Chris's Two Cents

DCPromo error when removing a child domain

2011-09-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

I set up a child domain in our lab at work. The child domain controller was a virtual 2008 server. When I tried to run dcpromo to get rid of it, I got the following error:

---------------------------
Active Directory Installation Wizard
---------------------------
The operation failed because:

Active Directory could not transfer the remaining data in directory partition
CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=xxx,DC=NET to domain controller yyy.xxxx.NET.

"The RPC server is unavailable."
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

After pouring through Google and tons of forums, I could not find the answer, but everything seemed to point to it being a DNS problem. It turns out, that was indeed the case. On the parent domain controller, I opened up DNS and navigated to the child domain under forward lookup zones. I tried to ping the FQDN of the child domain controller but could not, however, I was able to ping it by computer name.

When I opened up the properties of the child domain in DNS, the name server listed for the child domain controller had its old IP address listed. So I changed it to the new IP address, and suddenly, all of the RPC errors went away and I was able to demote the child domain controller and remove the child domain!

It took me months to figure this out, and all the trouble was because the IP address of the domain controller changed.

Postfix Server

2011-07-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

I was testing a monitoring program at work that generates a lot of email, and rather than bog down my company's email server, I wanted to set up my own. I decided to throw Postfix onto my Fedora VM. It seemed like a pretty basic install - just 'yum install postfix' and then edit the configuration file (main.cf). (I used the tutorial I found here.)

However, once I did this, I still wasn't getting any of the emails I was sending to myself through telnet. Hmm, was the domain set up correctly? Yup. I should have been getting email. (I set it up on a local domain, since I only needed to send email from one computer that was inside the network.)

After setting up Postfix and Cyrus (for POP/IMAP) on my ClearOS VM, that has a GUI for this sort of thing, I was able to compare its configuration file and figure out what I was doing wrong. It turns out that the 'mydomain' field in Postfix has nothing to do with the domains it accepts email for. Instead, you have to add the domains you want to accept email for under 'mydestination'.

That only took a day to figure out...

Words of Wisdom (not my own)

2011-06-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.

Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
so no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night— then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.

So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,
so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
so with those who are afraid to take them.

This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even their name is forgotten.
Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Ecclesiastes 8:2-9:12

Old Computers

2011-03-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a year since my last post.

I've been trying to figure out to do with three of my computers. Currently, I have a Sempron 3300+ with 512MB of RAM that I use to watch videos on my TV. Since I use my Xbox for that now, I've been thinking about repurposing it, but my Xbox doesn't play HD video, so I'm not sure I want to get rid of it just yet. That being said, most of my video is not HD, and I hardly ever use it. So I don't know...

I also have a Pentium 4 1.7Ghz with 1GB of RAM that I installed Fedora 14 on. I could use it as an Apache server, but I already have a web hosting account with Godaddy. Perhaps I could put some kind of web app on it or use it for testing. I also could use it as an rsnapshot server to make backups, but there isn't really a whole lot I need to back up.

My third computer is a Celeron 1.4GHz with 256MB of RAM. Yep, it's junk and I should get rid of it. It's fast enough to run Ubuntu server though, so I could do that. I've been thinking about giving it to my brother for that purpose, but he said he wasn't interested. I could also just scrap it and make use of the Windows XP Professional license and the 20GB hard drive.

Who knows what I'll do.

Intermountain Biomedical

2010-02-28T11:27:00.000-08:00

I am just about finished with my brother's web site, Intermountain Biomedical.

If you've ever seen my business's web site, you'll know instantly where it came from.

Exchange Installation Hell

2009-12-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

I tried to install Exchange 2003 on a secondary server, and it prompted me for a "user name, domain, and password" for some exchange 5.5 administration account. I thought this was very odd as I had never installed Exchange 5.5 on this network.

