Good points all around! I also have been running multiple domains for approximately six years, including all the standard services - DNS,FTP,SMTP,HTTP. The benefits are huge, not just in the spam arena, but the control and privacy it gives you cannot be matched by any ISP at a comparable cost. It is not that hard to set up a POP3/SMTP server that is locked down.
Email aliases are the bomb. Besides blocking spam, you also can avoid those annoying email bulletins from sites you have accounts on. I just turn off the email alias unless I need to do a password change confirmation email from them or something similar. I turn it on, complete the task, and then turn it back off again.
Running my own web server was also a huge break cost-wise because I get Gigabytes of storage space for my content at no additional cost!
Anyhow, getting of my soapbox, the point is blocking port 25 is not a wise move. The Internet RFC's are designed in the spirit of every network device is a peer to ever other network device, and there are to be no restrictions on their communication except at each endpoint ( device ). i.e. my ISP cannot block my communication with another network device ( host ), but the host is allowed to set up restrictions if so desired...like a firewall:)
This is normal firewall behavior. A good firewall setup defaults to blocking all traffic and then you open it up from them. I admit it takes a lot of trial and error ( and google-searching ) to all of your various network apps working, but onces it is working, you just save your settings and can reuse them if you ever have to rebuild/move your firewall.
Oh, the more popular of a firewall. you use, the easier it will be to find the correct setting to get a network app functioning properly, as there will be more online documentation.
I am talking about a standalone software firewall...I myself run iptables on my Linux router that handles the three network connections I have at home ( secure network, wireless LAN, and Internet ). Most of the computers run Linux, but the one Windows box I have does run an additional software firewall and Antivirus program...because it is Windows it needs that extra protection:)
Man, I don't want to be on camera making out with the police Commissioners daughter in the park! Can't they just keep these invasive cameras where they belong...in the porno industry?
The question isn't why not, it is why? For businesses, this is a critical question. What do I have to gain? What will it cost to make the switch?
Just think about it. You have a large staff, business critical applications, computer hardware...all of these are factors in the decision. For example where I am at, many applications ( such as webtrends ) do not run on Linux, some only run on proprietary version of Unix ( such as HP-UX ), precious few would survive the transition over to Linux, That means gutting millions of dollars work of software ( some apps are $5000+ per license! ). As the poster above mentioned, even if your hardware and software would survive the switch, what about training the various level of support staff to install/configure/operate/support the new OS? How would you replace something your corporation depended upon, such as Active Directory. Btw, all your business Intranet web sites were written in.asp and used Active Directory for user authentication...so replacing it would be a ton of work as it would not work in a Linux-only environment.
Anyway, I am just scratching the surface, there can be many more issues than the ones I mentioned, but hopefully I have shown that a switch to a new OS is not a "no brainer", no matter what the savings in licensing costs.
Windows 2000/XP may be bore stable. but last week a PC Tech at work was trying to install an app I needed on my computer and the setup screen would not come up. I shut down all of my applications and it still did not help, I recommended that he reboot the computer, and guess what? The program loaded just fine afterwards.
Tell me when this has happened to you on another OS( doesn't matter which )?
I disagree. It has more to do with trying new technologies/methods than with age. I am mid-30's and have found that changing jobs keeps me excited and full of energy. I basically started with analog electronics, then switched to digital, then I worked with mainframe systems, then with pc hardware, then with pc software, then focused on networking ( Banyan Vines, Windows, etc ), then network administration, and now most recently I am doing web development and perl scripting. A perk is a finally working in an mixed Unix/Linux/Windows environment, which to me is a big plus as I get to learn how to integrate these various platforms. My stint as Windows 2000/XP Network Administrator lasted 4 years and was really burned out from solving the same problems doing the same tasks all the time. I was losing energy, and when I realized that I knew it was time to get out of the rut and do something different. To sum it up, once you can do your job in your sleep, it will put you to sleep, so then it is time to change jobs for something that will be a challenge. Btw, at my new position people always comment on how I come up with innovative ways to solve various problems, some of that is just because I am "new blood" and some of it is because I find the new job very interesting and it really motivates me think hard about how to solve a problem.
In the Hundreds? What the heck have they been doing the last 2 years? Taking a smoking break? I haven't seen any new features for IE in that amount of time, but plenty of exploits, lol.
We are not just talking about standard protocols here. We are talking about AOL adding an aim: protocol, eDonkey adding the edk: protocol, and bittorrent is considering torrent: protocol. These protocols are not under the control of any standards body, can be created at any time, and that is why browsers are designed to pass unknown protocols off to the OS for handling, because just because the browser does not know what to do with it, does not imply that the OS also does not.
