All Desktop Icons Open at Once

We have been having the weirdest issues with two computers in our office. At seemingly random times every icon on the computer desktop opens and every application is represented by a rectangle button tabby thing. This happens on Windows XP.


Anyone else have any issues like this?

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients

Working with different customers we always seem to run into the same type issues over and over. In a previous post I talked about the 4.4.7 Could Not Deliver Message error, this time has to do with not having permission to send.

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients. Subject: test Sent: 10/2/2007 8:33 AM

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

ruth@testdomain.com on 10/4/2007 8:58 AM
You do not have permission to send to this recipient. For assistance, contact your system administrator.
... Access temporarily denied. IP name lookup failed [196.25.11.101]>

The message failed going over to Ruth at testdomain coming from testo at 196.25.11.101. For this customer we actually found out that it was again a combination of missing reverse DNS records and possible blacklisting. You can do a Reverse DNS lookup on www.dnsstuff.com or on www.openrbl.org using either the CGI or JS client.

If you have Exchange 2003 at the site you are trying to research this for then another great tool to use would be SMTPDIAG. You can download it from here and read an article on how to use it here. It really helps with testing so you’re not sending 50 messages and then having to wait for them to bounce back or error out eventually.

Construction and Use of a Passive Ethernet Tap

This Tech Tip provides straightforward instructions on how to construct and use a passive Ethernet tap. The end product may be used with any hub or switch and any operating system. A passive Ethernet tap is useful when installing an intrusion detection system (IDS) sensor or when snooping Ethernet traffic.
by Michael Peters

Hardware Requirements

• A single 4-port Ethernet housing such as the Versatap AT44 Surface Jack Housing from Allen Tel Products
• 4 Category 5e modular snap-in jacks such as the AT55 Category 5e Modular Snap-In Jacks from Allen Tel Products
• A small section, about 6 inches, of Category 5e cable

Construction

Figure 1 represents the AT55 Category 5e jack. The wire termination pin positions and associated wire color codes are also shown.

Figure 1: AT55 Category 5e Jack

This diagram is usually included with new Category 5e jacks from any other vendor.

Disassemble the section of Category 5e wire that you have into eight separate wires. These wires should have the same color codes as in Figure 1.

The next step should be to partially assemble the Ethernet housing with the four jacks. These should snap into position easily. Once mounted, begin wiring the first jack position using the solid orange wire. Use the next diagram as a guide. The wires can be inserted with a small screwdriver or some other small flat tool.
Once you have terminated all eight wires, trim off any excess wire that remains. Snap the housing closed, and you should now have a completed passive Ethernet tap (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Passive Ethernet Tap

Instructions for Use

Place the passive Ethernet tap inline between a host machine and the Ethernet switch using the two outside positions labeled "HOST". Verify that the link status indicators on your host Ethernet interface and the Ethernet switch are connected again. You may now connect the Ethernet port of your sniffer or IDS sensor into the Tap A and/or Tap B connectors of the passive Ethernet tap.

Note: Keep in mind that when you have a full-duplex Ethernet connection, Tap A will show half-duplex traffic and Tap B will show the remaining traffic. You will need to use two Ethernet interfaces to examine both halves of the full-duplex signal. If you use Sun Trunking software, the traffic can be reassembled. See sun.com for information on Sun Trunking software.

Create your own virtual private network with Hamachi

By Gina Trapani of LifeHacker

"You can do things between computers on your local network you can't from out on the internet: like listen to a shared iTunes library or access files in shared folders. But using the free virtual private network application Hamachi, you can access your computer from anywhere on the internet as if you were home on your local network."

Microsoft follows Oracle into Linux Market

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. is expected to announce Thursday that it's partnering with Novell Inc. to support Linux, an open-source software alternative to Microsoft's own computer operating system, according to a report on the Wall Street Journal's Web site.

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Flash 9 beta available for Windows, Mac, and Linux

Finally, the wait is over! Note that this is a "prerelease" of Flash 9.

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could not deliver message time limit specified 4.4.7

We had a problem with email not being delivered to various domains. Here is an example of what the problem was:

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject: RE: DBA701 - Urgent
Sent: 4/13/2004 5:39 PM

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

'test@testdomain.com on 4/15/2004 6:00 PM
Could not deliver the message in the time limit specified. Please retry or contact your administrator.

