`Something to Share` :)

Yahoo tracker - Track the Online/Offline status of your Yahoo Buddy

2007-08-02T18:47:00.003+05:30

Here is a cool site which allows you to monitor the Online/Offline status of any yahoo user.
http://www.yahootracker.com
Its completely free and you need not provide your yahoo id :)

As found in Home Page
Yahoo tracker is a web based service that allows you to track online/offline status of your yahoo buddies. You can track even those who are not in your messenger list, your yahoo tracker account is in no way connected to your own yahoo id. There is currently no such tool which tells you whether someone is spying on you using this service or not. The service tracks the online/offline activity of Yahoo messenger user in previous 24 hours, and you can track 12 yahoo users with one account. Data updates after every 10 minutes. Yahoo messenger users will be considered as online even if they are invisible to any number of people (not everyone). Being "on sms" and "on mobile" will also be considerd as online. The Service is being provided only for educational purposes, to let the users know about some of the yahoo loopholes.

HowTo : HTML Signature in Gmail?

2007-05-28T17:15:00.000+05:30

Now Firefox users can use HTML signature in there Gmail Account.Firefox is one of the safest, fastest and reliable web browser . It supports addons/extensions which makes the browsing experience more effective.
Using one of the addon, known as Better Gmail one can have HTML signatures in Gmail.

Better Gmail, a comprehensive suite of Gmail enhancements, including skins, saved searches, keyboard macros, secure access, attachment icons, attachment reminders, label colors, HTML signatures and more.

Click here to Download Better Gmail - If you are using Firefox then it may prevent from installing the addon from this blog. So right click on the link and say Save link as. and save the addon to your PC. Or else goto https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4866 for downloading the addon

Installation instructions

Drag and drop the .xpi file to the firefox window.
After the installation, restart the firefox to enable the addon.
Open the Firefox Goto Tools->Addons-> Click on the better gmail -> Preferences -> Enable the HTML signature by clicking on the check box opposite to the Floating Signature
Next step is to setup a signature in GMAIL. Goto settings in GMAIL -> Use Signature and check Allow HTML in Signature. If you know HTML tags then it is easy to make a signature. Or else use some webpage creator/editor to create the signature.

Or do as per the following.

goto http://pages.google.com
Create the signature as per your requirement [check http://labnol.blogspot.com for more reference in creating Signature using googlepages.]
edit the HTML. copy it and paste it in the signature section in gmail

SMS Support in Sun Java System Messaging Server version 6.3

2007-05-25T19:43:00.000+05:30

This article discusses Short Message Service (SMS) support within Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.3. You can utilize SMS as a means to quickly notify users with a more real-time, "push" style of communications, for example, to let users know of emergency conditions that require their prompt action.

Quick SMS Overview

Here is the definition of "Short message service" from Wikipedia*:

Short Message Service (SMS) is a telecommunications protocol that allows the sending of "short" (160 characters or less) text messages. It is available on most digital mobile phones and some personal digital assistants with onboard wireless telecommunications. The individual messages which are sent are called text messages, and more colloquially SMSes, texts, or even txts (in "text speak").

SMS gateways exist to connect mobile SMS services with instant message (IM) services, the world wide web, desktop computers, and even landline telephones (through speech synthesis). Devices which can connect to mobile phones and PDAs through protocols such as Bluetooth can also sometimes use that link to send SMS messages over the wireless network. SMS arose as part of the widely deployed GSM protocol, but is now also available with non-GSM systems.

The most common application of the service is person-to-person messaging, but text messages are also often used to interact with automated systems, such as ordering products and services for mobile phones, or participating in contests. There are some services available on the Internet that allow users to send text messages free of direct charge to the sender, although users of North American networks will often have to pay to receive any SMS text message.

SMS Support in Messaging Server 6.3

The short of it is that yes, Messaging Server does support SMS, specifically as a channel within the Messaging Server Message Transfer Agent (MTA).