Well, the fix was fairly simple, but finding it was a pain in the ass. Adapting the solution given at this page, I was able to fix it by doing this:

1. Open ADSI Edit and expand the "Configuration" node in the left pane.
2. Expand the Configuration Container -> CN=Configuration -> CN=Services -> CN=Microsoft Exchange -> CN=Organization -> CN=Administrative Groups
3. Right click the administrative group in which the affected Exchange 2003 server is a member, and then click Properties.
4. In the Select property to view list, select each of the following attributes:
- msExchLegacyAccount: [I set this to Administrator]
- msExchLegacyDomain: [I set this to the Windows NT domain name I was on]
- msExchLegacyPW: [I set this to the Administrator password]
- msExchEncryptedPassword [I left this unset]
5. Change the value of the msExchAdminGroupMode attribute from 2 to 0 (zero), which indicates a Native Administrative Group. [not sure if this was even necessary]

Then I logged off and on, reran setup, and it worked! I may have had to enter the Administrator password on that screen. I don't remember.

SSLSniff on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

2009-11-11T13:43:00.000-08:00

I had a tough time compiling this program, but it turns out, all I needed to do was change one line in the Makefile:

sslsniff_LDFLAGS = -lssl -lboost_filesystem -lpthread -lboost_thread -llog4cpp

to

sslsniff_LDFLAGS = -lssl -lboost_filesystem-mt -lpthread -lboost_thread-mt -llog4cpp

This is because the program 'requires' libboost 1.35 and Karmic only allows you to use 1.34 or 1.38. I installed 1.38 by typing 'apt-get install libboost1.38-dev'.

Salaried

2009-08-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

Exempt status. I get paid a certain amount of money each year, and no matter how much I work, I get paid the same.

By exempt, I mean that I am exempt from being paid overtime. Normally this is just so that if, for example, a server goes out while I'm gone and there is an emergency, my employer won't have to worry about paying me while I bring it back up.

The trouble is, employers these days, especially in the IT industry, are using exempt status to avoid having to pay their employees for overtime. I don't mind working the extra hours- if I get paid for it. But what reason is there to work the extra hours and not get paid, when I can just get a second job that pays me for working more?

I was just told by my co-workers today that, in spite of me being told that I would regularly have to work 50 hours per week, I would probably be working closer to 70 hours per week. I am effectively going to be paid about half what an hourly worker would be paid in my position. And who wants to work 70 hours a week? Not me.

New Job + Apartment

2009-07-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

I start a new job tomorrow as a level 2 network engineer. I'll be providing phone and email support to various companies who have server troubles.

I've spent the weekend moving into a new apartment that is 10 minutes away from work. It's very nice- I even have my own washer and dryer! I had to take a bath yesterday though because it didn't come with a shower curtain. Bathtubs are not designed for people who are 6 feet tall!

My neighbor has a really fast internet connection- 10Mbps down, 3Mbps up. And now, so do I. :)

New Domain

2009-06-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

I got a new domain name for my personal web site. To get it indexed on Google and help improve its PageRank, I am positing a link to it here. :)

Bad RAM

2009-06-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

I had a Dell Vostro 1720 with bad RAM. It gave me a message when I turned it on that said "resource conflict- allocation error 0x02." Then when Windows XP tried to start it would either bluescreen or say that the file C:\Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM was corrupted and that I would need to run the repair program on my Windows XP CD.

Fortunately, I was able to run the Dell diagnostics program and it told me that my RAM was bad. But the behavior was peculiar and unexpected- I thought it had a bad hard drive!

Fans

2009-04-28T09:34:00.001-07:00

I went to a customer whose computer was "shutting itself off every day at 2:45pm." At first, I thought it was the backup power generator, but they said the monitor and other components stayed on.

After a while, I figured out the solution that should have been obvious: the fan was bad.

Remote Desktop Trouble

2009-03-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

I've been having a problem connecting to Remote Desktop on my main workstation for a long time. The problem started in Windows XP SP2, then I upgraded to SP3 and it worked fine for a while, and then it stopped working again.

The problem was that whenever I tried to connect to it, the Remote Desktop client would immediately disconnect, without any error messages or event log entries.

The cause turned out to be my nVidia drivers:

Though I'd expect this problem to be solved with the latest driver, it seems it's existed atleast since May of 2008 and version 175.16.