Perhaps a middle road ( that would take a year or two get standardized ) would be for the OS maintain a list of protocols it knows how to handle in a known location so that browsers can easily reference it before handing unknown protocols off to the OS.
The real problem is in your post, though you did not realized it. The vulnerability is in the Windows OS, not in Mozilla. You can patch Mozilla to protect the OS from itself, but the vulnerability is still there and can be exploited in other ways even after the pathway through Mozilla has been closed. Capisce?
I am one who likes to preview movies to see if they are any good. Many people cannot do this ( and still enjoy the movie in the theatre ), but some can. For example, I dl'd Spiderman 2 and it was so good I pushed my friends to go see it. Some were reluctant but I got them all out there to see it and everyone liked it. I won't say loved it, because that is reserved for films like ones in the LOTR Trilogy.
So, in this case, not only isn't there stealing ( copy infringement, yes ), but the MPAA + theatre made more money because of it, not less!
In your opinion. But, what matters to the company is their opinion. Where I work you have to get manager approval for Internet access, it goes through a web proxy, and traffic is scanned both coming and going. Oh, and the web sites you can access are limited from the get go, and so far I have been unable to download anything of interest (.zip files,.exe,.msi ) as I get "requestor terminated request" page evertime I go to download something. Truthfully, I haven't tried ssh'ing out of the Intranet, and I have heard you can ftp via an ftp proxy if you get permission ( mgr approved, again ), but have not tried that either.
Web mail is blocked, ESPN is blocked, and I am certain the "allowed" list is pretty small. One thing I have done is bring in my USB keychain drive with my code/etc on it so I wouldn't have to redo all of the functions I have already written before ( job is turnkey solution developmemt ).
Oh, and I was haggled a bit about my bluetooth headset I use with my cell phone, but they let that slide, lol.
And don't forget companies who have standardized all of their Intranet sites to only work with IE, and force their employess to use it via policies and technical limitations. I am trying to get approval to install and use Mozilla on my work computer...its been a week already and no answer:(
Good point.I went to see Spiderman in the theaters BECAUSE I previewed it before via downloaded copy and liked it. Most recently I did the same with with the Chronicles of Riddick. Download, preview, liked it, called my friends and we all went to see it in the theater.
>But where the fsck were you during the Clinton, >Bush, Reagan, Carter, and Ford years?
How do you know where they were during that time period? How do you know they weren't protesting then , too? Or if they were even alive? I am confused.
Its an old magic trick, the magician holds up the source code in front of the audience -
Now you see it...( developers run to Microsoft, Bill Gates glues their feet to the floor )...And now you don't! ( magician puts code back in hat )
Developers try to get away but find they cannot.
I agree, it's a balancing act. Back in 1999-2001, I went on a certification trail, MCSE, CCNA, CCNP, and was looking at CCCIS and a few other certs as well. But I decided finishing my degree would be better in the long term as the dot.com boom was ending and also I wanted to get out of system administration and start down a development path. The job I referred to initially will mostly be scripting with Perl, no C or C++ (darn), but I may find a way to fit those in or sell the experience as software development when I actually apply for what I consider a real programming job ( compiled language versus interpreted ).
Back to your post, the most proficient coworkers hold one + certifications, but several of the clueless ones also hold them. However, it is one way to get your foot into the proverbial door, and I actually did learn useful skills while pursuing my certifications, but obviously many people do not.
I just finished interviewing and doing follow-up email ( this last part got me the job! ). There were two interviews, in the first one I met my potential future coworkers. They checked my experience, asked a few light technical questions, and then I was scheduled to interview with the director of the IT Solutions dept. Well, I was expecting a simple interview where they would check me out for corporate culture fit, but instead I was given a hypothetical enterprise network management problem, and told to explain how I would solve it step by step.
I did this by drawing my solution on the whiteboard and then later coding a bit of it on a piece of paper. I walked through the psuedocode part and then explained/justifyed each line of the actual code. It was very grueling experience, and at the end the director told me what he liked and did not like about it. The next day, I did a follow-up email to the interview, filled in the holes in my earlier solution, and the director called me back almost immediately after I sent the email, telling me that it was an awesome solution to the problem.
A few days after that I was told I had that job...
Lesson learned - Experience, certifications, and schooling can get you in the door, but be ready to be put on the spot once you are in there.
I have seen people bs their way into technical jobs and on the strength of their certs/degrees, but I don't think that really works anymore. Companies run lean and mean these days, so they try and get the most for their money.
