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New Computer Security Threat - ClickJacking
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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Vodafone Broadband Bandwidth meter: Total crap
Vodafone Broadband Bandwidth meter: Total crap
I noticed that there was an issue currently occuring with the Bandwith meter for the 24th and the 25th:
While the meter in the picture below only accounts for my PC only (out of two), I am the biggest user of this household, so you could multiply the figures in my meter report by around 1.5.
Do note that my meter report may have slightly higher usage than the actual one as some packets may not be going to the Internet.
It sometimes fluctuates below my own PC's usage... and the 24th has a sudden peak spike (but the days before it were pretty unaccounted for)
Also, the 22nd of July is missing! Where did that go?
Some dates also seem to have huge delay in processing the usage (so sometimes the usage on one day goes on the next day).
I've seen problems with ihug's/Vodafone's usage checker a few times before. I haven't seen many occurrences of other ISPs having similar problems...
This also reduces the trust laid upon Vodafone's systems. I definitely know that I'll need to use my meter to check for usage rather than My Vodafone. Could this mean that we could be paying more for our data? (as if there is substantially more data usage than the actual one, then Vodafone have actually been taking away the value of the plan)
Vodafone's engineers better rectify this problem soon! 
Windows Server 2008 is my Desktop Workstation
Microsoft Windows Mojave
So you complain about Windows Vista but actually never used it? Maybe what you need is Microsoft Windows Mojave.
In summary, a set of people were asked what they think is bad on Windows Vista. Their answers were recorded. They were then shown "Microsoft Windows Mojave".
One of the subjects in the study even said "Wow", the word Microsoft used in the "The wow starts now" campaign for Windows Vista.
Microsoft then revealed "Windows Mojave" and "Windows Vista" are the same one.
I know a lot of Linux and Mac OS X users who bash Windows Vista without ever having touch a computer running the OS. How can they "know" so much? Or perhaps they don't.
Isn't this a big perception problem?
All the details here.
UPDATE: The Mojave Experiment results are coming on-line! 
Thanks Duncan from Orcon
I have a phone again, amazing! My internet has only failed 3 times today (it is of course only mid morning, but that's cool.
And in reply to the comment about how retro I am still having a phone line, think of it this way, it comes with the net and it means that relatives who are still more analogue don't have to pay me, but there's a thought, maybe the ones I don't care to hear from won't lol.
Checking your mobile data usage online is not easy: a Telecom New Zealand tale
Yesterday I posted about Telecom New Zealand's lack of a "meter" for their mobile data. Here is something that I thought would illustrate the issue well...
Let's say you rent a car on a monthly basis, for work. You agree to pay $49.95 a month if you drive up to 1,000 km per billing cycle, and $1 per km after this.
You decided on 1,000 km because you thought this could cover your average daily usage multiplied by the number of days in the month.
You get the car and notice there is no meter in it, but the rental agency tells you it's ok, they are monitoring it within their system, remotely.
You drive away. During 30 days you have no exact idea of how many kms you've done. You have to keep calling the company to find out how many kms you have driven so far, and calculate to see if you are still within the expected average.
Then you receive the monthly bill. You look through five pages for something that says "kms driven this month", but instead you find "times you started the car this month". And a charge for the rental.
Does it make sense?
No. Neither does Telecom New Zealand's "data sessions" line in the bill. They don't tell us how many megabytes or gigabytes we used during the month, only how many times we used it during the period.
Telecom, are you going to fix your systems? 
I noticed that there was an issue currently occuring with the Bandwith meter for the 24th and the 25th:
Bandwidth issue 2008-07-25 11:32:57
Some customers may notice that their bandwidth for the 24th and 25th of July is higher than usual.
We are currently investigating this issue with our Engineers and we hope to resolve this as soon as possible
Thank you for your patience
While the meter in the picture below only accounts for my PC only (out of two), I am the biggest user of this household, so you could multiply the figures in my meter report by around 1.5.
Do note that my meter report may have slightly higher usage than the actual one as some packets may not be going to the Internet.
It sometimes fluctuates below my own PC's usage... and the 24th has a sudden peak spike (but the days before it were pretty unaccounted for)
Also, the 22nd of July is missing! Where did that go?
