Personal

Sometimes I decide that I never want to re-visit a particular website ever again, and I want a way to block it indefinitely. Normally, I just learned to ignore a website simply out of self-discipline. Lately, I decided I wanted something more secure. After all, even with self-discpline, I could still accidentally visit said site from a link found on another unblocked site. I figured out a good solution: the Windows hosts file.

Windows features a special file simply called “hosts”, without an extension. This file allows users to map hostnames to IP addresses. More importantly, however, is that when Windows tries to locate nodes on any given network, it will take the hosts file into consideration. It will actually consider the hosts file prior to querying DNS server, and any mappings found within will override those in the DNS. This effectively allows us to write custom redirections that affect the entire system – this was the key to blocking the website. To demonstrate how I used this to my advantage,  here’s what the default HOSTS file looks like in Windows 7:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

If I wanted to permanently block:

I would add the following entries to the file, in bold:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a ‘#’ symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost
127.0.0.1 kanyeuniversecity.com
127.0.0.1 www.kanyeuniversecity.com
127.0.0.1 kanyewest.com
127.0.0.1 www.kanyewest.com

By doing this, I’m telling Windows that whenever it encounters one of those domains, it should immediately resolve them to the IP 127.0.0.1, rather than querying the DNS server for the IP. The IP 127.0.0.1 is a special “loopback” IP – it pretty much points to whatever machine you are currently using. That’s how these domains are blocked – Windows will actually be told to use 127.0.0.1, which will definitely not work (since the local machine is not a web server, and is not configured to serve such content). This exact technique is used by Spybot Search & Destroy‘s Immunize feature – so when you open your HOSTS file, you might already see a bunch of entries blocked.

Notice, also,  how I added two entries per website I want to block – one with “www.”, and one without it. I considered this necessary because of the following: from the point of view of a DNS server, “www.websitenamehere.com” and “websitenamehere.com” are two completely different domains; however, in most cases, on the Internet, they tend to be configured to point to the same IP address, so we rarely see instances where they behave differently. Still, since they are different at the DNS level, both possibilities needed to be added to HOSTS file.

Ultimately, once configured, the end result is this: whenever you try to access a blocked site, you’ll get this type of error:

There you have it – a way to block websites in Windows, and a browser-independent one at that. As for the procedure for editing the HOSTS file, it differs depending on which version of Windows you are using – simply include the Windows version when you Google.

A friend recently sent me a package – I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw it:

I wasn’t home when this package arrived, and that meant the mailman had to leave note informing me that a package for “Refghi Power” would be waiting for me at the local post office. When I went to get it, I tried to contemplate how I would prove that I am “Refghi Power”, as all my IDs claim I’m “Matt Refghi”. Also, keep in mind that mostly everyone around here speaks French. Thankfully, the guy at the post office laughed and said he got it.

I was genuinely trying to find out if there was a way to have certain pictures of myself removed from Facebook, until I found this:

I like how all the others answers were, for the most part, completely correct – and yet the chosen “best answer” is ridiculous.

UPDATE January 19, 2013: Question was deleted, removed link.

I’ve been using Gmail as my e-mail service provider for a few years now, and due to their excellent spam filters, I’ve been able to ignore the continuous stream of junk mail hitting my mailbox every day. Despite their efficiency at identifying and hiding spam e-mails, I remain genuinely concerned about keeping my e-mail address hidden from the public view.  E-mails that are publicly available are easy targets for spambots, which are automated programs that scour the Internet for e-mail addresses. Once “harvested”, these addresses are sent junk mail, spam.

Sometimes, however, it is desirable to have an e-mail address visible to the public – to do so, a special approach should be taken to protect it from spambots. For example, you can use services like reCAPTCHA Mailhide, which challenges viewers with a CAPTCHA before it displays the full e-mail address.

Curious about whether or not my e-mail was “out there”, I decided to look into it. Below, I explain how you would go about checking for public references to your e-mail address, and how future slips could be prevented.

Google Your E-mail Address

Try searching for the e-mail address using Google. Search engines scour the Internet for web pages, rather than just specific elements in the page (like e-mail addresses). They do so through programs called crawlers, sometimes referred to as spiders. If they have indexed a webpage that has your e-mail address mentioned, you’ll be able to find it in the engine’s search results. The important fact here is this: if you can find it using a search engine, you can safely assume that a spambot would be similarly capable. It is therefore important to remove any references to your e-mail address – in doing so, you’ll be making it a little bit harder for spammers to target your address.

