News & BBS Reposts from comp.sys.ibm.as400.misc

Here are a few interesting & useful articles I have run across.  I hope to add more from time to time.

• Help on Print Setup through Client Access

 

• Help on Print via through Client Access

  Hello all,
  First here is what I'm trying to do:
  Through Client Access for Windows 5.5, I am trying to setup a WorkStation
  host session to print to file.
  I have no previous experience on this platform and I am using Chapter Nine
  of Redbook SG24-2160-01 (IBM AS/400 Printing V) as my primary resource.
  
  What I have done:
  1.  START-Programs-Client Access Express- Emulator-Start or Configure
  session
  2.  Configure PC5250 Screen:
      A.  Specify Workstation ID = PRTHOR
      B.  Type of emulation = Printer
      C.  Host code-page = 037 United States
      D.  Port # = 23
  3.  PC5250 Printer Emulation Setup screen:
      A.  Set message Queue = QSYSOPR
      B.  Library = *LIBL
      C.  Transform print data to ASCII on iSeries = true
      D.  Printer model = *IBM42081
      E.  Customizing Object = QWPDEFAULT
      F.  Library = *LIBL
  4.  File-Printer Setup Screen:
      A.  Print to Disk - Append
      B.  Use PDT = true
      C.  Select PDT = ibm4208
      D.  Select Print-to-disk File = filename.txt
  5.  File-Save As = PRTHOR.ws
  
  Now, when I go into the application I want to print from and enter PRTHOR as
  the printer I want to use, I get invalid Printer ID. The system I am trying
  to do this on is in an ASP enviroment, and I am unsure if I am using the
  right message queue or library.
  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

News Articles & Forum reposts from Astalavista (yakuza.exigo.ch)

Here are a few interesting & useful articles I have run across.  I hope to add more from time to time.

• Can Your ISP see what you download
• Donald Aldrich message - (Executed 12 October 2004)
• Securing My Net
• Things to learn for the new person
• Create a log of user access on an SBS2000 Server

 

---

 

Network Security (For original articles you need to visit www.astalavista.net ).

• Securing my net  Posted by Atluxity on Tue Oct 19 2004 - @ 13:39:22 

  https://www.astalavista.net/member/newsshow.php?id=9460

  What would be the best way to stop people that are not authorized from using my wireless network?
  I want to be able to specify who can and who can't use the net, without them having to be in the same domain.  

  • 1.) MAC filtering
    Open Command prompt and type "ipconfig /all" (without the "")
    you will then see your physical address (otherwise known as the MAC address)... Allow only known MAC addresses to access the wireless hub / access point.
    
    2.) WEP encryption
    - turn off your SSID broadcast
    - change the SSID name
    - change the access password ;-)
    
    Go for 256bit WEP. The only company I've seen that uses it is US Robotics. Not only is it a b*tch to crack, but you have to have a 256 capable card in the first place to attempt to connect. I'm very happy with my router and desktop card. I forgot to add that it does have MAC filtering and a pretty good firewall.
    
    Change your WEP key once in awhile .
    
    3.) In addition, turn off broadcasting (so that people can't see your router in the first instance). Then users have to know the SSID. WEP works, but also consider WPA-PSK for more secure encryption of packets being transmitted from PC to Access Point.
    
    
    4.) wpa + a radius server lets you do an even better job
    
    I have a Netopia commercial router with good reach. So I do the following:
    
    1. Turn off SSID broadcasting.
    2. Use my own SSID
    3. Use WPA-PSK with TKIP
    4. Use a 63 alphanumeric passphrase
    
    Works pretty well.
    
    Yes, I want to use wep-encryption, provided automaticly, and to log on the wireless
    sone the users must enter their username and password.
    
    What I dont know is how to set it up from the server-side. My local univerity has got it, and I have emailed them to see if they can help me out. Could you give me some more clues? Im going to run @ win2k3 server.
    
    Here is a link to my local university webpage with howto on setting up wireless, maybe the screenshots can help you understand what I mean. The language on the site is norwegian.
    http://www.usit.uio.no/it/wlan/peapforxp/

• Things to learn for the "new" person Posted by Computeruser on Wed Sep 22 2004 - @ 4:24:10
  • This is a short tutorial about how to get started in knowing more about your computer, its operating system and networking.
    
