During a visit to a customer’s site the owner and I discussed how the Computer Usage Policy I wrote for him came in handy. The conversation drifted into how we could prevent non-productive web surfing in the first place.

I subscribe to a Sunbelt Software e-mail list serve that has many very knowledgeable administrators. Remembering many endorsements from them for a product called Open DNS I thought this customer would be a perfect candidate to try it.

Open DNS is a service that provides content filtering to block categories such as pornography, dating, humor, and gambling. At the time of this writing there are 55 categories.

We surfed over to http://www.opendns.com and clicked the Plans and Pricing link. Deciding the Open DNS Basic free version would fulfill the needs of his company, at least for the time being, we clicked the sign up link. Registration was fast and easy.

Once the account was setup and we were logged in we looked at the settings tab. There are six settings: High, Moderate, Low, Minimal, None, and Custom. Each has a view link to see the categories blocked within its setting as well as a customize link. After studying each we decided to use the Custom setting and clicked on the categories he wanted blocked.

In addition to the categories, Open DNS has whitelisting and blacklisting features as well. If there is a domain (web site) that is blocked by Open DNS but should be permitted it can be whitelisted. Alternatively, if a site doesn’t get blocked but should be it can be entered as blacklisted. The free version allows for up to 25 whitelist/blacklist domains (total, not each).

We then logged into the company’s perimeter router and put Open DNS addresses into the DNS settings of the router. Networked workstations typically get their DNS settings from a router or server(s), so setting Open DNS’s addresses at that level propagates the Open DNS lookups throughout the network without having to configure every computer.

Whether you administer a business network and want to keep temptations of unproductive sites away from employees or a parent concerned about the dark corners of the Internet, Open DNS provides cost effective content filtering. Since this setup I have done several more of my customer sites, leaving each satisfied. I even configured my network to use it. Why not use it to block Adware, Phishing, and Tasteless sites? It’s one more layer to your security as discussed in my Security FAQ.

How it works:
Domain Name Service (DNS) enables us to use names for locations on networks, including the Internet, instead of having to know the TCP/IP addresses. Typing schmahl.net into your browser to surf to my site is much easier than typing 98.131.88.213. Servers that do this lookup and translation are called DNS Servers.

Open DNS recognizes your network’s address and correlates the lookups to the settings and categories configured for your account. If a request to www.somebadsite.com is made and during Open DNS’s lookup that site is in one of the blocked categories, Open DNS returns a page to the users’ browser that the site requested is blocked.

Caveats:
If the public IP address of the network getting configured changes often you’ll have to download and install a program “OpenDNS Updater” or manually update within your account. I haven’t had to do this yet, so I’ll either post a comment with details later when I do or let a reader do so.

Another is allowing a user administrator privileges on the workstation, enabling the user to manually configure DNS settings to a DNS server of choice and bypassing Open DNS. This, however, is a problem with your user configuration, not of Open DNS.

The SANS (System Administration, Networking, and Security) Institute is a key resource for IT professionals. One of the most helpful and free sections of its web site is the Reading Room, providing white papers on security leadership, forensics, incident handling, and auditing.

During a recent visit to the Reading Room I found a treasure called “Beer, The Key Ingredient for Team Development.” This 16 page paper reinforces something I’ve believed in and practiced for a long time.

Reading this paper is highly recommended for discussion and planning of your team’s next late lunch scheduled for Friday at beer:30.

Cheers!

Sunbelt Software hosts a number of technical mailing lists. Recently, one of them I’m subscribed to had a thread that began as a question asking what software utilities do fellow system administrators keep close at hand. Needless to say this created a thread with many great answers, lots of +1′s to make it a pseudo survey and a lively debate. When the thread finally died Sunbelt’s Stu Sjouwerman posted that he compiled the top 40 list and published it in their August 10th Windows Server News.

I highly recommend admins of any level to review the list.

One of the techie mailing lists I’m subscribed to had a post to Slashweb’s 25 Best Programmer Comics.  I don’t always have time for the off-topic chatter, but this one drew enough feedback I’m glad I eventually did.  Several had me nearly in tears. 

Just for fun I even whipped up a poll to see what everyone else thinks is the best one.