The following is a quote from Nvidia's site:

"The root of the problem is that the session image space is too small and it can't load any more drivers into it. The session image space is shared for the display driver drivers and printer drivers. rdpdd = remote desktop protocol display driver.

You can fix this bug by increasing the size of the session image space via a registry key. Add the following key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]

"SessionImageSize"=dword:00000020

0x20 == 32 MB works on my system anyway."

I added that registry key, rebooted and now it works... I still have no clue why one day it would suddenly stop working but that fixed it and I'm happy with that.

Here is the full forum post

Aircrack Injection (Part 2)

2009-02-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

So it turns out the new Broadcom b43 drivers, since kernel 2.6.24, have a really nifty feature that allows you to create a new virtual interface to monitor data. And it supports injection out of the box!

To use it (I'm using Ubuntu), just type these commands:
sudo iw dev wmaster0 interface add mon0 type monitor
sudo ifconfig mon0 up

Now you can use airodump or your favorite monitor mode applications on mon0:
sudo airodump-ng mon0

Office 2003 and Activesync and You

2009-01-29T13:19:00.000-08:00

I was at a client's place today and she had Outlook 2003. I set her up with POP3 and tried to do a send/receive and it said "send/receive finished," but nothing happened. The test message I tried to send was still in the outbox, and the inbox was empty.

This problem also made it impossible for her to run Activesync with her Windows Mobile PDA. Whenever I tried to set it up, a message box would come up and tell me to install Outlook, run it once, and then run the synchronization wizard again.

Well, lo and behold, this was a known issue with Outlook 2003. A simple upgrade to Office 2003 SP3 fixed the problem.

Only took me 3 hours to figure it out!

Aircrack Injection (Part 1)

2009-01-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

First of all, if you don't know, Aircrack is a program that's used to crack encryption keys of wireless networks. My laptop has a Broadcom 4306 chipset, which has been hacked to death by Linux developers.

Starting with kernel 2.6.24, a different driver is used for Broadcom chipsets (the older one was based on Intel drivers, the new one I believe is based on MadWifi). The drivers in the new kernel support injection out of the box, but the older ones do not. I previously spent a lot of time patching the older drivers to support injection, and it worked well, until I upgraded to the new kernel.

At first, injection only worked if I moved my laptop very close to the wireless AP. That problem appears to have been corrected in the new 2.6.27 kernel.

For a long time, I thought injection didn't work at all in the new kernel because I was doing it wrong: I was trying to authenticate with my access point at home, which uses no encryption. Apparently, the AP you authenticate with using Aircrack has to use WEP. Then today I tried authenticating on my neighbor's WEP-protected AP (just to test it, of course :) and it worked!

However, before doing that, I worked hard on making a live Ubuntu Gutsy CD that includes Aircrack, Kismet, and the patched drivers. So for anyone that wants it, you can download it here!

WiLife

2009-01-17T12:11:00.001-08:00

I was recently generously given two WiLife surveillance cameras. One of them has a power adapter that doesn't work, so only one camera is useful to me.

Unfortunately, it appears I can only access the camera using Logitech's proprietary software. Opening the powerline networking adapter in Wireshark shows TCP activity on a bunch of random ports, but I can't gleam any useful information.

If you've had success with third party software and this product, I'd like to hear about it.

On Voting

2008-10-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

I just saw Google tell everyone that "Democracy works best when we all participate." Lately I have come to believe that this is not true. For instance, a lot of young people are registering to vote, and yet they can't name any real reasons why they're voting for their candidate of choice.

Please, if you don't know what you're voting for, don't vote. Democracy works best when the electorate isn't ignorant.

Docx Annoyances

2008-10-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

I had a client call me with a Ubuntu EEE PC who was unable to open .docx files in OpenOffice. Fortunately, I found a couple solutions:

First, a web site that emails you converted docx files: http://docx-converter.com

Second, a plugin for OpenOffice (yes, it works on Linux).

Politics

2008-09-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, I usually try not to get political on this thing, but I've just about had it up to here with our government. $700 BILLION dollars to bail out companies who made bad decisions about who to loan money to? Face it, they took a big risk by giving loans to people they knew couldn't afford homes, and they lost. But now, we responsible Americans who waited until we could afford a home to buy one have to foot the bill for their mistakes.

