Spamhuntress

I’m sure most of you geeks have been through a number of periods when you should throw away some old stuff to get room for new, right? Old computers, old whatever.

I won’t even mention the name of a friend who just recently threw out a computer (no, not a PERSONAL computer) the size of a small refrigerator. You know who you are…

Anyway, it dawned on me that sometimes you could throw out too much.

When I throw out an old computer I’ve used, I normally store the harddrive, even if I copy out the contents. The old harddrives are too small to be used in a new computer, and it’s extra backup if it still works. It’s easy to remove harddrives even from laptops. Just something to keep in mind. Don’t forget to remove the password off the users on winxp installations before taking out the harddrive, otherwise you’ll need some extra help when accessing the files.

I have one computer that I don’t see myself throwing out any time soon. It isn’t in use all that often. But it’s the only notebook I have that weighs in at about 3 pounds. By now it’s ancient - windows 98 first edition! But even first edition can be made to work with even a wifi card, as long as you know what you’re doing (it’s a rather complicated install, it isn’t supposed to work). And while travelling that thing is incredibly handy, if I should need more than what an Ipod touch offers of functionality (granted, if you have a server with desktop software where you can log on via safari, you could theoretically get away with ONLY using the touch!).

But the old notebook came in handy today. I have a fairly new scanner, but after trying it out, it just isn’t up to the standards of the old one. So I thought I’d hook that one up again. But wait, that’s from the era of windows 98. I don’t want to install that on windows xp - although it’s usually fine, you should think twice before installing very old programs and drivers. I’ve still kept an overspecced windows 98 computer (256 MB RAM is plenty for win98), just in case. Now I’m glad I did.

Trouble is, the scanner software was asking for the windows 98 CD. I don’t have it here. But the notebook had that software installed once. It’s got the file.

Second hurdle. Getting it out of that computer. I can upload it on the net, or I can use a usb thumbdrive. Guess what, windows 98 needs a driver, and most new usb thumbdrives don’t have drivers for windows 98. So if you keep a windows 98 machine, keep an old thumbdrive as well… There’s one still for sale here in Norway that still has a win98 driver. Sandisk cruzer micro 512 MB.

Is there anything else we should definitely keep, and for what reason? Depending on individual circumstances, of course.

Update - old software: I was thinking about writing about accounting and how it’s often on old software that requires old hardware. I decided against writing about it, because the last case I’d heard of was late nineties. But I heard of another case just recently. A devotee of OS2 had to ditch that operating system when nobody would support it anyway - and the accounting files are all left on the old system. The only way he knew of to keep them accessible was to keep one of the old computers.

Another wake up call was when I was setting up a new computer recently (I do that often, I always have more than one active computer), and thought I’d look for a new version of a specialty software I use frequently. After I’d installed it, I realized it had changed beyond usefulness. I’m sure I have an old copy somewhere, but managed to find one floating somewhere on the net.

Some of us have software that we absolutely need, and you can’t always be sure it’ll stay available. Always keep a copy locally, and keep in mind what kind of operating system it requires - you may one day find a newer version of windows breaks it beyond repair. New hardware may one day be incompatible with old operating systems. The list goes on. The best thing is to upgrade software along with hardware, of course.

As I was working on the new computer, I realized incrementally all the stuff I’d forgotten to remove from the old computer. It’s still intact, but I’m afraid the harddrive might be failing soon, so I’ll need to keep my options open as long as possible.

I guess what I’m saying is, plan ahead when upgrading!

My father and I was talking today about something he’d found on the internet that somewhat worried him. He’s getting older, and some day he might wind up in a retirement facility. He was worried about certain sleeping pills causing falls.

And then my mind took a turn: How about my father in a retirement facility, without an internet connection? My father usually starts a conversation with me these days complaining about the computer… How this and that site is slow, and the computer is (from his point of view) behaving irrationally. I’ve learned to tune out - he never shuts down firefox before shutting down the computer, yet always THINKS he’s done it correctly.

Anyway, I have friends who are over 80 years old, and their computer and internet connection is their pride and joy. It enables them to keep in touch with family and strangers alike. How about when/if they end up in a retirement facility? They’ll go stir crazy without access to the internet! I sure hope those who plan these facilities plan ahead!

Today many 60 year olds are on the internet. But today’s 30 year olds are almost ALL on the internet.

I finally goe on Bloglines again, and read IncrediBILL’s blog - which I usually do when I remember to read bloglines. Anyway, I discovered I’d been tagged a few days ago (why didn’t you e-mail me, Bill? I DO read my e-mail, you know. I should probably enable my referrer script again, so I don’t have to figure this out long after the fact.

So, why do I blog?