The problem turned out to be that there were no PTR records set up for the outside IP address. We had to find the problem by doing a search of the PTR records on www.dnsstuff.com using this format
45.123.17.77.in-addr.arpa, the outside address is 77.17.123.45.

Of course now the format has changed at dnsstuff.com and you can just enter the IP address in the Reverse DNS Lookup box. While you're there you might as well get a full DNSReport too.

These errors can be pretty easy to troubleshoot if you use the error codes, You can reference those error codes using this document http://www.unixhub.com/docs/email/rfc1893.txt

Others have found out that their IP has been blacklisted, Am I blacklisted?

SMTP mail cannot be sent or received in Exchange Server

Firefox Extensions For Geeks

Mozilla's Firefox browser is a great tool for surfing the Net. And thanks to a growing number of free Firefox extensions, it's an especially good tool for people who want every possible ounce of browser power.

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All About the Processes

I think the problem I am having at work is directly related to the processes that we use for our business processes.... there are none. The company is still being ran the same way it was ran back when it was a one man shop 12 years ago. Since the company doesn't really have to stand on its own to survive I think that has actually stunted growth. There was an attempt to bring the company up to speed but that didn't work out. So that brings us up to now and with us trying to move to a new business model we need to get some processes in place.

So here is a starter list of what I need to create:

Managed Services Transition Plan

• Site Survey Process
• Managed Services Technical Design Process
• Flowchart Process
• Managed Services Migration Plan
• Pilot Implementation Process
• Functionality Acceptance Process
• Disaster Recovery Plan

Internal Communication Proceeses

• Internal Change Management Process
• Internal Configuration Management Process
• Internal Release Management Process
• Internal Incident Management Process
• Internal Problem Management Process

External Communication Processes

• External Change Management Process
• External Configuration Management Process
• External Release Management Process
• External Incident Management Process
• External Problem Management Process

Sales Process

• Qualification

I'll have to work with the team to get these processes knocked out. I already have the Qualification in the Sales Process and the Site Survey in the Managed Services Transition Plan.

NX server and client released under GPL license

2X software have released an NX server as well as a client to the community. Finally a fully featured GPL server as well as client is available to the general public and can be included by DEFAULT in all the distributions thus making them Terminal Servers.

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Robotics vs. Helotics - Will Japan be the mid-21st century superpower?

Technological progress rarely goes at a steady pace, though. It has its spurts and leaps, generally driven by force of necessity, and there are signs that the advance of robotics may be about to speed up dramatically. Necessity, well-known as the mother of invention, may be about to go into labor.

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The Pirate Party of the United States site launches

We are proud to announce the creation of a new website on this famous date of July 4th, 2006. Now you too can fight the good fight against the lack of representation for the user and draconian laws used to serve the corporations while ignoring the will of the people. Find official stances and forums at our site. Let this day mark a new era.

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Senator Ted Stevens Downloads the Entire Internet and Complains It's Slow!

Regarding a recent vote, Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) explained why he voted against the amendment (basic net neutrality) and gave an amazing primer on how the Internet works: "It's a series of tubes." and "...an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday." Story includes an mp3 link.

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Teach your kids some real computers skills, the hard way - install linux

I'm one who has come to learn Linux and actually enjoy it, so teaching my kids how to use Linux is definitely a must. I think they could also benefit from a whole lesson in computers and how they work. Of course, this is coming from a guy who pretty much lives on the computer.

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Jon Stewart Takes On Congress' Gamer Haters

Jon Stewart took on congress, again, last night and their idiotic attack on video games.

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AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn't yours

AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."

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Open Source Shooter Nexuiz at version 2.0

The best open source shooter has been released at version 2.0. Many improvements have been made, specialy performance and netcode. But also the visuals have improved. All in all, best open source shooter ever.

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How To Remotely Monitor Windows Memory Usage

Adding extra RAM when your machine doesn't really need it is pointless. Here's how to tell when it's time.

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How To Run Your Own Name Servers With ISPConfig And GoDaddy

This tutorial shows how you can run your own name servers for domains that you register with GoDaddy. Of course, this works with every other registrar as well, although the procedure might differ a little bit. To do this, you need two servers with two different public IP addresses and with ISPConfig installed, and of course a GoDaddy account.

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Pirate Party

Pirate Party USA forums
Pirate-party.us
Pirate Party (Lane Media Site)