And my fellow Americans could not agree more: A poll on congress.org says that 91% of us oppose the $700 billion bailout.

Click the above link and let them know how you feel.

My Parents Need a New TV

2008-08-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

The TV in my parents' living room has finally kicked the bucket, and they need help selecting a new one.

The problem is that it must fit into a small cabinet that's designed for a 27 inch CRT.

Is there any place that sells new CRT TVs? Best Buy sure doesn't!

An LCD with a 4:3 aspect ratio would work just as well, but nobody seems to make those anymore either!

My New Toy

2008-08-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

When I was in Utah, I managed to get a hold of a directional WiFi antenna.

Today I got the pigtail adapter so I can hook it up to my laptop.

Turns out it's very sensitive to line-of-sight obstructions. I got about 3 miles of range with it from a big omnidirectional antenna in Utah, but as soon as a building got in the way, it was gone.

Spyware

2008-08-19T18:23:00.001-07:00

Today I had the displeasure of removing yet another instance of Antivirus XP 2008. It's a scam antivirus program that is nearly impossible to remove, at least, until I found my new favorite antispyware program: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

Spybot stole the crown from Ad-Aware not too long ago because of its more open licensing and the fact that Ad-Aware has started to become bloatware. I'll still be using Spybot, but probably not as much now since Malwarebytes found so much more crap after I ran Spybot on my client's computer today.

My favorite spyware prevention software remains the same: Firefox and SpywareBlaster.

I still miss it

2008-08-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

Well, right now my mind is swarming with ideas and questions about the directional antenna I acquired on my vacation. Over the last couple days, I could have just gone to the wireless village at DEFCON and asked an expert. They were everywhere, and happy to help.

Not anymore.

I'm back!

2008-08-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

I went on vacation for the last two weeks, mostly to see my family in Salt Lake City, but I also stopped at DEFCON.

The talks were pretty interesting, but you can get them all on their web site. There were parties and places to hang out and talk to other people, but overall, it was crowded and I don't think it was worth the expense to be there. I also saw more women than I thought I would, but nearly all of them had boyfriends or were married. It was a fun experience, but considering it cost me $120, plus $100 to share a room for 3 nights, and it would have cost me $100 in gas to get there, I would have stayed home knowing all I know now.

I'm on MySpace

2008-07-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

As much as I hate that website more than anything else on the Internet, I've made an account. Mainly for the same reasons I use AOL for instant messaging: all my friends use it.

Actually it was my niece's friend who set up my account.

If you can't find it, I probably don't want you reading it.

My Computer Sucks

2008-07-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

It looks like yet another one of my computer components is dying. So I feel like going on a rant...

My monitor turns itself off a second after I turn it on, then it comes on again for a second and turns off again. It does this for about 5 minutes after I turn it on.

My motherboard's fan quit spinning as fast, causing my chipset to overheat and all but 3 (thank God) of my USB ports don't work anymore. I even bought an extended warranty for it because I have so much bad luck with computer parts, but of course, this happened shortly after the warranty expired.

My video card's memory heatsinks fell off and I had to special order heatsink glue to reattach them. Also it mysteriously runs at 85 celcius under load. (Yes, I've cleaned the dust off of it and I have 12cm intake and exhaust fans.)

My processor turned out to be defective too. Fortunately it was under warranty.

My old laptop's video card died twice due to a manufacturing defect. The hard drive also died.

My new laptop's motherboard died a month after I bought it. Actually I bought it used, and this occured 3 months after the warranty expired (of course).

My iPod's hard drive died 2 years after I bought it.

All right, hopefully this wasn't too depressing. Enjoy the rest of my blog! :)

Anonymous P2P

2008-07-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

As someone who is pursuing a graduate degree in computer networks and someone who wants to be a network security expert (and, if you've read the rest of my posts, someone who's on the MPAA's watch list), I've been digging into anonymous file sharing networks. I've known for a long time (almost as long as I've been using the Internet) that online activities are very susceptible to eavesdropping, monitoring, data mining, and flagrant breaches of privacy.

