“Have you checked your computer for spyware, trojans and other malicious software, sir?”, asked the support tech at Telekom Malaysia’s Streamyx Support Line.

“I use Ubuntu”, I said slowly and smugly, relishing her inevitable conundrum, not knowing what Ubuntu is, but being unable to admit it lest she seems ignorant. I let my superior operating system’s name sink in for a few seconds before I added, “Ubuntu Linux. I Use Ubuntu Linux.”

I could hear the relief on the otherside of the line as she recognised the word Linux, but before she could flip her Support 101 Manual to the Linux page I continued “my operating system doesn’t suffer from spyware, trojans and other malicious software.”

“Oh”, she said as she reliased that all of her other made-for-windows-cookie-cutter solutions suddenly didn’t apply.

You see, my notebook computer, which I’ve been using for some hardcore Internet interaction for the last 4 months, has encountered the grand total of 0 (zero) viruses, spyware, trojans and other malicious software. Why?

Because it’s Ubuntu. A community supported operating system of the highest calibre.  If any of the above exploits anything on Ubuntu, it’s patched even before most people know about it.  That’s of course assuming the nasties can figure out how to exploit anything, because each user on Ubuntu is self contained, and no malicious piece of software will ever have the power to destroy an entire Ubuntu installation.

And that’s how I know that virusses, spyware, trojans and other malicious software have absolute nothing to do with my slow Internet connection.

StreamyX doesn’t mix so well in my house

Yup, for months my broadband connection has been slightly faster than an ISDN line (remember those?) and after experiencing lighting fast connections, on slower packages no less, at my friends’ houses, actually watching a 3-minute YouTube video on the fly, I decided it was time to complain.

For the last week I’ve been in fruitless deliberations with the Telekom Malaysia’s tech support, them trying to solve the reason for my slow connection.  On 3 occations I had to sit through their 12-step solution-to-everything support exercises. It’s like calling to say your head hurts when you knock it agianst the wall, but then still different people ask you to knock your head against a wall to ask again you if it hurts.

At the support’s request, I’ve done more than 6 speed tests where I log into their ftp server with a piece of Java software that downloads a 1MiB file and confirms, time and time again, that I get max 245kbps off a connection that advertises 1028kbps and aims to deliver at least 80% of that.  As if by telling them my head hurts when I knock it against the wall isn’t enough, they have to see me knock my head and feel the bump before they believe me.

They’ve even sent over a technician (phone line technician) who looked at the admin area for my ADSL modem, saw that it says I’m actually connected at 1,536kps and took that as the obvious, irrefutable proof that they are in fact giving me what I’m paying for, yet couldn’t explain why his own website, www.tm.net.my took a good 3 minutes to download.

“It’s the computer” he says, pointing at my incriminatingly alien operating system. “Erm, no, it isn’t” I say as I repeat the slow-loading-tm.net.my page trick on my desktop computer that runs XP (and is riddled with malicious software that I got from sticking my pendrive into computers at my previous employer) and Julia appears, doing the same with her notebook that runs Vista.  But he has nothing to say about that.

Eventually he left saying he would switch the physical port of my line at the hub, but as it turns out he had the last laugh, as after he did that, my connection slowed to speeds I last experienced when I had to dial up.

The tech support saga continues, and I only hope that I can get up to a speed that will allow me to download the much anticipated Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex that is due to be released in about 8 days time.

Yup, it’s good to be using a free, community supported operating system that releases an improved version with new features every 6 months.  I had my first whiff of Ubuntu when it was Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, my first steps away from Windows.

Soon after I was awed by my current installation of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, and I can only expect great things from the Intrepid Ibex.  I see also that the next release has been named and will be Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, scheduled for release in April 2009.

Of course, a fast connection sure would make life…. faster.

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You know, I may feel many things in my life are beyond my control, but my blog is not one of it. Nope, my blog is mine, completely under my control.  What I say goes, what I say stays.  My blog is my country and I’m the dictator.

I therefore feel not unlike Robert Mugabe when Morgan Tsvangarai went all democratic on his ass, when something that I didn’t explicitly OK’ed appears on my blog.

So it was then, quite by accident, that I looked at my own RSS feed and saw some new stuff that I didn’t rubberstamp appear there.  Sneaky YARPP (Yet Another Related Post Plugin) had unilaterally decided to not only insert some related posts into my feed (new feature!), but also to reward itself with a promo link back to its own website below every single entry - without asking or even telling me!

YARPP is a free piece of software from the Wordpress Plugin Repository.  It doesn’t require me to pay for it, it doesn’t even require me to link to it in exchange for using it.

Of course, it’s a great piece of software and we all have to eat, so donating a link is the least I can do to thank the creator for his hard work, right?

But for crying in a bucket, ask me first! Don’t go and be clever and write yourself into my country. Subverting a dictator will cause heads to roll.

When I auto-upgraded YARPP it came with these new features. One’s automatic inclusion in your RSS feed and two is an automatic link underneath every entry (which on an RSS feed with 10 items listed means 10 links to YARPP).  And it’s on by default - disable it in the plugin settings.

