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by bmedlock
Today I've convinced Keith and Phil to start blogging. Let's see if I can get some more blogs going.
by bmedlock
Well, the video is ready! Cyber-Evangelism 101 is online! We have a free Content filter available for download, and a free Virus scanner available all on our website. I think we're about ready for Internet Evangelism Day!
by bmedlock
Well, besides being Internet Evangelism Day, this weekend is our annual Leadership Retreat. Last year's retreat was an awesome experience of worship. I believe we had around 50 church leaders there, people I've looked up to for years, and together we worshiped, we took time to be still and listen to the Spirit's direction for the Church. The Spirit moved in powerful ways at last years retreat and the ripples of that weekend are evident in all that has happened at College Heights this past year. I've been looking forward to this weekend ever since. Pray for us this weekend, that we will be open to God's direction.
Look for the Internet Evangelism Day video this weekend, and enjoy the special guest speaker! It's not every weekend you get to hear good preaching ;)
by bmedlock
For those of you not accessing this column using shortcut keys, touch screens, or voice-recognition interfaces, reading today's blog is possible thanks to a critical computer peripheral that went on sale 24 years ago today. On April 27, 1981, the first commercial computer mouse debuted as an included component of the Xerox Star 8010 personal computer. So, in many respects, today is the "birthday" of the computer mouse.
In many respects, that is, but not every--the mouse that shipped with the Star 8010 was almost 20 years in the making. In fact, several versions of working mice were in use before the first commercial model ever went on sale.
If you wanted to suggest an alternative birthday for the mouse, you could make a strong argument for Nov. 17, 1970, when Douglas Engelbart received U.S. Patent 3,541,541 for his design of an "X-Y Position Indicator For A Display System." On paper, this is when the mouse began its legally recognized life.
Of course, most of us recognize that just as technology exists before it comes to market, technology also exists long before it's ready for a patent (to say nothing of how much time the patent application and approval process requires). Thus, one could lobby for yet another mouse birthday: Dec. 9, 1968.
On this date, Engelbart unveiled the mouse as part of a 90-minute demonstration of the oN-Line System (NLS), a GUI-based collaborative computing system developed by Engelbart's design teams at the Stanford Research Institute's Augmentation Research Center. This presentation, viewed by many as the first practical implementation of hypertext as well as a key moment in the history of computing, showed the academic world what the mouse could do.
Perhaps more accurately, the NLS demo was the mouse's coming-out party, rather than its birthday. Like many inventions, the first working mouse was a product of extensive design revision and usability testing. As such, there is no clear-cut date to designate as the day the mouse was "born." Suffice it to say, Engelbart finalized his first mouse design in 1963, meaning that mouse technology is more than four decades old.
Indeed, one can't even point to the day the mouse received its name--because that happened twice. While mouse is now the preferred verbal shorthand for an X-Y position indicator for a display system, another nickname emerged during the mouse's developmental years, one that would be mildly ironic if it were still in use today.
What was the suggested alternative name for Douglas Engelbart's "X-Y position indicator for a display system," commonly called a mouse?
As promised, that other nickname was mildly ironic. During its early development, Engelbart's research teams also called his invention a bug.
While almost every commercially sold computer has its quirks and flaws, it's doubtful that anyone would want to buy a PC that literally came with its own bug, especially since the first computer to come with one—the aforementioned Xerox Star 8010—sold for a hefty $16,000. Thus, it's pretty easy to see why mouse won out over bug as the X-Y indicator's favored nickname.
Still, if you were to lay eyes on that first mouse that Engelbart demonstrated in 1968, the term buggy might not be too far from your mind. The "original" mouse was made of wood; a hollow wooden block covered two perpendicular wheels, which translated x- and y-axis motion into electronic signals.
A simple raised, round button the size of a mini-marshmallow completed the design. (Yes, Macintosh fans, the first mouse was a one-button affair.) For all its potential, that first mouse was grossly unsophisticated compared to today's models.
Moreover, for all his influence, it was not Engelbart who created the now familiar mouse ball—that needs-to-be-cleaned component of many modern mice that more accurately "captures" mouse movement. That distinction goes to Xerox developer Bill English, a member of the famous Xerox PARC research team, who designed the first mouse ball in 1970.
The PARC version of the mouse is perhaps the most influential, designed for complementary, intermittent use with a conventional QWERTY keyboard, as opposed to Engelbart's original notion of an always-in-use mouse paired with a one-handed mini-keyboard.
Two Swiss scientists, Jean-Daniel Nicoud and Andre Guignard (the former a professor and the latter an engineer and precision watchmaker), are responsible for refining the PARC design into its modern form. Their work, sponsored by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, would lead directly to the formation of contemporary mouse manufacturer Logitech. From a buggy box to a multinational super-business, the computer mouse makes for some pointed Geek Trivia.
Today's blog was taken from an article found here.
by bmedlock
OK! You've got a computer. You've got the Internet. Obviously or you wouldn't be here. But what about all that stuff out there you hear about? ID theft? Spyware? Viruses? What's a firewall? How do I stop Pop-ups? There's a whole world at your fingertips and that whole world is trying to take over your computer. What do you do? How do you know if you are safe?
Over the next few blogs I'm going to explain some of these things and teach you how to be safe! Stay tuned...
