We first attempted a metric change to the wireless adapter to have higher priority, thinking that it would fall back to the wired interface for anything inaccessible by the wireless adapter (similar to a load balancer – of sorts). That didn’t work as I expected so we were back to square one.

The solution I am cooking up is an attempt to remedy that.

Windows computers have long been able to create static routes that define IP rules for traffic to be handled in a specific way. Thankfully you can also specify which adapter can take user specified routes out of the box.

First of all, we need to know some information about the interfaces available on your computer. To do that, open a command prompt (in administrator mode on Vista and Win7) and type “ipconfig /all”, press Enter and you should be presented with something similar to what’s below.

Take note of the IP address and Gateway of your Wireless Network Connection. In my case above, the Wireless IP is 192.168.100.100 and the Gateway is 192.168.100.1, whereas the Wired IP is 192.168.100.102 and has the same gateway. If your wireless connects to a different AP than what is on your wired network, you will probably be on a different gateway for each adapter.

Next, we need a bit of information from the current routing table. To see your current routing table, open a command prompt (in administrator mode on Vista and Win7) and type “route print”, press Enter and you should be presented with something similar to what’s below.

The first section printed out will be your Interface List. You need to take note of the Interface Number your intended forced traffic will be going over (in this case, the WLAN adapter is #10). You should also look below the Interface List to the IPv4 Route Table. Take note of the Gateway for your WLAN card. You’ll need to know what IP address your WLAN card is using to determine that information, which is why we looked that up previously.

Lastly, You’ll need to determine the IP addresses of the services you are trying to access. If it’s a DNS name, you can resolve it by pinging the canonical name. For demonstration purposes we’ll use the IP address and subnet of my ISP, Dalton Utilities. Their subnet is 205.144.208.0/20, or expanded for use in the command we’re going to use a host of 205.144.208.0 with a subnet mask of 255.255.240.0.

Now we can get into the actual static routing!

The information needed for the ROUTE command, is DESTINATION (use the host address), SUBNETMASK (255.255.255.255 if just a single IP address), GATEWAY (from the adapter you are using), METRIC (we’re not going to specify one), and INTERFACE (for our example, it’s “10″ from the WLAN adapter using the route print command above). We will also add a -p switch at the end to make this persistent (to add it to the Windows registry so it can be enabled on a restart).

The command we will be executing for our example follows:

route add 205.144.208.0 mask 255.255.240.0 192.168.100.1 if 10 -p

Type “route print” again to verify the route is in the list under persistent routes, and begin utilizing your new static route over your secondary interface!

How are you using this information? Tell me below.

In my example, the USB Installer is on Drive D:\, and the operating system is installed  to the desired Drive C:\.

Step 1 — Open a command prompt with administrative privileges. To do so, open the Start Menu, and type “CMD” in the search prompt. Right-Click on the resulting program and “Run as Administrator”. This will invoke UAC as configured.

Step 2 — In the command prompt, type the following command:

bcdboot C:\Windows /s C:

Step 3 — Open up Disk Manager. To do so, right click on the “Computer” hotlink in the start menu (or your “My Computer” if you’ve added it to the desktop) and select “Manage”. Again, this will invoke UAC as configured. On the Explorer Window you are presented with, the left pane will contain Disk Manager. Click it once to open it to the main pane.

Step 4 — Mark the C:\ Partition as Active by right clicking on the graphical map and selecting “Mark Partition as Active..” from the context menu.

Step 5 — Unmount the USB drive (Eject first), and reboot. All Done!

Step 1 – Collect the iso images.

Step 2 – Install Virtual Drive that can read .iso images. I use VirtualCloneDrive from Elaborate Bytes. Freeware that works well. I’ve also used Daemon Tools in the past.

Step 3 – Partition and format your hard drive. Partition an 8GB section of the hard drive you’re planning to use and format it with the FAT32 file system.