    As a matter of background, Personal Computers were first made popular by the first IBM PC because it ran a financial spreadsheet package called VisiCalc. That was the application that made PC's make sense to business people, and with that, the IBM PC and the clone machines took off. They ran DOS 1.1 to start with.
    
    So in rough order, there have been the following DOS and Windows operating systems over time:
    
    DOS 1.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (I left out some of the subversions)
    Windows 3.0, 3.1, and Windows 3.11 (for Workgroups)
    Windows 95
    Windows 98 and Windows 98SE
    Windows NT4 Workstation
    Windows 2000 Workstation
    Windows XP Pro
    
    I left out Windows ME, because it would have been utterly foolhardy to buy Windows ME (a 9x DOS machine) whenever Windows 2000 and XP were on the market. I left out Windows XP Home because it has hobbled networking and crippled security. I left out OS/2 because (good as it was), it has too small a following.
    
    The only two operating systems out of this lot that have any value today are Windows 2000 Workstation and Windows XP Pro. The rest are pretty much obsolete.
    
    If you wish to be knowledgeable in the basics of Operating System, you should be able to use DOS version 6.3, Windows 98 SE, Windows NT4, Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro. It would be nice if you had all these laying around (I happen to), but if you don't, it would be worth your while to befriend someone who does or who can lay their hands on a copy of each of them.
    
    To get started, get yourself a decent (1.3 Ghz or better) computer with a 60Gb or better hard drive and with 512Mb or more of Ram. Make certain it is properly labeled as Windows XP Certified. Equip this machine with Windows XP Pro.
    
    Fire up Windows XP, get rid of the goofy interface, find my Tut on securing Windows XP Pro, and completely and totally secure it. That means, amongst other things, no P2P stuff or anything like it. Put it behind a hardware router of your choice.
    
    Next, purchase a copy of VMware Workstation 4 and install it. The purpose of VMware is to provide a way to run Virtual Machines at the same time as your host computer.
    
    Now build a DOS 6.3 machine and learn to network it with the XP host machine. This is particulary difficult because you have to get the LanMan drivers from AMD and install them. I got some help in the VMware newsgroups, and I finally got it working.
    
    Build a Windows 98 SE machine and network it to the XP Host. Windows 98 uses disk sharing whereas Windows XP uses folder-level sharing. Windows 98 doesn't have userid/password authentication so you cannot easily map a folder from your XP host to your Windows 98 machine. It's not impossible, but its not simple.
    
    Build a Windows NT4 Workstation machine. Windows NT has a user structure, the NTFS file system and other features that make it a decent OS. But there is no plug and play, and no hardware wizard, so installing drivers is as much an art as a science. It is so difficult to deal with that much software today works with Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP but *not* NT4. Learn how to map this machine your both your WIndows 98 guest and your Windows XP host.
    
    Build a Windows 2000 machine. This is pretty much like XP Pro. Still there are differences. I copied a working Windows 2000 machine from my desktop to my laptop. The desktop uses bridged networking because it is always connected whereas my laptop uses NAT networking because it may be disconnected. For whatever reason the Windows 2000 guest on the laptop can't see the host. The host XP machine can see the 2000 guest and map to it, just not the reverse, and just on the NAT'd machine. So nothing is a given.
    
    Now pick a Linux distribution. I suggest getting a RedHat Linux 7.3 guest, get JAVA working on it, and get Samba working on it. RedHat 7.3 is no longer supported and pretty old, so this is just a training exercise. RedHat 7.3 is a *lot* newer than Windows 98 (which continues to be supported), but Linux system lifecycles are exceedingly short.
    
    Next, pick a working Linux distribution. I settled on SuSE but you might like something different. Get Samba working on it and map folders between Linux and XP. Now you can load Nmap, Nessus, Ethereal and other tools that are part of the white-hat hackers toolkit. Linux comes with compilers and you need those as well.
    
    Having done all that, you can make copies of the guests and attempt to hack into them without treading on anyone else's privacy.
    