On point 1), He did miss that feature ( that I believe M$ introduced with Windows 2000 ) of mapping local partions to folders off of another local drive ( such as c:\ ), but in Unix/Linux you can mount *anything* underneath the root directory.
Examples: Windows File shares, NFS Shares, CDROM/DVD Image files....I even mounted an ftp server under my home directory once, so it ( like the other examples ) was indistinguishable from a files/directories on the local system.
Oh, and file system does not matter at all, any Linux/Windows/etc file system can
be mounted anywhere, while with Windows only local partitions can be mounted as folders, and I am certain the File System range is much more limited ( probably FATxx/NTFS4/NTFS5 ).
Um, he is talking DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1, which did not have either( telnetd or Remote Desktop ). Thank you for playing, your consolation prize is at the door.
Actually, the way I learned it in Quantum Mechanics, is the matter absorbs the photon, then remits it at possibly a different wavelength than what the original photon was at. So if you shine a white light on a substance that re-emits only the blue spectrum, what you see is a blue as all the other wavelengths of light were absorbed.
Another good point. At work I often have to remove spyware from company computers, and really nasty ones ( like Virtumondo ) are started undel ALL user profiles, not just the one of the idiot who let the spyware install itself. Underneath Linux with a standard security setup ( default ), this would not be possible. On a side note, I found Virtumondo no to be impossible to remove, as long as I remember to clean out the windows\prefetch folder where it likes to hide.:/
Good point. Some business ownders get into business to earn enough money to make a living. Often its to get the chance to do something they love to do or just for the challenge of it ( dealing with the chance of failure ). I myself started a business so that I make enough money to go to school / live while being able to schedule my work hours around my school schedule. It was very hectic checking for orders and correspondence for my business in between classes, but I did it for quite a while until the competition was able to sell the same products at much lower prices than I due to the fact that purchased a much larger volume it stock than I do ( and got much lower prices from manufacturers as a result ) that I had to shut down my business before losing my proverbial shirt.
Back to the topic, there are other reasons for running a business other than to make as much money as possible. If that had been my primary goal, I would have quit school to spend my time making more money for my business, but instead I gave up business when thinks went sour rather than quitting school.
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Good points all around! I also have been running multiple domains for approximately six years, including all the standard services - DNS,FTP,SMTP,HTTP. The benefits are huge, not just in the spam arena, but the control and privacy it gives you cannot be matched by any ISP at a comparable cost. It is not that hard to set up a POP3/SMTP server that is locked down.
:)
Email aliases are the bomb. Besides blocking spam, you also can avoid those annoying email bulletins from sites you have accounts on. I just turn off the email alias unless I need to do a password change confirmation email from them or something similar. I turn it on, complete the task, and then turn it back off again.
Running my own web server was also a huge break cost-wise because I get Gigabytes of storage space for my content at no additional cost!
Anyhow, getting of my soapbox, the point is blocking port 25 is not a wise move. The Internet RFC's are designed in the spirit of every network device is a peer to ever other network device, and there are to be no restrictions on their communication except at each endpoint ( device ).
i.e. my ISP cannot block my communication with another network device ( host ), but the host is allowed to set up restrictions if so desired...like a firewall
This is normal firewall behavior. A good firewall setup defaults to blocking all traffic and then you open it up from them. I admit it takes a lot of trial and error ( and google-searching ) to all of your various network apps working, but onces it is working, you just save your settings and can reuse them if you ever have to rebuild/move your firewall.
:)
Oh, the more popular of a firewall. you use, the easier it will be to find the correct setting to get a network app functioning properly, as there will be more online documentation.
I am talking about a standalone software firewall...I myself run iptables on my Linux router that handles the three network connections I have at home ( secure network, wireless LAN, and Internet ). Most of the computers run Linux, but the one Windows box I have does run an additional software firewall and Antivirus program...because it is Windows it needs that extra protection
Man, I don't want to be on camera making out with the police Commissioners daughter in the park! Can't they just keep these invasive cameras where they belong...in the porno industry?
The question isn't why not, it is why? For businesses, this is a critical question. What do I have to gain? What will it cost to make the switch?
.asp and used Active Directory for user authentication...so replacing it would be a ton of work as it would not work in a Linux-only environment.