Next Blog: Viruses!
by bmedlock
I was in my car last night at about 8:45, going to Braum's to get some ice cream for my wife (I may have gotten something for myself too...) On the way there and back I was listening to KOBC, and listened to the end of a broadcast by Focus on the Family. I didn't hear the whole sermon, but it concluded with the statement that God's grace is sufficient. So my mind goes to II Corinthians 12, and I meditate on it as the evening goes on. Then at 3:00am this morning our one-month old princess decides it's breakfast time, so I get up and tend to her needs. I finally get her back to bed about 5:00am, but I can't get back to sleep. II Corinthians 12 keeps rolling through my mind. I am one of those people who can always go to sleep within 5 minutes of laying my head on the pillow, so I figure if I can't, God must want to talk with me. So after about 15 minutes I get up and decide to go over II Corinthians 12 a little deeper. I started wondering what some of the words meant in the original Greek, so I get out my ASV/NIV/Greek Bible and Vine's Expository Dictionary and start digging. That being said, the following is II Corinthians 12:7-10 with some added notes concerning the original Greek.
“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great” (actual Greek word is hyperbole, it mean really, really, really big) “revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me” (Greek actually means to beat with closed fist! Also in the Greek the phrase translated 'to keep me from becoming conceited' is repeated here) “Three time I pleaded” (begged, called for help) “with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you,'” (I needed help, He came to my help, and the help He provided was EVERYTHING I needed) “'for my power is made perfect'” (finished, completed, "It is finished" in John 19:30, "be perfect" in Mt.5:48) "' in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest" (literally, "set tent over" the picture I get is a nomad wandering the desert, at the end of the day is tired, feet are sore, the sun is beating down, and he sets his tent up and finds rest in it) "on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
“When I am weak, then I am strong!” It's truths like these that cause Paul to say in I Corinthians 1:18-19 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to use who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.'”
Real power is only made complete in weakness. I'm reminded of Eugene Peterson's translation of Matthew 5:3 in The Message, “You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. The less of you, the more of God, and the more of His rule.” We can only truly know God's power in our lives when we have humbled ourselves and made ourselves nothing! Phil 2:5-11“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Even the greatest power of God, could only be completed in His weakness.
Consider Psalms 103:1-5 “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.”
I think of my father who suffered 10 years from a disease he was told would kill him, until one day he was healed. “(the LORD) heals all your diseases.” I think of testimony after testimony of people whose lives were in the pit. Look at the testimony found at http://www.chcchurch.org. But the LORD redeemed them, and crowned them with love and compassion. “(He) satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's” All these benefits of our Great and Powerful God! All the power He has shown in creation! And yet the greatest of all His benefits, the one thing that took so much power it could only be completed in weakness... “(He) forgives all your sins”!! He forgives our sins!! The single greatest, most powerful thing God does is forgive our sins, and that could only be done in weakness!
Follow His example! I am nothing! i am not, but i know I AM!
Don't worry, I'll get to the virus blog next time!
by bmedlock
What is a virus? We've all heard of them. In my experience, a virus is usually the first to be blamed for computer problems, though not nearly as often is a virus the culprit. There is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about viruses, so let me clear it up a little.
A virus is a program, written by someone who knows how to write programs, a programmer, that has built into its code the ability to copy/send itself, replicate, to another computer. It's not necessarily a program that harms your computer, in fact many viruses are quite harmless. There are many ways a virus can replicate. The most common way we hear about is through email. When an email virus infects your computer, it will copy itself and send the copies to people in your addressbook. Sometimes, the virus will even fake the sender, pretending to be somebody else so the source of the infection can't be found. Some viruses don't bother with email, and can copy themselves directly from one computer to another through the Internet. The first computer virus was created in 1981, and it spread from Apple II floppies, it was called the “Cloner”. In 1983, Fred Cohen coined the term “virus” to describe a program that replicates itself.
So what harm can a virus do? While some viruses do nothing but replicate, there are some out there that do much more damage. Viruses usually exploit a bug, or flaw, in some software, ususally targeting a specific program, such as Windows. This bug allows them to replicate, and sometime to do other damage. Some will try to delete files, or steal private information. Some viruses are set to deliver a “payload” on a specific date. That payload could be a message that pops up on your screen, or it could wipe everything from your computer. The extent of what a virus can do is up to the imagination of the virus author.
How do you protect yourself from viruses? You need some kind of anti-virus software. Norton and McAfee are two of the most popular brands of antivirus software, but there are many others out there. At http://www.geeks-4-jesus.org we have a *FREE* online virus scanner that will let you know if you have a virus, and possible clean it, however it is not a complete anti-virus solution! The important thing about any anti-virus software you choose is that you keep it updated regularly. I suggest you update it weekly. Whatever software you choose will have an update feature built in. Hundreds of new viruses are being written every month! Therefore the antivirus software must be udpated to keep up with these new threats. The other thing you should do to protect yourself from viruses is keep your computer updated. Microsoft offers a *FREE* service at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com that scans your computer and loads necessary updates to fix the “bugs” that viruses exploit.
To sum it up, for complete anti-virus protection you need:
- An antivirus program
- Update your antivirus program weekly
- Update your computer at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com at least monthly
- Visit http://www.geeks-4-jesus.org and perform a *FREE* online virus scan monthly!
Next Week... SPYWARE!!