Messaging Server implements email-to-mobile and mobile-to-email messaging using SMS. You can configure SMS as either one-way (email-to-mobile only) or two-way (both email-to-mobile and mobile-to-email). To enable one-way service only, you must add and configure the SMS channel. To enable two-way service, you must add and configure the SMS channel, and in addition, configure the SMS Gateway Server.

For both one- and two-way SMS, the generated SMS messages are submitted to a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) using the Short Message Peer to Peer (SMPP) protocol. Specifically, the SMSC must provide a V3.4 or later SMPP server that supports TCP/IP.

The following figure shows these configurations:

One-way SMS: To enable one-way service, the Messaging Server implements an SMPP client (the MTA SMS channel) that communicates with remote SMSCs. The SMS channel converts enqueued email messages to SMS messages as described in C.2.2 The Email to SMS Conversion Process of multipart MIME messages, as well as handling character set translation issues. Operating in this capacity, the SMS channel functions as an (SMPP) External Short Message Entity (ESME).

Two-way SMS: Two-way SMS enables the mail server not only to send email to remote devices, but allows for receiving replies from the remote devices and for remote device email origination. Enabling two-way SMS service requires both the MTA SMS channel (SMPP client), as explained in the previous topic, and the SMS Gateway Server. Sun Java System Messaging Server installs an SMS Gateway Server as part of its general installation process, which you must then configure.

For more information, see Appendix C, Short Message Service (SMS) in the Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.3 Administration Guide.

SMS Mailbox Access and Calendar Gateway

In addition to the SMS functionality built-in to Messaging Server, a couple of Sun Professional Services folks independently developed an SMS Gateway solution for use with Messaging Server and Calendar Server. Dubbed SMS Mailbox Access and Calendar Gateway, this solution is primarily targeted at service providers to add value for their subscriber base, though other types of organizations could certainly also use the gateway.

The SMS Gateway provides the following functionality:

SMS Notification. Receive SMS information about each email delivered to the subscriber's mailbox. Depending on user-configured settings, the following information can be sent in the SMS body: sender, email subject, date and time, size attachment information, and more. Furthermore, the subscribers can read emails using their mobile phones. It is just a matter of responding to the SMS notification and the first part of the email body will be received as another SMS on the mobile device shortly thereafter. To receive another part the subscriber has to respond with SMS to the first one, to receive the third, respond to the second, and so on, until the whole body has been transferred.
Mailbox management via SMS. This enables support for basic email services. Subscribers can use SMS messages to reply to, forward, or delete the mail stored in their mailbox to receive mailbox status information (for example, the number of messages, how many have been read, and so on), as well as detailed attachment data (filename, type, and size). Mailbox management features also include the ability to send emails using SMS messages and to change notification parameters.
Calendar Event Information. SMS Gateway sends SMS messages containing information on events in the subscriber's calendar (Calendar Server) to the subscriber's mobile phone (depending on user-configured settings). These can include reminders for pending appointments, invitations to meetings, and so on.

The SMS Gateway requires Messaging Server, Calendar Server, Directory Server, and custom components developed by Sun.

Comparison of Messaging Server SMS Channel and SMS Mailbox Access and Calendar Gateway

It's interesting to note that the built-in SMS functionality to Messaging Server and the SMS Mailbox Access and Calendar Gateway do not compete, but are in fact complementary. Here is a summary of the features in both:

SMS Channel

General-purpose email/SMS and SMS/email gateway
SMS notification sent as email passes via the channel; mailboxes are not involved
Provides historical record of the messages sent, so mobile users can respond to notifications to reply to email messages
Supports Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs)

SMS Gateway

SMS Gateway sends notifications when emails are delivered to mailboxes, so they can contain backward references to messages.
Mailboxes must be involved if you want to interact with mailbox but you can think of the Gateway as a general-purpose tool for changing some user parameters in LDAP by means of SMS messages sent.
SMPP connectivity is through the Messaging Server SMS Channel but also SEMA-OIS, UCP, and CIMD2 connectivity independently, if needed, as not all SMSC devices use SMPP.

