KRNIC) since our IP prefix is 210.
/scripts directory in IIS or temporary deactivate it. it seems to be targeting a bug somewhere in frontpage extensions or something similar.
/scripts/root.exe /c+dir 404 -
/MSADC/root.exe /c+dir 403 -
/c/winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/d/winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/scripts/..%5c../winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/_vti_bin/..%5c../..%5c../..%5c../winnt/system32/c md.exe /c+dir 500 -
/_mem_bin/..%5c../..%5c../..%5c../winnt/system32/c md.exe /c+dir 404 -
/msadc/..%5c../..%5c../..%5c/..Á../..Á../..Á../ winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 403 -
/scripts/..Á../winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/scripts/winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/scripts/..%5c../winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/scripts/..%5c../winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/scripts/..%5c../winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
/scripts/..%2f../winnt/system32/cmd.exe /c+dir 404 -
As a fix, remove the
The 16 lines of codes are:
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
80 GET
it might be conincidental but this is the one week anniversary of the attacks. there may be a connection.
by the way, the root.exe is cmd.exe. the admin.dll i think comes from frontpage. haven't verified this.
johnlaw
I have installed this is W2K Advanced Server.
I tried it in IIS5. I redirected the default.ida from the root folder to the scripts page with the real default.ida.
I am not sure though if it really reboots the infected machines. But there is no error in the script. I am using Activestate's Perl program for IIS (PERLIS.DLL)
A little off topic, how do you know if the infected computer is version 1 or 2?
Also, earlier, the IIS service keeps on getting errors (tiemouts) is it due to the code red? After I patched the system, everything seemed well.
johnlaw
well it sure did happen to us. as we finished installing windows 2000, we immediately got dos attacks and ate up our e1 bandwidth.
however, when tracing the ip address, attacks have been spoofed with private and not allocated ip blocks.
is this part of the code red worm?
johnlaw
I am one of the IT administrators in a university.
I should say that preventing a virus attack in any computer in the university will be almost impossible. The only good think is to prevent an outbreak of the virus.
We should look at sources of viruses before we can prevent them. Most common viruses come from downloaded files, e-mail, and sharing through disks.
Currently, we are also using Norton Antivirus for the workstations with Autoprotect enabled (so everything will be scanned as they are run.) Honestly, it is a good program but comes with a hefty price (since we have lots and lots of computers.)
We also limit the amount of access to the workstations. All workstations are installed with Windows 2000 Professional and we use the profiles system to prevent people from installing most files and crashing the system. All of the files of an account (settings, my documents, etc)are stored centrally in our file servers. We can disable an account and prevent further infection of a virus has been reported.
We are in the process of phasing out/restricting the use of floppy drives to prevent outside virus from infecting a computer.
For the e-mail service, we discourage the use of outlook (we try to disable the POP3, IMAP services) and use web based e-mail system(Exchange 2000). At least in an event of a real outbreak, we can immediately shut down the mail services and prevent people from accessing attachments. We also plan of installing an antivirus software together with the e-mail server.
We are equipping our proxy servers (ISA) to be installed with antivirus software. This allows realtime scanning of downloaded files from the Internet if they happen to download any.
Lastly, one method is really education of the users. Since we are an educational institution, we try to educate people the proper use of computers to prevent attacks, viruses, and common problems. Since we also have our own TV/Radio station, it will be much easier for us to give annoucements easily.
Remember, we are serving 30,000 students and around 2,000 in faculty and staff. The number of computers currently being upgraded is around 200. We have around 1500+ more to go.
Sorry to those Linux people, we are using Microsoft products here. But it helps us a lot especially with 30,000 users. Believe me, there are plans to give alumnus accounts for life. The features of Microsoft products are very useful and clustering is very very effective.
Hope this helps you.
johnlaw
:-)
the whole p2p and file sharing industry should cooperate and try to develop a file sharing system that will NOT be countered by any government or institution or at least be stopped.
after the napster controversy, there are numerous programs out there spawning in the hope of gaining market share from napster. better features are included in their program that is deemed to be 'unstoppable'.
i just suggest that all of those product makers like freenet, aimster, etc. create a universal program with plug-ins for each other.
it is nice to encrypt the data while having a p2p transfer system. you can also have index servers located worldwide that can be donated by people. you can also use the power of search engines to look for the files that you want thereby making the system rather difficult to shut down.
for the music and movie industry, i think that the concept of pay per view or pay per hear is also good. like a person can donate a $0.01 TO THE ARTIST each time the song/movie is played. in the long run, the artists are happy and you are happy. at least you can get the most updated songs all the time.
ha. RIAA may have won the first round. but let's wait and they will not be able to stop everybody from sharing files.
this concept is not just for the music sharing service. this can be good to share files like newest software versions without having to create a download site. this will reduce costs for companies and improve the overall speed of the net.
i hope that even though the unfortunate event of napster happened, the internet will not be and SHOULD NOT BE controlled.
johnlaw
I think the fad of txt messaging comes from its very affordable rate. You can get an sms capable phone for around P3500 (less than $85.) Free text messages are alloted usually at 100msgs /month (or more) with an excess rate of P1 per msg (less than $0.03.) (I think the very attractive rate appeals more than a computer with an Internet account which will cost you around $19 /month for around 30 hours.) A cellular voice call costs around $0.19 /min. Long distance rates internationally are as low as $0.40 /min.
I must say that the rates here are cheaper than more technologically advanced countries developing these phones and protocols.
The drawback, there are around more than 2 million GSM subscribers. Txt messages always lag (like the net - it sometimes take hours and even days for a party to receive a message) and networks are busy (even on the same carrier.) There are more people subscribing every minute than the carrier can keep up by upgrading their facilities.
