Computers

SPAM with Spoofed Sender

Computers, Security / By / / , / 2 minutes of reading

Recently, I’ve started getting more “bounced” or backscatter email returned to me, as if I was the sender… These messages are SPAM, and are not sent from my account, not from my domain, and not from my hosting service. Someone is generating email messages and forging or spoofing the sender address to make it look like it was sent from another account. It is really simple to do this, but it is also easy to block it. There are several systems like Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Yahoo’s DomainKeys Identified Mail, or the DMARC system, that can validate that email messages were sent from an approved email server or gateway. They use a specially formatted text record in the domain’s Domain Name Service (DNS) records to identify the correct originating server. If an email with a spoofed sender is sent from an unauthorized email system it can be rejected. So, if you have found my site because you think that I have sent you SPAM or are trying to extort you for a BitCoin payment, please recognize that it didn’t actually come from me… Your email client should have an option to show you the entire message header, and you should be able to see that the email actually came from someone else, likely in another country. We need to continue to press our internet service providers to leverage the spectrum of anti-spam tools, including things like SpamHaus DNSBL, SPF, DKIM or DMARC, as well as offering filtering tools like […]

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Back to a MacBook Pro

Computers, Macintosh / By / / , , , / 1 minute of reading

An update for 2022: My 2017 27″ 5K iMac was showing it’s age, and I had decided that there were times when a laptop would still be better than using my 11″ M1 iPad Pro, so I’ve upgraded to a late 2021 model 16″ MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro SoC processor, built-to-order with 32Gb RAM and 2TB SSD. I realized that I’ve become spoiled with the 27″ display on the iMac, though, so I also bought a Lenovo p27-u20 27″ 4K Thunderbolt4 display. The monitor essentially has a Thunderbolt/USB dock built in, so it has pass-through ports for Thunderbolt, USB-C and several USB-A ports, along with Ethernet, so that I can leave peripherals connected to the monitor, and only have to connect a single Thunderbolt cable to the MacBook Pro, which also provides the power delivery to the laptop.

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Apple Macintosh

Computers, Macintosh / By / / 5 minutes of reading

I started using the Macintosh in January of 1984, while I was a student at Bowling Green State University. Actually, we had either an early model or an early release of the Macintosh XL software package for the Apple Lisa in December of 1983, as I recall. During one afternoon of waiting in line for a keypunch at the computer lab, I read all three of the manuals that came with the first Mac. This made me an expert instantly, I suppose, since most people never read the manuals! Even though I was working primarily as a technical writer, this was also my first real experience doing technical support. Because I had to learn and understand what I was documenting, I was often asked to help some of the faculty and staff when they had questions. I’ve owned quite a few Macintoshes since then. After spending many years with my trusty Titanium PowerBook G4/667, I replaced it with the Intel Core Duo-powered MacBook Pro that came out in February 2006. Because I tend to keep computers for such a long time, I decided to upgrade the processor speed to 2.16GHz, and get the 7,200rpm 100Gb hard drive. Unfortunately, it was one with the short-lived 32-bit Core Duo, so it only supported up to 2Gb of RAM. Also, since it was the original Intel-based machine, it came with only a 4x single-layer DVD burner, and didn’t have the FireWire 800 port that most of the other MacBook Pros have now. It

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MacBook Pro to iMac

Computers, Macintosh / By / / , / 2 minutes of reading

After continuing to have trouble with my old 2011 17″ MacBook Pro, I’ve concluded that it’s time for a new machine. I tried replacing the RAM, but it still won’t boot up. I concluded that it probably wasn’t the memory or the drive, but maybe the CPU or Logic board is failing… Rather than spend more time and money trying to replace the SSD, I figured that it was time to replace the MacBook Pro, after 6 years. I surveyed my options on Apple.com. The new MacBook Pro’s only come in 13” and 15” now, with the Retina display with high resolution but high pixel density as well. None of the laptops have optical drives any more, so I still think that there is not much advantage in carrying around a laptop vs. my iPad Pro. When I have travelled that past few years, I have only taken my iPad with me. Also, the 15” MBP costs nearly $2,800! Having realized that I don’t really carry my laptop around with me, I checked out the options for iMacs. They have a 21.5” model, and a 27” with a 4K or 5K screen… Since I will likely be keeping this machine for another 5-6 years, I really wanted the 27” 5K screen model, which also has a faster 3.8GHz i5 processor, and a 2TB “fusion” drive, that is a hybrid small SSD with a larger conventional hard drive. The system is supposed to keep frequently used files on the SSD, and less

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Upgrade didn’t go so well…

Computers, Drupal, Websites / By / / / 2 minutes of reading

So, last week I decided that it was time to upgrade from Drupal 6, since it was past it’s end of life for support. I had dabbled with Drupal 7 a bit on my laptop, and had read through a couple of Drupal 7 books over the past year or so… The CPanel script installer kept nagging me that there was an upgrade to perform, and it appeared to have a script to go from 6 to 7… I took backups of all of the MySQL databases, put both of my sites into “Maintenance Mode” and disabled all of the non-core scripts, then let CPanel run the upgrade… Boom! It didn’t get through the update script without errors, and I decided to try the update.php script, and that threw errors as well.. I poked at for a couple of hours, trying to work through the issues. The first problem is that Drupal 6 kept a list of blocked IPs in a table, which Drupal 7 doesn’t have, at least not when it tries running the update. I was able to find a tip with a script to create the missing table, which got me a bit further, but it continued to have issues. I finally decided to try jumping up to Drupal 8, which has an updated “Migrate and Upgrade” module which supports both version 6 and 7. I restored the database back to their original condition, then created two fresh installs of Drupal 8 in separate directories. I enabled

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Mousejack

Computers, Security / By / / / 1 minute of reading

Speaking of Logitech (in my previous post) it also turns out that security research firm, Bastille, has uncovered a vulnerability in many USB wireless keyboards and mice where the USB “dongle” is easily hacked, allowing someone to connect to your computer and take over control of your keyboard… The list of manufacturers includes Dell, HP, Logitech and Microsoft. See the details at the website created by Bastille, or one of the many news articles like this one at ComputerWorld. The article has links to more information, a list of affected devices, and links to manufacturer support sites that have already posted software or firmware updates. This only affects USB Wireless devices, not Bluetooth devices like the Apple keyboards and mice.