Very briefly:

Use SMS Channel if you want to configure your Messaging Server to be an SMTP to SMS converter, so mail messages transferred through are converted to SMS messages and sent to mobile users, regardless of whether they have mailboxes on your server.
Use SMS Gateway if you want your Messaging Server users to be notified with SMS about messages that arrive in their mailboxes and to be able to manipulate them by means of SMS messages.

Another Alternative: Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) Support in Messaging Server

MMS, like Short Messaging Service (SMS), is a way to send a message from one mobile device to another. The difference is that MMS can include not just text, but also sound, images and video. It is also possible to send MMS messages from a mobile phone to an email address.

While Messaging Server has supported SMS for some time, it does not provided built-in support for MMS. Instead, Sun has partnered with companies such as Logica CMG to provide the additional functionality required.

For More Information

For more information on the SMS Mailbox Access and Calendar Gateway, contact Andrzej Zagrodzinski or Wojciech Chemijewski.

See the BigAdmin Communications Suite Hub for more information about Sun Java Communications Suite:

http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hubs/comms

*Note: Content from Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).

Tips to Keep your computer Clean, Neat and Fast

2007-05-24T18:04:00.000+05:30

Hi All,
This I got this piece of text from Internet while I was searching for an Anti-Adware software. I felt this one is good. so sharing with you too.....

Here's the deal, my way.
by Brianstech - 3/23/07 7:28 PM
In reply to: How to Remove Malware, et al, like the computer repair shops

I'm one of those who makes decent money fixing people's computers. I'm an independent, someone who has gained many clients through my years of knowledge, buying and selling, building, networking, and repairs.

Do you want to know how I keep my own computers running well?

1. I use a hardware router, Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, it doesn't matter. And I don't use extreme security settings.

2. I use Firefox as my browser. Maybe once every few months I'll use Internet Explorer to achieve something I can't with Firefox, and that's usually for experimental purposes. A few years back I got fed up with all the crap invading my computer EVERY FEW MINUTES with IE. Switched to Firefox, and the whole internet world opened its arms to me. I never looked back.

I CANNOT use Firefox without some enhancements. They're called extensions. NoScript is the most important, it won't allow a single site to run scripts (including bad ones) without your approval. Next is Adblock Plus, something that speeds loading times with every click as it blocks all those "leecher" ads from loading. I compliment that with AdBlock FiltersetG Updater.

Go to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ to learn all about it.

Also, I always install SpywareBlaster. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it helps keep the bad guys out. That's always good.

3. CCleaner. It's a simple small free program I couldn't live without. It takes mere seconds to eliminate all my internet history, cookies and cache. Not to mention emptying the Recycle Bin, and it even has a simple Registry cleaner.

CCleaner is not a security program, it qualifies as a utility. But it makes all my security scanning programs almost completely worthless. I know, I've tested it too many times. After a week or so of internet usage I've run Spybot or AdAware to see they would find the usual list of benign cookies. Running CCleaner first makes AdAware, Spyboy S&D, Ewido, and even Doctor Alex a waste of my time. They all find nothing, for about 2 years now.

http://www.ccleaner.com/

4. Background programs. I DO NOT ALLOW programs to load and run with Windows. Install your camera software, scanner software, TV tuner software, DVD media player, sound card and mixer, Itunes, it doesn't stop. They all want to be in your face every minute you are on your computer. And they are constantly hovering, waiting for you to request their services, at the cost of your time and RAM. Why do they do this? Obviously it's greed.

So you shut them down. And still they occupy CPU cycles while they constantly seek updates because you didn't STOP that also!

I use my digital camera about once every few months, my scanner even less. Why do they embed their software up my operating system's wahoo?

STOP THEM.

5. Email. Not much to say, I simply DON'T allow HTML to get through all three accounts. All my email accounts are set up for "text only", so the crooks can't can't infest my computer as easily. I also take the time to block the address or domain of every spammer, and only get about 2 unwarranted emails a year. I'm very serious.

