I don’t even know why I called Linksys’ “tech support” in the first place. I guess I was pretty desperate. Have I not learned nothing over the years? After finding nothing but people who are having the same problems as me and not getting any answers from Linksys, I decided to try to figure it out.
The issue that I was having (as well as all those other people) was that the WUSB54GC would drop connection. For some people it was random. For me, it was when I downloaded large amounts of data. I couldn’t visit Google Maps or Google Images. If I’d open a few websites in seperate tabs, depending on how much content each site had, I’d dropped connection. Of course going to Linksys was a waste of time. They haven’t updated the drivers since 1/2007. Don’t even get me started with the phone support.
Continue reading ‘WUSB54GC and Vista’
I recently wrote a little program that you can use to download an ipfilter.dat to block IP addresses when using uTorrent. It really isn’t anything fancy, just saves you the time of downloading it, extracting it, renaming it, and then copying it to the correct location.
The list is downloaded from B.I.S.S. (Bluetack) which is updated every week or so.
Prerequisites:
- uTorrent already installed
- Latest version of .NET installed
- Windows XP or Windows Vista (I’ve tested it on a 32bit Vista machine, and a 32bit XP machine)
Usage:
- Download ipfilter.dat Updater
- Extract both of the files included in the .zip to any location on your computer
- Run ipfilter_updater.exe and click Update
- Now you need to force uTorrent to use the updated list
- Quickest way is to close uTorrent, and open it back up.
- If you are currently downloading some files, you can force a reload in the preferences.
- Open the Preferences dialog (CTRL-P)
- Click on Advanced
- Find ipfiler.enable (should already be set to True)
- Change it to False, then back to True.
- To verify the list has loaded
- Click on the Logger tab in uTorrent
- You should see: [xx:xx:xx] Loaded ipfiler.dat (# entries)
- NOTE: You only need to update once a week. The list isn’t updated everyday.
You will see all blocked IP requests on that Logger tab.
Manual Install:
- Download nipfilter.dat.gz
- Go to Start->Run and type %APPDATA%\uTorrent\
- Extract the contents of nipfilter.dat.gz into the folder.
- Read above on how to force uTorrent to load the new filter.
For added security, check out PeerGuardian 2.
If you experience any issues with my program, feel free to post a comment.
I thought it would be fun to focus on some of the non-conventional USB gadgets that are available for your computer. By now everyone has a USB thumb drive and/or USB hard drives. Check out some other uses for your extra USB ports.
Continue reading ‘Non-Conventional USB Devices’
I thought it would be interesting to focus the lesser known freeware applications that are available instead of just listing all the popular freeware applications (Firefox, SmartFTP, etc). I’ve tried to attach a screenshot with each program so you can get a feel about what the program does before downloading it.
Feel free to comment if you think I missed something and would like it added. Remember that the focus of this post is not to point out well known pieces of software but to focus on the lesser knowns.
Continue reading ‘Lesser Known Windows Freeware’
Here is just a quick post. If you use Firefox and Gmail I highly recommend getting this plugin. It’s called Better Gmail. It makes several enhancements to the Gmail interface.
This plugin is a compilation of over 30 scripts that change how Gmail works. My favorite part of the plugin is the skinning portion. If nothing else, enabling Gmail Air from the plugin’s options is worth it alone. Here is a screenshot.
Check out the website for Better Gmail to see what this plugin has to offer.
If you’re looking for quick and free solution for remote desktop software, no need to look any farther. I recently came across a free service from LogMeIn. In the past when using VNC, I had to map it to port 80, 21, or any other highly used port that my work couldn’t block. I always hated the idea that my PC sat there with an open port such as port 80.
Here is where LogMeIn is different than your traditional remote desktop software suites. It utilizes 256-bit SSL encryption thus removing the need to firewall changes (assuming you have a standard, non-strict firewall). You then simply go to the website and log in. It will list your computer(s) that are available to be connected to.
It works with both Vista (though not advertised to, I’ve been using it for awhile with no issues) and XP and best of all it’s FREE.
I know that a simple Google search reveals similar sites, but I thought that I’d bring it to the attention of everyone here in case they might have missed it.
Notepad++ is a free replacement to the standard Notepad that comes with Windows XP and Vista. It is small and lightweight. This is an awesome program for anyone. You don’t need to be a programmer/developer to benefit from this application.
Features:
- Syntax Highlighting and Syntax Folding
- WYSIWYG Editor
- User-Defined Syntax Highlighting
- Auto-completion
- Multi-Document View (Tabs!)
- Search/Replace Feature
- Full Drag ‘N’ Drop Support
- File Status Auto Detection
- Brace and indent guideline highlighting
With a few easy steps, you can easily replace your default Notepad in Vista or XP with this one.
Continue reading ‘Free Notepad Replacement For Windows Vista and XP’
This tweak can easily be found all over the internet. This tweak is for broadband users (do people even use dialup anymore?). When you go to a website, Firefox will make a single request to the web page at a time. This tweak changes that so Firefox makes several requests at once, thus speeding up how long it takes for page to load.
- Type ‘about:config‘ into the address bar and hit enter (obviously with no ” ” characters).
- This should bring you to Firefox’s configuration “page”.
- Find the following entries and make the following changes:
- Set network.http.pipelining to ‘true’
- Set network.http.proxy.pipelining to ‘true’
- Set network.http.pipelining.maxrequests between 3-5.
- NOTE: If you make this number too large, you can really cause a headache. For example, if you set it to 30 when you go to any site, you can possibility make 30 requests to it at once. This can cause issues with page loading, and it can piss off whoever runs that site. Play around and find a low number that works for you.
- Right-Click anywhere and select New->Integer. Call it nglayout.initialpaint.delay and give it a value of 0. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on the information it receives.
- Restart Firefox (not sure if this is required, can’t hurt) and you’re all set.
Enjoy a slightly faster internet experience.
I’ve been using Firefox to block ads so long, when I use someone else’s computer I’m sometimes thrown off when I see advertisements.
First off, I recommend getting Adblock Plus. This plugin will download a list of report online advertising sites and block them from even showing up on any website in the first place. It’s as simple as installing and setting it up with the initial setup, and you’re done.
Now we are going to use Firefox and Stylish to block various ads and restyle websites with those ads removed.
- Download Firefox (Well, for some reason you might be using IE and trying to figure this out)
- Download the plugin called Stylish
- Restart Firefox
Continue reading ‘Using Firefox To Block Ads’
Last week, the most anticipated cell phone of the year was release. The phone that cures cancer. The phone that cleans your house. The wonder, the glorious, the most sought after item ever .. the iPhone. Alright, I exaggerated somewhat to but some emphasis on the fan movement behind this phone.
The worst part about the iPhone for people like me, is that is actually lived up to most of the hype. It makes it hard to say, “see I told you it sucks!” Sure, a simple Google search will give you millions of pages on why the iPhone sucks or why it is the best phone to date, but overall it is a good phone (from what I’ve read) and does what is advertised to do. I’ll even admit that it is a pretty cool looking phone. Especially the UI.
What is my problem then?
Here, let me explain.
Continue reading ‘Why do people like the iPhone?’
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