If you have any questions or comments click on feedback, or go to http://www.geeks-4-jesus.org and join the discussion forum.
by bmedlock
What is Spyware? It sounds like a jacket James Bond may wear that has a built-in flotation device, parachute, x-ray machine, voice recorder, and has various weapons hidden throughout. But no, we're not talking about spy-wear, but Spy-Ware, as in software that spies on you!
Spyware is software that has been secretly placed on your computer that records and reports your activity. Spyware can get installed several ways. One is through cookies. A cookie is a file placed on your computer by a website you visit. There are plenty of legitimate reasons for cookies. For example, my.yahoo.com can be personalized and remember you every time you visit through the use of a cookie. However, there are sites that use cookies to collect information about your for dubious reasons. Another way is through website installs. Spyware might disguise itself as legitimate software needed to access a website. Spyware can install through email the same as a virus can. Or it may come bundled with another program you want, Kazaa is one such program.
What does Spyware actually do? Well, it records what sites you visit, it may record every keystroke you make, thus stealing your passwords, then it reports all of this information to however is the author. It may be a company looking for information about you so they can know how to target you for their marketing purposed, or it could be a hacker looking to steal your identity. Most of the time its the former. Another thing Spyware often does is cause pop-ups. Usually the Spyware will record the sites you visit and create pop-ups based on this information; however, most often these pop-ups are pornographic in nature. Some of the symptoms of Spyware infestation are unexplainable decrease in overall performance, new toolbars showing up, increased pop-up ads, default search engine and home page has changed.
What can you do about Spyware? Unfortunately, the only effective way I've found to battle Spyware is to continually clean it up. There are ways to prevent some Spyware infections, such as using a firewall, don't install any software you aren't familiar with, avoid “underground” websites, but you'll still get some. Two tools I use to remove Spyware are Spybot Search and Destroy, and Lavasoft's Ad-Aware. Both have free versions that are adequate. Both require regular updates, and a manual scan should be performed monthly for best results. To find these go to http://www.download.com and type in the name of the product in the search box.
Spyware has become more of a serious threat, and a larger nuisance than viruses ever were. Be armed with knowledge!
Next week's topic: Hacker's and Firewalls!
Please post any questions or comments you may have!
by bmedlock
That's right! We finished with the Great Day of Service, and now it's time for the Geek Day of Service. July 9, 2005 from 8:00AM to 2:00PM at College Heights Christian Church, in the Atrium. We will take your computer, and whatever is wrong with it, and do what we can to fix it. So if you've got something wrong with your computer, and haven't been able to afford to have it fixed for $90/hour, bring it to us!
If you're a geek with a heart for service, come join us. Drop me an email to let me know you're interested, bmedlock@chcchurch.org.
More on Safe Computing Later ....
:)
by bmedlock
A pale skinned nerd in his mom's basement pushes a couple of buttons and hacks into the IRS database... that's the picture Hollywood gives us of hacker, but what is a hacker really, and what do they do? Though not entirely accurate, that picture isn't completely false. A hacker is someone who gains access to another computer that they are not supposed to have access to. Sometimes this may be through security flaws or bugs in a programs, sometimes its just through lack of security on the hacked computer. There are hackers out there who do it just for fun, and those who do it for a specific purpose, like identity theft. There are white hat hacker, who find security flaws in a system, then contact the owner of that system so they can plug the holes, and black hat hackers who do it for other reasons, such as theft, or vandalism. Whatever the purpose may be, all hacking is illegal!
So what can you do to protect yourself from hackers. If your computer is on the internet, and you have not taken specific precautions against hackers, your computer is open for the world to see, especially if you have broadband (high-speed internet). Your first line of defense against hacking is a firewall. A firewall is a program, or a piece of hardware that sits between your computer and the internet. A firewall will check everything that passes between your computer and the internet and block what it considers “unsecure”. While a software firewall is better than nothing, a hardware firewall is by far a superior option. If you have a DSL or Cable router, you have a firewall. With a hardware firewall, such as a DSL router, your computer isn't directly connected to the Internet, the firewall (router) is. So when a hacker tries to access your system, they don't see your computer, they only see your router, therefore your computer is safe. Again, a hardware firewall is a better option, but a software firewall will help, a free software firewall that I've often used is Zone Alarm. If your computer is running WindowsXP, be sure you download Service Pack 2 which includes a built-in firewall, it can be downloaded at the Windows Update site here. The Windows update site contains fixes to all the bugs found in Windows, mainly it plugs up security holes. That is your second line of defense. You should check out the Windows update site at least once a month, and keep downloading all “Critical Updates” until there are no more to download. If its your first visit you may have to go back several times until you are up-to-date. Whenever a security hole is found in Windows, Microsoft fixes it in a relatively short time and posts the update to the Windows Update site.
We've already discussed viruses, but let me bring up a specific type of virus called a trojan, or a trojan horse. A trojan horse is a program written to infect your computer and give the trojan author access to your computer. Again, let me emphasis that it is VERY IMPORTANT you have an up-to-date anti-virus program. That means you check the updates on your anti-virus program at least once a month if not more often!
So, to sum it all up, if you want to protect your computer from hackers you should have:
1. A firewall, software or hardware, but hardware is better. Two free software firewalls are the Windows Firewall which is included in Windows XP Service Pack 2, and Zone Alarm found here.
2. Check the Windows Update site montly, or more often and downlaod ALL critical updates to plug the holes that have been found in Windows.
