Friday, August 12, 2011

Drilling a Larger Hole in Door for Larger Dead Bolt

I recently purchased a Schlage Camelot Keypad Deadbolt (BE365VCAM716) to replace my existing deadbolt. This deadbolt allows unlocking via a digital keypad. I decided to go this route versus a traditional deadbolt, a remote key fob, or biometric scanner for several reasons:
  • I can gain access to my house without a key, as well as provide others with access such as dogsitters
  • I don't have to provide a physical device (key, wireless key fob) to people to let them gain access, which is very handy if I'm stuck somewhere and need someone to access my house
  • I no longer have to worry about who has a key to my house as I can change out user codes very easily
However, I ran into a dilemma - the hole in my metal door for my old deadbolt was smaller than the new one. The Schlage deadbolt requires a 2 1/8" hole, and mine was probably 1 3/4", or whatever the smaller standard size is. Drilling out a metal door with a hole saw bit is easy if it hasn't been drilled out before, but that wasn't my case. Thus, I had to figure out a way to get this larger hole drilled. My solution was to use the same hole saw bit to drill a hole through a piece of scrap wood, and then use that as a guide so that the hole saw bit does not run all over the place. This worked out perfectly and allowed me to cut through the door quickly. I had previously tried using styrofoam as a guide and just applying pressure to keep it there, but the bit was walking all over the place. Anyway, hopefully this helps someone out!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Best Temperature and Time for Grilling Juicy Chicken Breasts

I have been experimenting with cooking temperatures and times on my gas grill, and the best temperature and time combination for grilling chicken breasts (sans bones) is 450-475F for 6 minutes on each side. Not only does it come out super juicy, but the higher temperature makes much nicer grill marks. I would also suggest tenderizing your chicken breast with a mallot and/or a fork to even out the meat thickness so it cooks more evenly and to soften the meat.

When it comes time to grilling, make sure that when you throw your chicken breasts on the grill that you do it very quickly so that too much of the heat does not escape and that your grill can rebound from a small temperature drop instead of a very large drop. Leaving it open for as little as 30 seconds drop the temperature down as much as 150F, and that changes the grilling equation.

Let me know if you have luck with my recommended temperature and time for chicken breast!

Friday, June 19, 2009

AWStats and GeoIP Error

Are you receiving the following error even after installing GeoIP while trying to run AWStats with GeoIP enabled?:

Error: Plugin load for plugin 'geoipfree' failed with return code: Error: Can't locate Geo/IPfree.pm in @INC (@INC contains: c:/perl/site/lib c:/perl/lib . ./lib ./plugins ./plugins) at (eval 3) line 1.

Make sure that you're enabling the proper module within your AWStats config file. Once I commented out

LoadPlugin="geoipfree GeoIP.dat"

and then uncommented

LoadPlugin="geoip GEOIP_STANDARD GeoIP.dat"

it started properly working.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Joanna from Millionaire Matchmaker

Joanna from Millionaire Matchmaker - if you ever want to go on a date, let me know.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Windows Vista 64-bit, Realtek, and (apparently) more than 4GB of RAM have issues

Today I received an additional 4GB of RAM for my 64-bit installation of Vista. I shut down my system, installed the RAM, and while booting up I decided to go into BIOS and play with settings related to WOL because I've been trying to save more energy at my house and figured not having my computer on all day would be a good idea, but having WOL capabilities would be nice. I committed the changes, and when I started up Vista with my 8GB of RAM, the network wouldn't connect. I couldn't ping my gateway address or anything.

Long story short, apparently *something* within my Realtek RLT8168B NIC drivers did not like the additional memory, or most likely the fact that there was now more than 4GB. After installing the latest drivers, I was able to gain connectivity again. If you need the latest drivers, check out the Realtek website. Hopefully you've found this article short in your journey and this saves you the headache. I must have spent a solid two hours on this problem!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Automating logins with KeePass's Auto-Type scripting and Firefox

First off, if you haven't been using a password database tool, I highly recommend using one. This forces you to stop using the same password for each account you have out on the Internet, and lets you keep the list centralized in an encrypted file. I highly recommend KeePass, as it is open-source and free.

I have enjoyed using KeePass to store my account information, but for logging into web pages I wanted it to be a more automated process, having it login for me instead of copying the URL, username, and password into the appropriate fields. I started playing with the Auto-Type feature within KeyPass, and after some tinkering I was able to login to my credit card company's interface. The way it works is you tell it which application to gain focus on, which URL to go to, and lastly to type in the username and password. An example Auto-Login script that logs me into my bank looks like this:

Note before proceeding: You must be have Firefox as your last focused window, otherwise your data will spill into another window.

In my example below, Auto-Type opens a new tab (^t) in Firefox, types in the URL ({URL}), hits enter ({ENTER}), gives the page some time to load ({DELAY 4000}), types in the username ({USERNAME}), tabs over to the password field ({TAB}), and lastly types in the password ({PASSWORD}).

