Problem is, now I have a Real Job, a family and actual adult responsibilities, so I don't have time to do casual internet hobby stuff now.

I won't be updating this site regularly any longer (who are we kidding, I haven't done so for at least 8 years...) nor will I ever be doing any sort of blogging again - I'm not, nor do I ever want to be, any sort of influencer or blogger.

I've removed a lot of the frankly embarrassing "content" posted over the years and will be archiving any useful articles I once wrote (if any?) and keeping them around if needed. Any coding I feel like sharing will be on GitHub (including my old scripts) but otherwise this'll be a static site for my development work from now on.

If you're still interested in following my general life updates then the best place is probably Instagram (@amelierosalyn), though be warned - I'm not very active.

So, the idea behind this is that you need to partition the drive and format it correctly for each operating system. Time Machine requires the volume to be formatted in HFS+, the format Mac OS uses, while Windows uses NTFS. Technically you could format the Windows part in FAT32, but that only supports files up to 4GB in size - and it's unlikely your backup will be that small.

What I did was to divide my drive into 3 parts. I have a 2TB WD MyBook external hard drive, and I set up a 900GB HFS+ partition, a 900GB NTFS partition, and then 200GB FAT32 (for a Win/Mac go-between).

How do you do this, then? Like so (note: this assumes use of OS X Mountain Lion and Windows 7. Some things may be slightly different on other versions of OS X/Windows):

1. You will first need an empty drive. When you partition the drive, it will reformat it completely and erase everything, so you should make sure anything on the drive is backed up and/or ok to remove. You can't just use the empty space on an existing drive - though you can temporarily remove the things you need and put them back afterwards.

2. On the Mac, open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) and select the drive you want to use from the left pane. Make sure to select the actual drive (top level) and not the volume name. Click the Partition tab in the right hand pane.

3. In the Partition Layout dropdown, choose '3 partitions' (or 2, if you don't want the go-between drive like I have). In the layout overview below, drag each partition's bottom border to resize it to how you want it.

4. Click each partition and enter a name (if you want. You don't have to - it does make things easier to identify later on though. You can also rename the partitions whenever you like, so don't feel this needs to be done now), and adjust the size if you so wish. For the Format dropdown, you'll need 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' for the Time Machine partition (you can use the case-sensitive version if you like, I don't though), and 'MS-DOS (FAT)' for the others. You can also leave the Windows partition unformatted ('Free Space') if you prefer.

5. Click the Options button underneath the layout overview, and select 'Master Boot Record' (if it isn't already selected). If you don't do this, Windows will not be able to read your partitions, so make sure you don't skip this step!

6. When you're happy with everything, click Apply. It may take a little while for the drive to be formatted, but after that, you're done on the Mac side of things.

   Here's what my finished product looks like, for reference (click for larger):

   

7. Plug your drive into your PC. If you left the Windows partition unformatted, Windows might pop up at this stage and ask if you want to format it. If you didn't (or it doesn't pop up), right-click My Computer and choose Manage, then go to Disk Management in the left pane.

8. Find your drive in the top pane on the right, then right-click the Windows partition in the layout overview in the bottom pane and tell Windows to format it - you'll want to choose NTFS as the file system.

   You should then end up with something like this:

   

9. There you go, you're done! You can now set your backups up :)

When you plug the drive into your Mac, you'll get all 3 partitions showing up as separate drives. Macs will read an NTFS partition, but can't write to them; if you want to have something available for both Mac and PC to write to, you should use the FAT32 partition (if you added one). If you don't mind your Mac not being able to write, then by all means use the NTFS partition. Windows won't show the Mac partition as it can't read it, but the other two partitions will show.

Hope that's useful to you :)

It's not a new thing at all, but people are doing this over the phone too. A popular one that recently caught out a family member is that someone will call, ask for the householder by name, and proceed to tell them they are from Microsoft or 'Windows Support'. They may have the householder's email and/or home address (from where I have no idea; they may be using the local phone book or have the details sold onto them from other sources) and will gain the trust of the user by confirming these with them, proceeding then to tell the user their computer is infected by viruses and this must be fixed now or they will be fined/their computer will crash/other similar threats. Sounds like a classic scam, but due to the user being named it can catch people out - especially if they're computer illiterate.