And my life will never be changed by ANYTHING I read in an email. It's email for gosh sakes! When I read "Your Paypal account has been accessed by a third party", I laughed. I logged onto Paypal to see it was only a scammer's attempt to get me to react through clicking their link to provide them with my account information. THERE ISN'T A SINGLE EMAIL THAT WOULD EVER RAISE MY BLOOD PRESSURE!! Nowadays they can install scary stuff in your PC as soon as you open their email, unless you use "text only".

I almost wish they would still try, but it's been over 2 years since the last scam emails.

THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP.

I don't use an antivirus although I wouldn't recommend that to all common users.

And I download through torrents (filesharing) while surfing Russian Porno sites. I'm a registered hacker on a few gamer sites. Sometimes I go down those dark internet alleys looking for trouble, and I always find nothing.

I'm also an established member of eBay, almost 5 years of buying and selling on 2 accounts. Established means I'm also an active member of their communities, the Answer Center and different Groups.

Malware Alarm

2007-05-24T17:35:00.000+05:30

Description of Malware Alarm

Malware Alarm is a Trojan disguised as an anti-spyware application. It installs stealthily onto a user's system, uses aggressive advertising, and produces false positives that may goad the user into purchasing the application.

Recommendation for Malware Alarm
It is highly recommended that this application be removed from the system.

Trusted: No
Trojan: Yes
Chronic: No
Adware: No
Carrier: No
Browser Hijacker: No
Dialer: No
Commercial Keylogger: No
Remote Administration Tool: No
Suspected: No

Company Name: NA
Platforms Affected:
Methods of Distribution: Downloadable from its site
Variants/Versions:
Release Date: NA

How to Remove MalwareAlarm?

You wont be able to uninstall this trojan. Or delete it. So for removing this do the following

Open Task manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc
Kill the process named MalwareAlarm
Goto C:\Program Files and delete the Folder MalwareAlarm
Delete the start menu entries by going to start->All Programs->MalwareAlarm
Next in Run type "regedit" and search for "MalwareAlarm" and remove all the entries

How to help prevent SSH attacks...

2007-05-22T16:11:00.000+05:30

Im not a huge Linux Expert but i have enough knowledge to run and secure a server.

I was given some instructions on what to do to prevent this from happening so im going to share them here to help others secure their SSH and reduce the possibility of one of these bots (or humans) accessing your server via root.

Install Brute Force Detection (BFD)

This nifty tool will basically detect and help prevent people and bots trying to access your server by entering a list of random passwords - it will ban and block the IP’s that attempt to brute force your server.

To install BFD you must first install the APF firewall - instructions on doing so can be found over at webhostgear dot com

Once you have installed APF you may install BFD:

Step 1: Login to your server as "root"

Step 2: Download the latest release of BFD

wget http://www.rfxnetworks.com/downloads/bfd-current.tar.gz

Step 3:
Un-Tar the archive

tar -xvzf bfd-current.tar.gz

Step 4:
Move to the newly created BFD directory

cd bfd-0.X

Step 5:
Run the installation utility, once installed it will give you a completion message.

./install.sh

Step 6:
Edit the config file

nano /usr/local/bfd/conf.bfd

Change This:

ALERT_USR="0"

To This:

ALERT_USR="1"

and This:

EMAIL_USR="root"

To This:

EMAIL_USR="you@yourdomain.com"

Step 7:
Now to prevent getting locked out, its best that you edit the ignore list, this is a list of IP’s that wont be affected by the BFD system.

nano /usr/local/bfd/ignore.hosts

Add your IP to the list, e.g:

123.12.123.1

Step 8:
You can now start BFD by running the following command as root:

/usr/local/sbin/bfd -s

The install of BFD is now complete. Time for the next item on the security list…

Moving SSH To A New Port

As silly as this may sound, moving SSH is actually one of the better methods of helping to stop unauthorized access. Moving the port will give the impression that the server is either non-functional or does not have SSH setup.