Step 4 – Mount the ISO and copy the files to the newly created partition using XCOPY

xcopy [SOURCE]:\* [DESTINATION]:\* /e

Step 5 – Mark the partition as active. Right click on your Computer and select “Manage”. Go to Disk Management, right click on your new partition, select “Mark Partition as Active”.

Step 6 – Reboot and select your USB Hard Drive as your boot device. All BIOSes are different so the process is not documented here.

You will need to follow up with my next post to complete the whole process and be able to disconnect your hard drive.

That was the problem I ran into with one of my community sites. I was getting daily notifications of “new users” most of which were obvious combinations of a first-name/last-name dictionary attack, using out-of-country email addresses or free domain email addresses that require no invite, from IP addresses of non-community origin. I needed to remove the annoyance of these persistent email notifications. The solution was to eliminate access to the site from outside my community.

Step one was determining IP addresses. For my situation, I wanted to limit access to the entire United States. I did some searching and found a US zone file at IPdeny.com. Here is a listing of all countries they have zone files for. Step two was formatting the zone information such that it could be parsed through an Apache .htaccess file. I copied the zone information into a text document (using Notepad++), added the Limit clause to the top with the order clause below it, and set up a macro to add the allow from before each IP address on every line. After a portion of time, my macro completed and I added a deny from all line, and closed the Limit tag.

The result looked like this:

<Limit GET HEAD POST>
order deny,allow
allow from 3.0.0.0/8
allow from 4.0.0.0/8
…
allow from 216.255.192.0/19
allow from 216.255.240.0/20
deny from all
</LIMIT>

At that point it was just a matter of saving the document out to my .htaccess file and testing. To do so, I searched the document for my IP block and commented it out with a ‘#’. I got a 403 Forbidden page, so I uncommented my IP block and tried again. PRESTO! Works like a charm.

A couple of other things you may want to do would include blocking a single country (instead of allowing a single country like I did) or to allow additional IPs through, in the case of someone unable to access using the list you obtained. To block a single country, you would change the “allow from” statements to “deny from” statements and use the IP addresses from that specific country. Some people would only like to block the most notorious countries (Nigeria, for example). In order to add a single IP address you create a new line, and put the IP address with a /32 on the end. You can add as many “allow from” or “deny from” IPs to this list as you desire.

So to start out, let me say that the reason the process took so long is because I’ve spent a lot of time waiting for items to go on sale. By doing so, I have saved over $175 on the original price as specified by rebates and coupons. Sometimes I managed to combine coupons or “check out codes” with rebates for significant savings. Any savings leave room for upgrades and improvements without a lot of loss to the original budget. Budgeting your computer build is just as important to sticking to it.

In the list below I’ll show you the computer part, make and model, original price (at the time of purchase, including shipping), sale price after any coupons or discounts (also including any shipping), any rebates available, and savings. I’ll also put a link to the online storefront of my place of purchase on the make and model of the computer part, so you can read the details of each part and view the item itself.

• Case – Thermaltake V9 Black – Original Price $138.98 – Price paid $89.99 (-additional $20 Rebate) – Savings of $68.99
• Motherboard – Asus Sabertooth X58 – Original Price $199.99 – Price paid $179.99 – Savings of $20
• CPU Cooler – Corsair H70 – Original Price $109.99 – Price paid $96.29 – Savings of $13.70
• Hard Drive – Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB 10000RPM – Original Price $279.99 – Price paid $249.99 – Savings of $30
• Video Cards – Zotac GTX 460 1GB – Original Price $407.72 – Price paid $387.73 (-additional $40 Rebate) – Savings of $60
• Power Supply – Corsair AX850 850w Certified Gold – Original Price $211.29 – Price paid $191.29 (-additional $10 Rebate) – Savings of $30
• RAM – Corsair XMS 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 2000 – Price paid $314.24
• CPU – Intel i7 950 3.06Ghz Quad-Core with HyperThreading – Original Price $294.99 – Price paid $243.79 – Savings of $51.20

Total savings came in at $273.89 after rebates (I’m still waiting on Zotac and Corsair to send me theirs). It’s worth noting that Corsair and Thermaltake send rebate debit cards, a move in the rebate field I’m not terribly fond of. Zotac, I think, sends a check.