To do so, try launching a Google search for your e-mail address, using this format:

“you@youremailprovider.com”

The double-quotes will tell Google to look for that exact string, which will limit the number of false positive search results that are returned. If you get no results with the double quotes, try removing them.

After running the search, if you spot search results that actually have made your e-mail address publicly visible, you’ll need to try and remove them. In my case, when I did this, all the hits were sites that I could log into, and then remove my address. If you’re lucky, it’ll be that simple. Otherwise, you might have to contact the site owner to get it removed.

Question How Websites Use Your E-mail

To avoid getting into potentially complicated situations, it is worthwhile to spend some time determining how websites intend to use your e-mail. An e-mail is almost always requested when registering, but the uses vary. It could, for example, just be used to contact you to activate your account. Or, it could be used for a multitude of things, including as a publicly viewable piece of information. Take the time to check FAQs, site forums, or even contact the site owners if there are doubts – this could prevent an increase in spam received.

Sometimes, however, it isn’t as straight-forward as them displaying your e-mail address- sometimes certain sites will indirectly expose your address. I’ll give you an example… consider Google Profiles. By default, the URL that points to your profile looks something like this:

http://www.google.com/profiles/114973454253911341512

You can, however, choose to have your username appear at the end, like this:

http://www.google.com/profiles/youruseraccount

This is naturally better for search engine optimization, and it also allows you to memorize your profile link – but it introduces a flaw as well. Looking at that URL, I know that the e-mail address “youruseraccount@gmail.com” exists. It has to, that’s how Google accounts work – they are based on an e-mail address, so there is no doubt about what the username portion is. If I know that, then I can deduce that there must be a spambot out there that is smart enough to exploit the same flaw. Even if no spambots are currently exploiting this, I’m pretty sure one eventually will. Thankfully, though, Google has explained the feature very well on the settings page – reducing the likelyhood that someone would enable it unknowingly:

To make it easier for people to find your profile, you can customize your URL with your Google email username. (Note this can make your Google email address publicly discoverable.)

There are times where I wonder what I’m going to write next for this blog, and then, there are times like today – something totally insane happens, and I have no doubt about what I’m going to write next. Still, I’m very picky about what I put on here – I refuse to post mundane details about my everyday life – one of my most important rules. The only exception to this rule occurs when I feel a particular story could be entertaining, and make people laugh. If I consider it a funny story, then I’ll put it up. This is one of those stories.

A few days ago, while eating supper, I felt a pain when closing my jaw – it originated from a particular tooth.  I was able to trigger the pain every few tries, and I thought I chipped it in some way, maybe revealing a cavity or something. With this in mind, I looked for a new dentist in my area. Since I’m a fan of user reviews and ratings, I felt I should start by considering those that had positive reviews. Google Maps is actually pretty good at this – I found two local dentists with 10+ ratings, most of which were positive. I called the one with the most positive ratings, and set an appointment – it was today at 1:00pm. I had them schedule a cleaning, and afterward, a check-up with an extra slot for a cavity repair, as I figured I had one.

When I went to my appointment, everything seemed to be going OK. The woman doing my cleaning was actually a great person to talk to, and she didn’t mind answering my questions. After examining and cleaning my teeth she was able to spot a potential of 4 (yes, four) cavities. I was a little freaked out, and I was hoping the doctor himself would clarify this – maybe she was wrong about 1 or 2 of them? What you need to understand is that at one point in my past, about 2 years ago, I was told I had 7 (yes, SEVEN) cavities – and I was totally shocked. Prior to being told I had 7, I always brushed twice a day, and used Listerine daily. After explaining this to my dentist, I was told that floss was probably the missing element, so I fully accepted flossing every day – hell, I even started flossing twice a day, to be safe. Knowing I’ve been flossing 1-2 times a day, and brushing 2 times a day, I never expected to have more than 2 cavities. So here I was, at a new dentist, and this girl was telling me I might have 4 new cavities. I was, again, a little shocked, but I thought she knew what she was doing – so I waited until I saw the dentist, I figured he would confirm it.