    There is an amazing amount you can learn with the framework I have suggested. You can learn about Networking, you can learn about secure passwords with CAIN, you can learn about Linux, you can learn about Samba. The sky is the limit.
    
    This is a working environment that serves me well, and if anyone tries this or some variation, by all means post questions and issues and let's see what we can do.
    • Comments
      Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Blue - Wed Sep 22 2004 - @ 11:20:07)
      it seems you gotta have a bunch of computers for this tutorial :)
      Hang Loose!
      -///-
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (MrYowler - Wed Sep 22 2004 - @ 11:55:13)
      And a lot of money. No offense, but if this were the only way to do it, I'd have had to become a janitor. Let's try to remember that most people don't already have a good job or wealthy and generous relatives, when they get started at this...
      
      Get yourself a few junk machines, that people are throwing out, and replacing with newer machines for their home or offices. Get a pirate copy of Windows 95 or 98 - whatever you can lay hands on, and that will fit into the available disk space - and install it on one or two of these boxes. Install linux on one, and FreeBSD on another, and play with them. The particular versions or flavors of operating systems are less important than that they should fit into the available memory and disk space, and that you should experiment with them, until you feel safe putting them on the Internet. If you haven't got a CD burner, then you may have to put a machine or two on the open network, and do a network install - if so, try to get a firewall or router appliance device, to help protect you from the assorted problems that you are likely to encounter.
      
      Because none of these machines contain valuable information, nor valuable hardware, feel free to experiment. If you manage to break something, or screw up some data, at least nothing that you had, is a big loss.
      
      When you've learned a bit, and can demonstrate this fact, then it's time to start investing in better equipment - and by this time, you'll know enough to know what you want. And relatives are a lot more likely to be willing to help, if you seem to have a persistent interest in computers, rather than just starting out on them.
      
      Some of us have to work on salvaged equipment, even after we've learned what we're doing. It sucks, but at the very least, the fact that you come up from such humble beginnings, teaches you to function within strict resource limitations. I hope that you don't suffer this fate, as I have, but it's worth being prepared for. Often, even in the corporate world, it's hard to get the company to fund projects, and having the ability to show proof-of-concept work on existing salvaged resources, often makes it easier to convince the powers-that-be, to invest in your projects. And when they flatly refuse to do so, sometimes the project can actually be completed, on salvaged gear, anyhow.
      
      Even if you have a bucket of money to work with, it behooves you not to waste it needlessly. I urge 'n00bs' to work with lesser-grade equipment, when they get started, and work their way up, as they start to understand where they need additional resources.
      
      Ignorance is forgivable, because it's curable. Stupidity is not.
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Michael K. (m1o1d1) - Wed Sep 22 2004 - @ 12:34:43)
      Tutorial sounds good to me :)
      
      What Computeruser meant I think, was to only have 2 PCs (max). And install Win 95/98 and all others as VM, not as actual OS. Getting hold of 95/98 and so can be cheap if you just get them from a friend to borrow or so. Linux is free anyways...
      
      So you'd basically only need to invest into VMachine. And even that can be avoided by getting Bochs, something similar to VMachine, just free and open source.
      
      --- Ride Hard, Die Young :: http://www.sturmnacht.de.vu ---
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Computeruser - Wed Sep 22 2004 - @ 12:54:50)
      
      You can do it all on one machine. So a machine with an OS is what everyone gets. I just suggested a certified XP Pro machine to avoid the problems that are so common in here.
      
      VMware (the core piece of application software) is down to $200US. So, while not cheap, it's not a show stopper. This piece of software, or an equivalent application, *prevents* buying "a bunch of computers" as Blue was thinking.
      
      For the guest machines, you might have to buy a licence[sic] or two, but I am thinking that at least some people have the licences[sic] around from prior machines. Maybe you have a friend that you could borrow an old OS from. And the Linux stuff, you can download for free.
      
      The ability to copy guest machines and to do snapshots makes testing a breeze, because you can quickly discard broken changes and start again.
      
