Why would you want to replace the Linksys firmware, which is probably working just fine for you, with a different 3rd party version? Here are a few of the features the Tomato firmware provides:

• Easier GUI web interface
• Bandwidth usage monitor
• In depth Internet access restrictions
• Advance wireless features like WDS
• And the purpose of this how to, a much more advanced QoS system

Quality of Service, or QoS, allows different levels of priorities for traffic flowing in and out of your router. Think of it as a way to guarantee a certain level of performance for particular applications or services. Gamers, VOIPers, or heavy BitTorent users would all be obvious beneficiaries to QoS and Tomato.

I won’t detail how to actually install the firmware, that information is readily available on the Tomato website. However, I’d like to show you one way to configure QoS - which should be enough to get you up and running with a good deal of understanding on how to further tweak QoS for your particular environment.

With the Tomato firmware installed and working -

1. Point your web browser to the router’s IP address - typically at http://192.168.1.1
2. On the left hand navigation menu, select QoS which opens to the Basic Settings. Tick the checkbox to Enable QoS.



3. Set the Max Bandwidth under the Outbound Rate / Limit heading. This number represents the maximum upload speed provided by your ISP. If you are unsure there are numerous speed tests that can give you a rough idea. Officially, my max is 1 Mb/s but I’ve played it safe by knocking 10% off of that, resulting in 900 Kb/s.



4. Repeat the process of defining Max Bandwidth for the Inbound Limit. In actuality, this isn’t truly necessary because your router has already become saturated with incoming traffic before it is able to apply any QoS. Because of that, I do not use it.
5. That’s it for the Basic Settings, click Save at the bottom of the page.
6. Now we must define the Classification rules for QoS, again off the left hand menu. It’s important to understand that the rules are applied from the top down, QoS is applied on the first classification that matches the traffic pattern. Therefore, your Highest should be at the top of the list.



7. You can see in my setup, I’ve defined DNS and Vonage as Highest. Using Layer 7 and IPP2P I’ve set the appropriate priority for Xbox Live and BitTorrent traffic. Once you’ve finished your classifications, click Save.

QoS is an indepth technology and I’ve only scratched the surface here. As such, this brief guide is only suitable to get you up and running. You may find yourself having to deviate from your initial settings in order to get the desired performance.

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PDF Unlocker is a free application for Windows that can remove the restrictions outlined above. Once downloaded and installed, the program creates an icon on your desktop. Unlocking the PDF couldn’t be simpler; just drag and drop the desired PDF onto the shortcut and it’ll handle the rest, automagically! From the newly created PDF you are free to print or copy to your hearts content.

PDF Unlocker is also able to strip out the password necessary to open the document with one major caveat - you need to know the password first. Right click on the desktop shortcut and chose Edit. Directly after -sPDFPassword= provide the necessary password after the equals (=). Save the file and Close. Now, drag and drop just like above.

A useful and free tool, what more could you want?

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1. First we need to get Samba installed, thankfully Ubuntu makes this a very simple process. Open a terminal window and execute sudo apt-get install samba. Ubuntu will query the package repositories and download and install the latest available samba package.
2. In that same terminal window type sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf.
3. In smb.conf, edit the [global] portion by replacing the workgroup = pcworkgroup where pcworkgroup is the workgroup your machine belongs to. You can find this in windows by right-clicking on My Computer->Properties->Computer Name.
4. Still in smb.conf, create a section for your desired share. Here is an example share titled MyShare and replacing username with your Linux login.
[MyShare]
path = /home/username/MyShare
available = yes
public = yes
guest ok = yes
browsable = yes
writable = yes
5. Save the file and in that same terminal window type sudo chmod 777 -R /home/username/MyShare.
6. Now restart samba with sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart from the terminal.
7. Finally, on Windows we want to map a driver letter to this share. From My Computer select Tools->Map Network Drive from the menu bar. Enter \\LINUXIP\MyShare in the Folder box and assign it an unused drive letter. LINUXIP is clearly the ip address of your Linux machine.

We’ve got file sharing going now what about sharing out that printer?

1. From the Ubuntu Gnome interface navigate to System->Administration-Printing. The default interface has this menu at the top of your screen.
2. Setup your printer
3. Now select Share Published Printers Connected to this System located under Server Settings.
4. On the Windows side, point your browser to http://LINUXIP:631/printers
5. On the loaded website find the printer you just configured in Linux. You will want to right-click on the link and copy the web address. The address will likely be something similar to http://LINUXIP:631/printers/MyPrinter.
6. Star the Add New Printer Wizard under Printers & Faxes in your Control Panel accessible from the start menu in Windows.
7. Choose Network Printer, then Connect to this printer. Paste the web address that you copied in step 5.
8. Install the appropriate Windows print driver; it would be handy to have the original installation disk that came with your printer at this time.
9. Click Finish.