3. Up-to-date antivirus software. If your software isn't up-to-date, it is doing you no good. Most viruses are only “in the wild” a few months, and new ones are being writted everyday.
Follow these steps and you should be relatively safe online. If you have anymore questions, email me.
by bmedlock
The Internet is a vast source of knowledge and information. It can be a great tool for business, personal finances, communication ( personal and business), and it can be used to achieve a lot of good. But it is also being used for evil purposes. There is NO limit to what you can find on the Internet! I'm sure this is not new to anyone. So what can you as a parent do to protect your child from the dangers of the Internet?
Here's a few helpful tips:.
1. Keep your computer in a publicly visible place. A teenager's bedroom is not the proper place for a computer that has Internet access.
2. If you have a dial-up connection, do not save your password and make sure you keep it secret. Also be smart in what password you choose. Using the name of a family member, or your address, or ANY other personal information (SS#, B-Day's) are all bad ideas for passwords because they can be found out easily. Usually a combination of letters and numbers with some capital and some lower case letters make the best passwords.
3. Talk openly with your children about the dangers of the Internet. Young children can be naive and will believe whatever they are told. They see the Internet as an endless souce of truth, and if not taught otherwise, will accept everything they read at face value. If they are chatting with someone and that person claims to be a 15 y/o girl in California, they will believe it. (Note: Actually, alot of adults would too...) The truth is you can't trust what anyone says online unless you already know them. When it comes to the Internet, teach your children to trust no one!
4. Use some kind of Internet Content Filter. There are many of these programs available today, some that cost money and some that are free. Over the next few months I will be testing some free ones and putting the results of my findings in this blog. We will be looking for a filter that meets the following criteria:
- Filters as much innapropriate material as possible
- Logs Internet content
- Gives the adult control to adjust what it does and does not filter
- Is not easily disabled or uninstalled
- Stable
- Fast Performance
I will rate each of the programs I find based on those attributes and get back with you.
Yes, the Internet is a tremendous tool, but it comes with huge risks. Please take the time to be an informed parent!
by bmedlock
Starting last week on Monday nights Randy has been leading a study through I Samuel. So far the class has been great. We've had between 20-30 men in attendance, and the content has been great. Last night we discussed chapters 4-6, you know, the whole section about the ark of the covenant. Israel is in a bad state spiritually, so when they go to war, they lose, they ask, “Why did God do this to us?” So they think they can manipulate God into helping them by bringing the ark from Shiloh on to the battlefield. Well, this doesn't work, and they lose the ark to the Philistines.
When we pray, are we ever trying to manipulate God? Do we leave the ark (or our 'religion') at Shiloh, then bring it out when the going gets tough?
So the Philistines have the ark, and God brings devastation on them, rats and tumors to be exact. They place the ark in their temple next to their 'god' Dagon, and he ends up falling on his face before the ark twice, the second time his hands and head are broken off. God proves He does not need man to 'protect' Him, He's got the power to do it himself. He only allows us to participate in the work He's already doing.
Men! Come next week, Monday night at 7:00PM in the choir room as we begin looking at chapter 7 and on. Randy will be gone next week, but a certain geek we know will be taking his place. There's also a study for women going on at the Don Dewelt Prayer Chapel at Good News Production, Itl, led by Julie Gariss. I haven't been there, so I can't tell you much about it, except I'm sure it's worth going to.
by bmedlock
If you've been following my blogs you may remember I recently gave some tips on keeping your children safe on the Internet. Since then I've downloaded “Parental Filter” and have been testing it. My overall impression of this software is I like it! This program uses a blacklist/whitelist approach to filtering, which means it has a list of bad websites and bad words likely to be found on bad websites that it blocks, and a list of good websites that it allows.
Let's walk through the setup. First download the program here. Open the file. You get a little info about the program, and are told to exit any other programs you have open. Please do so, then click “Next”. Read through the agreement, and if you agree to the conditions, click “Next”. Change the install location if you want to, but in most instances you would leave this as it is and click “Next”. Click “Next” again, and again, then it starts copying files and installing. OK. Now you're installed and you're given some options. For security purposes I suggest you check “Launch Parental Filter”, “Create Start Menu Program Group”, and uncheck “Create Desktop Icon”, and “Show in Add/Remove Programs.” If you've been following my advice and update your Windows regularly through the “Windows Update” found on your Start Menu, you don't need to check anything else. If, however, you haven't, you will probably need all the updates listed. When finished, click “Next”. If you needed some of the updates you may restart at this time. Otherwise, Parental Filter opens. The first step is to set a password. Something you can remember, but can't be guessed. Birthdays and kids names are BAD PASSWORDS! So now lets setup our filter. This program works by redirecting pages. For example, someone tries to go to an innapropriate site, let's say, innapropriatesite.com, once they type in the address and hit enter, Parental Filter then kicks in and redirects the web browser to cybersleuth-kids.com, or any one of the sites listed in the “Redirect Pages” section found on this first page. You can add or remove pages to this list as you see fit. Also note at the bottom: “Press F9 to hide this windows Press F10 to show this windows” It means what it says. To hide the configuration screen, press the F9 key found at the top of your keyboard. To see it again press F10, and it will ask for your password, then you can setup some more options. Go ahead and try it now.