The scam generally continues with some or all of the following:

1. The user is instructed to go to their computer, go to the Run command/Windows+R (which brings up the Run box) and type in "eventvwr" and/or some form of "prefetch unwanted"

2. The scammers tell the user that the entries listed in the resulting window are viruses and these must be cleaned.

   This is of course not true - "eventvwr" brings up the Windows Event Viewer and entries listed within this are events logged by Windows. Scammers may go further with this one and say that any items with a yellow warning triangle or red cross are malicious items, but they aren't - they're errors logged by Windows which for the most part are harmless. They are definitely not viruses.

   The "prefetch unwanted" command brings up the Windows prefetch cache, which is just that - a cache of programs which enables Windows to open them more quickly. Deleting these files won't remove a virus nor will it damage your computer.

3. After insisting that the files found are dangerous, the scammers will offer to 'fix' them and will ask for payment to do this. They might take users to a website or they will ask for card numbers over the phone. Common websites users are sent to include some variant of the words "tech support" in the URL.

4. What follows is an attempt to connect to the computer remotely. How this is done differs slightly per scam but in general they will direct users to a web page via the Run command and/or will ask them to install a program such as TeamViewer or LogMeIn. Installing those particular programs (the ones mentioned, that is - other programs may be more malicious) is not dangerous in itself - it's the part where the user hands over control that is, and the scammers will do this by asking the user to enter a code into the website or program. Control is then given over to the scammers - they can then see and use the computer as if it was their own.

5. Once the card payment has gone through (for far more than the user paid for, in most cases), the scammers will set about 'fixing' the computer, which generally involves downloading and installing lots of software onto the machine and possibly deleting anything they think is a virus (note: this could be anything - personal documents, essential Windows files, etc). They might tell users to leave the machine for a bit and during that time they'll snoop into their personal files - or they'll do it right in front of the user and claim it's part of the fixing process. It isn't - they're just looking for information they can steal.

6. Once all the software is installed, the user is told their computer is fixed and the call is ended. The installed software is, in most cases, harmless; it's just junk that doesn't do anything (or perhaps does do something, but not what it advertises - it may pop up a load of ads or redirect your browser to a dodgy search page, for example). However, some scammers have installed software which opens a backdoor to the computer and leaves it in their complete control and can use this to do far more damage. Rootkits and keyloggers can get installed and the computer can end up a so-called 'zombie' acting as part of a botnet.

Wonderful, eh?

Fixing all this once the user discovers they've been conned depends on quite how bad the damage is to the computer. Personally I'd recommend a full reformat - you never know what nasty little things were done during the 'fixing' process and what that seemingly harmless software might leave behind. It might still be 'calling home' in the background, sending personal details back to the scammers. Not really a nice thought. It also goes without saying that you should cancel all cards given out to these fraudsters and contact your bank telling them what happened. It's unlikely you'll get the money back, as you willingly gave the details out, but you should still contact them. Watch out for an increase in junk mail, email spam and/or similar phone scams as your details get passed around - don't fall for them again. If you can, get a credit check done to make sure no one is fraudulently using your details.

However, the best advice is not to be scammed in the first place. When random people call you up out of the blue, treat them as if they'd emailed you - would you blindingly trust any email that says it's from a certain sender? You shouldn't trust people on the phone that claim as such either. If they pretend to be from a reputable company, ask their name and ask for a reference number for the call, then call the company's main advertised number (NOT the number the person on the phone tells you to call, even if they say it's their private extension or similar) and quote the details. No such person/reference? You know that call wasn't genuine.

Think about it: would a major computer company such as Microsoft really care about individuals with viruses? And furthermore, if they did care, would they really task themselves with dealing with it? No, they wouldn't - they're a huge company with far better things to do. It's common sense; you cannot know a person is who they say they are even if you met them face to face, so how can you possibly know over the internet/phone? You can't, so don't give them the privilege of having your personal data. You don't know what they'll use it for - ID theft, selling it on, stealing from your bank account ... You name it.

Oh, and don't save things on your computer that will delight such fraudsters when they find them either - bank details in a Word document? Not a good idea. Really.

Let's take a fictional character and call them Joe Bloggs. Joe doesn't subscribe to all that fancy schmancy internet nonsense and has no clue what a 'Facespace' or a 'MyBook' is. He checks his email every now and then and might browse the web from time to time, but that's all he really does on the internet.

So imagine his surprise when he gets an email from some Facebook thing telling him he should sign up, because all his friends are on it. He'd dismiss it, only - it really is listing all his friends. How can Facebook know who his friends are? How does it know that Jane Bloggs is his sister and John Bloggs is his father? How does it know so much about him when he knows nothing about it?

