Soft Serve Direct

.. rdavies@ssdirect.com .. the computer guy .. Box 389 Magrath, AB T0K 1J0

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OpenDNS vs DynDNS Conflict Resolved

Roger Davies
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I knew something was wacky .. but it sure took a long time to figure out just what. I use an ancient Dell computer with WinXP on my network to run the OpenDNS and DynDNS updater clients. Everything else on my system is running Linux but these programs only work under XP, so .. whine. Their job is to monitor my current IP address and send updates to OpenDNS and DynDNS for me if they ever change so that you can find me on the internet and so I can find only good stuff on my connections.

So one day the OpenDNS client started reporting a different IP address for my network than the DynDNS client did. Running http://whatismyip.com showed that the OpenDNS one was wrong and the corresponding error message linked to a short article stating that the DNS IP vs the HTTP IP were not the same and that is why my IP address was hooped. Hmm.

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JPEG 2000 file print

Roger Davies
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Client came in with a JP2 file that Windows would not open. He had scanned and emailed the original document to his son. Son had printed and filled out the form, and then scanned and emailed it back. Unfortunately the resulting file was received as a JPEG 2000 format JP2 file. Son used some kind of Mac software .. and the client needed it to be printed. So, what is JP2 and why is Windows unable to open or view it? JP2 is just an updated version of JPEG images, proposed way back in 2000 to replace standard JPEG 1 format files .. It's just that very few programs support the proposed update because it is proprietary and those programs must pay a sizable licencing fee to incorporate it in their software.  Newer versions of Photoshop support it, for example, but I for one do not feel inclined to spend $650 on a piece of software that can be easily replaced by free and open source software like GIMP.

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Sound not working .. or is it just me?

Roger Davies
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Called in to fix a problem with a nice customer who 'has tried everything to get the sound to work". The volume was just muted in Windows. Showed how to correct that in first minute. Oops, is there anything else to fix? Well she had a long list of confusions, but mostly just needed to learn how to work the computer and/or windows itself.

How can such a user expect to safely navigate the treacherous open waters of the internet? A similar client got one of those "I'm from a company working with Microsoft and just need you to run this little program for me so I can 'fix' your computer for you" followed by "Oh no, you have a lots of virus problems, what is your banking information so we can fix that for you"! By then it was a bit too late. They already have full access remotely to your computer and could install pretty much anything. Even worse, the other computers in the house networked to that infected computer now are also vulnerable.

You may want to read this .. www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/18/phone-scam-india-call-centres?CMP=twt_gu and also www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/msname.aspx

Be careful out there!

 

Ratings You Can Use

Roger Davies
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Family Movie Time?

Check out kids-in-mind.com (http://www.kids-in-mind.com). It provides parents and other adults with objective and complete information about a film's content so that they can decide, based on their own value system, whether they should watch a movie with or without their kids. It's like a food labeling system which tells you what a food item contains. It is a reliable, content-based alternative to the confusing MPAA (US) movie ratings.

You may also find http://parentpreviews.com/in-theaters of use. Family Movie Reviews, Movie Ratings & More .. links to Expert Studies, Articles and Reviewer Blogs. Only rates movies less than R ratings.

 

Mac vs PC sharing

Roger Davies
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A client has bought a new shiny MacBook and wants to print to her recently purchased HP Color Laser printer. Oops. No Mac drivers. It is a Windows Only printer (according to HP). The printer works fine on her desktop WinXP. So now she wants to be able to print the things she has worked on her MacBook to the HP Printer via the WinXP desktop computer. Easy, peasey?

Well, kind of.

1)  On the WinXP computer, I share a folder, say the All Users, Documents folder. Set Workgroup to MyWorkgroup.

2)  On the MacBook computer, I also set the Workgroup to MyWorkgroup. Anything I want to print from the MacBook,
I click Print, the click the As PDF button (bottom left of print dialog), and then Save as PDF to file I navigate to on the 
network .. MyWinXP > Documents

 

 

 

 
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