Here’s a link mitcho, please don’t take liberties on my blog like that again - there are other plugins that does that same thing out there.

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Don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time on my computer. I mean, A LOT.

Like many people, I work on my computer. My work is totally reliant on my computer, so there’s nothing I can do that doesn’t involve my computer (god help me if one day we run out of electricity).

I work long hours - loooong hours. And the type of stuff I do requires mammoth sitting-down sessions. My hobbies, like this blog for instance, also include computers. Like I said; I spend a lot of time on my computer. A LOT.

Often when I get busy with a bit of programming or writing an article, hours can slip by and I don’t notice. I don’t notice, that is, until I try to get up from my seat and my knees, legs and arms lock up. When I then reference the clock and realise I just sat in one position for 3 hours with nothing but my fingers moving over the keyboard, then I stop wondering why I suddenly locked up.

Joints that stop working and atrophied muscles aside, my flabby gut also indicates that I sit on my ever-increasing-in-girth ass waaaaay too much.  Getting older only amplifies these results of a computer-centered lifestyle.

Oh, give me a break

Exactly! The solution to the problems above (and possibly many that are yet to rear their ugly heads), is to take frequent breaks. 10 minutes every hour, says the experts, and micro-breaks every so often, just a minute here and there where you put your arms in the air and look beyond your screen.

The 10 minute breaks, I can assure you, are quite important, as it helps circulation. Nothing like poor circulation when it comes to the sports field or the bed room I tell you.

Alarms are great reminders, but I find myself killing those, or just ignoring them, pretty easily. Let me just snooze this alarm and off I go on a 2 or 3 hour sitting-down spree.

Enter WorkRave

It should be little wonder that Ubuntu includes a program that can save you from Repetitive Strain Injury. I think Linux users love their computers so much that they really just get up to eat (and pee, but only if the adult diaper is saturated), so it people like Rob Caelers & Raymond Penners to come up with something like WorkRave.

WorkRave is a neat little programme that comes with Ubuntu by default.  It essentially forces you to take regular breaks, and I’ve set mine so that it locks my computer so that I can’t ignore it and have to break.  Handy.

You can set it to remind you of micro-breaks, which gets a little annoying as it seems as if it warns you every minute, although it’s every 10 or 15.

When your hourly break rolls around, it also gives you some random exercises to do in the form of graphics, like stretching your arms, tilting your neck, twiddling your fingers and other RSI preventative exercises.

Then once you’ve done those, it locks the computer (you can set it that way, or not), and forces you to spend the other 9 or so minutes away from your computer.  I usually walk down the stairs or do something equally active, just to remind my legs what they’re there for.

So, do your body a favour and get this nifty little programme.  If you use it religiously, I’m sure you’ll find you have more energy and less aches & pains.  You might also just be able to sky someone in frisbee without falling down when your puny legs hit the ground.

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Einstein once said that one definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over for ever and ever expecting a different result.

Well then, when it comes to computers, we should all be mad really, because such is the nature of the computer, that you could well do the same thing over and over for ever and ever and a different result might just occur.

In Windows this is, of course, more true than of any other operating system, but I don’t use Windows anymore (I use Ubuntu, thank you), so lets not talk about that.

This afternoon, for no apparent reason whatsoever, Evolution on Ubuntu (Hardy Heron 8.04) suddenly decided it would use nothing other than my default SMTP server.  Or so it appeared.  Although I could still receive email as normal, Evolution refused to send email from anything by my default SMTP server.

I have three email accounts set up in Evolution and all of them use different SMTP servers (although the 2 offending accounts are hosted on the same server, using the same default SMTP port).

Suddenly, this same thing I did over and over for ever and ever yielded a different result.  Naturally I was stumped and yes, I did feel ever so slightly mad.

I thought about what I did differently today.  There were two things.  I installed the updates that Ubuntu advised me to, but nothing that was related to email or Evolution as such.  I also installed Filezilla, and thinking back it was shortly after this that my troubles started.  Obvious solution? Uninstall Filezilla.

This yielded no results.

The actual problem with Evolution using only your default SMTP server

Truth be told, even though Evolution indicates that it’s only using your default SMTP server, it really isn’t. Maybe the programmers were lazy, but it is in fact trying your other accounts too, it just specifies the default account.

It connects and seemingly hangs, but it doesn’t, it’s just waiting for the time-out.  When it does time out it will tell you, unable to connect to mail.suchandsuch.com and you’ll realise it was in fact not your default server.

In my case, and it might well be your case too if you’re using HostGator, my SMTP port 25 suddenly decided not to work anymore.  Mind you, I read on the net that this might also be due to the ISP blocking this port in an attempt to stop spam.  Ha!

So if you’re using Streamyx through Telekom Malaysia in Sabah and you have this problem sending mail, then you know that your port 25 has been blocked (as of this afternoon it seems).