If you have APF installed, make sure to add the new port to the list of open ports before applying the below modifications - failure to do so could leave you locked out of your system.

Step 1: Pick yourself a port number (higher 4 digit numbers are usually better as they are less likely to already be in use). E.g. 8470

Step 2:Here we will open up the SSH config file, at the top of the file is the current port number (22), you can just change this to the new one:

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Step 3:
Restart the SSH server

/etc/rc.d/init.d/sshd restart

Step 4:
Login with the new port number!
If using putty the port number defaults to 22 however you can change this when entering the server IP.

Step 5: If everything is working, you can now edit your APF config and close off port 22 as its no longer needed!

Google SketchUp

2007-05-19T19:54:00.000+05:30

SketchUp is a 3D modelling program designed for professional architects, civil engineers, filmmakers, game developers, and related professions. It was designed to be more intuitive, flexible, and easy-to-use than other 3D modelling programs, which often have steep learning curves.[1] Several features allow designers to "play" with their designs, unlike what is possible in other 3D CAD programs. It is marketed as an easy-to-use conceptual tool with a simple interface.

http://www.sketchup.com/

Some of its key features include:

A smart drawing cursor (inference) system that allows users to draw 3D objects using a 2D screen and mouse.
Simple massing study capability via "push-pull".
An interactive Heliodon, or sun angle simulator.
A fast, easy way to animate camera and sun movements.
Models can be individually colored with an assortment of solid colors, textures and materials.

SketchUp was developed by startup company @Last Software, Boulder, Colorado which was formed in 1999.[2] SketchUp was first released in August 2000[3] as a general purpose 3D content creation tool. It won a Community Choice Award at its first tradeshow in 2000.(A/E/C SYSTEMS Fall 2000)[4] It quickly found a market in architecture and building design industries, however, and was revised to suit the needs of working professionals. The key to its early success was in its fast learning curve, allowing for a shorter learning period than other commercially available 3D tools.

As of SketchUp 5, features were added to allow the user to extrude and widen as well as the ability for a face to "follow" the cursor around an object.

On March 14, 2006, Google acquired @Last Software,[5] attracted by their plugin for Google Earth.

On January 9, 2007 SketchUp 6 was released, featuring a handful of new tools as well as a beta version of Google SketchUp LayOut. LayOut includes a handful of 2D vector tools, as well as page layout tools making it easier for professionals to create presentations without jumping to a third-party presentation program.

Twittering with Google Talk

2007-05-19T19:32:00.000+05:30

What are you doing right now? It's a pretty simple question. Me? I'm writing this post. Maybe you're "eating a magnolia cupcake," or "at work, but shopping online." Or maybe you're "thinking of how to use the word of the day in a sentence: polypropolene."

Twitter is a site that makes it easy to let the world know what you're doing, and see what other people are up to in a fun, social environment. You can think of it as low-effort mini-blogging. And you can update your status with even less effort by using Google Talk. Just add twitter@twitter.com to your contact list and shoot off an IM to it about how you're "cooking up some spicy chicken jambalaya" or "walking the cat." (Cats can go on walks, too.)

You can also use Talk with Twitter on a mobile device. Using the RIM Blackberry Google Talk Client you can quickly and easily send status updates to Twitter, and we'll all know how you're shoveling yourself out of a foot of snow. Advanced apologies to our NYC office, we've got sun here in Mountain View.

Add twitter@twitter.com to your Google Talk contacts to check it out.

Clam AntiVirus proves to be prosperous in the battle against email attacks

2007-05-19T16:50:00.000+05:30

One Blaster worm can ruin your whole day -- but Clam AntiVirus is free, fast, and can save the day. Clam AntiVirus is an antivirus toolkit for Unix, specializing in email scanning on mail gateways. Product features include a multi-threaded daemon, command-line scanner and automatic virus database updates. ClamAV detects more than 116,000 viruses, worms and Trojans, including Microsoft Office macro viruses and mobile malware.