      So this was not a dirt-cheap approach, Mr. Yowler, and I didn't intend it that way. But it is reasonable approach for those people who are trying to learn about their computers and the operating systems that are available.
      Cheers :)
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (AnyKey - Sun Oct 3 2004 - @ 23:16:19)
      
      Understood all the parts about loading several Guest OS's into one machine. Here are a few pointers:
      
      You Need a LOT of memory, ie: a Gig minimum to run two or three OS's at the same time,
      You Need a FAST PC - 2.4Ghz or better as it will be emulating several OS's
      You can buy a copy of VMware from eBay.... Get the latest version: 4.5
      You need a LOT of time but if you are into this stuff then time flies!
      
      Now my questions: If I load it on XP -which is NTFS, Will VM allow me to create Fat32, FAT16 and Linux filesystems? and if so, HOW do I do that?
      
      Overall it seems like a great way to learn many things!
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Minky - Mon Oct 4 2004 - @ 0:31:24)
      sure will.
      vmware is simply the best prog i've seen in a while.
      There are alternatives - but frankly I haven't tested anything as good.
      $200 isn't very much really when u look at it as a replacement for many machines even at today's low prices.
      I agree with auzy with the higher specs - it allows you to run several different machines at once. What compusr is talking about is basically what i did and it really does help you alot. Nice one compusr :)
      
      Astalavista.net Moderator
      :: b85a8790ece89bca28d7c2cbb8dc5f42 ::
       
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Computeruser - Mon Oct 4 2004 - @ 2:30:25)
      quote AnyKey:
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Understood all the parts about loading several Guest OS's into one machine. Here are a few pointers:
      
      You Need a LOT of memory, ie: a Gig minimum to run two or three OS's at the same time,
      You Need a FAST PC - 2.4Ghz or better as it will be emulating several OS's
      You can buy a copy of VMware from eBay.... Get the latest version: 4.5
      You need a LOT of time but if you are into this stuff then time flies!
      
      Now my questions: If I load it on XP -which is NTFS, Will VM allow me to create Fat32, FAT16 and Linux filesystems? and if so, HOW do I do that?
      
      Overall it seems like a great way to learn many things!
      Thanks. You *do* need a LOT of time. I have been using VMware and separate OS's for years.
      
      You can function well with 768Mb and run XP Pro Host and a couple of OS's at the same time. I do it all the time.
      
      You can run VMware 4.5.2 (latest) on a 1.4Ghz PM. I do it all the time. I also happen to have a 2.4Ghz Desktop and that works well also.
      
      VMware Virtual Machines use the filesystem of the guest OS - FAT, NTFS, EXT2, Reiserf, whatever. It all works. You don't have to do anything - just load the guest.
      
      I just upgraded to Office 2003 and it use a whack of memory, so I probably will upgrade to 1Gb of ram sometime soon.
       
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Kitz E Kat - Mon Oct 4 2004 - @ 8:51:46)
      
      Yup VMWare is the dogs !
      But i would second MrYowlers appraoch also.
      While VMWare is an awesome bit of kit , i still think having a few old box's laying around is worth havin.
      Does teach you a lot , in terms of hardware, making cables, setting up routers etc.
      
      So in an ideal world , get VMWare and have a truck load of old computers too .
      Nice tut Computeruser :-)
      If animals could hack, kats would rule the net:-)
       
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Ravenworks - Sat Oct 9 2004 - @ 1:19:45)
      
      What are you feelings on running something like Virtual PC 2004 from M$.
      For me it is free.
      I have been using VPC and it is really slow,and the host machine is a P-4 3.0Ghz with 1 gig or PC3200.
       
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Computeruser - Sat Oct 9 2004 - @ 3:33:21)
      Generally, I get native performance from a VMware guest on a 2.4GHz P4 desktop or a 1.4 PM Centrino laptop. I keep hearing that Virtual PC is slow, and sluggish performance is not worth it, even if VPC is free.
       
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Ravenworks - Tue Oct 12 2004 - @ 6:28:41)
      quote Computeruser:
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Generally, I get native performance from a VMware guest on a 2.4GHz P4 desktop or a 1.4 PM Centrino laptop. I keep hearing that Virtual PC is slow, and sluggish performance is not worth it, even if VPC is free.
      