I’ll delve into my individual notes for each of the parts now, with particular care as to why I chose an item. You’ll find that price (with comparable features), and length of warranty play a very large role in my choice of parts. I’m also a very brand-loyal customer. A lot of these manufacturers have a lot of credibility with me and I tend to not stray from a brand that’s done me right in the past.

First things first in building a computer is to choose a CPU platform, and CPU series. I knew I wanted to go Intel this time from a longevity point of view. I have had AMD since I started building and the platform just didn’t seem to last as long as the Intel platforms some of my friends have kept. Therefore, my platform and series was going to be the Intel i7. At first I was watching the 980X with hopes that it would come down in price pretty drastically over time, however the 6-core just wasn’t budging from the nearly $1k price tag. Then I shifted my focus to the easily overclockable i7 920, a lot of power could be squeezed out of that 4-core wonder. I started comparing prices and looking at the i7 950 after reading some forums and noticing it was showing up as a “well what about this?” question. The higher core multiplier made it a better choice for me being a newbie at overclocking, and after seeing it priced WAAY below market at MicroCenter (local pickup only) I chose that route. I’ve managed to keep it at a stable overclock of 4.03Ghz! More to come on the overclocking process in a later post.

On the case, my choice was pretty much the fact that I’m brand-loyal to Thermaltake. However, I knew I didn’t want any side-windows or doors on this case. I also wanted large fans (greater than 120mm). My last cases were windowed and doored and I’m totally over that. The nearly 50% off in discounts and rebates lead me to the Thermaltake V9 Black. Overall I’m pleased with it, but some of the “quick-install” parts were pretty shabby and I ended up removing them altogether. I also had to remove the large 230mm fan from the side panel to make room for the H70. I would like to note that Thermaltake warrants 3-years on their cases from the date of purchase.

In choosing the motherboard I was eying the Rampage III X58 boards from Asus for awhile, with closer attention paid to the Rampage III Gene and Rampage III Formula. At some point in my periodic checks for reduced prices I saw an advertisement for the “newly available Sabertooth X58″. Asus has a 5-year warranty on the Sabertooth X58 board, due to it being part of the “TUF Series”, with comparable features to the Rampage III boards and lower price this was a board I had to do a double-take on. I’m glad I got it. My only qualms are with the fact that the PCI-e x16 slots are very close together, and cause my top video card to be starved for air. This could become a problem in high-demand video processing situations.

Next up was the choice of Video Cards. I knew I wanted something relatively powerful, but in sticking to my policy of not paying much more than $200 per video card ($400 for SLI) the options I was left with were limited. Thankfully some articles solidified my price point as valid, and I found that nVidia’s GTX 460s were turning heads in the terms of price-per-performance as well as overclockability. See this article for how a GTX 460 SLI setup can take on a Radeon 5970 head to head. The results are astounding considering the prices of a Radeon 5970. I had recently advised of purchasing an ION platform for my parents and for that we went with Zotac products. I had also been running my own ION platform pretty hard until building this machine and it was also a Zotac product. The Zotac GTX 460 1GB was reviewed on a few different occasions and heat and noise were the concerns most reviewers had. Seeing that Zotac puts a lifetime warranty on their cards (if you register within 30 days of purchase) and the rebates and discounts at Newegg for the cards I figured this was a winner. I must say, I am blown away at the performance of these cards. I’ve got them overclocked to the Zotac GTX 460 AMP! levels with ease. Cooling is a concern, but I listed that up with the motherboard notes.