Now click on the “Options” tab. There are alot of options, but I'll only cover a few here. I suggest you don't experiment with all these options. If not configured properly, some of these options will slow your computer to a halt, and you won't gain any real advantage from. So, let's look at “Use Only Permitted Site List”. This options gives you the most control. If this is selected, only the sites listed in your “white list” can be visited. So if you only want, http://www.chcchurch.org and http://www.geeks-4-jesus.org to be viewed on your computer, select this option and remove everything except these two sites in your “white list”. I wouldn't suggest this in most instances, but in some I would. Now let's check “Secretly start Parental FIlter when Windows boots”, notice that “Keep Parental Filter hidden” checks itself at the same time. This options does what it says, and I suggest you check it. The next option to look at is “Disable process view in Windows XP/2003”, assuming you have Windows XP or 2003. If you don't check this option, it is possible for someone with a little skill to shut down the filter without a password, so it's a good idea to check it. I would also check “Remove from Add/Remove Programs List” for the same reason.
Now click on the “Edit” tab. Click on the “Master Database Viewer” button. Here's where you can edit your “lists”. The “Redirection Sites” we already talked about. The “Passwords” list is a list of passwords for editing Parental Filter. The “Excluded Sites” list are sites that would be blocked normally because they may contain certain words found in your “Banned Words” list, but you may not want blocked. A good example is symantec.com. It's the website for a company that makes antivirus and other security software. It's a site you want to go to, but it contains detailed information about viruses, and some viruses contain some bad stuff. The “Only Permitted” list is the list used when you check the option “Use Only Permitted Site List” as listed above, this is your “white list”. The rest of the lists are for all the stuff you want to block. To add or remove anything from a list, make sure that list is selected, then click the “Add” button found at the top of the screen, to remove, select the item you want removed and click the “Remove” button. When finished editing, click “Save”, then close it.
So there's the tutorial on setting up “Parental Filter”. Like I said earlier, I like the program. I think it works pretty well, but I'll give a more detailed review later. If you have any questions, post them in the Feedback section by clicking on “Feedback” below this blog.
by bmedlock
Our first Geek Day of Service was a success! I'm very excited about all that happened. We had fourteen volunteers, and worked on computers for seventeen people. We had a lot of fun, and got to show a few people in Joplin that Jesus loves them, and He cares about every detail of their life, even their computers!
Keep checking http://www.geeks-4-jesus.org for upcoming video footage of GDOS, and more information about the next one coming November 5, 2005!
by bmedlock
A little while ago I blogged a How-To on setting up Parental Filter. Now here's what I thought of the program.
First of all I would like to point out that if you use it please edit the options as I specified in my earlier blog, otherwise the program is too easy to bypass. But even with these options in place, if you have a high speed internet conntection (i.e. cable modem or DSL), there may be other ways to get around the filter. Parental Filter works by redirecting your web browser from an innapropriate website to one of a list of appropriate sites that you setup. So if someone tries to go to http://www.inappropriatesite.com it will instead pull up http://www.appropriatesite.com. The problem is in some instances http://www.inappropriatesite.com may open before it is redirected, and then you may have time to click on something and get further into the site, bypassing the filter. There were some other ways to get around it that I won't detail here.
I also noticed occasional performance problems with Parental Filter. On a few occasions, when I was editing settings, my computer would slow down tremendously, lock up, or crash. I setup the program on two computers with similar results. I was able to edit settings most of the time without problem, so it was not a consistent thing.
Overall I like the concept of Parental Filter. I like what it does and how it works. I did find several ways around it, but the average computer user would not be able to find these, and I'm not writing a How-To on that. It seemed to work well, with only occasional performance problems. I would suggest it for a family with small children, or kids who don't know alot about computers. I would suggest further that you select the option to “Use only permitted site list”, then edit the permitted site list to all the sites you want your child to have access to, such as http://www.chcchurch.org, or http://www.geeks-4-jesus.org. For families that meet this description this is a great option. However, if you have some in your family that are pretty computer savvy, this may not be the program for you. Overall I give Parental Filter a 3 out of 5!
by bmedlock
FingerGear announced today, July 22, a new product their new Computer-on-a-Stick(TM) Flash Drive. It's a bootable USB 2.0 flash drive that includes it's own OS, the Mozilla Firefox web browser, an office suite developed by OpenOffice.org, and a IM client compatible with MSN Messenger, Yahoo IM, AIM, ICQ, IRC, and more, known as GAIM. Setup your desktop how you like it, save your documents to your flash drive, and take your computer with you wherever you go. Plug it into any computer capable of booting from a USB drive and you're good to go. Check it out here http://www.fingergear.com/computer_on_a_stick.php.
Only $149 and it comes in lots of nifty colors. I've got to try one of these out!
by bmedlock
This week we are taking a couple of days to get together and retreat. We just finished lunch and I'm taking a moment to blog. There's some good stuff coming up.
Last week I talked with Watered Gardens, a local ministry in town. We're going to try to get a team together to go over there and evaluate their technical needs. Let me kinow if you're interested in helping.
Well, the retreat's moving so I'll have to blog more later. I'll let you know if anything interesting comes up.
We were discussing next year's Thanksgiving Program. I'm thinking about a Klingon Opera, but no one else seems interested in that idea.
by bmedlock
Lately I've been meditating on Romans 12. Here's part of it as translated in THE MESSAGE:
“1So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. “
“3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.”
