All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

Hamachi - What can you do with it?

I just had to document this: I’m at the Arcadia Public Library, and I’m connected to my home computer via Hamachi/Windows XP Remote Desktop perfectly. I came only to test it out, and to see how the speeds are. I basically feel like I’m at home, despite the chatter around me at the other tables. So much for a library being quiet, huh? Anyways, I’m stoked!

Hamachi looks like a promising tool to setup a VPN connection from my laptop on some WiFi connection to my desktop computer. After listening to the Security Now podcasts episode 18, I’m trying out Hamachi.

I initially started with 0.9.9.9. Like Steve said, it really does look slick. What’s funny is that within a minute after installing it on my desktop, 28 people must’ve installed Hamachi before I was able to get it running on my laptop. Popular? Sure looks like it!

1. Download and install Hamachi
2. Configure new network on main computer, using 63 random printable ASCII characters for the network password
3. Load the network that I created on the main computer, so I can access my home computer
4. Connect to home computer thru the IP address given by Hamachi

My goal is to be able to connect to my home computer via Remote Desktop Connection. Well, the stable version wasn’t working for me. I tried connecting, but my desktop would freeze up and nothing would display on my laptop. So, I jumped into the 1.0 beta version, and finally was able to use RD [thru Hamachi] from my laptop to my desktop. Sweet!

Quoting from the transcript of Security Now! Episode #18:

So, for example, many people have written saying, hey, I love using Remote Desktop, but I’m concerned about its security. What should I do? Well, they should be concerned about its security because Remote Desktop does not have strong authentication. So it is subject to man-in-the-middle attacks, and it can be compromised. In fact, the current version of the Cain & Abel Cain tool has the latest support for the current RDP protocol, which allows - and, I mean, it actually builds a file, when you’re running Cain, of everything you do over your Remote Desktop session. So here Hamachi solves the problem of wanting one computer to connect to and control another. [..] So you’re able now to securely and safely use Remote Desktop through this Hamachi link with absolutely no concern that it can be eavesdropped upon.

It is a virtual private network, peer-to-peer secure tunneling system that, I mean, I can’t find a single fault in it. I mean, I’m using it. I’m in love with this thing.

What’ll I be using this for? Anytime I’m on a WiFi connection. I can hit up the public library, or use the connection from my friends’ house, without worrying about people eavesdropping on me.

On a sidenote, there is a forum thread on how to setup full internet access over Hamachi. It’s experimental right now, so I’ll just put up with RD. I’m not complaining!

There’s an article at ZDNet outlining 10 tips to keep spyware off your system. However, I like what was stated at Lifehacker in response to it:

To be honest, if you’re following every step you should feel pretty safe. That said, following every step is going to take up a lot of your system resources and will probably really slow down most older (and even some newer) PCs. Just remember to practice safe surfing whenever possible, and when you’ve downloaded a questionable bit of data, give it a scan before you fire it up.

If you only stick to a few sites, and don’t stray to questionable ones, you should be safe without too much extra software. Other than Firefox, I don’t have too much else running (in regards to antispyware apps) because of this. Actually, NoScript wasn’t mentioned, and I think it’s great!

Folder Size for Windows adds a new column to the Details view in Windows Explorer. The new column shows not only the size of files, but also the size of folders. It keeps track of which folders you view, and scans them in the background so you can see complete size of all files within the folder.

I don’t think I have to use TreeSize anymore - yay!

(Golf clap: Lifehacker)

I have a Maha PowerEx C-204F charger and 8 Maha PowerEx AA batteries (at 1600 mAH). I can’t remember when I bought them, but it was probably right after I bought my digital camera. Maybe 3 years ago? I think I read this review at Imaging Resource that influenced my decision. Anyway, at Tokyo Wako tonight, I handed the waitress my camera to take our group picture, only to have her show me a black LCD screen. It was on, but it blacked out or something.

I haven’t been using my camera as much, until lately for the holidays and these birthdays. So when my camera was acting up, I came home to search about the batteries. I don’t know if I’ve charged them 500 times yet. But, I don’t think I’ve been conditioning my batteries once every ten charges like I’m supposed to. (See the Maha Energy MH-C204F FAQ)

I’ve also been noticing that it’s been taking longer for the flash to power-up. (I don’t know the technical term.) I’m hoping this was the reason why.

I don’t know how often checks are being used, but this is a good read to help protect yourself from the practice of check washing. If anything, I think I’ll get a gel-based pen just for writing checks, as described throughout the article and conclusion. (Golf clap: Digg)

I think I’ll be reverting to index cards to keep track of tasks I need to do, and other random chicken scratch as well, rather than using Notepad on my PalmOne Tungsten E Handheld.

The main reason why I have it is because of its simple and awesome calendar (with the help of DateBk5) and contacts apps. They can hold so much, and I don’t have to write them all out by hand. Oh yeah, I also use MyCheckbook. Those help me keep my life mostly organized. But, I haven’t been as good with keeping tasks under control. I take longer than I should with them on my handheld.

After reading “Getting back to the paper chase“, I don’t need to save a few pennies by using my handheld as much as I can. Index cards are cheap! I just need to utilize whatever is easiest for me to get things done.

I went into Bloglines this morning to look through the tech-related feeds I’m subscribed to. I usually open articles in a new tab if I think they’ll be interesting. Anyway, going over just the digg.com feed, I’ve got 25 tabs open right now. 25! I think I’ll be switching to the Top Stories feed to ease the anxiety when something like that builds up.

On a sidenote, it’s probably best to have a small amount of subscriptions so you don’t just tire out reading. Just pick the ones that’ll probably cover the most popular topics. Besides Bryan Off Topic, I think I haven’t been writing as much because of this.

How does Robert Scoble do it?

Userscripts.org is a nice site for Greasemonkey scripts. I’m stoked because a script has made it easier for me to subscribe to Bloglines when a site has syndication feeds. (Golf clap: Kapil’s Korner)