Some dates also seem to have huge delay in processing the usage (so sometimes the usage on one day goes on the next day).
I've seen problems with ihug's/Vodafone's usage checker a few times before. I haven't seen many occurrences of other ISPs having similar problems...
This also reduces the trust laid upon Vodafone's systems. I definitely know that I'll need to use my meter to check for usage rather than My Vodafone. Could this mean that we could be paying more for our data? (as if there is substantially more data usage than the actual one, then Vodafone have actually been taking away the value of the plan)
Vodafone's engineers better rectify this problem soon!
Windows Server 2008 is my Desktop Workstation
After hearing lots of good stuffs about this new SERVER product from Microsoft called Windows Server 2008, I took the decision to move from Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition 
The good thing is, Windows Server 2008 can be configured as a fully featured desktop workstation. Your one stop guide for completing this ‘awesome’ task is here
Below is my laptop configuration:
2) 4 GB RAM
I have Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x86 Edition installed
Below is the list of software installed:
1) Apple Bootcamp
2) Microsoft Office 2007
3) Microsoft Visio 2007
4) Mozilla Firefox
5) Skype
6) Apple Quicktime
7) Apple iTunes
8 ) Windows Live
- Live Writer
- Live Messenger
- Live Photo Gallery
9) Foxit PDF Reader
10) Flashget Download Manager
11) Virtual PC
12) Kaspersky Internet Security
13) tWhirl
14) Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1
This server is Fast, Sleek, and Customizable (in Features and Roles). That’s a huge benefit over Vista where many services get started no matter you use them.
I have also moved my development stuffs to a virtual environment now and virtual machines run quite fast than in Vista here. Yes, I am quite happy with Virtual PC 2007 and I don’t think I would install x64 version just for Hyper-V. The application support for x64 sucks!
Everything works good in my setup including sleep,shutdown and hibernate
So far, my experience of having Windows Server 2008 as my main desktop workstation is good and I think I will continue to stay on this for a long, long time until Windows 7 comes out 
Microsoft Windows Mojave
So you complain about Windows Vista but actually never used it? Maybe what you need is Microsoft Windows Mojave.
In summary, a set of people were asked what they think is bad on Windows Vista. Their answers were recorded. They were then shown "Microsoft Windows Mojave".
One of the subjects in the study even said "Wow", the word Microsoft used in the "The wow starts now" campaign for Windows Vista.
Microsoft then revealed "Windows Mojave" and "Windows Vista" are the same one.
I know a lot of Linux and Mac OS X users who bash Windows Vista without ever having touch a computer running the OS. How can they "know" so much? Or perhaps they don't.
Isn't this a big perception problem?
All the details here.
UPDATE: The Mojave Experiment results are coming on-line!
Thanks Duncan from Orcon
I have a phone again, amazing! My internet has only failed 3 times today (it is of course only mid morning, but that's cool.
And in reply to the comment about how retro I am still having a phone line, think of it this way, it comes with the net and it means that relatives who are still more analogue don't have to pay me, but there's a thought, maybe the ones I don't care to hear from won't lol.
Checking your mobile data usage online is not easy: a Telecom New Zealand tale
Yesterday I posted about Telecom New Zealand's lack of a "meter" for their mobile data. Here is something that I thought would illustrate the issue well...Let's say you rent a car on a monthly basis, for work. You agree to pay $49.95 a month if you drive up to 1,000 km per billing cycle, and $1 per km after this.
You decided on 1,000 km because you thought this could cover your average daily usage multiplied by the number of days in the month.
You get the car and notice there is no meter in it, but the rental agency tells you it's ok, they are monitoring it within their system, remotely.
You drive away. During 30 days you have no exact idea of how many kms you've done. You have to keep calling the company to find out how many kms you have driven so far, and calculate to see if you are still within the expected average.
Then you receive the monthly bill. You look through five pages for something that says "kms driven this month", but instead you find "times you started the car this month". And a charge for the rental.
Does it make sense?
No. Neither does Telecom New Zealand's "data sessions" line in the bill. They don't tell us how many megabytes or gigabytes we used during the month, only how many times we used it during the period.
Telecom, are you going to fix your systems?
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