Just think about it. You have a large staff, business critical applications, computer hardware...all of these are factors in the decision. For example where I am at, many applications ( such as webtrends ) do not run on Linux, some only run on proprietary version of Unix ( such as HP-UX ), precious few would survive the transition over to Linux, That means gutting millions of dollars work of software ( some apps are $5000+ per license! ). As the poster above mentioned, even if your hardware and software would survive the switch, what about training the various level of support staff to install/configure/operate/support the new OS? How would you replace something your corporation depended upon, such as Active Directory. Btw, all your business Intranet web sites were written in
Anyway, I am just scratching the surface, there can be many more issues than the ones I mentioned, but hopefully I have shown that a switch to a new OS is not a "no brainer", no matter what the savings in licensing costs.
Windows 2000/XP may be bore stable. but last week a PC Tech at work was trying to install an app I needed on my computer and the setup screen would not come up. I shut down all of my applications and it still did not help, I recommended that he reboot the computer, and guess what? The program loaded just fine afterwards.
Tell me when this has happened to you on another OS( doesn't matter which )?
I disagree. It has more to do with trying new technologies/methods than with age. I am mid-30's and have found that changing jobs keeps me excited and full of energy. I basically started with analog electronics, then switched to digital, then I worked with mainframe systems, then with pc hardware, then with pc software, then focused on networking ( Banyan Vines, Windows, etc ), then network administration, and now most recently I am doing web development and perl scripting. A perk is a finally working in an mixed Unix/Linux/Windows environment, which to me is a big plus as I get to learn how to integrate these various platforms.
My stint as Windows 2000/XP Network Administrator lasted 4 years and was really burned out from solving the same problems doing the same tasks all the time. I was losing energy, and when I realized that I knew it was time to get out of the rut and do something different.
To sum it up, once you can do your job in your sleep, it will put you to sleep, so then it is time to change jobs for something that will be a challenge.
Btw, at my new position people always comment on how I come up with innovative ways to solve various problems, some of that is just because I am "new blood" and some of it is because I find the new job very interesting and it really motivates me think hard about how to solve a problem.
I've been downloading music for a little over six years now...and they are just trying it out. Geez...
In the Hundreds? What the heck have they been doing the last 2 years? Taking a smoking break? I haven't seen any new features for IE in that amount of time, but plenty of exploits, lol.
Yes, this post is supposed to be modded as funny.
We are not just talking about standard protocols here. We are talking about AOL adding an aim: protocol, eDonkey adding the edk: protocol, and bittorrent is considering torrent: protocol. These protocols are not under the control of any standards body, can be created at any time, and that is why browsers are designed to pass unknown protocols off to the OS for handling, because just because the browser does not know what to do with it, does not imply that the OS also does not.
Perhaps a middle road ( that would take a year or two get standardized ) would be for the OS maintain a list of protocols it knows how to handle in a known location so that browsers can easily reference it before handing unknown protocols off to the OS.
The real problem is in your post, though you did not realized it. The vulnerability is in the Windows OS, not in Mozilla. You can patch Mozilla to protect the OS from itself, but the vulnerability is still there and can be exploited in other ways even after the pathway through Mozilla has been closed. Capisce?
Yeah, lucky for me I run Mozzy on Linux and therefore it isn't a vulnerability. The exploit requires Microsoft Windows...who woulda thunk it?
I am one who likes to preview movies to see if they are any good. Many people cannot do this ( and still enjoy the movie in the theatre ), but some can. For example, I dl'd Spiderman 2 and it was so good I pushed my friends to go see it. Some were reluctant but I got them all out there to see it and everyone liked it. I won't say loved it, because that is reserved for films like ones in the LOTR Trilogy.
So, in this case, not only isn't there stealing ( copy infringement, yes ), but the MPAA + theatre made more money because of it, not less!
In your opinion. But, what matters to the company is their opinion. Where I work you have to get manager approval for Internet access, it goes through a web proxy, and traffic is scanned both coming and going. Oh, and the web sites you can access are limited from the get go, and so far I have been unable to download anything of interest ( .zip files, .exe, .msi ) as I get "requestor terminated request" page evertime I go to download something. Truthfully, I haven't tried ssh'ing out of the Intranet, and I have heard you can ftp via an ftp proxy if you get permission ( mgr approved, again ), but have not tried that either.
.
Web mail is blocked, ESPN is blocked, and I am certain the "allowed" list is pretty small. One thing I have done is bring in my USB keychain drive with my code/etc on it so I wouldn't have to redo all of the functions I have already written before ( job is turnkey solution developmemt )
Oh, and I was haggled a bit about my bluetooth headset I use with my cell phone, but they let that slide, lol.
And don't forget companies who have standardized all of their Intranet sites to only work with IE, and force their employess to use it via policies and technical limitations. I am trying to get approval to install and use Mozilla on my work computer...its been a week already and no answer :(
Good point.I went to see Spiderman in the theaters BECAUSE I previewed it before via downloaded copy and liked it. Most recently I did the same with with the Chronicles of Riddick. Download, preview, liked it, called my friends and we all went to see it in the theater.