      Slow and sluggish is an understatment.
      I am running 2Gb of PC3200 for RAM and a P-4 2.80 @ 800FSB.
      Although I haven't had much time to play with it, but from what I did see of it I was very very unhappy and I would have been pissed if I had to pay for it.
       
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Chonn - Sun Oct 17 2004 - @ 11:39:45)
      
      Ya... VPC is slow. I have used it on 2 of my machines and it is a dog... And to add to that, I used to work with the "guy" that handles server performance for VPC and even he says it sucks... Go figure.
      
      /* No witty comment here */
       
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (mrverizone - Sun Oct 17 2004 - @ 14:14:03)
      hey, Computeruser is only trying to keep them out of trouble. Look if you are looking to get into networking computers, you will need the tools of the trade, just like any trade one must have tools,
      
      I have 5 laptops, a full size machine, and a router, and a network printer and Wifi with three cards, the rest are hard wired, is has taken some time, but I have almost every thing he is talking about except, 3.1, that was before my time, and do not feel it is worth my time, but i may have to revisit that idea, and find a copy and install it on a small laptop. P.S I also have a kick ass Linux server with raid and dual 120 gig hard drives.
      
      I have a full network, and i got to tell you all, I really have come a log way since i have set this up, the network printer is the pain in the @** if you know what i mean, and yes it is a lazer. nice righting computeruser and hope you keep up the great work
      
      [Edited on 17/10/2004 by mrverizone]
       
    • Re: Things to learn for the "new" person (Kitz E Kat - Sun Oct 17 2004 - @ 15:40:41)
      
      Right then , it's all around to mverizone's pad later , will bring beer :-)  
      If animals could hack, kats would rule the net:-)
• Can your ISP see what you downloaded?  Posted by wacky_sung on Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 7:36:11

  https://www.astalavista.net/member/newsshow.php?id=9513

  • Just bear with me in which i like to seek a clear answer who can help me up.
    
    Question:
    IRC Server------->>>ISP---------->>>Me
    SSL SSL
    or
    
    IRC Server<<<-------ISP<<<---------Me
    SSL SSL
    
    When i am connected to the irc server with SSL connection,can my ISP see who am i connected with?When i go those those channel and get a download from those bot.Can my ISP see what file have i downloaded?I having doubt that do my connection on those bot is also SSL encrypted on TCP connection and can my ISP see what file i downloaded.Thank you for those who willing show me the light.
    •  Re: Can your ISP see what you downloaded? (Atluxity - Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 8:06:30)
      
      SSL is not safe.
       
    • Re: Can your ISP see what you downloaded? (Michael K. (m1o1d1) - Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 10:14:56)
      
      hmmm, if the file is encrypted itself and doesn't have some obvious extension like mp3 or wma, but rather something like html or doc, then they wont be able to track you, unless the place you download from is "black listed" to have those kind of illegal content :)
      
      --- Ride Hard, Die Young :: http://www.sturmnacht.de.vu ---
       
    • Re: Can your ISP see what you downloaded? (MrYowler - Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 10:19:12)
      
      The IP address that you connected to is available to your ISP, but the data that you transmit is protected. The quality of that protection is significant, only so long as you choose to use quality, high-grade ciphers, and verify that the server certificates which you are presented with, match the entities that you choose to talk to. Since the cryptographic keys are usually stored by 'issuing authorities', it is possible for these keys to be recovered by third-party entities, but that sort of thing is usually limited to governmental agencies - your ISP does not usually have access to those channels. If your IRC server uses a self-signed certificate, then the requisite keys would have to be obtained from the server, which may be more difficult for governmental entities - but it is also likely to make it difficult for you to confirm that you are talking to the right server. To disguise the IP address of the IRC server that you are talking to, from your ISP, you might consider using a BNC or proxy, or connecting to the IRC server from a remote shell. Of course, the remote shell server, BNC server, or proxy server, would still be able to determine the IP address of the IRC server that you connected to, from them - but it would effectively conceal this information from your ISP. For your situation, I would suggest using a remote SOCKS proxy, or a remote shell over SSH. BNCs do not always support SSL-encrypted IRC communications.
      