Cellphones are more affordable in terms of digital communication than the Internet (here.) Landline and computers cost too much.
If prices were as cheap as what foreign carriers provide here, cellular communication would really boom. Vice versa, if Internet and computers are very cheap, Internet services will really boom!
Johnlaw
- from the Philippines
"Mabuhay!"
Authors note: I am not a text addict and I don't have any cellphones, beepers, or PDAs. I just 'use' other people's phones to text. :-)
Yeah. It's about time that they thought about that. ICANN should grant more domains like: .corp, .inc, .inst, .plc, .ltd, .comp, .ngo, .isp, .ind, .pub, .free, .nic, .wan, .asia, .euro, .global, .gbl, .america, , .africa, .pacific, .i, .tel, .data, .ent, .sports, .news, .mail, .web, .ftp, .chat, .per, .home, .world, .adult (.xxx or .sex are fine for me), .shop, .me, .search, .money, .sci, .pol, .law, .health, .travel, .media, .dot etc...? At least there will be more available domains than .com, .net, .org. If people believe that domains are not commodities, then using those TLD will not be a hassle since it will be better for localized comanies that cater to a specific market. The TLD will be used as they are intended for. Hey it is nice to see linux.news, tennis.sports, home.isp, bbc.news, cnbc.asia. They are better (for me) than linux.com, tennis.com, home.net, news.bbc.co.uk, cnbcasia.com. The Internet is an unlimited virtual space. Why register all the companies in the world under the .com? Johnlaw
I definitely agree with you!
.mil and .gov like www.ph.gov, www.ph.mil. Life would be easier as anybody will be able to go to a country's gov or mil site without guessing.
.corp, .inc, .inst, .plc, .ltd, .comp, .ngo, .isp, .ind, .int, .pub, .free, .nic, .wan, .asia, .euro, .global, .gbl, .america, .i, .tel, .data, .ent, .sports, .news, .mail, .web, .ftp, .chat, .per, .world, etc...? At least there will be more available domains for .com, .net, .org. If people believe that domains are not commodities, then using those TLD will not be a hassle since it will be better for localized comanies that cater to a specific market. The TLD will be used as they are intended for.
.com?
It would be nice to get www.philippines.gov, www.uk.gov, www.frace.gov. At least, it would be easy to go to those country websites instead of guessing, www.philippines.gov.ph or other domains. Better yet, I would suggest a secondary domain to those root
Also, the ICANN should grant more domains (this is for you seniors IT decision makers.) Appeal to them. Request domains like:
Hey it is nice to see
linux.news, tennis.sports, athome.isp, bbc.news, cnbc.asia. They are better (for me) than linux.com, tennis.com, athome.net, news.bbc.co.uk, cnbcasia.com.
Or there should be a way of getting IP address like 111.111.111.111, 123.123.123.123 (something like remembering telephone numbers). Why not get even 12.12 (12.0.0.12) or 1.1? At least, if everybody gets the available domain names, get the numbers.
The Internet is an unlimited virtual space. Why it be like registering all the companies in the world under the
Johnlaw
Think and Speak!
Let say someone launched a series of attacks against CNN. The attacker uses the IP address of Yahoo servers. CNN knowing the source IP will attack Yahoo. Yahoo on the other hand traced the IP address from CNN and launched a counteroffensive against CNN. Now, both Yahoo and CNN will be attacking one another. Of course, by that time, their own systems will be unavailable to regular net users. They will be losing much more than just filtering out the attacks and reporting it to the Feds.
Ha! Let's see about that!
** Take note, assume that both of them "identifies" the source.
Actually Yes.
I've previously used RealPlayer for streaming audio. However, after I tried Windows Media Player, the quality of sound is better (at the same bitrate.) I don't have to get all the advertisments too.
I downloaded Windows Media Player 6.0 BETA and it is great! Really great visual features but it is a little buggy at the moment.
Try WML, I don't think they (Microsoft) catches data since when you check on the URL, it is usually redirected to a URL but at least it is for them to "track" how many people use the URL (more acceptable for me.) At the same time, you can track the URL and do not need to redirect all the time.
Well maybe better, just listen to the radio and talk over the telephone. At least it is more "secure" than the Internet.
John
I believe it is more than bundling but integration.
When you buy Windows 98 for example, and Office 2000 is bundled with it, you will get the Office 2000 "free" or discounted. However, Windows does not come installed with the Office and you may opt to install it or not (there is a casing.
In the case of Windows and Internet Explorer, initially, you can install Internet Explorer as an external software (download over the net or get the CD.) But the recent version of Microsoft already installs Internet Explorer whether you like it or not with no option of disabling it. Therefore, Internet Explorer is integrated with the OS.
It is not necessary to integrate IE even though most applications require the installation of certain "files" which they are "supposed" to use which is only "found" in IE. The best solution that I can think of is to install the required DLLs instead of installing IE. Make a distribute file that most software will use like TCP/IP stack, etc...
We cannot blame that they are too successful. Similarly, if your company earns $1 billion a day, what's wrong with it? Others maybe are just envious that Microsoft is too successful.
For the case where Microsoft bundles Internet Explorer, there is nothing wrong with it in a sense that more feature is added to the browser where consumers are benefited from the increased features. However integrating IE without disabling it is maybe too much.
Since Microsoft installed the browser already, people will not download other browsers because one came with your computer. There is just too much hassle for normal computer users without knowing all the Internet stuff. I'm sure, advanced users make up only few of the computer population and most just accept what is installed. This actually reduces but not totally prevent competition for Microsoft.
It is up to you to decide. Simply, if you find Microsoft monopolistic, get Linux. Yeah! It is FREE, STABLE, and FAST. All the requirements of an OS you wished you have (in Windows) is there!