Auto-Type: ^t{URL}{ENTER}{DELAY 4000}{USERNAME}{TAB}{PASSWORD}

Warning: If you do not have Firefox your last focused window, KeyPass will not know which window to gain focus on and most likely spill your details to your friend you're chatting with (or whatever window has focus). For this reason, I have left out having Auto-Type hit {ENTER} after my password, just for safety reasons. You've been warned!

For more information about Auto-Type, check out the KeyPass Auto-Type documentation.

Friday, April 17, 2009

You receive "The RPC Server is Unavailable" when trying to add IPs via netsh

If you receive an error when attempting to add IPs with netsh on Windows Server 2008 (this may apply to earlier versions as well), if you do not have the DHCP Client service enabled, you will receive the error:

"The RPC Server is Unavailable."

This unfortunately took many hours, including many hours from Microsoft (which were unsuccessful), to figure out. Hopefully someone finds this post and helps them out.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Polynesian (Hawaiian) Chicken Recipe

This is a recipe that my mom provided to me that's been a favorite in our family over the years. Please let me know if you like or dislike it!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Margarine
1/2 cup Flower
2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 small Green Pepper thinly sliced
1 small Onion thinly sliced
1/3 cup sliced Green Olives (stuffed with Pimento)
1 13.5 oz can of Pineapple rings
1 10.5 oz can of condensed Tomato Soup undiluted
1/4 cup Chili Sauce
1/4 cup Pineapple Syrup (from can of Pineapple rings)

Instructions:

Use 13"x9" baking pan
Preheat oven to 375F

In baking pan melt butter. Roll chicken in mixture of flower, salt, and pepper, then place skin side down in pan. Bake 20 minutes. Take pan out, turn chicken pieces over, and top with green peppers, olives, pineapple rings, and onions. Combine tomato soup, chili sauce, and pineapple syrup, and pour over chicken. Cover pan with foil, and bake 30 more minutes, or until meat thermometer in one of the breasts reads 170F.

Goes well with a white wine such as a Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.

Friday, January 25, 2008

My initial review of the P90X workout program

P90X is a video workout program instructed by Tony Horton that incorporates various workout routines to strengthen your whole body, seeing amazing results in 90 days. P90X attempts to be better than other programs by creating "muscle confusion". Muscles are very efficient at repeating movements that have been learned over time, which is why runners can run 26 mile marathons, and only burn about twice the normal caloric intake in a day. I'm currently nearing the end of week three and I can confidently say that I have more endurance now than I did on day one with all of my workouts. Yes, I still have to take some mini-breaks, but nowhere near what I had to do when I first started. I also feel that my love handles are starting to slowly go away (I'm not a big guy, but I've got a slight spare tire). If anyone is interested in trying a workout routine and willing to give it their all, give P90X by BeachBody a try. You've got to "Bring It!" as they say or else you're not going to get the results you want. It's a 6/7 day a week program (depending on whether or not you wish to watch their Stretching X video (optional), or rest that day) so it's not a cake walk, but many people have had amazing results after 90 days.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Globat.com Wins Worst Domain Registrar Award!

Congratulations Globat.com, you've won my award for worst domain registrar of 2007, and ever for that matter! Here's a little story as to why you have received this award:

Back in 2006 I registered several domains at the introductory price of $1.99 a domain (or somewhere in that price ballpark). For each domain I had to create a username and password, so I kept a file of all of my usernames and passwords, and explicitly remember logging into each account and turning off auto-renew features, as well as having to change DNS settings. Fast-forward ahead 11 months down the road, and I start receiving notifications via e-mail that my domains are expiring. I attempt to login to change the auto-renew settings (again), but guess what? I'm unable to login! Alright, that's fine, perhaps I was drunk and typed all of my usernames and passwords wrong (no, this didn't happen) - I'll just request the information to be sent to my e-mail address. You guys obviously have my account information somewhere since I keep getting notifications, but yet when I attempt to retrieve my information, my e-mail address does not exist for any of my registered domains - how clever of your automated system! I then decided to attempt to call your 800 number, only to be sent to voicemail. I left a voicemail, and never received a response. I also sent a support e-mail via your online form and never received a response. After contacting my credit card company, they suggest to call an alternate number that was on my statement, which actually gets me talking with a human. After they suggest that I use the online chat system, I receive a promising e-mail with a list of my domains that I wish to cancel. However, after my response back to them to cancel the domains, and several follow-up e-mails every few days later, I have yet to receive a refund. Thus, here I am, with me graciously handing this award out to you, Globat.com! By the looks of things (from others complaining), I'm not the only one that's giving you this award. Keep up the good work!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Online Backup Solutions - Mozy Wins!