The answer is that Facebook collects emails and search habits. You know that 'enter your email details to search your contact list for friends on Facebook' feature? Be careful with it. Facebook keeps all the addresses it finds and associates them with you. If you've got those email addresses in your contact list, they must be your friend, right? Repeat this for all the other members on Facebook who are doing the same thing and Facebook can build up a pretty good picture of who you are.

Facebook also allows you to list various family members on your profile, and if said member doesn't have a Facebook profile, it asks for their email address. Facebook then knows when someone invites you to Facebook that you're the brother of X and the father of Y and whatever else.

Facebook's privacy has come under fire recently and I'm not surprised - I admit to using the email search feature when I first joined Facebook and nowhere do I remember it saying it would collect all my contacts' email addresses and retain them in order to guilt-trip other people into joining. I had another look at it recently (without actually entering my details, of course) and I still didn't see it. Admittedly, I have not read their very long and very complicated privacy policy in some time so it is likely to be mentioned there.

Am I going to delete my Facebook profile after this? I'm not sure. It is a great way to keep in contact with people I haven't spoken to in years but if it's profiling me behind my back, I'm not sure I agree with that. Facebook are by far not the first or only company to do this, of course, but they are so far the most high-profile and media attention-worthy. With millions and millions of members, they can make some hefty $$$ from all this if they really wanted to (and there are rumours that they do want to. Imagine what advertisers could do with that data!). Then again, if I did delete my profile, Facebook never really deletes a profile in case you want to reactivate it. So they've got my info anyway, whether I gave it to them or not, and whether I want it there or not. Fun.

Scary stuff, if you ask me.

1. Remove your existing Safari installation. Drag /Applications/Safari.app to the Trash, and rename the ~/Library/Safari folder (where ~ is your home folder, e.g. /Users/your-username) to something else (you're essentially making a backup here). It is important that you empty the Trash after doing this, as I found my 'new' Safari copied itself to my Trash folder.
2. Rename ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist and ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.RSS.plist (if you have it - I didn't, but then I wasn't subscribed to any feeds) to something else (backups again - these files contain your bookmarks and RSS feeds so if you don't want to lose them, don't skip this step)
3. Edit /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Resources/Info.plist and replace all instances of the number 5530 with 5525. Please note: you may need to modify the file's permissions in order to be able to edit it. This can be done by right-clicking it, selecting Get Info, and modifying the permissions at the bottom - you need to give your username read and write access.
4. Download Safari 3.2.3 and install it (you will be asked to reboot afterwards)
5. Hey presto, you have Safari 3 again! Replace the files from step 2 (you may need to remove the new files created by Safari 3). Some people have said this doesn't seem to work for them, and if it doesn't for you or screws up your Safari, you might need to open the files and add your bookmarks back in manually... It seems there might be an inconsistency in the XML but I haven't looked into it in too much detail.

There you go, just thought I would share :P

Instructions for Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4)

Edit: I have been asked for instructions for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) - unfortunately, I don't have access to that version, but I'm told the instructions do work, except that the following modifications are to be made:

• In step 3, you will need to replace the number 4530 with 4525.
• In step 4, download Safari 3 for Tiger instead of the Leopard version linked.
• Please note that file locations (steps 1, 2 and 3) may be slightly different in Tiger.

One such example states:

PHPAskIt isn't completely secure, either. It uses a database so I woulda thought that was more INsecure than the flat file of Waks Ask & Answer script.

Another says:

PHPAskit is just as insecure [as Wak's Ask&Answer] only people think it's secure because it's not flat file.

And so on, and so forth.

For the record, there is no difference in security in using one method or another, as long as they are both done properly. Wak's Ask&Answer and CuteNews (flat file scripts) aren't. PHPFanBase and SimpleDir (MySQL scripts) aren't either. Jem's Bella~ series and FlatPress however, are flat file scripts and they are fine. Similarly, WordPress and PHPAskIt are MySQL scripts and they are absolutely fine.

Yes, it's true that hackers discover more and more vulnerabilities in scripts and programming languages all the time, so those scripts may not always be secure in their current versions so it is very important to keep your scripts up to date. But to say a script is insecure because of the method of storage that they use is stupid and shows complete ignorance. If you are going to say a script is insecure, don't just back it up with "well I looked it up online and it said it was insecure". People seem to like publishing fake reports of insecurities (probably where all this is coming from, actually... PHPAskIt had a nice security hoax published about it - and in case you're still living in the dark ages it was wrong) so "looking it up online" isn't always the answer.

