April 23, 2008 @ 5:28PM —
Personally, I like tabbed browsers because I don’t like a clutter on my taskbar. Latest browsers these days have tabs. This is the feature that I like about Firefox since its first release. I advertised Firefox to co-workers and installed a version in each workstations. About two years ago, I removed all installations of Firefox at work and in my home PC. The reason is that Firefox is taking up so much of my resources when I am using it. Another reason is that since I work in financial services, I have to use IE5-IE7. Why? Because of ActiveX.
November 4, 2008 @ 10:18AM —
Everything at work are Windows-based. From old system to new, they are all programmed in Visual Basic and ASP. I’m currently deploying a web-based application for our agents and the application is written in ASP scripting. The application is not install-friendly nor it is portable. Since it is using ActiveX, it can only work in Internet Explorer (that is why I can never abandon this software). Also, I have to open security holes from the agents’ computers (the only thing I can do the most is add the site in the Trusted Zone). That means if they are using Vista, they would always received scary warning each time they use the application. In addition to that, a 10-minute setup would take me hours in Windows Vista.
So what is wrong with this setup? Well it is no secret that ActiveX is compromised. With that in mind, a firm like us should avoid it at all cost. There is a much better way to keep track of users and that is through digital certification. Public-key cryptography was so revolutionary that it ought to be used in situations like ours. Also, by abandoning ActiveX, portability issue is solved.
I hate to say this, but so far I’ve been interacting with web applications that are not (or are improperly) using digital certification. There are only 3 web applications that are properly using certification and it really resemble their reputation.
Why are programmers not doing this? My guesses are:
- Lack of knowledge in security.
- Lack of time.
- Lack of resources.
- Satisfied as long as the application works according to basic specifications.
In our case, it’s probably because it’s done in a rush and only a single person in-charge of web programming. How I wish I could setup a team and time to do this.
November 4th, 2008
It’s been a few years now that I’ve pondered how to share faxes with our office overseas. Before anyone criticizes the problem and offer a solution of CIF or Exchange routing, the problem is not as simple as that. Here’s the best simplification I can offer of the problem:
- Given 2 sites. Let HQ be the headquarter & XO be the offsite location.
- Given incoming faxes only.
- Faxes must be sorted according to its content. The sorting is manually done (drag & drop) into folders. Let’s say we have to sort into 3 folders, A, B, and C. These folders must be sorted by Day, Month, Year. That gives us 4-levels of heirarchy.
- HQ and XO may sort the faxes interchangeably.
- HQ must always have all files, thus it makes sense that files are hosted by HQ. XO does not need to have all files; only the files they need.
- Hierarchy must always be preserved.
- Both sites should be able to print faxes anytime they want.
- Low cost solution.
To satisfy my readers who are itching to recommend Goldmine or Exchange routing, how are you going to sort 300-500 faxes daily and easily access them when needed?
My solution was the use of Terminal Services. The disadvantages are:
- Expensive because of licensing, so I had to resort in limited users.
- Since the setup is minimal (click me), the resources are lacking which causes sluggish performance. That means, access is very slow. TS is already slow itself.
- Maintenance is too much of a hassle.
- It’s annoying to access RD in order to check faxes.
Experimental Solution
The latest solution I thought of is using
Dropbox. The first 2GB is free and subscription is only $10/month @ 50GB. Therefore, I have 2GB of test space before implementing the logistics. Faxes will still be archived and hosted by
HQ then
XO will sync from it.
XO must be restricted from deletion. Although Dropbox has the recovery feature that is a failsafe in case someone in
XO’s end is trigger-happy (my instantaneous backup in
HQ’s end will still remain of course; I’m paranoid).
With DP, the heirarchy is preserved, faxes can be easily accessed by both parties because the files will be locally (network scope) available to them. Since XO does not need the files, HQ will do deletion (folders have to be moved to reduce clutter in the workspace — imagine 30 folders when you only need the last 7 days.)
October 15th, 2008
Hali kayo magsilapit kahit na po ilang saglit pakinggan nyo itong awit na hindi na mauulit.