Now, show me where film maker's loss was. Please.
>But where the fsck were you during the Clinton, >Bush, Reagan, Carter, and Ford years?
How do you know where they were during that time period? How do you know they weren't protesting then , too? Or if they were even alive? I am confused.
Its an old magic trick, the magician holds up the source code in front of the audience - ...And now you don't! ( magician puts code back in hat ) .
Now you see it...( developers run to Microsoft, Bill Gates glues their feet to the floor )
Developers try to get away but find they cannot
Bait and switch - it works every time!
I agree, it's a balancing act. Back in 1999-2001, I went on a certification trail, MCSE, CCNA, CCNP, and was looking at CCCIS and a few other certs as well. But I decided finishing my degree would be better in the long term as the dot.com boom was ending and also I wanted to get out of system administration and start down a development path. The job I referred to initially will mostly be scripting with Perl, no C or C++ (darn), but I may find a way to fit those in or sell the experience as software development when I actually apply for what I consider a real programming job ( compiled language versus interpreted ).
Back to your post, the most proficient coworkers hold one + certifications, but several of the clueless ones also hold them. However, it is one way to get your foot into the proverbial door, and I actually did learn useful skills while pursuing my certifications, but obviously many people do not.
I just finished interviewing and doing follow-up email ( this last part got me the job! ). There were two interviews, in the first one I met my potential future coworkers. They checked my experience, asked a few light technical questions, and then I was scheduled to interview with the director of the IT Solutions dept. Well, I was expecting a simple interview where they would check me out for corporate culture fit, but instead I was given a hypothetical enterprise network management problem, and told to explain how I would solve it step by step.
I did this by drawing my solution on the whiteboard and then later coding a bit of it on a piece of paper. I walked through the psuedocode part and then explained/justifyed each line of the actual code. It was very grueling experience, and at the end the director told me what he liked and did not like about it. The next day, I did a follow-up email to the interview, filled in the holes in my earlier solution, and the director called me back almost immediately after I sent the email, telling me that it was an awesome solution to the problem.
A few days after that I was told I had that job...
Lesson learned - Experience, certifications, and schooling can get you in the door, but be ready to be put on the spot once you are in there.
I have seen people bs their way into technical jobs and on the strength of their certs/degrees, but I don't think that really works anymore. Companies run lean and mean these days, so they try and get the most for their money.
Anyone else have a different recent experience?
>Symantec and Nortons weren't up for sale at the >time.
Aren't those two items the same thing?
Examples: Windows File shares, NFS Shares, CDROM/DVD Image files....I even mounted an ftp server under my home directory once, so it ( like the other examples ) was indistinguishable from a files/directories on the local system.
Oh, and file system does not matter at all, any Linux/Windows/etc file system can be mounted anywhere, while with Windows only local partitions can be mounted as folders, and I am certain the File System range is much more limited ( probably FATxx/NTFS4/NTFS5 ).
Um, he is talking DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1, which did not have either( telnetd or Remote Desktop ). Thank you for playing, your consolation prize is at the door.
Actually, the way I learned it in Quantum Mechanics, is the matter absorbs the photon, then remits it at possibly a different wavelength than what the original photon was at. So if you shine a white light on a substance that re-emits only the blue spectrum, what you see is a blue as all the other wavelengths of light were absorbed.
Another good point. At work I often have to remove spyware from company computers, and really nasty ones ( like Virtumondo ) are started undel ALL user profiles, not just the one of the idiot who let the spyware install itself. Underneath Linux with a standard security setup ( default ), this would not be possible. On a side note, I found Virtumondo no to be impossible to remove, as long as I remember to clean out the windows\prefetch folder where it likes to hide. :/
Good point. Some business ownders get into business to earn enough money to make a living. Often its to get the chance to do something they love to do or just for the challenge of it ( dealing with the chance of failure ). I myself started a business so that I make enough money to go to school / live while being able to schedule my work hours around my school schedule.
It was very hectic checking for orders and correspondence for my business in between classes, but I did it for quite a while until the competition was able to sell the same products at much lower prices than I due to the fact that purchased a much larger volume it stock than I do ( and got much lower prices from manufacturers as a result ) that I had to shut down my business before losing my proverbial shirt.
Back to the topic, there are other reasons for running a business other than to make as much money as possible. If that had been my primary goal, I would have quit school to spend my time making more money for my business, but instead I gave up business when thinks went sour rather than quitting school.