Sometimes, you can’t really blame your ISP or router for the unstable internet connection. Look at the graph I got from running inSSIDer. There are about 20 radios in the area spreading throughout the channels. You can run a scan and study which channel others are using, and try to stay off of the same channel as others. In this case, I really feel bad for the people on channel 6.

I don’t think I’m the only person with this problem. I connect my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard with the Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Mini-card on my Dell Studio XPS 1645. The connection will drop every few minutes. It’s a pain in the neck to have to restart the input devices [sometimes the whole PC] to restore the connection. I’ve finally figured out the simple fix, which is disabling the power saving setting under device manager.

Feels great to get back with my Bluetooth mouse comparing to the standard 2.4GHz wireless. Especially the part where you don’t need to plugin a wireless receiver.

Today, in terrifying things about the world: Iraqi militants have been able to intercept video feeds from Predator surveillance drones with a simple Windows app. To rephrase, an iconic symbol of American military superiority can be foiled by, oh, anyone.

The software, as far as I can tell, is a simple data-leeching utility. With a satellite dish and a few parameters (Packet IDs and transponder codes, which you can evidently scan for) you can tap into downstream data feeds, and essentially recording whatever data is transmitted to (specific) other users on a satellite network. How the insurgents got the proper parameters for predator drone, I have no idea—but apparently it's not that hard. Says a senior defense official:

There did appear to be a vulnerability. There’s been no harm done to troops or missions compromised as a result of it, but there’s an issue that we can take care of and we’re doing so.

If twelve-year-olds can encrypt their torrent downloads, I think it's a reasonably fair expectation for the US military to be able to encrypt mission-critical data transmissions, the insecurity of which could kill people. (Or, alternatively, the security of which ensures that that we can kill people. Someone's got to die, right? Right? Right.)

via Iraqi Militants Hack $4.5m Predator Drones With $26 Windows Shareware – Skygrabber – Gizmodo.

Windows only: If you want a little extra eye-candy in your Windows management, T3Desk is an alt-tab alternative that gives you 3D windows arrangement and more.

T3Desk works on all versions of Windows but it really shines in Vista and above where it can take advantage of Aero. After installing T3Desk you can use keyboard shortcuts to minimize and maximize windows to the edges of your monitor, arranging them in a pseudo-3D fashion. T3Desk can be tweaked in a variety of ways including how the windows are angled, animated, their level of transparency, the apparent distance from the viewer, and how they transition from the virtual desktop back into use.

You can drag windows and dock them to the four sides of the monitor, use Aero Peek to see which windows are on the virtual desktop, and set an always include/exclude list for applications to easily exclude applications from the effects of T3Desk.

via T3Desk Brings 3D Eye-Candy to Your Windows Desktop – Window Management – Lifehacker.

I got a new laptop from Dell. The Studio XPS 1645 featuring a powerful Core i7 processor with 4GB of DDR3 1333. Of course, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate that I received from the previous Microsoft event. Everything look and runs sweet. It came with a 9 Cell battery that last about 3 hours (Big screen, and that Quad-Core processor), I also picked up a 6 cell because I don’t need the bulkiness while using it at home.

Now I hope the price for SSD drives will drop soon…

I rec’d a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate by attending the “New Efficiency” conference last week. I’m planning to install it on my new laptop. As much as I love to have it’s 64bit version, the one I got is 32bit. I’m gonna wait till someone releases the 64bit ISO and activate it with my key.

Microsoft did a great job on this release, it is the best version of Windows I’ve ever used. During the conference, I’ve learned a lot of new features, though they have to be implemented on the Server 2008 and IPV6 architecture. A lot of works to be done in the coming years for the IT team!

When a user connects to Windows XP desktops through Terminal Service {RDP, Citrix Xen}. By default, they are able to disconnect from the desktop. By disconnect, the terminal session remains open on the terminal host. This issue is driving me nuts at work, because when users try to connect again, Xen DDC doesn’t seem to deliver their last (opened) session. Instead, it trys to give them a new one.

It makes me want to cry, because we’ve specifically told users to log off instead of disconnect.

Sure, there are a few group policies you can modify to kill disconnected sessions. But I want to let users know, I don’t want them to disconnect! Period…

Disable the Disconnect button should do it, this policy is under Administrative Template > Windows Component > Terminal Services. It can be applied in the Group Policy on the VHD itself, or through the GPO on your domain controller. Enough said… I hate id10t users.