Krebs' gives us some cool advice

And he talks about oprah - here's a swipe from his security fix blog when saying what tools Oprah should recommend to her viewers since she has such an ability to mobilize the masses:

..say Superantispyware, Malwarebytes, and Trend Micro's Housecall online virus scanner.

I mention the first two tools because they almost always bring immediate results when someone complains to me about PC slowness, browser hijackers, and other computer maladies. I recommend an online virus scanner like Trend because it is free and does not interfere with any anti-virus software that may already be installed on a participant's machine.

Getting back to the numbers: If 4 million Oprah viewers -- a fraction of her viewership -- were to run these tools -- and just one in 25 respondents found and removed a bot program -- that could potentially clean up 160,000 systems. That's almost equal to the size of the largest botnet in circulation today, the Cutwail botnet, which currently controls an estimated 175,000 computers, according to research by Joe Stewart, director of malware research at Atlanta-based SecureWorks.

pretty neat. Go Oprah - I think she should have been the oracle in the matrix.

Edit: Oh yeah - here's the link to Krebs' full post.

To run anything in Windows using the Run Command(yeah, windows)

The Powerful Run Command

goto start->run (or in vista just search for Run)

there are also more at http://mypchell.com/content/view/69/1/

A bunch of these run stuff i didn't even really know about -> like Dr. Watson System troubleshooting -> which is like a cool debugger (not if you have Visual Studio however, probably stick with that) and on and on.

List of commands:

• Accessibility Controls : access.cpl
• Add Hardware Wizard : hdwwiz.cpl
• Add/Remove Programs : appwiz.cpl
• Administrative Tools : control admintools
• Automatic Updates : wuaucpl.cpl
• Calculator : calc
• Certificate Manager : certmgr.msc
• Character Map : charmap
• Check Disk Utility : chkdsk
• Clipboard Viewer : clipbrd
• Command Prompt : cmd
• Component Services : dcomcnfg
• Computer Management : compmgmt.msc
• Date and Time Properties : timedate.cpl
• DDE Shares : ddeshare
• Device Manager : devmgmt.msc
• Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)* : directx.cpl
• Direct X Troubleshooter : dxdiag
• Disk Cleanup Utility : cleanmgr
• Disk Defragment : dfrg.msc
• Disk Management : diskmgmt.msc
• Disk Partition Manager : diskpart
• Display Properties : control desktop
• Display Properties : desk.cpl
• Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected) : control color
• Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility : drwtsn32
• Driver Verifier Utility : verifier
• Event Viewer : eventvwr.msc
• File Signature Verification Tool : sigverif
• Findfast : findfast.cpl
• Folders Properties : control folders
• Fonts : control fonts
• Fonts Folder : fonts
• Group Policy Editor (XP Prof) : gpedit.msc
• Iexpress Wizard : iexpress
• Indexing Service : ciadv.msc
• Internet Properties : inetcpl.cpl
• IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration) : ipconfig /all
• IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents) : ipconfig /displaydns
• IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents) : ipconfig /flushdns
• IP Configuration (Release All Connections) : ipconfig /release
• IP Configuration (Renew All Connections) : ipconfig /renew
• IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS) : ipconfig /registerdns
• IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID) : ipconfig /showclassid
• IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID) : ipconfig /setclassid
• Java Control Panel (If Installed) : jpicpl32.cpl
• Java Control Panel (If Installed) : javaws
• Keyboard Properties : control keyboard
• Local Security Settings : secpol.msc
• Local Users and Groups : lusrmgr.msc
• Logs You Out Of Windows : logoff
• Microsoft Chat : winchat
• Mouse Properties : control mouse
• Mouse Properties : main.cpl
• Network Connections : control netconnections
• Network Connections : ncpa.cpl
• Network Setup Wizard : netsetup.cpl
• Notepad : notepad
• Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed) : nvtuicpl.cpl
• Object Packager : packager
• ODBC Data Source Administrator : odbccp32.cpl
• On Screen Keyboard : osk
• Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed) : ac3filter.cpl
• Password Properties : password.cpl
• Performance Monitor : perfmon.msc
• Performance Monitor : perfmon
• Phone and Modem Options : telephon.cpl
• Power Configuration : powercfg.cpl
• Printers and Faxes : control printers
• Printers Folder : printers
• Private Character Editor : eudcedit
• Quicktime (If Installed) : QuickTime.cpl
• Regional Settings : intl.cpl
• Registry Editor : regedit
• Registry Editor : regedit32
• Remote Desktop : mstsc
• Removable Storage : ntmsmgr.msc
• Removable Storage Operator Requests : ntmsoprq.msc
• Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) : rsop.msc
• Scanners and Cameras : sticpl.cpl
• Scheduled Tasks : control schedtasks
• Security Center : wscui.cpl
• Services : services.msc
• Shared Folders : fsmgmt.msc
• Shuts Down Windows : shutdown
• Sounds and Audio : mmsys.cpl
• Spider Solitare Card Game : spider
• SQL Client Configuration : cliconfg
• System Configuration Editor : sysedit
• System Configuration Utility : msconfig
• System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately) : sfc /scannow
• System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot) : sfc /scanonce
• System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot) : sfc /scanboot
• System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting) : sfc /revert
• System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache) : sfc /purgecache
• System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x) : sfc /cachesize=x
• System Properties : sysdm.cpl
• Task Manager : taskmgr
• Telnet Client : telnet
• User Account Management : nusrmgr.cpl
• Utility Manager : utilman
• Windows Firewall : firewall.cpl
• Windows Magnifier : magnify
• Windows Management Infrastructure : wmimgmt.msc
• Windows System Security Tool : syskey
• Windows Update Launches : wupdmgr
• Windows XP Tour Wizard : tourstart
• Wordpad : write