If you made it this far, you should have a rather simple print and file serving configuration for your network. There are literally books on this particular topic, so be aware that this is just a basic configuration that should be enough to get you up and running. From this framework, you can further massage the configuration for your desired setup.

Good luck!

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You know those balloon tips popups that appear down in your Vista tray? The idea behind them is to provide information that is important in an eye-catching way. The only problem is, the information they deliver is rarely of the utmost importance; but at least they are eye catching gouging. If you find them as annoying and distracting as I, you may be interested in knowing how you may go about disabling the popup. We dive into the Windows Registry yet again, the gatekeeper to many Vista tweaks.

1. Click Start and in the Start Search box type regedit.exe
2. Traverse the Registry Editor navigation tree on the left hand side down to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced



3. Create a new 32-bit DWORD key called EnabledBalloonTips with a value of 0 by right-clicking in the right most panel.



4. Log out and back into Vista to see the outcome of your work.

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Do me a favor, find a file in Explorer and right-click on it. If you are like most users, you’ll have at least a handful of 3rd party programs injected into the context sensitive right-click popup. I install a lot of different programs on my computer, some of which have a habit of polluting this popup with all their various options. Granted, the installers probably provide a way to opt-out of this integration if I had taken more time to poke around in the options. Mea culpa.

I enjoy a clean, stream-lined system and while some of the integration in the right-click menu is handy - like say your anti-virus software - most of it probably isn’t! You may be interested in knowing that having a lot of programs in this popup can actually delay the visual response time - the time you right-click to the time the options are actually displayed. Now, we aren’t talking seconds, but it’s one of those little things that help in providing a snappy and speedy experience in any interface.

So what can you do about it? Well, thankfully this problem is solvable and it centers around our good friend, the Windows Registery.

1. Click Start and in the Start Search box type regedit.exe
2. Traverse the Registry Editor navigation tree on the left hand side down to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\



3. If you expand the ContextMenuHandlers tree you will be presented a list of folders. These are actually the applications that show up in your right-click menu. At this point you have two options to remove the application; either delete the folder here, or alternatively just disable it - which provides an easier way to re-enable the functionality.
4. To disable the application, select it in the left hand panel. Now in the right hand panel, right click on the key and choose Modify.



5. Finally, add a minus (-) before the key value and click OK to apply the change.



6. Refresh your Explorer window and right-click on the file again, noticing that the application has been removed from the popup. If you want to re-enable the application functionality, return to the key above and remove the minus.

It’s actually that easy! You may also be interested in adjust the behavoring of right-click on Folders. It’s the same process as above but instead you should navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\.

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AxCrypt is a free open-source product for Windows that will solve both of these dilemmas. The compact download packs quite a set of features - comparable to the expensive commercial products on the market. Here are a few of the features that I think are game changes in the upcoming security and privacy revolution.

Once installed, AxCrypt integrates into the Windows shell providing you the ability to right-click on any file to encrypt it with a passphrase.

A single dialog window appears where you set your passphrase, click encrypt, and you are done! It really is that simple.

What you are left with is a new file type, .axx that is registered in Windows. Meaning, when you double-click on the file to open it, it will first launch the AxCrypt software and require you to supply the predefined passphrase. If the proper key is provided, the file will then automatically open in the default program - my example I am using a text file, and default editor is Notepad. Inside Notepad, I can freely make edits and save the document as I normally would. The file is automagically re-encrypted behind the scenes; it’s a game changer in my mind!

Better still, AxCrypt is able to create a standalone self-extracting .exe file that can be distributed and read by others even if they do not have the AxCrypt software installed, providing they know the password. This is a fantastic way to transfer documents securely over the Internet via email.

AxCrypt is available for all major versions of Windows.

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How have I been able to get a handle on the outrageous spam situation? Gmail’s built-in spam filter can take the bulk of that credit to be totally honest. While just about every email solution includes some sort of spam filtering, not everyone as successful as at combatting spam as my setup with Gmail. So what’s the brilliant secret? Well, don’t give out your email address! I kid! Somewhat, at least. What I mean is, don’t provide your actual Gmail address on forms or registration pages across the Internet, rather, take advantage of a few Gmail hacks that you may not be aware of.

Here is a true example that I use regularly.

We all buy things online, it’s a way of life and generally a safe and pleasant experience nowadays. Most every online store requires you to create an account on their site which consists of a username/password, contact information, and an email address. You could just make up a dummy address but that probably isn’t advisable as the company likely will send the order confirmation to that address, or any other useful bits of information pertaining to your order. Perhaps you could have a second email address used just for situations like this? How often would you check it? Some free webmail providers nuke dormant accounts after a set time period of non use. That may be a problem in this circumstance.