This weekend we will be having a ministry fair at College Heights where we will showcase all the opportunities to serve here. As we volunteer for a ministry, it's easy to think about what I can bring to God, but the truth is “God brings it all to you.” We don't bless God by serving, He blesses us! We get to serve our Creator by His grace and by the blood of His Son! If you want to know yourself, look not at what you do, but at who God is, and what He has done.
by bmedlock
If you missed out on our LAN party last week, don't worry, we'll schedule another one real soon.
Keep checking http://www.geeks-4-jesus.org for updates.
We'll let you know when and where the next one will be.
Sorry for the short post, but I've got alot of work to do.
Blog more later.
by bmedlock
Yes, I know! I haven't blogged in awhile. It's been pretty busy lately.
If you haven't heard, Saturday, November 5 is the next Geek Day of Service. As of today I believe we have about 25 techs ready to serve. There's an ad in the Joplin Globe this weekend and next, so we should have a good turnout. Stay tuned for more details...
by bmedlock
The Geek Day of Service is just around the corner!
And for those who are wondering, this is not a fund raiser. The Geek Day of Service is an opportunity for us to show Christ's love in a practical way to the people of Joplin. We've put an ad in the Joplin Globe, and I'd like everyone to invite their neighbors, friends from work, etc. This is a great opportunity to bring people in who would otherwise never enter a church building.
So invite everybody you know, and come join us to show your support. We need more help besides just techs. Email me if you're interested in helping.
by bmedlock
Our second Geek Day of Service appears to be a HUGE success. We worked on around 55 computers, most of which were fixed. A few we couldn't fix because we didn't have any hardware available, but we diagnosed, and there were a couple we just didn't have the time to really get it going, but at least 48 or more of those 55 were fixed and that's quite a feat for 18 people in 6 hours!
The next GDOS is scheduled for January 28! You'll be hearing more about that soon. Be ready!
by bmedlock
If your having problems between one GDOS and the next, check out the Geeks-4-Jesus forum at http://www.geeks-4-jesus.org/phpbb2/index.php. There you can ask questions of the geeks and see if we can't find a solution to your problem.
by bmedlock
Geeks, and especially gamers, are often portrayed by the media as being violent because of the violent games they play. But then there's http://www.childsplaycharity.org/. Over the past three years geeks and gamers from around the world have raised nearly a million dollars in toys, games and cash for sick kids in Children's Hospitals around the world!
Makes me proud to be a geek!
by bmedlock
I've had several people ask me since the Geek Day of Service about Bart's PE. What is it and how do you get it?
Just go to http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ and read all about it.
Basically Bart's PE is a pre-install Windows environment loaded on a bootable CD. You can load different programs on it for different purposes, such as removing viruses or spyware, repartitioning HDD's, resetting passwords, etc. You use the pebuilder to configure your CD, then make an ISO image and burn it to CD. Then you can boot off the CD, bypass everything on your hard drive and clean up your computer. Antivirus and spyware cleaners usually run faster and are more effective using Bart's PE because the virus/spyware/adware CAN'T load on to the CD.
I'm a Linux man myself, and in a lot of cases I'd use Knoppix over Bart's PE, but as we all know read/write support for NTFS is still a beta function with any Linux distro. So if you need r/w support for an NTFS volume (like you would to remobe a virus, spyware, etc.) or if you need to get into the Windows registry (did I mention you can edit the registry w/ Bart's PE?) Bart's PE is an indispensable tool!
by bmedlock
You know...
I really should blog more!
by bmedlock
Well, last Friday my wife and I woke up and decided we wanted to do something spontaneous, so we pakced all our stuff and moved across the street!
OK, so it didn't exactly happen like that, but pretty close. Last year we were looking for a place to live and we found two houses right across the street from each other that we liked owned by the same people. One we liked better than the other, but it had certain conditions. The landlords' son was going to be moving into the house in six months, so if we chose that one, even though we liked it better, we only had six months before we'd be forced to move, so we chose the other one. We still liked it, just not nearly as well.
So someone else moved in to the house across the street, stayed there for a few months and moved out, then the landlords' son and daughter-in-law moved in. Then last week, we noticed they were packing up the house across the street, so we called our landlords and found out their son and daughter-in-law were moving to Tulsa! So we asked if we could look at the house again, they had done some major redecorating, new carpets, new tiles, new applicances, new countertops, and we liked it even more than we did a year ago. This was Thursday night, so Friday morning we made the decision to move, and this weekend we moved. A week ago it didn't even occur to me that we might be moving anytime this year, or the next, etc, and now we're already moved!
by bmedlock
Let me know what projects you have been working on lately.!
As for me, I've been doing some server upgrades. let me lay out the plan for you.
Step one was to get rid of our Sonic Wall router and content filter, and thus get rid of the annual fee. To do this I took an older computer, aroun 300MHz I believe, with a 40GB HDD and around 256MB of RAM, and loaded OpenBSD (http://www.openbsd.org), setup squid (http://www.squid-cache.org/), pf (http://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/), and DansGuardian(http://dansguardian.org/) (with the help of Scott Francis I should add).
For those who don't know, squid is a proxy server, pf a packet filter (firewall), and DansGuardian keeps out all that bad stuff on the Internet (its a web content filter). So far its working great, and might I add that its all open source, and FREE!!!