The dentist proceeded to examine my teeth, along with another assistant (not the same girl as before), and I immediately noticed he was a pretty cool guy to converse with as well – reflecting what I read in the reviews. While he was working on my teeth and gums, I noticed a few weird personality traits, and they led me to be concerned. The first one happened when he poked at something – and I said “ow” and asked him what he did. He said that he simply poked at my gum, and that I overreacted. Overreacted? Excuse me? If it hurts, I’m going to react accordingly. That was the first sign that this guy had some quirks. I also began to notice that he worked very fast, and seemed a bit hyperactive – he didn’t waste any time at all. I sensed he was beginning to get a little impatient with me, when I didn’t reply quickly enough to his queries and directions. I was still fine with all this – I thought the guy was a little weird, and that was fine by me. The next thing that raised a flag was one point where he stopped working and said “What’s wrong with you? You seem to be really nervous, at least in your mouth area – the rest of your body seems relaxed.” I just shrugged that one off, but I knew that this was primarily because of his overall speed and brewing impatience. Still, despite these little weird moments, I still had nothing against the guy – at least not at that moment. He went on to tell me that I’d need 6 (yes, SIX!!!) cavities repaired. Oh, not only that – he felt I would need braces too, and that I should start using dental guards again – when I sleep. My reaction to this was along these lines: I thought it was ridiculous that a guy that took care of his teeth as much as me would have 6 cavities, but I accepted it. The braces – I wasn’t looking forward to it, but his arguments made sense – if I needed braces, I’d get braces. Whatever. The dental guard – again, not a problem for me. If I needed to wear it at night, then I would – no problem. The cavities were the biggest shock here, as I thought I had corrected my problem when I began obsessively flossing. I really want to point out that I didn’t doubt his professional competency – I was just shocked with the results.

Now, here’s where it got complicated. I was scheduled to get a cavity repaired, but I was a little shaken when I was told I had to get 6 repaired – 3 today, 3 another session. The doctor asked me which side he should start with, so that he could start right now. I felt like I was being rushed, and told him I’d like to have some time to think, as I wasn’t expecting so many cavities – it was a shock. He told me something along the lines of “You’re procrastinating, just choose – and we’ll get to work”. I then said I rather wait a couple days, and then come back. He said something along the lines of  “If you choose that route, that’s where it ends. You had an appointment, and now you’re forfeiting it – we’ll have no way to fill it.” I couldn’t bring myself to believe that the doctor would abandon me as a patient just because I wasn’t feeling up to doing it immediately, so I told him I was sure I wanted to take that approach, again, because I was feeling a little overwhelmed and rushed. He said it was fine, and went into his office. I then went to the front desk to pay for my dental cleaning, and as I was filling up some sheets for the secretary, the Doctor’s assistant came up and said, to the secretary, “You’re not supposed to give him another appointment.” At this point, I was hit with the truth – but I still couldn’t believe it, so I went to see the doctor – and sure enough, he said that I was banned from ever coming back. He said if I was regular, he’d give me another chance, but since I bailed on him in under 24 hours, he didn’t feel he should keep me as a patient. He felt this compromised my integrity, and believed I would do it again, wasting more of his time. I tried to explain to him that this was the first time I ever behaved in that manner, and then just gave up and said: “Alright, man. Your decision. Bye.”  I was also told that my papers could be faxed to another dentist, at my request. I didn’t see the point in dealing with the dentist beyond that point – he made his choice, and if his was so insistent on making me his bitch, and rushing me through it – then I could surely find a more understanding doctor. I paid for my cleaning, and then left the place – evidently, for good.

Looking back, I can’t help but laugh at this experience… but at the same time, I’m really taken aback at how rough of a doctor that guy was – I’m not referring to his work, more so his human interaction skills, or lack of. I felt rushed, and a little overwhelmed with the news of 6 cavities. I was perfectly willing to get them fixed by the same doctor, but he was obviously offended that I was going to postpone the “repair” appointment. A little strange too – I was there for my main appointment, it’s not like I completely bailed on them. If I was told in advance he reacted so brutally to such a “cancellation”, I would of probably decided to go elsewhere. He couldn’t get it through his head that I simply wasn’t mentally well with doing it so quickly – some people would need even more time than me, but apparently those people are destined to be rejected by that doctor. I thought to myself, while there, how he would be with kids – how unfortunate for them… having a father that lacks basic human understanding and compassion. I’ll rate him according to my experience on Google Maps and probably RateMDs.com. Also, at least now – I can get a second opinion about the work that needs to be done – if I said that as my excuse for wanting to cancel my second appointment, he probably would of banned me for that too. How is that right?

Update: Rated him on Google Maps and RateMDs. His name is Jean Pierre Loiselle.

Credit: the photo used in this article is by ChristopherSchmitt.com.

So lately, Joseph and I have been having fun with Rainbow Six Vegas 2. The game is a fairly well-made first-person shooter, and we enjoy playing co-operative games every now and then. The other day, we discovered that the game has a “Custom Head” feature. The feature allows you to map your own face onto your in-game character.  When we actually got around to trying it, we were pretty impressed with the quality of the results.