File sharing networks have come under the most fire lately by the powers that be. Regardless of your opinions about them, securing them remains challenging. Several people have already taken a crack at this problem, and though none have really solved it in a way that is fit for mainstream users, I wanted to examine some of their work. No implementation is perfect, but I have discovered that some are definitely better than others.

First, let's start with Tor. If you want to be able to browse the web anonymously, without being eavesdropped, it's the best way to go. It doesn't require you to upload any traffic, and it provides SOCKS5 functionality, so it works with almost any TCP application. Also, at 117.5kbps, Tor wins the download speed contest for web traffic.

What Tor does not do very well is handle large amounts of data, which makes it a poor choice for file sharing applications. Additionally, Tor cycles between exit nodes rapidly, causing your public IP address to change, which file sharing software also does not like.

I2P was designed more with file sharing in mind, though you wouldn't know it if you just downloaded their Java-based router application. It takes a bit more thinking to figure out how to use I2P than Tor, but I2P seems to be a good alternative to Tor.

Firing up I2P's router console reveals several ways to use the network. There's an http proxy, IRC, POP3/SMTP, and a few other protocols. The whole thing is very community-based: when you open up I2P, you feel like you're a part of a whole secret Internet society. It's like a club, and you'll feel like you were logging on to the Internet for the first time back in the 1990s.

Unfortunately, just like the old Internet, I2P's connection is a high-latency, low-bandwidth one. Also, I2P's main difference from Tor is that it doesn't offer a SOCKS proxy. Instead, it requires all applications used on it to be specifically written for it. It does come with a lightweight BitTorrent client, but getting eDonkey to work was a real PITA. And at 29kbps for web downloads, I2P's web proxy is slow.

Some developers have created iMule: a special mod of the aMule eDonkey client for the I2P network. I first tried unzipping it to a folder and running imule.exe, per the instructions. After a while, it successfully connected to the I2P network, but it would not connect to Kademlia (it does not support eDonkey servers). I figured out the nodes.dat file it was trying to download was giving me a 404 error, so I scoured the Internet for a fresh list and input it into iMule. A few seconds later, iMule crashed.

I was able to get help on I2P's IRC channels, but never ended up fixing the problem. But I did discover something disappointing about iMule and their BitTorrent client: they only connect to other peers that are on I2P.

AntsP2P was the next thing I tried. It is an anonymous file sharing network, not an overlay or proxy network like Tor and I2P. Since it has been designed explicitly for file sharing, I expected its performance to be pretty good. (With iMule and I2P BitTorrent not working, neither of the two previous networks I tested support P2P programs.)

With only an average of 10 peers, AntsP2P is just about dead. There were no files when I searched for anything. Not even the letter 'a'.

MUTE was the next thing I tried. I searched for the letter 'a' and it actually returned results! I downloaded one of the files, at about 10KB/s. The client said it was corrupted, I was able to open it just fine (it was a PDF). Still, when a client reports corruption but doesn't do anything to fix it, you know the development team has a lot of work to do.

Well, of all the clients I tested, only Tor and MUTE ended up working at all. Tor works reasonably well but shouldn't be used for file sharing. MUTE is slow and prone to corruption, so I just can't recommend it. Plus its selection of files is very limited. For now, if you want to get into file sharing, you'll still have to deal with the AAs.

I Can't Drive 55

2008-07-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

It looks like the government is looking at bringing back the 55 MPH speed limit to try and bring down the price of gas.

Didn't they learn their lesson when they tried this before? It didn't work for the same reason prohibition didn't work: nobody did it. I know if they reinstate it, I sure won't. Instead, I'll be buying products (and stock, if they decide to go IPO) from this company.

Besides, wouldn't they conserve even more energy if they lowered the speed limit to 45? Or prohibited the use of air conditioning? I would think high gas prices are exactly what environmentalists would want.

Wanted

2008-07-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

I finally got my first complaint from the MPAA! Here it is, in its full glory!