Yesterday was a disaster for me. Fortunately, I worked it out finally. I started the day without opening all possible ways to access the router in case of changes. When the ISP executed the changes, I forgot to prepare the IP block for the router and I was unable to access it to perform the changes. So I ran to the nearest Radio Shack to purchase serial cable. Now that I was able to access the router, I implemented the changes — except for one line. The whole office did not have internet access until later in the afternoon when we were able to identify the problem.
So to continue Dong Abay’s song…
Trahedya trahedya trahedya!
September 19th, 2008
After eight hours of downtime, I found out that the site was down. The site went down at 12:32:44 and I realized it was down at 8:32:56PM I hardly access the website when I’m at work that’s why I wasn’t given urgent notice of the situation. I failed to change my alert notice for Hotmail, so again I did not receive the notice of suspension from my host. So what happened?
My other domain which I’ve been planning to resurrect was hacked because of my negligence towards it. I did not pay attention to the site and without knowing, the scripts running in it were compromised. Because the script showed the path and other critical information of the server, the intruder was able to upload his phishing scripts. Luckily, a concerned netizen reported the phishing activity to my host and my host immediately acted on the situation that caused temporary lockdown of the whole account. As you may know, only one account hosts all my domains, so a series circuit is always at play.
I’ve had a few encounter with my site being locked down without me knowing instantly. It’s not because of incapability in my host’s part. They inform me instantly. It’s on my part that’s slacking. I need to device an instant notification system if my site goes down without having to use a SmartPhone. And for that, you may want to stay tuned because you may be able to use it in the future.
September 15th, 2008
I have had Verizon FiOS for more than a year now and as the service areas continue to grow, with the technology’s excellent service, I’m sure a lot have signed up for it. If Verizon provides you with an Actiontec modem/router then let me advice you to purchase another router because Actiontec will drive you crazy in the long run. I have 10mbps/3mbps down/up throughput and I download a lot as in I average 1GB/day (that’s a modest number). They aren’t illegal downloads per sé because they are distributed openly (KDrama). If I have more than 3 huge files in my μTorrent (or any other bittorrent client), others in my network wouldn’t have Internet access. That’s because I have NAT running and the routing table in Actiontec is not enough to handle huge amount of traffic. Therefore, overloaded packets are dropped giving my users nil resource.
My recommended router is D-Link DGL-4100. It’s best for serious gamers. It’s easy to configure and maintain. Below is a simple diagram of my network using this technique.
Stay tuned for the step-by-step guide on doing this.
August 20th, 2008
I’m currently working with MSSQL Server 2005 and why does Microsoft have to make everything difficult? With MySQL, a multiple insert is as simple as INSERT INTO table (columns) VALUES (array of values), (another array of values), … (last array of values). This way works in MS SQL 2008, but that’s another expense.
My current assignment in the office is to export and import MS Access data into a completely different schema in MSS. I will pose a problem at the end of this entry and if someone has a solution, I would be grateful to you.
Multiple insert in MSSQL 2005 Thanks to Pinal Dave for this
USE database_name
GO
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, ... columnN)
SELECT 'value1a', 'value2a', ... 'valueNa'
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1b', 'value2b', ... 'valueNb'
...
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1n', value2n', ... 'valueNn'
Problem: How would I do a SELECT…INSERT in the middle of an insert because one or more columns are foreign keys. That way I don’t have to verify my data before inserting. Have the machine do it for me. For instance:
USE database_name
GO
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, ... columnN)
SELECT 'value1a', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNa'
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1b', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNb'
...
UNION ALL
SELECT 'value1n', [SELECT...INSERT], ... 'valueNn'
July 23rd, 2008
A new Staples store recently opened in front of our office building. Thanks to them I can easily get free WiFi. I don’t have to make too much effort and position my self accordingly in order to receive WiFi connection — the force is strong. Social networking sites are prohibited, but I don’t really care as long as I can surf the web fast and free. Messaging system is also prohibited, but I hardly do that. All I need is an access to Google and this site. Anyway, it’s a nice hot summer day. Thanks Staples!
June 10th, 2008
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