If you use Gmail, you have a third option that is much more desirable. Technically, you have three options from within Gmail.

The Plus Hack

To be fair, this is not unique to Gmail but it’s my personal weapon of choice. When filling out those forms, just append a + after you’re the first part of your email address and then provide any word to uniquely identify the account. Confused? Here is what I mean. Let’s say your email address is adam@gmail.com and you are providing this address to your online banking profile. Give them the address of adam+mybank@gmail.com. An email to this address will still end up in your account. How does this block spam? Filters! Simply set up a filter to look for +mybank in the email address and do with it as you please. Obviously, you’d like to think your bank is safe and non spammy, so this is just an example.

An interesting side effect, it would be more difficult to fall to a phishing scam because this address isn’t publicized, it wouldn’t get on a spam list. The phishing attempt would be delivered to adam@gmail.com and not be flagged as if it came from your bank. Make sense?

The Dot Hack

Very similar to the plus hack above, you can place as many dots (.) in your email address as you’d like - Gmail removes them. If your true email address already has dots, first.lastname@gmail.com perhaps, you should know that email will also be delivered if it was sent to firstlastname@gmail.com. Using dots and filters like above, you can accomplish the same goal.

The googlemail Hack

Not nearly as great as the two above in my opinion but it could prove handy in certain situations. adam@gmail.com is the same account as adam@googlemail.com!

So there you have it, with some creativity and the knowledge above you will hopefully be on your way to a less cluttered and spammy Inbox.

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This can occur for a few reasons; you may have deleted the folder that contained the installed program or a previous uninstall attempt did not fully complete it’s task. If you are like me, you like to have a clean and organized system. Thankfully, this annoyance is solvable and it involves our friend, the Windows Registry.

1. Click Start and in the Start Search box type regedit.exe
2. Traverse the Registry Editor navigation tree on the left hand side down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall



3. Expand the Uninstall tree in the left panel to reveal a long list of hexcode numbers, like {00010409-78E1-11D2-B60F-006097C998E7} or {FE434300-A311-4BE1-93BA-B74BC8C4017B}. If you are lucky, you may find a folder with the actual name of the program you are looking for. If not, you must click on each of the long strings in the left panel to find the broken program in DisplayName in the right panel. Here I`m showing Windows Live Sign-In Assistant.

   

4. With the desired program found under DisplayName, right click on the key in the left panel and select Export. This is a slightly more tricky registry change than I normally do so we want to be sure we have a backup of the registry entry. Save the .reg file in a safe location just in case.



5. With the entry successfully exported, right click on the key a second time, but this time choose Delete.

If you now reload the Programs and Features dialog in Control Panel you should see that the troublesome entry has been removed. However, if you notice the program remains in the list you should restore the backup .reg from above - just double click on it to execute - as the wrong key has been removed. Carefully reskim the Uninstall tree in Registry Editor and see if there is another key that also holds the DisplayName of the program you wish to remove.

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Steganography is a method of embedding just about any file into a “container” file, all without noticeably affecting the container file’s content. Though the vast majority of us use the popular photo sharing site Flickr for the storing of our photos and videos, it is possible to use the art of steganography to upload anything. In this quick example, I’ll detail how to upload an mp3 under the guise of a normal looking photo. One caveat up front, this is very much against Flickr’s terms of service and being that it is mostly a free service you’d be wise not to exploit this en mass.

Here is a photo of London in the summer, it will serve as our container file - it’s roughly 215KB.

1. To hide an mp3 file in above JPEG, copy the photo and the desired mp3 into the same folder.
2. Open a Command Prompt (Start -> cmd in Vista) and navigate to the folder.
3. Execute the following in the command prompt: copy /b container_photo.jpg + music.mp3 photo_and_music.jpg - substituting with your actual file names. Be aware that the filesize will be the addition of the container file plus the embedded file.

   

4. Upload the resulting jpg, photo_and_music.jpg to Flickr as you would any other photo.

Here is the resulting photo with an embedded 30 second clip from Weezer’s Pork and Beans single.

When you want to download the photo MP3 from Flickr ensure that you download the original sized image from the All Sizes link. Rename the file extension to .mp3 and open the file in Winamp. Unfortunately, Windows Media Player and iTunes (Quicktime) are unable to play files encoded in this manner.

Lastly, this works will all types of files, not just music!

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RadarSync is a free application that aims to simplify the process of locating and installing the latest hardware drivers in your computer. Once installed, RadarSync will scan your PC and identify all the installed drivers that have updates available for them.

With the results in hand, you are directed to download the newest drivers - directly from the vendor.

RadarSync is updated daily and while scanning for new drivers daily is likely overkill, it’s a great program to keep installed and ran periodically.

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