Dear Subscriber:

This email is being sent to you by Road Runner Customer Care because we have received a complaint that your computer has been used to distribute copyrighted material without authorization through a peer-to-peer program. We received this complaint from the movie studio, record company, television studio or other company that owns the copyrighted material. The purpose of this email is to remind you that the distribution of copyrighted material in this fashion may violate both the copyright laws and Road Runner's terms of service, and to tell you a bit about peer-to-peer programs, the dangers they can pose to your computer and our network, and the steps you can take to protect yourself.

A computer can become accessible to a peer-to-peer network for an unlimited period of time after a peer-to-peer program is downloaded.

You may not even be aware that such a program is on your computer; a child or a visitor to the home could have downloaded it. That is why we want to alert you to this issue. Peer-to-peer programs may contain many problems. For example:

· Downloading and offering for upload copyrighted material without authorization is unlawful. If you or others using your computer have been doing this, you could be subject to civil penalties and criminal fines. Such activity also violates the Road Runner terms of service.

· The programs allow any anonymous person on the Internet to look at your computer files and copy them for themselves. Such a hacker could view all of your files, which can lead to identity theft.
· The programs, which use large amounts of memory, can interfere with the functioning of your computer by destabilizing your operating system, leading to a general sluggishness at bootup and during operation.
· The programs can contain spyware, adware, malware, viruses and pornography.

If you are interested in a discussion of problems associated with peer-to-peer file sharing, please follow this link: http://research.pestpatrol.com/whitepapers/p2p_impact.asp.

If you use the Windows OS, the best way to remove peer-to-peer programs is through the Add/Remove Programs tool. Other removal options are discussed at http://security.uchicago.edu/peer-to-peer/no_fileshare.shtml.

Thank you for subscribing to Road Runner.

Very truly yours,

Road Runner Customer Care

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
ISP: Time Warner Cable
IP Address: [censored]

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Re: Unauthorized Copying and Distribution of Copyrighted Audiovisual Works

Dear Sir/Madam:

I am contacting you on behalf of the Motion Picture Association of America ("MPAA") and one or more of its member companies.

We submit that the MPAA is authorized to act on behalf of its member companies (the "MPAA Members") with respect to the matter described in this notice. The MPAA Members own intellectual property rights, including exclusive rights protected under copyright law, in many motion pictures, television programs and other audiovisual works (collectively, the "MPAA Titles"). We believe that your Time Warner Cable Internet account is being used to reproduce and/or distribute copies of one or more MPAA Titles on the Internet, in violation of the MPAA Members' legal rights. We have set forth at the close of this letter the details concerning this infringement, including the title(s) of the MPAA Title(s) in question, the IP address of your account at the time of the infringement, and the date and time of the infringement. The audiovisual works being offered through your Internet account include the following:

Office, The (TV)

The copying and/or distribution of copies of copyrighted audiovisual works without the authorization of the copyright owner constitutes copyright infringement under the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §§ 106, 501. This conduct may subject you to significant liability, including statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work for willful infringement. Under certain circumstances, copyright infringement can give rise to federal criminal liability, with penalties as high as five years imprisonment plus a $250,000 fine. (See 17 U.S.C. § 506; 18 U.S.C. § 2319.)

Such infringing activity also constitutes a violation of Time Warner Cable's Abuse Policy/Terms of Service Agreement, and such breach may give Time Warner Cable the right to terminate your Internet access service. We therefore demand that you immediately:

1) Cease any unauthorized offering or downloading of the above title(s), and any other film or television titles whose copyright is owned by the MPAA Members, on any peer-to-peer or other internet services; and 2) Delete from your computer any unauthorized copies of the above title(s), and any other film or television titles owned by the MPAA Members, which you have downloaded from or offered on any peer-to-peer or other internet services.

You can learn more about piracy by visiting the MPAA's web site at http://www.mpaa.org/piracy.asp. If you have any questions about this notice, you may contact us at:

Telephone: 818-475-1727
Email: notices@motionpictureassociation.org

Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.
15301 Ventura Blvd., Building E
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

United States

Please include the Case ID 485049453 in the subject line of any correspondence.