For me, choosing a CPU cooler is an exercise in patience, understanding, and a lot of reading. I began to pay careful attention to what overclockers were using as their cooling for the i7 series when I was looking for a CPU. There were a few that were using traditional heatsink + fan air cooling, but most were using some form of water cooling. I wasn’t very confident in my abilities to drop lots of money on something I’m new at, so when I saw the all-inclusive water-cooled loop of Corsair’s H50 and H70 I was intrigued. After reading the Corsair H70 reviews on HardOCP I was pretty much sold. Here’s one comparing the H50 to the H70 and here’s one more focused on the H70 with a couple other premium coolers as comparisons.

Quality of power is a major concern when you start overclocking, and for the longest time this was a part I felt I could skimp on. It wasn’t until my last computer that I put a bit more effort into finding a high quality power supply and after doing so I was pleased with the noticable lack of “blue-screening” I ran into. This round was going to be no different. Leaps and bounds had been put into the power supply industry since 5 years ago and efficiency has, thankfully, become a driving point in creating a quality power supply. After estimating my power consumption based on Video Cards, CPU, and estimated Motherboard/Chipset, I had determined that my minimum power requirement was going to be 750 watts. After browsing Newegg I had come up with a few options. After reading reviews of the 80 Plus Gold Certified 750w power supplies I was able to find that my goal was the Seasonic X750. I kept a close eye on it, and was ready to offer a HardOCP forum member $100 for the one he was trying to sell. By the time my message got to him his sales offer was already expired and he recommended I take a look at the Corsair AX850. After a bit of research, I added it to my watch list as the prices were close to the Seasonic X750, and the AX850 is actually a Seasonic in Corsair clothing. Sure enough, before I was able to settle into the idea Newegg had a Power Supply sale. I ended up buying the AX850 with the sale as much as I would have paid for the X750 without – and had extra headroom for the overclocking I was planning to do.

RAM was an internal debate for the longest time with me. I watched the Corsair Dominator PC1600 6GB kit (3x2GB), and thought about buying two of them. I watched a similar kit that was 12GB for 6x3GB modules at PC1600. I looked at my motherboard’s Qualified Vendor List, and picked a 6GB set out of that. I even looked at Finally I just looked for a $300 price point kit with seemingly easy overclockability and I found my 12GB PC2000 kit. It would give me more certified headroom for my CPU overclocking and that’s why I chose it. I never looked at other brands because I’ve been Corsair loyal for over 8 years regarding RAM. The lifetime limited warranty was a fine selling point in the past, and never having to take them up on it was a selling point here in the present and hopefully will continue to be in the future.

Choosing my Hard Drive was easy. I knew I wanted a VelociRaptor. Western Digital is the only brand that makes 10000 RPM consumer targeted hard drives, and the 600GB was at a price I was willing to pay. I may even add another in the future, but that will be after an SSD purchase to eliminate boot times and program loads. I use the 600GB VelociRaptor as my Games and Storage drive (and as a way to verify my SATA3 6Gbps link).

Well, there you have it folks. A long and dirty rundown of my parts and choices. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for an update that will give you a bit of insight as to my overclocking process and results.

After some searching across the web I found that there wasn’t a very good write up on the step by step procedure to enable a TFTP daemon on Ubuntu (my choice for linux servers). I had actually messed around with the tftpd package, but in the little bit I was able to find I determined I wanted to use the ‘atftp’ and ‘atftpd’ packages available in Ubuntu’s universe repositories due to more adoption in instructions that were available. In what I’ve been able to determine, both the server daemon (atftpd) and the client program (atftp) are necessary on the server (computer). The reasoning, as best as I’ve been able to determine, is that the server (daemon) only makes the files available. The client (program) does all of the “work” in negotiating connections between each other, so a client (program) is necessary on both the server (computer) and the client (computer). I hope that made sense.

So that you have a baseline of expectations, I’ll be open with the specs and configuration of the server I’m using:

• Ubuntu Server 10.4 Lucid Lynx x86 (32 bit)
• Dual 1.4Ghz Pentium3 CPUs
• 512MB RAM
• Running as Guest OS on VMWare ESXi 3.5 Update5

Now, let’s get atftpd installed.