Consider the following screenshot:

I kept that “Custom Head” for a while:

…and it resulted in a great set of photos.

I found this little historical gem at my parents place:

Let’s review this quickly:

• I like how my first question challenges the logic of his whole operation, and the next one aims to strip him of his disguise.
• Notice how the area under the word “May” in “May I have these toys please?” is scratched? I probably initially wrote “Can”, but then I figured that “May” made more sense. Nice.
• “Meet me in my room. If I am asleep wake me up.” – I’d like to think this was a trap for this Santa fellow. Maybe I was hidden, waiting to de-mask the man as he attempted to wake me up. This was probably not the case.
• That “signature” is awful, and is nothing like my actual signature. Nice try, 9 year-old me.

As you probably know, I work for a software development company –  and during a routine lunch hour, I  began wondering why our software still shipped with offline help files (CHM), rather than offering the help files online. You see, every now and then, our company discovers that the help files are missing some information; however, we can’t do anything about it until the next release. Sure, we can temporarily alleviate the problem by creating external knowledge base articles, but it doesn’t fix the fact that clients have the same help files, without the new information. This situation brought an interesting question to the table:

Why don’t our products have web-based help?

I came up with numerous advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages:

• Help content can be updated at any time, regardless of product and version.
• Help articles can be easily referenced via URL.
  • Whenever I’m doing support, it often occurs that the solution to the customer’s problem is found in the help system – they either missed it, or they didn’t look. Rather than just tell them to read the help, I usually include the help content as an attachment. I figure it is more convenient for the client, and that improves the support experience. I also make sure to mention that it can be found in the help, and I tell them what to search for. This is all well and good; except that copying help content from a CHM (my company’s typical help format) isn’t perfect. When I paste it into Wordpad, the images are not preserved – so I often have to copy them myself, one by one, to the Wordpad document. This requires manual work on my end, and that’s not ideal. If we had an online help system – I could simply link them to the article, and they’d be a click away. Plus, if that help content needs to be updated, I’m sure they will have access to the latest version. On the other hand, if they were to re-visit the attachment months after I originally provided it, it may be out of date.
  • URLs are lightweight, unlike attachments –  they are easy to share.
• Search engines will see much more related content
  • Not only will the ranking improve, but other message boards and sites may link to the help content, which should also help.
  • Could potentially increase the number of web site visitors
• Better features, potentially. Some widely-used offline help formats are now considered obsolete.
  • Some help files are no longer supported, like WinHelp:

Ever since Windows 3.1, Microsoft included the Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) with new releases. WinHlp32.exe is used to view 32-bit Help files that have the .hlp file name extension. Starting with the release of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has decided to no longer include in WinHlp32.exe as a component of the Windows operating system. Microsoft made this decision because WinHlp32.exe has not had a major update for many years, and it does not meet our standards for all new Microsoft programs. Microsoft realizes that this may cause some problems for customers who want to upgrade to Windows Vista or to Windows Server 2008 but still rely on 32-bit .hlp files. Therefore, Microsoft is making WinHlp32.exe available as a download from the Microsoft Download Center.

• • The CHM format is old – it was originally created for Windows 98. Though they updated it through the years, I would not be surprised if Microsoft eventually started discouraging it as well, in favor of the newer Help 2 format (HXS extension).
• Possibility of embedding rich content.
  • A good example would be demo videos. Personally, I usually prefer watching how a feature works, rather than reading about it.

Disadvantages:

• Internet connection required
  • A local copy may be a necessity. Personally, I like a flavor of that idea – start them off with an offline cache, and enhance that with the ability to update the help content on the fly. I really like Vista’s help – they offer that mechanism.
• Both offline and online help systems have be maintained
  • If applicable. see previous point.
• Some users are annoyed when they are thrown to a web help system
  • I’ve felt this personally, and it usually occurs when I am within the context of a Windows application – say, Paint.NET. When I click “Help Topics” in the Help menu,  it launches a browser window. It is definitely not what I would expect to happen when I’m using  a Windows application. I don’t expect to need a browser; therefore, the behavior usually frustrates me. It’s not very quick, either – the browser needs to initialize, and then load the webpage. Not all browsers are very good at loading quickly, so this is normally a pain. Eventually, I get over the initial frustration, and realize that the online help system proves to be pretty good. The funny thing is – I’ll get frustrated all over again if I temporarily forget that the applicaiton will launch a web browser, which is common the first few times.
  • 
• Competitors have access to detailed help content
  • If your product is available for evaluation, then your help files are already out there; however, if it is of limited availability, and security is a concern, then maybe this point is valid.