When a new worm spreads, the development team usually releases a database update in less than an hour. Users can develop their own signatures, and submit them -- or suspect files -- to the developers. Updates work either in an interactive mode (on demand from the command line) or as a daemon (updating silently in the background). All virus updates are digitally signed to validate proof of authenticity.
Clam AntiVirus is capable of scanning files and directories, including recursive directories. Its multi-threaded execution makes use of the numerous CPU processors found in most contemporary machines. ClamAV also protects against malware hidden within archives by scanning inside
compressed files. ClamAV supports ZIP, RAR, SFX, TAR, GZIP, MS cabinet (CAB) files, CHM (compiled HTML), BinHex and more. The product is also capable of examining several special file formats, including HTML, RTF, PDF, uuencode, TNEF (winmail.dat) and JPEG files looking for hidden exploits.
In addition to scanning files and folders, Clam AntiVirus scans data streams for viruses that may attempt to traverse the network. ClamAV is also extensible and supports added functionality via third-party add-on modules, such as the phishing module that blocks SSL mismatches in URLs to prevent users from being redirected to phony look-alike identity-theft sites. SpamAssassin users may appreciate the third-party plug-in for SpamAssassin, which calls ClamAV and adds a score based on the result of ClamAV's scan.
Clam AntiVirus is an active open source project licensed under the General Public License (GNU). Most popular Unix-based operating systems are supported, including Linux, Solaris, BSD and Mac OS X. There is also a ClamAV Windows port offered at w32.clamav.net. ClamAV excels at flagging malware, though falls short in its ability to auto-block active threats. Nonetheless Clam AntiVirus is a worthy arrow in your security quiver.

Google Book Search becomes more comprehensive

2007-05-18T19:52:00.000+05:30

Google Book Search allows you to instantly search the full text of over a million digitized books, but we thought that wasn't quite enough. Now when you search you'll get both digitized book results as well as records for millions of other books that still just exist in the analog world.

When you view these new added book records, you can often read reviews, a summary, or see what other people had to say about the book around the web. Since these books haven't been digitally indexed yet, you can't preview the text online, but if you've discovered something great, we offer links to buy the book or find it in a library near you.

We're doing this because we want to offer users the most comprehensive book search in the world - whether it's a book you can read online now, preview samples, see a few snippets, or just read what others have written about the book. We're still very busy digitizing millions more books, but want to make as much discoverable as possible today.

To find out more, check out our post on Inside Google Book Search।
Source - http://googleblog.blogspot.com

Red Hat to build 'Global Desktop'

2007-05-18T13:56:00.000+05:30

Red Hat is preparing to release a new 'Global Desktop' that over time will grow into an online desktop which integrates online services into a client desktop platform.

The platform will allow users to access online and local data in a unified way.

Red Hat has teamed up with Intel for the platform. Local PC manufacturers will build the actual systems.

The computers will target small businesses and governments in emerging economies, and the software will be made available on Intel's Classmate PC, a low cost notebook computer for students.

The software borrows from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, with about 95 per cent of the code overlapping.

The OLPC uses an adapted version of Red Hat's Fedora Linux. The Global Desktop won't share the OLPC's 'Sugar' user interface, but will come bundled with applications such as Firefox and OpenOffice.

The first version of the software is due out in June and will use a traditional user interface.

Subsequent updates will move to a model where traditional applications are integrated with online services, said Red Hat chief technology officer Brian Stevens.

"It will take online services and integrate them richly into a client desktop, and make them first class citizens with the traditional applications," Stevens said in a keynote at the Red Hat Summit in San Diego.

Integrating online services with local data is required for the next-generation desktop, he argued. Data will be pulled onto the client using service oriented architectures (SOAs).

"To the user the desktop metaphor is dead. We don't believe that recreating a Windows paradigm in an open source model will do anything to advance the productivity in the life of users," Stevens added.

"Users aren't sitting in isolation anymore. The Windows paradigm doesn't have anything to add to the experience of the user."