      More often, the way that these channels of communication are compromised, is that your ISP can simply connect to the same IRC server as you, and place a bot in the room with you, to witness your discussions and behavior, as you engage in it. For this to be effective, they typically will need to know what IRC network or server you are connecting to (usually by IP address), so a BNC/proxy/remote shell will help to conceal this from them. If it's a public room and they know what IRC network or server to connect to, there is very little to prevent them from jumping on IRC with you, and if they want to catch you downloading copyrighted material, then they have only to start an fserve with good stuff on it, and wait for you to access it.
      
      Perhaps the question to ask yourself, is would your ISP go to this much effort? How much effort do they put into customer support? Do you really think that they put as much effort into monitoring your online activities?
      
      Who exactly is it, that you think might be watching you? Why would they be watching you, and what would they hope to catch you, doing? What other activities that you engage in, might they take an incidental interest in?
      
      Ignorance is forgiveable, because it's curable. Stupidity is not.
       
    • Re: Can your ISP see what you downloaded? (Atluxity - Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 10:28:09)
      
      They want to do as litle as possible, they dont digg up work to be done, they wont do anything until someone complains to them.
       
    • Re: Can your ISP see what you downloaded? (wacky_sung - Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 11:09:07)
      
      Well,my singapore is going to impose a law for those who downloaded copyright softwares,musics or movies will be fine,jail or both.In order to protect myself from being trace by ISP or government section from downloading all those stuffs and sue me.Anyway,i am not trying to do any illegal activities but they simply trying to stop people from piracy.I am not a distributor can also be sue and it simply seem out of question for me.Going behind proxy server will not be a very good ideal cos they can still trace from those proxy server.I may be intend to purchase a hardware firewall/appliance to conceal my dns ip.What right now i most concern is that is my ISP is able to see my file,eg:Passion_of_christ_dvdrip.rar which can be seem from their log even i have a SSL connection from the IRC server but i wonder do i really have a SSL connection with those bot too.Can anyone please help to clear my doubt.Thank a million.
       
    • Re: Can your ISP see what you downloaded? (Atluxity - Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 12:04:08)
      
      How do you talk with the bots? DCC? As far as i know, DCC does not have any cryption, but i might be uneducated. enlighten me.
       
    • Re: Can your ISP see what you downloaded? (Auzy - Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 12:13:02)
      
      use something like the waste P2P client, and share your key with friends in a safe way..
      
      Auzy
      
      http://driverondemand.sourceforge.net
       
    • Re: Can your ISP see what you downloaded? (wacky_sung - Fri Oct 22 2004 - @ 14:50:38)
      
      Thank for your advise.Anyway,i still prefer IRC.
      
      Waste P2P client Link:
      http://sourceforge.net/projects/waste/
• Blogger Being Used To Spam Google (www.webpronews.com)
  
   
  • There are numerous, unscrupulous methods with which to spam search engines in an attempt to improve SERP ranking. Hidden text, doorway/cloaked pages, and keyword stuffing are just a few of processes tried by those not wanting to use approved (tolerated?) SEO techniques. With the proliferation of blogging as a form of web publishing, there appears to be another method that spammers are willing to use in an effort to trick search engines into yielding higher rankings.
    
    According to Rustybrick of SearchEngineRoundtable.com, a number of weblogs, specifically blogs from Google-owned Blogger.com have been used in an attempt to spam Google and other search engines that place a high value on contextual links. In his entry, Rusty states, "people are using Google's Blogger to set up dozens of free blogs and then setting up hundreds of keyword rich anchor text links to point to pages." This is done in order to boost the search engine ranking of the page/site that the links are pointing to, and it is considered spam.
    
    Gord Collins discussed this type of blog spam in an article that appeared on SitePoint.com. Gord claims that these types of blogs "operate in a free-for-all link structure that further validates the linked sites in search engine indexes." Making blog-spam even harder to combat is speculation that search engines don’t penalize or ban weblogs.
    
    A thread appearing in the SearchEngineWatch Forum reinforces Gord’s thought. The topic concerned whether or not search engines penalize blogs. According to Seobook, "no they do not. In fact, some people have even [written] articles complaining about how blogs are so link dense that some of them heavily restructure the web." If blogs are less apt to be penalized, using them for spam purposes can be effective for deceiving search engines.
    