1) When I started blogging, I had planned on writing mostly about theology. That’s my education, and I knew I had something to say. Problem is, in order to constantly have something new to say, it takes a LOT of thinking, so I haven’t blogged about that as much as I did in the beginning. But THAT was what got me started blogging on my old website.
2) Then I found I had something to say about several topics, and found that a blog is an easier way to say it than constantly making new pages on my website. I’ll still make pages for especially interesting topics, but a blog is a more personal medium than a page, and I enjoy the form.
3) Then I woke up to a massive spam run, and got irked enough to write something about it. I realized fairly quickly that I had a natural bent towards finding stuff out in that field, and continued.

4) I enjoy being thought of as an authority on this or that topic. It’s not that I take advantage of every opportunity, but without the spamhuntress blog, I wouldn’t have had the chance to go to Holland last year.

5) I like researching and investigating. That’s the driving force between what I do. I don’t usually get irked about stuff. One person recently took a look at the spamhuntress blog in my presence and immediately toldl me that I’m vindictive and negative. I looked dumbfounded before I found my voice and told him that isn’t true. I realized then that I probably need to tell people here: I don’t hate spammers, and I don’t do any of this out of a need for revenge. I actually don’t believe in hate or revenge. I believe it’s something that will damage the holder of the feeling more than the recipient, though it’s certainly not a good thing to be hated or the victim of a vengeful act. My ideal in doing what I do on spamhuntress, is to do it objectively, without getting hot under the collar.

Let’s see, who shall I tag?

Richi Jennings - curious about him

Joe - not much from you lately?
Matt Cutts - just because he didn’t do it last time

Can’t think of anyone else right now. I’ll take suggestions for the last two spaces…

I heard several SEO sites was on a hacker hitlist (referrer logs come in handy sometimes). Some have already been hacked. And NO, I’m not going to make him more famous by linking.

I did an emergency upgrade, since I heard Wordpress already had fixed the hole he used.

I wonder who can tell me what this is about? I found referrers from this page:

Wanderlist - Worst companies in America to deal with or work for

What’s the point of putting a non-company on such a list?

Or rather, you may not know if you only read this blog.
1. I’m a singer and songwriter.
2. I used to do photography professionally for a while.
3. I just helped out with the filming of a music video, doing whatever needed doing, including being standin for lighting!
4. I’m a recent DDR convert. I love my dance mat!
5. I like watching Sci-Fi.

I got tagged by someone I’d never heard of - G-man. It’s apparently something they call a meme.

So, how about I tag a few? Matt Cutts, Joe (come on man, you know you need a new post on that thing),  Incredibill, Dirk and Richi

Someone who’s unfamiliar with the seedy world of spam and SEO recently told me a domain shark had offered to sell a domain he’d expressed an interest in - for $ 50000. That’s fifty thousand dollars!

This is a domain shark that’s been dragged into Wipo arbitration multiple times. Outfits like theirs sometimes win cases involving general dictionary terms, but generally loses when the complainant has a legitimate interest in the domain, when that domain is not so general as to be a plain dictionary term.

I suggested to the person who asked me about this, that they were trying to shake him down. That he should shake them down instead. Exactly what company will respond to what is unknown. Might be an idea to collect information on how various domain sharks have responded to various approaches? A wiki, maybe?

In other news, I’m still working on that project I mentioned before. Which means no time for investigations.

Language:

I’m going to stop approving comments in other languages than English. Some Russians started writing Russian words in the western alphabet, and it just got way too hard to even try to figure out what they were saying. So, no more Russian, Norwegian or whatever other language you think I might understand in some way.

The Israeli

The Israeli spammers are not only back, they’re bigger than ever. I got two leads on them recently, so I wrote a page I called Shetef, after the domain they were initially known by - or so we believe.

Hard to understand

My friends and family have complained that it’s impossible to understand what I’m writing here. I have to concede that one. I’ve been writing on a certain level that holds the interest of geeks like me, but all the terms we use are completely outside the realm of a regular computer user. If you’re here, and you really want to understand it, please start with the Explanation of terms. It’s my glossary of terms I use a lot. Not all that updated, but you’re allowed to help. The format is I try to use one sentence to explain the term, and then link to an article in Wikipedia if it needs a whole lot of info to explain fully.

Three Russians were sentenced to 8 years of hard time for extortion in connection with denial of service attacks.

Anna from Kaspersky told me in June that there was a Russian law that could be used against cybercrime, but that it hadn’t been used so far. That mirrors what they said in their blog yesterday. This is a very important sentence, even if the sentencing reflected the extortion more than the cybercrime.

Other news reports:

Informationweek, Securityfocus

American Samoa’s .as domains are popular in Norway, and possibly other places.

Somehow, I guess their renewal invoices didn’t really work as they said, because a lot of domains haven’t been renewed, for some reason or another.

Some time in the last few days, they flipped a switch. Domains that hadn’t been renewed (some are years out of date) suddenly don’t work.

There are probably a lot of frustrated people out there right now, who don’t get their e-mail, and whose homepages don’t work.