I've also managed to use authpf () which allows specific firewall settings for each user who logs in remotely using ssh. I've used that to allow some people to have remote access to their computers. I can block all ports, and then use authpf to only open specific ports from the remote IP to the local workstation's IP for as long as the user is logged into ssh. This has also worked pretty good. And I've managed to use pf to limit the badwidth available to bit torrent, and other p2p's. A couple weeks ago I did a bandwidth test and my download speed was only about 50k, so I limited bit torrent and it jumped up to 1.5M. Then I gave Josh and Nathan a stern talking to!
So that was my first server project, the next step is to upgrade our file server. We are currently using SLES (Suse Linux Enterprise Server) as a Samba server on a system with two 80GB HDD's setup on RAID 1(mirroring). At the moment we have less than 1GB of free space on the server, so I'm working towards getting some more free space. I bought three 120GB HDD's from Best Buy for $35 each (after rebate), stuck them in an old server we had, it's around 1GHz, 512MB of RAM, and loaded SLES on it using RAID5 for the /home directory giving it around 210GB. Now I'm setting up SAMBA, but I thought I'd use LDAP to authenticate instead of simply the smbpasswd file. LDAP works better with Active Directory.
Once I've got that project done, its on to the mail server. I'm going to wipe our SLES server mentioned above, then load Exchange-4-Linux (http://www.exchange4linux.org), set it up as our mail server, which is currently being hosted offsite, setup a local spam filter (its currently offsite, and we have to pay for it), and setup the Outlook connector for E4L. This will give us all the features of Exchange with the ability to use Outlook as a client, since most of our staff uses Outlook, and we can also use a web interface for those who want to access it remotely.
Then I need to tweak our disaster recovery policy, and then i think it's time for a vacation!
by bmedlock
In my last post I told you what I've been doing at work, but what about in my spare time?
I've recently found http://www.mod-x.com and have myself become a Mod-X agent. Mod-X is sort of a hacking game. The story revolves around a break in to some of the Mod-X systems, and you are the only one who can beat the intruder. So far I'm on level 6 after about a week. That ranks me at 1160 our ot 5641 agents. It's been fun. The challenges have taught me a bit about security. There's several other similar games out there, I'll have to get to those when I finish with Mod-X. That is IF I finish! Each level gets harder as you go. I've only quickly glanced at level 6, so who knows if I'll get any farther. I'll keep you posted.
Please post comments with what you've been doing lately.
And don't forget about the LAN Party on Saturday!
by bmedlock
Last week I sent an email to all our Geeks with the subject line "The FUTURE!!!".
The following is the response I received from one geek...
Ill admit that I debated even opening up your email due to its subject line The Future.
-I mean do I REALLY want to know the future?
-What if I saw something I didnt like?
-Would I (could I) change my behavior to alter the future Ive seen?
-If I did change my behavior, how would this affect other peoples future?
-Arent all of our fates connected?
-Even the slightest change to my future, could possibly have enormous complications on others.
-If I opened up the email and it was blank, what would this mean?
-I dont know if Im ready to deal with all that responsibility.
Then, I thought I would not open the email and delete it and this brought up some more questions.
-If I delete The future does this mean time and space, as we know it, cease to exist?
-Or is it just MY future that Im deleting?
-Would the email The Future have predicted that I would delete the email?
I was really in a Catch-22!!!!
As you can see, I took a leap of faith and opened the email anyway. Fortunately, my fears were put to rest and the email was harmless.
by bmedlock
Here's a quick list of some of the projects and ideas we have going for Geeks-4-Jesus:
1. January 28 is the next Geek Day of Service!!! If you can be there, please let me know ASAP!
2. We will be partnering with Watered Gardens taking in old used computers, refurbishing them, and giving them away to people with special needs who can't afford a computer.
3. Geeks-4-Jesus short term mission-trip! Details will be coming later, but we are working on a geeky short-term mission trip for sometime this year.
4. Internet Evangelism Day is May 7. We may have some training before then and try to launch a team of web evangelists by then.
5. We need to develop a follow-up procedure for the GDOS. Maybe we can get some other ministries involved?
6. Geeks-4-Jesus Conference. Details still to come, but this would be an event where we invite all the churches in the area and we would provide useful information for them regarding their ministries and tech stuff!
7. Work with the Barnabas ministry to create moderated online support groups.
8. Further develop the kiosks we have in the building, and build more of them.
9. Work on the geeks-4-jesus.org website to provide more useful information.
10. Weekly meetings, or at least sorta-weekly, that don't start at 6:30am (BTW we do have weekly meetings that DO start at 6:30am at Panera Bread Co. on Wednesdays!)
11. Expand G4J to include other churches and ministries in the area.
12. More LAN Parties!
13. Case modding for a fund-raiser. (This was Adam's idea)
14. Left-over equipment from the Watered Gardens project that is too old to use can be turned into a PC museum (also Adam's idea), or put them together to create a large cluster used for the SETI project (that was Chris's idea)
15. Offer more classes, maybe teach some computer job skills(i.e. Word, Excel, PASCAL, Fortran)
These were the most productive ideas we've come up with, and there are plans in place for some of them already. If you would like some more info, email me. We need to put some teams together for some of these projects, and we might need some team leaders, so please let me know if you're interested.