If in doubt, ask someone who knows what they're talking about. :)

<?php
include('header.inc');
if(!$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) { ?>

Here are all my members!!!!
[Insert member list code here]

<? } include('footer.inc'); ?>

Can you spot what's wrong with that?

If you can't, here's the answer. Most fanlisting scripts use the query string (that's the bit that comes after a ? in a URL, such as country=USA in a URL like members.php?country=USA) to display members from different countries. The code there includes a line which says if (!$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) { which means "if there is no query string, do the following..." ... and the person has stuck their member code in the "do the following" bit (signified by the { and }). The members list WILL fail here, because it relies on the query string. If you tell the members to only show when there is no query string, it will break when you attempt to go to a country.

Now the reason this is happening so often is because it seems that people think "ooh I need a PHP page... How do I do that? Ah, NL-ConvertToPHP." This is wrong, people! All you need to have a "PHP page" is to give it a .php extension. If you want headers and footers (which NL-Convert uses as well), there are millions of tutorials on how to do this online. Don't assume that just because that script is called "ConvertToPHP" it is the be-all and end-all of how to make PHP pages.

Oh yeah, and I have internet again. Just in case anyone was wondering.

1. Before you do anything, backup your database. If you don't know how to do this, ask at the WP forums or Google it - there are some plugins that will do this for you if you don't have access to things like phpMyAdmin (a MySQL tool which can be used to backup your database - Jem has a tutorial on this which may be useful)

2. Paste this into a file. Name it anything you like, as long as it has a .php extension:

   <?php
$existing_username = 'admin';
$new_username = 'MY_NEW_USERNAME';

   // —————

   if (!file_exists('wp-config.php')) exit('Could not find wp-config.php, please make sure you place this file in the same directory as all your WP files.');

   require 'wp-config.php';

   $link = @mysqli_connect(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD);
if (!$link) exit('Could not connect to MySQL');
mysqli_select_db($link, DB_NAME) or exit('Could not connect to MySQL');

   if (mysqli_query($link, 'UPDATE `' . $table_prefix . "users` SET `user_login` = '" . mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $new_username) . "' WHERE `user_login` = '" . mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $existing_username) . "' LIMIT 1")) echo 'Username updated, your username is now ' . $new_username . '.';
else echo 'Could not update your username. MySQL said: ' . mysqli_error($link);

   mysqli_close($link);
?>

   Change the first two lines (excluding the one that says '<?php', obviously :P ) to your existing username (probably admin) and your new desired username. Save the file, then upload it to your WordPress directory. Make sure this file is in the same place as wp-config.php.

3. Go to the file in your browser, e.g. yoursite/wordpress/the-file.php and voilà! :D

Sooo. After successfully implementing Akismet into my CMS a while ago, I wondered whether I'd be able to do the same for Guestblock (the main site is kind of dead right now). Lo and behold, I have successfully done it.

If anyone is interested in the modification for their guestblocks, let me know. Please note that in order to use the Akismet anti-spam system you must have an account at Wordpress.com.

Woo!

Ok, I do have my Firefox settings set to ignore target="_blank", but why should I have to change my settings because of your site? I don't like being told how I'm going to go to a link. I want to choose for myself whether I am going to open a new window, a new tab, a new browser, or reuse the same page. I want links to follow what I've told my browser I want to happen. Usually, I reuse the same page. However, I never ever have more than one browser window open, and that is how I want it to stay, thank you very much. I can't stand cluttered desktops/taskbars where I don't know which window contains what. At least with tabs I can rename them and order them and whatever else (Firefox extensions FTW!1!).

This behaviour stems from the times of IE6 and other non-tabbed browsers, however is still being used today - people don't want visitors leaving their sites, so they force another browser window to open. On my old computer this was a nightmare - it couldn't cope with more than one instance of IE and opening another (by choice or otherwise) resulted in the whole thing crashing. Likewise, my current computer is getting slower and more dodgy every day, and opening an instance of Firefox/IE/anything takes it quite a while (yes, I have defragmented/taken off spyware/viruses/etc. It's just getting old). That's another reason I only have one FF window open, actually, heh. To those people (who don't want visitors leaving their sites) I say this: if your site is worth visiting, people will go back to it. You don't have to force them to stay on your site. In most cases, they will end up closing your site's window anyway.

So my point (I do have one, honest): please don't use target="_blank". It's not only inaccessible, but it's a nuisance to those of us such as myself (and it's not just me) who dislike our default settings being overridden. Let the user choose how to open links. Like I said, if your site is really worth staying on, people will stay on it. There is no need to force them to do so.