A few months ago I ran across a post on lifehacker.com regarding backup solutions. One of the most highly touted products from commenters was Mozy. Mozy has a very simplified interface, allowing just about anyone to choose which files they wish to backup. Once installed and configured, it runs nightly incremental backups quietly in the background. Backups are stored for up to 30 days, which is nice in case you needed something that was changed 20 days ago and not a change from 10 days ago. I'm glad to say I'm very pleased with their service, and would recommend anyone to give it a try before trying anything else. For those that are on a budget, they offer a free 2GB service, and their unlimited plan is only $4.95 a month. That's pretty darn cheap for having piece of mind.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Filesharing Woes: STATUS_REQUEST_NOT_ACCEPTED

If you're having trouble filesharing to a Windows machine and notice the error "STATUS_REQUEST_NOT_ACCEPTED" within a packet sniffer such as WireShark, check that the user limit has not been reached for the share. Run "compmgmt.msc" from the start/run box, navigate to "Shared Folders", "Shares", and check the properties for the share. "Allow this number of users:" may be your culprit if it's selected. Bump up the value to allow more users to the resource if necessary.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Free LiveCD Tools

A "LiveCD" is a CD that can be booted up without a prior Operating System loaded that has certain software on it to get tasks done. For instance, "GParted" is software that allows you to make changes to the partitions on hard drives, and the developers of the software have a LiveCD version which runs the software directly off of the CD. This means there's no need to boot into an OS first.

Below are some useful LiveCD tools:
GParted - Partitioning tool - http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
Knoppix - Full Linux distribution on a CD - http://www.knoppix.net/
INSERT - Geared towards system recovery and network auditing - http://www.inside-security.de/INSERT_en.html
BackTrack - An excellent LiveCD that aims at network penetration testing - http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack.html
SystemRescueCD - Data recovery and backup - http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
Austrumi - Reset Windows passwords - http://cyti.latgola.lv/ruuni/index_en.html
Ophcrack - Windows password cracking tool - http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

All the above mentioned LiveCDs are free. ERD Commander from Winternals is an extremely useful LiveCD, but it comes at a cost. If you're an IT tech that primarily works on Windows OSes, ERD Commander is a great investment.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Some Interesting Axis Webcam Feeds

There's a search "hack" to find Axis (http://www.axis.com/) webcams. Most of their products display their feed via a page called "/view/view.shtml", thus you can easily search for this within Google and other search engines. I searched for "/view/view.shtml axis" to filter out some junk results. Ideally I'd use "/view/view.shtml intitle:'Axis'" but Google prevents you digging too deep into the results due to worm attacks.

Here are some interesting cameras I've come across:
http://12.154.134.210-214 [range of available cameras] - Some city's traffic cameras
http://209.145.91.66/view/view.shtml - Somebody's office
http://debtclock.durst.org/view/view.shtml - Our Nation's debt
http://ercwebcam.engin.umich.edu/view/view.shtml?newstyle=One&cam=1 - Robotic shop of sorts, controllable
http://jade-cam.dyndns.org/view/view.shtml - Webcam in Bontekai, controllable
http://213.10.227.87:81/view/view.shtml?videos=&size=1 - Workout room

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Encrypted Virtual Drives Using TrueCrypt

If you'd like to create encrypted virtual drives that can only be mounted if you have a password (and optional key file), give TrueCrypt a try. TrueCrypt is a free program that allows you to create an encrypted file that can be mounted through the TrueCrypt interface. Different encryption algorithms can be chosen. TrueCrypt is free and runs on most versions of Windows and Linux. Encrypting data is ideal for many reasons, especially if you have a USB thumb drive and are worried about losing it. Visit http://www.truecrypt.org for more information.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Tech Support Available in Gainesville, FL

I've ventured into the tech support consulting field, so if you're in the Gainesville, FL area and need any level of support for your business, please let me know. I've worked in the IT field for 7+ years and since I've worked my way from client support to web design to programming to server administration, I'm well versed in the different aspects of a business's computer support needs. Please e-mail me at techdustin@gmail.com if you have any further questions. Thanks!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Python script to reject invalid senders

I wrote a Python script to reject e-mails where the sending address is invalid, and will work in Visnetic Mail Server (and should in Merak as well). The Python script gets called using a Content Filter, and connects to the mail server(s) responsible for the "MAIL FROM:" address specified. Once a successful connection has been made (lowest priority MX is tried first), and the e-mail address is verified to be valid or invalid, an action can be made using the Content Filter based on the exit code of the script. Directions on how to use the script can be found within the top of the script, and configuration options can be modified directly after the documentation. No additional Python modules are required, although the script will need to be able to execute "nslookup.exe", and Python 2.5 is recommended due to the "operator" module's shortcoming in previous versions.

The script can be downloaded from the following URL:
http://www.exoxe.com/code/validateemail.pys (rename it to .py if you wish after fetching)

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any rejected/deleted mail if you wish to use my script. Remember to use the CF bypass file for problematic senders (you'd be surprised of the handful of people that send from non-existant e-mail addresses!) You may wish to run this in passive mode, meaning you do not specify the Accept/Reject/Delete action until you've looked over your logs and can determine it's working properly.

If you have any recommendations, please feel free to bug me - dustinPYTHONtravis@gmail.com (remove PYTHON)

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

msinfo32

Found by default under the Accessories->System Tools->System Information shortcut, msinfo32.exe provides you with some useful information regarding your system hardware and software components such as signed and unsigned drivers.

First Post!

Testing Blogger's posting interface. I've used it in the past, but it's been decades (we'll, we know I'm exaggerating a tad, don't we?).