PayPal in Rails

Here is the link to the series of Railscasts that showcases the easy integration of paypal into an online shopping cart web app. The series (141-146) describes the integration of paypal as a credit processing co. and covers security and a variety of methods in which to properly integrate paypal to both allow people to pay simply by having paypal process the requests (for a nominal fee) or by allowing people to use their paypal account (while staying at your domain). Very informative series with a lot of helpful tips.

Here's the link to the first in the series (requires quicktime)

http://railscasts.com/episodes/141-paypal-basics

In Hard Times eat Hard Tack

Poor? Hungry? Eat the crackers of great men.

What do pirates, george washington, and other famous old dudes have in common? They all had to eat hard tack back in the day - which was basically a cracker - with very little flavor - that got as hard as a brick when it dried.

These were tough times - there were armies on the march - and bellies had to make due with salt pork and this vile wheat brick. But it made great men out of them all - look at GW - he changed the world!

So printed below is the recipe for the simpleset tack of all.

Recipe from : http://kenanderson.net/hardtack/recipes.html

Army Hardtack Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour (perferably whole wheat)
• 4 teaspoons salt
• Water (about 2 cups)
• Pre-heat oven to 375° F
• Makes about 10 pieces

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Add just enough water (less than two cups) so that the mixture will stick together, producing a dough that won’t stick to hands, rolling pin or pan. Mix the dough by hand. Roll the dough out, shaping it roughly into a rectangle. Cut into the dough into squares about 3 x 3 inches and ½ inch thick.

After cutting the squares, press a pattern of four rows of four holes into each square, using a nail or other such object. Do not punch through the dough. The appearance you want is similar to that of a modern saltine cracker. Turn each square over and do the same thing to the other side.

Place the squares on an ungreased cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Turn each piece over and bake for another 30 minutes. The crackers should be slightly brown on both sides.

The fresh crackers are easily broken but as they dry, they harden and assume the consistentency of fired brick.

Conversion Guide

Just because I also always forget what is what here it is:

3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons = 1 ounce
8 ounces = 1 cup
16 ounces = 2 cups = 1 pint
32 ounces = 4 cups = 2 pints = 1 quart
128 ounces = 16 cups = 8 pints = 4 quarts = 1 gallon

LOBSTER CAT



Thanks to Karen for the great pic.

MEGA WEB TOOLS FOR AWESOME

check it out yo!

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/five_ways_to_use_social_media.php &
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_weirdest_stuff_on_the_internet.php

There are some incredibly awesome tools and links from this little articles here.

Mostly, dapper.net, aiderss.com, and yahoo pipes.

With this you can completely super organize your online intake. For instance, build an rss feed out of some sites with dapper - send 'em through aiderss to get the best content from them (what other people have been tagging and making popular) , and then sort from that feed with yahoo pipes and mash them into one feed then put it all in feedburner to create a nice clean mega-feed everyone can subscribe too.

Poo poo, while you're at it might as well have it autoupdate your twitter account w/ all the cool stuff you found using twitterfeed.

And then if you really don't give a flying chuck, make sure that you use friendfeed to autoupdate all of your social sites everytime that your feed hits your twitter.

Then everyone will be super duper connected - and they can use this technique to filter stuff from you.

HAHAHAHAH