Here’s the comics:  http://slashweb.org/programming/25-best-programmer-webcomic-strips.html

Take a minute to vote for your favorite here:  http://www.schmahl.net/pollcomics.php

And, hm, how do I ask this,,, no scripts from you coders out there to invalidate the poll!  

First things first – my first computer was a Xerox with a CPM operating system.  There, now that I’ve established that I’m no spring chicken I can reminisce about the days of the 16-bit Windows Recorder applet.  This keyboard macro recorder would allow a few keystrokes to invoke useful or repetitive text.

Fast forward to XP, Vista, Windows 7, more processor cores in low end home machines than server admins used to dream of… and here I sit typing the same @gmail.com over and over.

WRONG!

Thanks to a free Open Source program called AutoHotkey I have a very large text file that will replace @gm with the entire @gmail.com.  When typing in any program, including a command prompt, I appear to have typing skills of several hundred words/minute with excellent accuracy.

Imagine your productivity increase when typing a report that has long repetitive phrases that are inserted by typing some defined keystrokes.  Another favorite use is for e-mail replies.  When working on a project I’m often fielding the same questions from many people.  Type a professional reply and associate some keystrokes to it.  No more digging through sent items to copy and paste the reply over and over.

Another way to approach explaining the usefulness:  think of having unlimited items in your clipboard that will be available at every reboot and can be pasted with a few keystrokes.

But not only can text be added, AutoHotkey allows for special keys and mouse actions.

I highly recommend saving time and tedious repetitive typing while reducing errors by installing AutoHotkey.  If you do feel free to return here and post a comment or two.

Seems vendors are finally listening.  Dell announced they’re going to quit loading bloatware onto Vostro laptops.  Maybe someday all the mass producers will only install what the buyer wants.  Too many consumers get duped into allowing trialware to install only to find annoying nags or worse when it times out.  Maybe it could be named ransomware?

There’s just way too many low cost, free for personal use, or open source software programs that are high quality and will more than suffice.  For my favorites and recommendations check the Everyday Software FAQ

Hopefully I’ll someday be able to remove sections from my PC Setup FAQ.  It’s a shame any brand new system has to be cleansed before it can be enjoyed.

During a June vacation while catching up with some reading on the sands of a hot beach I read this article in CIO Magazine. It was one of those articles that, while interesting, didn’t register an immediate impression. As time has passed I’ve found myself reflecting on the article and using the basis of it to explain a different form of the Digital Divide.

Typically Digital Divide explains the technical division between society’s “haves” and “have-nots”. Great sums of money are spent trying to level the playing fields; Municipal Wi-Fi projects to provide free wireless Internet access, quests for the $100 laptop, and so forth.

Back to the CIO Mag article and a new angle on the Digital Divide – are you a Digital Immigrant (DI) or a Digital Native (DN)? If you’re over 30 you’re an Immigrant. You didn’t grow up with I-Pods instead of records, RSS feeds instead of newspapers or magazines… You use the technology, likely loving some of it while despising other parts of it. It’s your second language. Some master it, others stumble and retain a thick accent.

If you’re under 30 you’re a Native. You want more of it, don’t understand why DI’s start their day with a newspaper, print a map, or subscribe to magazines. The web has always existed and what the heck is a Bulletin Board service? And where did the phrase “roll up/down a window” in the car come from?

I’m not trying to outdo the CIO article or the quoted resources in it. Rather, this is just a thought on my mind and a place to refer those around me that wonder what I’m talking about when I refer to someone as a DN or DI. Read the article and maybe we’ll have a little more understanding and harmony between Immigrants and Natives.

I’ve resisted the blog movement long enough.  Though I hope we never see an end to the communities and friendships built in list mail services I have accepted the idea that some topics would be better in something other than an e-mail client.

I’m hoping to develope my blogs as a place between formal FAQs and overly casual e-mails.  I might even try to strike conversation by posting some of my knee-jerk reactions to what’s going on in the world of technology.

Now that beta 2 of IE8 has been released, be careful of installation orders.  In a nutshell, if you installed IE8 beta 1, then XP Service Pack 3, and then install beta 2, you will have to live with IE8.

If you think you will want to remove IE8 (which you may very well want to do considering it is beta and may not play nicely or work as a finished version would)  you will need to uninstall Service Pack 3, remove beta 1, reinstall SP3, then install beta 2.

IE 8 Beta 2 Release Notes

CRM Explains it