I often get asked about the best printers to buy. Generally my rule of thumb is that you should try to find the printer with the cheapest ink and not to worry spending more on the hardware. Well in the article below Melissa Riofrio of PC World keeps track of a number of different printers and their ink usage. Hopefully it will be of some use for those of you purchasing a printer.
Category : General
I purchased an ASUS Transformer TF101 a few months ago and I have been very happy with it. That was until recently. When I plugged it in it would no longer charge. I read on multiple forums that this was a common issue for Transformer owners and some fixes included putting the transformer plug into the freezer to cool it down and also to bend the pins slightly to try to make a connection. Neither of these worked for me so I decided to open the plug up to see what the problem was.
For those of you that have the TF101 you will know that the plug part of the charger comes in two parts. One part is where you plug the USB cable into and the other part is a plastic connection that corresponds with your country’s plug type.
I removed the three pin plug from the “power brick” and then removed the small screw (you should use a T5 torx screwdriver but if you don’t have one of these you can also use a very small allen key) that held the plastic piece to the plug. Once I removed the screw I needed to prise the plastic panel from the plug by inserting a small flathead screwdriver into the slots where the metal prongs usually go and gently prise the panel off. This panel can be stubborn and some force is needed, I caused a small crack to this panel when removing it. 
Once the panel was removed I was able to see two small springs. It seems as though these springs had recessed back into the plug preventing a connecting between the “power brick” and the plug. Using a screwdriver I pushed these springs downwards (towards the slit openings) and replaced the plastic panel. I plugged the Transformer in and BINGO we had power again. 
Taking apart the plug will most probably invalidate your warranty but I was too impatient to wait to ship my charger off and get a replacement so I fixed it myself. Hopefully this will be useful to some others out there that have the same problem.
Posting this for future reference.
XenServer 5.5 Tape Backup with Bacula « Filippo Zanardo’s Blog.
Category : General
At Last UPC have caught up with the times. Just waiting for an Android app to come out now.
Category : General
AIB will today unveil a new mobile banking service that will allow its customers to check balances, pay bills, top up mobile credit and transfer funds to other accounts.
The new mobile banking channel will begin today as a web page optimised specifically for smartphones and will be followed in the coming weeks by an Android app and an iPhone app.
This is definitely a welcome development from one of Ireland’s largest banks but it also raises questions about security.
“We’re confident in terms of the security of the browser but we’re taking an extra step of only allowing transactions between pre-mandated bills or beneficiary accounts so that limits exposure if, for example, a smartphone was lost or stolen.” states Robert Mulhall.
This definitely paves the way for NFC (near field communication) whereby the public will be able to use their smartphone, rather than cash, to pay for goods and services.
With the general population happy to browse the internet on unsecured wireless networks and with the recent upsurge in mobile phone thefts. AIB are going to have to get security just right if they hope for a mass uptake in it’s mobile service.
In the meantime for all of you that use public wireless networks I suggest that you root your phone and install SSH Tunnel (Android only) to encrypt all your network traffic and keep it safe from prying eyes.
I own a HTC Desire HD and I find it extremely handy when it comes to banking online or checking out my social networks.
With the emergence of software such as Firesheep and Faceniff I feel that mobile security is more paramount than ever.
This is where SSH Tunnel comes in. SSH Tunnel allows you to connect to a secure SSH (secure shell) server and pipe all your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel. Some of the main downfalls of SSH Tunnel are that you need a rooted Android phone, access to a SSH server and a little bit of technical knowledge.
If you are interested in more leave a comment and I can discuss it in more detail.
Category : General
An interesting site that has some helpful commands for System Administration of a domain.
Active Directory
1. To quickly list all the groups in your domain, with members, run this command:
- dsquery group -limit 0 | dsget group -members –expand
2. To find all users whose accounts are set to have a non-expiring password, run this command:
- dsquery * domainroot -filter “(&(objectcategory=person)(objectclass=user)(lockoutTime=*))” -limit 0
3. To list all the FSMO role holders in your forest, run this command:
- netdom query fsmo
4. To refresh group policy settings, run this command:
- gpupdate
5. To check Active Directory replication on a domain controller, run this command:
- repadmin /replsummary
For another 52 commands just click through the link below
57 Tips Every Admin Should Know.
If you are at work or school and you are trapped behind a strict firewall then why not create a tunnel to your home computer and route all the traffic through that tunnel giving you unrestricted internet access.
All these directions are based on using a Linux based computer. I’m sure it can be done in Windows too I just haven’t tried it.
This post describes how to ssh to a personal server using authenticated proxy. SSH (Secure Shell) is typically used to log into a remote machine and execute commands, but it also supports tunneling, forwarding TCP ports and X11 connections; it can transfer files using the associated SFTP or SCP protocols.
Normally we use NetCat to ssh outside using proxy server but if its not support proxy user / pass to authenticate by proxy server and then ssh outside. Here we will use a package called connect.c.
connect.c is the simple relaying command to make network connection via SOCKS and https proxy. It is mainly intended to be used as proxy command of OpenSSH. You can make SSH session beyond the firewall with this command.
This can be achieved by other methods too but this works for me.
1) Download connect.c software.
wget http://www.meadowy.org/~gotoh/ssh/connect.c
2) Compile connect.c Using GCC
gcc connect.c -o connect
and then copy to directory in your PATH i.e /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin
cp connect /usr/bin
3) Congiure ssh_config
append following line
ProxyCommand /usr/bin/connect -H proxy.yourserver.com:8080 %h %p
4) Export Proxy User / Pass as variable
It is insecure but we have to used it. If your proxy doesnt use user/pass for authenticatio, you can skip this.
export HTTP_PROXY_USER=your_username
export HTTP_PROXY_PASSWORD=your_password
Thats it now you can ssh outside without any restriction 