Wrap-up

All in all, it seems to me that an online-only help system isn’t reliable enough – you have to consider people on the go, using their laptops – and also those you do not have Internet services. I feel like the help system in Windows Vista has it right – you start off with help content that was shipped with the product, and you have the option to tell it to keep the system up-to-date via the web, behind the scenes.

As for the company I work for – our help files are still in CHM format, and we have yet to progress towards an online initiative. After writing this article, I think I’m in a better position to propose taking steps towards a Vista-like help system.

Last year I decided to get drop my land line, and just get by with a cell phone. All was well, until one day where I wasn’t able to find my cell phone. I somehow managed to lose it in my apartment, and since I no longer had a land line, I couldn’t call my own phone to get it ringing. To locate it, I ended up sending an instant message to a friend on MSN, and he called my phone. That worked well enough, but it required someone else to be around.

The next time I lost my phone, again in my apartment –  I couldn’t contact anyone on MSN, so I looked for an alternate solution. I googled around in search of people in similar situations, and I eventually found this site: Where’s My Cell Phone? – you give them your cell phone number, and they call you a few seconds later. Pretty cool – I just hope they aren’t selling our numbers to marketers. Their privacy statement seems to suggest that they do not.

UPDATE (May 6, 2013): Had to remove the links since the site doesn’t exist anymore. There are similar services showing up on Google, but I haven’t tried them.

Last year, I spontaneously adopted a male kitten from a local pet shop. I’d always walked by this pet shop, but was never actively interested in getting a kitten. Having grown up with cats, they weren’t anything new to me – but this particular kitten was different. His fur was blond… I had never seen a cat that color before – the ones I grew up with had been much darker. I was used to black, gray, brown, and mixes based upon those colors. So ultimately, I bought the kitten – and soon realized he was very different from other cats.

First off, he isn’t afraid of water – at all. In fact, he has a weird attraction to it. Whenever I turn on a faucet, he runs right over, and when he can’t see what I’m doing, or can’t maneuver to get a better view, he just looks up at me and meows. The reaction is almost like what you would expect when you open up a can of cat food, except it’s for water. He does have a bowl of water accessible at all times, and the water is changed once a day; yet, it seems he actually prefers water from the sink. After realizing this, I started partially filling up the sink with water before I leave for work – I know for a fact he much prefers drinking from there. My theory is that he thinks it is fresher than the water he gets from his bowl, and that is usually correct. It also turns out that he doesn’t mind being almost completely submerged in water. I found this out when I had to give him a bath  – he just stays still and looks a little confused. After the bath is over, he looks slightly irritated, though… but I can’t blame him.

The next thing I found unusual was his reaction to being transported around. See, on the weekends, my parents usually drop by and bring him over to their place. I realized early on that this was a good idea, seeing as it gives him contact with other cats – and it also helps make up for the fact that he’s an indoor cat. My parents have five cats – three females and two males. To move him around, I had to come up with some unique transportation methods. The default cardboard box idea never worked well – he would just freak out on the drive over. If we let him loose in the car, he’d be very calm, but would explore way too much – too dangerous when we are driving.

The next idea I had was to put him in my jacket,with his head popping out – this worked exceptionally well. He was pinned between my jacket and me, but he could still see what was going on. A new trend began – transporting the cat was as simple as putting him in a jacket, and supporting his weight with one arm.

This approach worked well for a long time; however, he eventually grew larger, and I had to come up with a better way to move him around. I thought about using a bag – but my backpack was pretty expensive, so I didn’t want to use that. Also, if I wore the backpack as it was intended – the cat would be out of my reach. Since he’s an indoor cat, I can’t risk him escaping in-transit. Instead of a backpack, I grabbed a re-usable grocery bag, and tried putting him inside. He didn’t seem to mind. I could walk around, and he’d make like a bag of potatoes – rarely moving – rarely even taking a peek from the opening. After a few field tests, it was proven that the bag idea worked just as well as the jacket. You can even tie the bag shut, and he’d just stay calm.

Another interesting thing about my cat is that he also stays pretty calm when I put him on my shoulder. I’ve actually had a cat before that would stay on my shoulder for many minutes – at times, up to an hour. So, naturally, I began training my cat in the same manner. With that in mind, whenever a delivery person arrives at my door, I always place my cat on my shoulder while I interact with the person. My cat just lays there and watches curiously as I give the guy my credit card and we finish off the payment. As a bonus, it usually amuses the delivery people.