    To make this type of spam effective, the offending blog would be better served if it has a high PageRank. If the blog does not, this method is not even worth the risk. At HighRankings.com, this topic is also being discussed. In the conversation, Cre8site moderator, ILoveJackDaniels, also commented on the effectiveness of this technique:
    
    "This really is no different to a person setting up a network of sites to spam with. The blogs are going to have very low PR unless serious effort is put in to them. If serious effort is put in to making each a good blog, then fine, nothing wrong with that. If no effort is put in, their PR will remain low and the IBLs (in-bound links) will count for very little."
    
    Another poster named Kackle, counters JD’s point by saying, "I don't think PageRank getting passed is the issue. But if the keyword you are trying to optimize is repeated in anchor text, the blogs are counted more quickly and more powerfully than non-blogs, at least in Google." If this is the case, using blogs for spamming purposes can be considered a problem, and could remain so until search engines change their perceived position on blog penalization.
    
    However, using Blogger sites for spamming purposes is not fool proof. If you draw too much attention to your methods, Google will probably find out, and penalize you accordingly. Seobook echoes this thought by indicating that if you were caught, you could very easily get penalized. The technique is effective as a "cheap and easy way to give Google a roadmap to your sites…" Although, he cautions that this approach could (should?) receive a "penalty of some sort."
    
    Granted, this is not the first time that blogs have been used to spam search engines, however, this is one of the first reports of it happening at blogs originating from Google-owned Blogger.com. Since Google gave/gives such high value to blog content, it was only a matter of time.
    
    I, Brian, also posting at SEW, concurs by offering these thoughts: "Using blogs in this way is an old SEO tactic - but using a high profile site like Blogger in this way is disingenuous… Google seems to have (or until recently, had) a clear bias towards blogs. Somehow, the idea that blogs are mostly content rich has been a keen mistake, in my opinion."
     
• Creating a log of user network access on SBS2000

  https://www.astalavista.net/member/newsshow.php?id=9541

  • Login logs.. Posted by RedFern on Sun Oct 24 2004 - @ 21:37:22
    
    I would like to create a report of which user used which computer for how long in a day. All computers are in a domain. What would be the easiest way to gather the following data:
    COMPUTER, USER, Logintime, logouttime?
    We use a Sbs2000 server.
    I already used the group policy option of the domain server but that was not realy my thing.
    Are there other scripts or programmes?
    Thanks,
    gr R
  • I'm not familiar with the SBS2000? I think you mean Microsoft Small Business Server running Windows 2000.
    
    Internal network tracking would require a commercial application. I don't know your budget but I'd suggest loading about 5 or 10 different trial version commercial programs on a test server and try them yourself. http://www.google.com/search?hl=es&q=network+access+tracking+software+administrator&lr=
    
    External tracking can be done via nearly every commercial firewall. I recommend cisco pix.
    
    Additional information is listed below.
    
    For Microsoft's info
    http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv
    /maintain/monitor/logonoff.mspx
    
    For tracking users in your website check this out
    http://www.codeproject.com/asp/user_logtime.asp
    
    Also, here is what I submitted to Google and "network access logs software"
    It came back with too many hits for me to list.
    
    Good luck
    
    Les opportunités apparaissent le plus souvent sous la forme de malchance ou d'échec temporaire.
     
  • in addition to the info above....
    
    You can use the login and logout scripts wich you can set through the domain policy...
    
    You can put something like the following into a .bat file to generate a simple report.. you also can change the text to values seperated with ; then you can use it with excel.
    This is only a simple example!
    
    Login.bat:
    
    @echo off
    SET Share=\\yourserver\someshare$\%computername%
    
    if not exist "%Share%\" mkdir "%Share%"
    
    >>"%Share%\%username%.log" echo.
    >>"%Share%\%username%.log" echo %date% - %time% - User %username% logged in at %computername%
    
    Logout.bat:
    
    @echo off
    SET Share=\\yourserver\someshare$\%computername%
    
    >>"%Share%\%username%.log" echo.
    >>"%Share%\%username%.log" echo %date% - %time% - User %username% logged out from %computername%
    
    [Edited on 29/10/2004 by E-SpArK]
    
     

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