1. Get Root.

   sudo -i

2. Install atftpd.

   apt-get install atftpd

3. Edit atftpd’s configuration.

   pico -w /etc/default/atftpd

   change “USE_INETD=true” to “USE_INETD=false”

   ctrl+x, enter, y

4. Start atftpd.

   invoke-rc.d atftpd start

5. Add the tftp directory.

   cd /srv

   mkdir tftp

   chmod 777 tftp

   chown nobody:nogroup tftp

6. Restart atftpd.

   /etc/init.d/atftpd restart

7. Install the client (program).

   apt-get install atftp

8. Done!

At this point, use your favorite SCP client (program) to upload any firmware files to the /srv/tftp folder. Once it is uploaded, point the tftp location in your firmware update process to your newly deployed tftpd server. Easy enough!

Thanks for visiting, if you have any questions feel free to comment below and I’ll do my best to reply and help you out.

If you run into this same issue with a memory error and the following error in the server console window:

workthreadpool.cpp (296) : Assertion Failed:CWorkThreadPool::StopWorkThreads: Some threads required forcible termination.

The fix is to update your cfg/mani_admin_plugin/gametypes.txt with the one generated here at the Mani Admin Plugin’s site.

It took me a bit to find this fix, so hopefully the search engines were nice to you and directed you here.

1. sudo -i
2. apt-get update
3. apt-get upgrade
4. apt-get install build-essential binutils linux-headers-$(uname -r)
5. mount /dev/scd0 /cdrom
6. cp -a /cdrom/VMwareTools* /tmp/
7. cd /tmp/
8. tar -vxzf VMwareTools*.gz
9. cd vmware-tools-distrib/
10. ./vmware-install.pl

CD-ROM mount point may vary. Accept all defaults for vmware-install perl script.

This post won’t outline how to use Synergy, but rather just how to take care of the little things that will keep it from being a good experience on Windows Vista/7. I’m writing the rest of this post for those that are already familiar with Synergy, and instructions are targeted at Windows 7 Professional users.

Anyways, I was running into problems with my Synergy client on my home-office setup. I have a laptop docked with a second monitor for my office computer (operating as the Synergy client), and then a single monitor rig in portrait-orientation for my home computer (operating as the Synergy server). I use Display Fusion, which runs as an administrator-level service on my desktop, and I use the multi-monitor taskbar available on the paid version of the software. I was unable to use the Synerg-ized mouse to select a window on that Display Fusion taskbar, and considering that was my 24” monitor where a lot of my work takes place it would be a huge problem if the laptop didn’t have a keyboard. On top of that, every time the client computer would prompt for UAC approval for various things, I would lose the ability to use my G5 mouse and G15 keyboard on my office laptop.

I knew you could auto-elevate privileges, but just hadn’t taken the time to do it. Let’s get that out of the way, as that’s the first thing I noticed in the problems I was having.

Step 1. Open secpol.msc

Step 2. Set UAC Behavior for Administrators to ‘Elevate without prompting’

Next up is configuring Synergy to run as Administrator. I want to note that this was my initial guess as to why it wasn’t allowing me to Auto-start on computer start, however even after forcing it to run as Administrator and installing the Auto-start service, it still wasn’t working. I found out this is due to the way the System user interacts (or rather doesn’t) with the user’s desktop.

Step 3. Run Synergy as Administrator.

Right click on the shortcut for Synergy, and click the Advanced… button. Check the “Run as administrator” box.

Step 4. Auto-start Synergy on Log-in

Step 5. Start Synergy!

Follow these steps on both the server and client if they’re both Windows 7 machines, it’s just that simple.