Solution to Evolution using only your default SMTP server

Luckily for DIY SMTP peeps like you and me, there are alternative ports for SMTP.  One such port that works with HostGator (your experience might vary) is port 465.  This is the SSL port, which has the added benefit of making the process of receiving your mail more secure. In actuality, if this is the only thing you do, it has very little benefit.

Nevertheless, if you specify this port, then you should also specify an SSL connection, otherwise there might be a miscommunication and things will not work.

How to implement the default STMP server only solution in Evolution

Ok, so first we need to tell Evolution that you want to use the SSL port for your SMTP transactions.

In Evolution, go to Edit -> Preferences and then click the offending account to highlight it, and press Edit.

Select the Sending Email tab and add :465 to the Server Configuration box, which should already have something like mail.suchandsuch.com.  So then you have something like mail.suchandsuch.com:465.  This is how you specify a different port in Evolution (the default is port 25).  Note: your alternative port might be different.

Then also change Use a Secure Connection to SSL encryption.  You’ll find this option in the Security section on the same tab.

This should solve your problem. It did mine.

Technically, you can specify any alternative port, as long as it’s not 25, which is the default and the most likely number your ISP is blocking (if that is indeed the problem).  I did a quick search and found that 465 is HostGator’s SSL Port, which is supported by my account and my email client, Evolution.

Chew on that, Einstein!

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I love it when I log into my WordPress admin area and it tells me that  a new WordPress is available. I love upgrades. Yes, really.  On this occasion, however, I lost the battle when I came face to face with the Wordpress 2.6 Upgrade and a 404 Error.

First it’s very important to note that in WordPress’s 3 Step Upgrade Guide, there is in fact a Step 0. Step 0 reminds you, and wisely so, to back-up your WordPress install, because as good as the WordPress community is, they are all still human.  So if a bug in the code sneaks in or you’re trying to cyber while you upgrade and not paying attention, then a back-up is a very handy fall-back for if your site falls down.

Moving on - last night I downloaded the new Wordpress 2.6 with trembling hands, anticipating the new features, the improved speed and that new software smell.  I followed the instructions for the upgrade (backup, delete & upload, click upgrade) and after I did something nice for myself, when I logged back into 1earthadventures, everything seemed fine.

But then I noticed in my Feedjit that somebody had landed on a 404 error page, which shouldn’t happen.  As I clicked on a single post, before it even loaded, the title turned to “Oops!” that signified the serving of a 404 error page.  Turns out that all my single posts under Wordpress 2.6 were inaccessible and got a 404 error page instead.

As my main page worked, the obvious error was with the URIs and at first I thought perhaps my fancy URIs were turned off by mistake.  Checking the settings in the admin area, this was proven to be false.  I checked my .htaccess file just to make sure none of the conditions in there where accidentally erased, but that too was untouched.

Next I turned to Google and said a prayer, which was answered in the form of several WordPress forum posts.  But alas, the Wordpress 2.6 upgrade had only been release a few hours prior and the only help the forums proved to be was to show me that I wasn’t the only one having this 404 error problem.

A moment ago I searched for this again and stumbled across this bug report, which outlines the problem.  In essense, for those of us who use index.php in the URI, this problem will persist until they fix it, or until you fiddle with your code and temporarily fix it yourself (read that bug report for what to do).

The problem has been escalated and is now considered critical and is destined for Wordpress 2.6.1. Obviously it will affect a lot of bloggers, so lets hope everybody backs up first. But it should, as far as I understand it, only affect those of us who use index.php in our URIs.

In the meantime, I’ll figure out to get rid of index.php in my URI without screwing up all my links in the search engines.  In one of the posts the moderator said that if you’re hosted on Unix/Linux, then you really shouldn’t need to index.php in the URI - as that work-around came about for the benefit of those hosted on Windows IIS.

I’ll explore that and hopefully I can beat the Wordpress 2.6 Upgrade and 404 Error dilema before the 2.6.1. fix.

Update 080717 - Wordpress 2.6 404 Error Fix/Solution

Thanks to the feedback from amy-wong.com and Kerry Webster, I’ve solved my 404 Error issues.  First I went into my WordPress settings and in the custom URI I simply removed “index.php” from the string.

I can’t remember why I chose to have index.php in the first place, but I didn’t want to remove it because I thought my links from other websites and in search engines wouldn’t work.  But as Amy Wong confirmed, the links still work as they simply direct themselves to the new URI sans index.php.  I tried this in my 2.5 install first to test it, before I upgraded - because that pesky “index.php” is what broke my 2.6 install.

Oh, the trick above apparently is guaranteed to work if your site is hosted on an Apache server (on Linux), but if you’re hosted on Microsoft’s IIS you might have problems - as index.php was left in there for the poor people on IIS.  Kerry Webster created this work around, but Kerry, I suspect, is a server admin, so you might not have the access required for this stunt and I’m not entirely sure your host will be keen to try it.

Anyway, after that, I once again installed WordPress 2.6 and *tada*, it worked like it should. No more 404 Errors.  So yay! for upgrades! Yes, it bombed at first, but the upside is not only do I have a fresh release of WordPress, but also much tidier URIs.

Rock on, WordPress!

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