This letter is not a complete statement of the Copyright Owners' rights in connection with this matter, and nothing contained herein constitutes an express or implied waiver of any rights, remedies or defenses of the Copyright Owners, all of which are expressly reserved.

Very truly yours,

Motion Picture Association of America

------------------------------
INFRINGEMENT DETAIL
--------------------

Infringing Work: Office, The (TV)
First Found: 21 Apr 2008 14:22:57 EDT (GMT -0400)
Last Found: 21 Apr 2008 14:22:57 EDT (GMT -0400)
IP Address: [censored]
IP Port: 6886

Protocol: BitTorrent
Torrent InfoHash: 459A6F0D7C39517FC9E31DC29A8551970E720A16
Containing file(s):
The.Office.US.S04E10.HDTV.XviD-LOL.[VTV].avi (183,535,616 bytes)

My grammar is fine!

2008-07-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

All you dumbasses who wrote to me to tell me that the title of my blog should be Chris' Two Cents are wrong!

Smiles, giggles, and cinnamon!

Business

2008-07-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm trying to get into the business of providing computer support. At first, my plan is to start doing what I have the most experience with: solving Windows problems for home and business users.

Well, there are a lot of people out there making a living doing just that, but I have the knowledge to do much more, just not the experience. For example, one of my recent hobbies has been learning to use Linux. Now that I've crossed that hurdle, I need to figure out how to fix and maintain it so I can make some money.

Learning how to use a new operating system, for me at least, isn't a time-consuming or very difficult affair, but learning how to dig into its guts is. I'm a very intuitive person, but to learn how to repair Linux requires a lot of reading, which takes time.

Besides Linux, I also have this fancy $100,000 college degree in computer science that I'm not doing anything with. Computer Science is the study of how computer programs are created and how they operate. So it's really the next level of knowledge. I've discovered these levels of knowledge can be applied to all kinds of products. In ascending order of specialty, there are three types of people: those who know how to use a product, those who know how to fix it, and those who know how to make it. (Well, I guess there's a fourth: those who don't know anything.)

I'll continue this philosophical discussion in a future post. For now, I want to talk about two different business models that I'm testing.

The first is the one I started trying last September. It's a little more traditional, but still is 100% Internet based. What I did is I created a computer repair web site that looks just like a business. It has a business name, its own phone number, prices, hours, and everything else you'd expect. I placed ads on yellowpages.com, Yahoo's directory, and a couple others. Currently I'm spending $60 each month on advertising and I'm getting almost no business. Usually not even enough to cover my advertising costs.

The second business model that I'm experimenting with takes a more candid approach. Instead of a me-dot-com web site, I'm using the space my alma mater gave me. On it, I have a support page that tells everyone I'm a college student looking to make a few bucks that will do the same jobs Geek Squad will for a lot less. It tells everyone I have a degree in computer science and I know what I'm doing. The .edu domain validates my status as a student, and also gives my PageRank a boost, hopefully along with my credibility.

Speaking of credibility, my student web site needs it. My commercial web site just looks a whole lot better. For one thing, it has a name, and my student page doesn't. But it's also laiden with tables and old web site design principles. So I need to spend some time learning the newer techniques and brush it up.

I also need to get people to view the web site. Google has sent me an email offering me $50 in free advertising. At first, I thought the ads would cost $0.10 per click like they did in the 90s, but I soon discovered that some keywords can cost as much as $10 per click!

So I've been reading a few things about how AdSense and AdWords work. Hopefully, I'll be able to pool all this information together and not only get cheap advertising, but also make some money by putting ads up on my own web site.

For now, I've got work to do. If you need something else to read, read my web site!

First Post!

2008-07-03T10:40:00.001-07:00

Hi there. My name is Chris and I created this blog mainly to document my activities that myself and others might find remotely useful, funny, or interesting.

I'm currently going to UCI full time to get a master's degree in networked systems (computer science). I also have a real web site with computer guides and some of my school work.

Most importantly, I am trying to go into business for myself while I'm in school, doing computer work. If you're interested, here's some more information.