Stevens also unveiled a project that attempts to put a user's operating system on a USB stick. The software will execute as in a virtual compartment.

Red Hat chief executive Matt Szulik stressed in his opening keynote at the event that reinventing the desktop was crucial for the company to enter the desktop market. If it merely copied Windows, the project would fail, he argued.

"Trying to become the appendage on the existing incumbent would become a failing solution. The landscape is littered with people that tried to subscribe into becoming a component of that infrastructure and that infrastructure," Szulik said.

What To Do When AdSense Serves The Wrong Ads

2007-05-18T01:54:00.000+05:30

The most common frustrations among AdSense publishers are 1) Google serving inappropriate ads on their web pages, 2) low click-through rates and 3) low payouts per click।

This article discusses the first frustration, which is highly correlated with the other issues, and discusses what webmasters can do to combat it.

To begin, it is important to understand how Google determines what ads to serve via the AdSense program. This explanation goes back to April 2003 when Google acquired Santa Monica, CA-based Applied Semantics. Applied Semantics' products are based on its patented CIRCA technology, which understands, organizes, and extracts knowledge from websites and information repositories in a way that mimics human thought and enables more effective information retrieval. A key application of the CIRCA technology is that it allows Google to, without human intervention, understand the key themes on web pages in order to deliver relevant and targeted advertisements.

However, the CIRCA technology is not always accurate or appropriate to the page. For example, in a general web page about health topics, AdSense is currently serving ads for insulin even though only two words in one paragraph relate to insulin. Rather, the site is much more focused on dieting.

LinksManager manages reciprocal links, and helps increase website traffic through linking with other like-minded quality sites -> more info

One explanation may be that the CIRCA technology is tied to keyword pricing and inventory (e.g., AdWords advertiser daily budgets), and that AdSense serves ads that it hopes to maximize revenues. However, this often violates a critical AdSense rule - if the ads do not relate to the topic discussed on the web page, visitors will not click on them. Likewise, TopPayingKeywords.com always tells clients never to try and trick AdSense. That is, if customers are coming to your page from a link or advertisement for one topic (e.g., hair styles), never try to create a page about an unrelated topic (e.g., mortgages), just because that unrelated topic is an expensive keyword. While you will be serving expensive ads, because the topics are not correlated, visitors are unlikely to click on them.

Getting AdSense to serve the correct ads is a trial-and-error process. In the health page example above, all it took to get AdSense to remove the insulin ads was to remove the paragraph in the text that mentioned insulin. Fortunately, AdSense often updates itself within just a few hours, so it's easy to keep modifying your site until the most relevant, and hopefully most expensive, ads are served.

Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn): A look inside the new features for Active Directory

2007-05-17T22:19:00.000+05:30

Interest in Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (code-name Longhorn), the newest member of the Windows Server family, took a dramatic turn two weeks ago when Microsoft released beta 3 to the public. It certainly is big news within the Active Directory community, as a plethora of new features and changes have been included. While there is certainly plenty to talk about, now seems like a good time to review a few of the major points regarding Longhorn and Active Directory.

While I could write hundreds of pages on all the new features in Windows Server 2008, I have singled out two very significant features that will probably relate to most Active Directory deployments: the read-only domain controller (RODC) and server roles.

Note: Server roles incorporate a lot of the new features in Longhorn, so this is a pretty good list of those features.

Read-only domain controller (RODC)

This is perhaps the marquee feature for Active Directory in Windows Server 2008. In Microsoft's continuing effort to improve the branch office scenario, this will be a giant step forward.

The RODC hosts a read-only copy of the Active Directory database. In addition, the administrator can determine which accounts will be replicated to the DC, and replication is unidirectional. This solves a lot of security issues at remote sites since it will minimize accounts exposed at the site (presumably not any admin accounts), and anything compromised at the site will not make it out of the site. Combined with the new BitLocker technology, RODC will allow deployment of DCs at smaller sites where it was not feasible before.