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What Happened to Logitech?

Computers / By / / / 4 minutes of reading

I’ve had several Logitech keyboard/covers for my iPads over the years. In December, while traveling, I dropped my keyboard (and thankfully NOT the iPad) which bent the corner so that it no longer sits flat. When we got home from our trip, I ordered a replacement, the newer Ultrathin Magnetic Keyboard Cover for the iPad Air from Amazon.com. I was frustrated with myself that I had dropped the old one, but was excited about getting the new one, as it is thinner and lighter, and has an adjustable angle for the iPad’s screen. It arrived a few days later, and I plugged it in to charge it, then got it synched with my iPad Air. I began to notice problems almost immediately, as the keyboard would fall asleep when idle, but then not wake up when you pressed a key. I had to turn off the keyboard, and then back on again in order to get it to reconnect… About every 5 minutes! Then, as I continued to try using it, I discovered that the screen would flash as the keyboard would send the signal to capture a screenshot periodically. One night, it took 57 screenshots as I tried to log in after turning the keyboard off and on, typing email, or trying to type a journal entry into DayOne… Now every time I sync, I have to open Photos and delete all of the extraneous screenshots that the keyboard has taken. I ordered the keyboard through Amazon before we

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Upgrading an Older Macintosh with an SSD Replacement

Computers, Macintosh / By / / , / 6 minutes of reading

Let me start with a little background — I have been an avid Macintosh user since the original Macintosh (128K) was introduced in 1984, when I was in college. Yes, they can be expensive, but they are easier to use, which makes them more powerful, and I find that they have a longer useful lifespan then many other platforms. Over the years, I have kept many of my Macintoshes for over 5 years, keeping them relevant by adding memory and disk space over time, and of course keeping the operating system upgraded to the current version. My strategy has often been to purchase a new machine just as it is discontinued, when it’s very close to the current model but with a decent discount. My current Mac is an early-2011 MacBook Pro 17″ that I bought in November 2011, when it was replaced by the late-2011 version, identical except for a modest bump in processor clock rate (2.2 vs 2.3GHz). I saved several hundred dollars by buying the earlier model. After four years of faithful service, though, it was beginning to feel like an antique. Most of the OS X operating system updates actually improve the overall performance of the system, but it seemed like my old MBP just kept getting slower and slower. Exacerbating the problem is that my iTunes library has grown to over 500Gb, with music ripped in Apple-lossless (ALAC) format, high-definition movies, loads of books and apps, etc. It just wasn’t practical to keep all of that on

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Moved to MacHighway

Computers, Hosting, Websites / By / / / 2 minutes of reading

As I noted in December, my former web hosting service, GoDaddy, announced in December that they were going to revoke access to us the Mailman mailing list manager that is included by default in their Linux cPanel hosting accounts. I use Mailman for my personal use, as well as to manage several discussion lists for the MacinTech Macintosh Users’ Group. GoDaddy claimed that it was due to spammers misusing the service, but I don’t really believe that for a second… First, I’ve gotten more spam while being hosting by GoDaddy than any other service that I have ever used, so I have a hard time believing that they take any actions to prevent spam! They also began advertising their own bulk email service just days after the announcement that they were turning off Mailman, which I can’t believe is a coincidence. I had moved my web sites to GoDaddy out of convenience when I was no longer able to host them myself after CenturyLink botched a DSL upgrade, leaving me offline for several weeks. In any event, in early January, I signed up with local Denver-based web hosting service MacHighway. There package is actually less expensive than GoDaddy. It’s also a bonus that they cater specifically to Macintosh users, so their instructions don’t reference Windows for everything, although they seem fairly platform-nuetral overall. So far, I am very pleased with MacHighway. The setup was easy. I have had to put in a couple of support tickets for things like requesting shell access, which is probably not

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GoDaddy Shutting Off MailMan, so I’m Shutting Off GoDaddy

Computers, Hosting / By / / , / 2 minutes of reading

This afternoon, I received this email from GoDaddy.com, my web hosting service: Important information about your hosting account Due to spammers abusing MailMan – a cPanel feature that lets you send bulk emails – we’re removing the feature on January 23, 2016 If you want to send bulk emails to your customers or clients we recommend checking out GoDaddy Email Marketing. Not only does this program let you email customers, it also includes more powerful features than MailMan, like opt-out management. If you have questions or need assistance, contact our Support Team at (480) 505-8877. Mailman is one of the services that I rely on for personal use, as well as for the web site and mailing list that I operate on behalf of MacinTech, a non-profit Macintosh User’s Group here in the Denver area. I’ve just spent a half-hour on the phone with goDaddy, and there is no exception to their decision to remove Mailman from the service that I’ve already paid for in advance. Their proposed solution is to pay them twice as much as I do now to add their email marketing program! There are other hosting providers, like MacHighway, that offer hosting packages for LESS than GoDaddy, which include a mailing list manager, Dada Mail, which is similar to Mailman. So, after many years at GoDaddy, I’ll be canceling my service and domain registrations with them in January, and moving to MacHighway.

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