As always, there is more to come...
by bmedlock
Two weeks ago tomorrow morning we decided to move. As of last night, somwehere around 11:00PM, we are completely moved!
It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, and we really like our new house, so all is well, except I'm rather tired.
So I don't think I'll blog much today. Got some work to do, but when I get home this evening I think I'll just kick back and maybe watch some Star Wars!
by bmedlock
For years, physics has had a problem that no one could come up with a solution to. Einstein spent the latter part of his years working on this problem and could find no solution. There are various “fields” in physics, a field being an area under the influence of a force such as gravity or electricity. Each field has rules for itself that work for everything regarding that force, but don't for another. The popular belief is that there exists some sort of “Unified Field Theory”, or “Theory of Everything” that will unite all these various fields into one equation that could then be used to calculate everything. We have two theories, Quantum Mechanics and Relativity. Quantum Mechanics will describe the nature and behavior of atomic and sub-atomic particles, while Relativity will describe the nature and behavior of things large enough we can see them. You cannot, however, use Quantum Mechanics to describe say the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, nor use Relativity to describe what will happen on an atomic scale. They are two incompatible theories, that both describe the world around us accurately as far as we can measure it.
So the pursuit of a "Theory of Everything" has been like the Holy Grail of modern Physics. One particular theory has risen to the forefront as a good possibility. This is the String Theory. You can go to http://superstringtheory.com for much more information, but let me give you a brief summary. It used to be widely excepted that the smallest building block of all matter was a particle. Everything can be broken down into atoms, and atoms can be broken down into protons, neutron, and electrons. These can be broken down even more and more and more, etc. String theories propose that the elemental building blocks of everything are strings, not particles, and that these strings vibrate in space-time.
This is of course all very interesting, and when I have spare time, which hasn't been much lately, I like to go to the site above and ponder these things. One interesting thing about the various string theories, is that they do not work in a 4 dimensional Universe such as we observe, that is three dimensions of space and the fourth dimension being time. For String Theory to work we need 10 dimensions. This is where it all gets kinda weird and very interesting. Imagine our universe existed on your computer screen. You could move all over your screen. You could observe various phenomenon, create a life for yourself, but you would exist only in 2 physical dimensions. You could move left and right, go forward or backward as much as you please, but up and down are concepts you couldn't even fathom. You see the entire Universe as this small computer screen because your are limited to 2-dimensions. Meanwhile, just by adding up and down, there is this HUGE Universe, with other beings all around who could even have an impact on your life in your little 2-D world, and though you would see the outcome, you wouldn't understand the cause. For example, if I decided to clean off my computer screen, it could kill millions of 2-D beings such as yourself, and 2-D scientists may have come up with a name for this phenomenon, and scientific laws that govern it, but it would be woefully inadequate to describe the reality that was happening.
These are the things scientists are pondering. They are beginning to think, maybe there is more out there then what we can observe. Machio Kaku refers to these extra dimensions as Hyperspace in one of his books. You can visit his website at http://www.mkaku.org. He even refers to the possibility that in these extra dimensions there may be other beings that he calls hyper-beings.
They are so close but just don't get it. I agree whole-heartedly that there are other dimensions out there, though I can't verify if there are actually 10! And we have a book that describes some of the beings that exist in these other dimensions. It even describes how some have crossed paths with our little 3-D world, even lived on it. It describes how the One Being created our 3-D world. How HE cares for His little 3-D creatures, became 3-D himself and died for these 3-D creatures. How can they consider hyperspace and hyper-beings as possible reality from a scientific standpoint, and not see that it would only take a little step of faith to believe in the Hyper-Being we have in recorded His-Story?!?
by bmedlock
If your computer is making one of the following noises, take your hard drive out, drill a couple of holes through it and dispose of in any way you see fit.
Bad Head 1 Bad Head 2 Bad Head 3 Bad Head 4
Slow Spindle Motor Head Stuck to Spindle
If you are an experienced computer tech you may want to prepare yourself. All of these sounds at one sitting is not good for the heart!
by bmedlock
So what do geeks dream about?
I remember several years ago I was studying hard for a Linux test, and that evening I had an entire dream from a bash prompt. No gui, x-server was appearantly not loaded. And the worst part was I couldn't remember my root passwd. Now I'm not talking about dreaming I was sitting in front of a computer, my dream was in a terminal.
Well, this weekend I have been working on getting ettercap working on my recently installed OpenBSD on my laptop. Everything works fine but everytime I tried to load ettercap it would segfault. So I looked for patches, searched forums, tried to recompile from source. Used gdb to debug it. Went through line after line of code. Tried the latest version, but I lacked certain dependencies. So finally I updated libpcap and libnet from source. Then got the latest ettercap and succussfully compiled it from source. I spent a few days working on this.
So last night, my dreams, were in C++! All I remember is scrolling through line after line, and then waking up sweating and panting, freaking out at 3:00 am because I realized the code was weak and any script kiddy could come by with a buffer overflow exploit and take over control of my mind!
This sort of thing normally means its time to put the computer down and go spend some quality time with my family.
Maybe the kids would like to have a LAN party...
by bmedlock
OK! I've been busy and thus I haven't posted anything in awhile. And when I come back, I've been spammed big time. So I'm going to work on cleaning up the spam, then you'll see some more posts. I promise!
by bmedlock
Did you ever wonder what would happen to your CPU is it wasn't properly cooled. Check it out
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