Server Core

Microsoft said at TechEd 2006 that Server Core was developed as a response to customer requests to provide a lean server operating system that would permit specific server functions to run without all the overhead of the GUI. That's right -- a Windows OS without a GUI! Well … almost. After logon, you will be presented with a desktop with no start menu, taskbar or icons, and two command windows. Installation of roles such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), DNS, file services and print server will be done completely from the command line.

So why don't we just boot into a command environment and do away with the whole GUI thing? Because this environment will still allow you to open applications such as Event Viewer, notepad and others.

In addition to making the server better defined for administrative purposes and reducing the hardware resources required, Server Core also permits better security at remote sites, allowing a smaller footprint of exposure.

The core roles available include:

Active Directory Domain Services

* Auditing -- Allows auditing of "Directory Service Changes" to better track changes to Active Directory objects and attributes.
* Fine-Grained Password Policies (FGPP) -- Allows a more granular password policy to be applied to specific sets of users that will trump the policy set in the domain level Group Policy. FGPP is defined as an attribute in the AD and not implemented through Group Policy. (Should be a lot of fun to troubleshoot!)
* Read-only domain controller
* Restartable Active Directory Domain Services -- How cool will it be to simply turn off the AD, perform tasks like offline database defragmenting, then turn it back on without a reboot?
* Snapshot Viewer -- Think of this as a staged object recovery. It allows you to view a deleted object in multiple disk snapshots and determine which one to restore.

Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) -- There are many new features added in AD CS from Windows Server 2003.

Active Directory Lightweight Domain Services (AD LDS) -- This is the new version of the Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) product.

Active Directory Rights Management Service -- The old Windows Rights management product gets new features such as delegation of administration, a new MMC interface, integration with AD Federated Services and, of course, it can be installed as a server role.

DHCP server

DNS server

File Services -- This role includes Services for Network File System (NFS), some new NTFS features and the new Windows Server Backup, replacing the old NT Backup. Note that this new backup program does not support tape devices. However, the tape drivers are still available and can be used by third-party tape devices, including Microsoft's Data Protection Manager.

Network Policy and Access Services -- This role includes network services such as VPN, RADIUS and dial up servers as well as routers and 802.11 wireless access. Network Access Protection (NAP) deployment is also included in this role.

Print Server

Streaming Media Services -- This role can be used to deploy streaming digital media content and manage Windows Media servers.

Application Server -- This role provides an environment that allows applications to run. Features include IIS, .NET Framework v 3.0 and 2.0, ASP.NET, COM+, Message Queuing and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

As you can see, that is quite a list, but it still doesn't cover everything. There are a lot of other features and improvements, such as the new Terminal Services Gateway and BitLocker drive encryption. These are some interesting features that you owe it to yourself and your company to explore.

I'd also like to point out that according to Microsoft's upgrade roadmap, Longhorn will include all of the features in the Windows Server 2003 R2 release. This includes the important Distributed File System (DFS) improvements with the new DFS replication engine, plus the incorporation of Windows Services for Unix features such as NFS. Note that although R2 is not a required upgrade for Windows Server 2003 or Longhorn Server, it does allow the uses of new components that will be incorporated in Longhorn.

You can download the Longhorn Beta 3 bits from Microsoft. If you don't have a lot of spare hardware hanging around that will support Windows Server 2008, use Microsoft's free Virtual Server, VMware Server or Workstation. All these virtualization products allow you to build a Longhorn environment or a mixed mode Longhorn-Windows 2003 environment without risking hardware. Then again, I don't need to tell you all the virtues of virtualization.

So with that, I encourage you to get the downloads, start exploring and watch for future articles in this space.

OpenLDAP Software 2.3 Administrator's Guide: Introduction to OpenLDAP Directory Services

2007-05-07T16:34:00.000+05:30

OpenLDAP Software 2.3 Administrator's Guide: Introduction to OpenLDAP Directory Services

Notes for Configuring Openldap for Linux.

tcp_forward

2007-04-03T17:37:00.000+05:30

2006-11-04T12:34:00.000+05:30

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