So, for starters, lets take a look at what your normal car kit should have:

1. Basic First Aid Kit (for minor cuts, scrapes, burns)
   • Ideally, this is just for the little stuff you will inflict upon yourself from being clumsy working under the hood.
   • You might also want to add some kind of hand-sanitizer or cleaner.
   • Put this in a gallon sized ziploc bag.
2. Flashlight (extra batteries are always a good idea)
   • I’d have to say the 2x AA MagLites are perfect for this kit, though, if you want something smaller there’s a MagLite “Solitare” that uses 1x AAA battery.
   • I carry a 2x D-cell MagLite in my vehicle at all times, with an extra pair of batteries in the glove compartment. It’s size and weight has made it useful as a makeshift hammer to be used on my starter solenoid when the vehicle wouldn’t crank, such that I got it working so I could roll into the mechanic.
   • Add the small flashlight to your glove compartment. If you keep a larger flashlight I’d recommend keeping it up beside you, or under you at the driver’s seat.
3. Jumper Cables
   • You always need them when you don’t have them, and someone else usually needs them when you have them. You might as well keep them so at a minimum you can do your good turn of the day.
   • Put these inside the Action Packer.
4. Duct Tape
   • Do I really need to explain the usefulness of even a partial roll of this stuff? If so, go watch some MacGuyver.
   • Put it inside your Action Packer.
5. Simple Hand Tools
   • At the very minimum you should carry a pair of Screwdrivers (Phillips and Flat) and some Channel-Lock Adjustable Pliers. The utility in these alone coupled with a pocketknife and duct tape can get you a few extra miles down the road. If you know what problems your vehicle is more likely to have, and you’ll need other tools be sure to add them.
   • Put these inside a toolbox (if you carry many tools), or the Action Packer.
6. Pocketknife
   • It’s the Eagle Scout in me, but see my notes for Duct Tape.
   • Put this in your glove compartment.
7. Water
   • Water serves a dual purpose when kept in a vehicle: To keep yourself hydrated, or to keep the vehicle cool (in case of low fluids). I highly recommend keeping at least 2 liters of water with you (3-4 water bottles).
   • Put this in your Action Packer.
8. Misc. Automotive Fluids
   • I usually carry Oil, premix anti-freeze, and a funnel.
   • It’s a good idea to toss a couple automotive paper towels, or a scrap piece of an old shirt for spills.
   • If you can fit these in a ziploc inside the action packer, I highly recommend it in case of a leak or spill.

The above items tend to get you through most of what you’ll need if your car breaks down. In most cases you’ll be able to get help relatively easy, or it should be close by. But when the winter weather hits, you may not be able to get help for a good number of hours, and it is most important that you can stay warm.

Here are my tips for what to add to the trunk for winter weather:

1. Blanket
   • Indispensable when needed to stay warm, and nice to have for long car rides for any passengers that wish to rest.
2. Light Snack
   • Make sure it’s something that won’t melt if it gets too hot, but that will provide some calories. It is important that your body is able to generate enough heat to keep you warm underneath the blanket. Don’t gorge yourself on super-sweets, you don’t want to get sick. Trail Mix is typically a good bet.
3. Hand Warmers
   • Only necessary when you’re stuck for longer periods of time, but very helpful to restore body heat when the blanket just isn’t cutting it.
4. Ice Scraper
   • If you have adequate insulation, the energy you put into scraping ice off of your car will keep you warm. It also allows you to keep an eye out for any assistance that may come your way. Try not to get wet though, it’s counter-productive in staying warm.
5. Large bag of Cat Litter
   • Another dual-purpose item. This is most important for those of you with lightweight two-wheel drive vehicles. It adds weight for traction, and if you open the bag you can put it on the ground underneath your tires for added traction when the weight alone isn’t enough. Just keep in mind that “gunning” the gas isn’t going to help you: stay in a low gear and apply steady pressure to the accelerator pedal.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to know how and when to use these items. Knowing how your vehicle works and what your body needs to stay warm will save you a lot of stress if you ever encounter a situation where you need these tools. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comments section below. I’ll be happy to address them.

A note on the links I supply on my blog: I am not paid by CampMor or Amazon or any other site, I simply link to those sites because I trust their products and personally use them. Though, if they wished to sponsor some Ad Space on my site, I would certainly accept an offer