Alternative to HideMyAss

Following on from my previous blog post about HideMyAss VPN I have also been testing another subscription based service which allows Australian devices to access region restricted content such as Netflix and Hulu.

This happens in Australia

It is called unblock-us it calls itself a VPN however it doesn't behave like a standard VPN. When you sign up for the unblock-us service you are given a username and password and a DNS address to put in the network settings for your device (usually within a home network DNS is obtained automatically by the router from the ISP). When you log into the unblock-us website with a username and password the system must add your WAN IP to the allowed IP's on the DNS server.

So these two steps give you access same as if you were on a standard VPN and you can access content region restricted from the US.

Why use unblock-us instead of HideMyAss?

• Speed.
• Can be set up on any device which allows DNS settings to be configured. So devices without a VPN client, like a Nintendo 3DS, PS3, Xbox360, Wii etc can be used with it happily.

When you use a service like HideMyAss the speed is slowed depending on the VPN server you connect to, with unblock-us you 'should' be able to maintain your internet connection speed without seeing a significant loss in speeds.

Why use HideMyAss instead of unblock-us?

• Seeing as though unblock-us is not a standard VPN I would be hesitant to direct people to unblock-us if they are concerned with protecting their internet traffic. Your ISP can still see the information sent through to the DNS server at unblock-us's end so HMA is much better in this regard as traffic is protected at all points.
• If you want to be able to connect multiple devices to access region restricted content then I would be leaning towards HMA and configure as discussed. Unblock-us does not allow multiple simultaneous device connections on the one unblock-us subscription. For example if you had two iPad's wanting to access Netflix at the same time then you would need two unblock-us subscriptions.
• Flexibility, since HMA is a standard VPN there are ways you can use other hardware in order to segment and extend you VPN subscription in your home or work network as discussed last time. Lots of devices and appliances support VPN connections out of the box.

SSD cannot be detected

I have been a huge advocate of Solid State Drives (SSD), for my clients and my own computers I have been quick to jump on the bandwagon of putting an SSD in every computer I can.

OCZ SSD

Since they started being affordable back in 2010 - 2011 I have since upgraded multiple clients to these blistering fast components, as a way to ensure no bottlenecks in new computers and a way of resuscitating old ones. However, out of the multitude of installs performed I have had a few of these components fail usually after a restart of the computer or on boot.

Hopefully you do not see this as much as I have

If you see the error message above or similar and your computer has an SSD as the primary drive, your computer is pretty much screwed. The drive is probably not visible in BIOS, and if you manage to take the drive out and into another computer to double check, you will probably see the drive but it contains no data and is essentially inaccessible. So start digging around for the receipt or proof of purchase to check if it is warranty.

I have mainly been using OCZ, Patriot and Kingston SSD's and have had failures across all brands, I would assume the more expensive Intel produced SSD's will be of higher quality, but it is something to be wary of, in my experience a standard mechanical hard drive purchased today will be more reliable then a low to med quality SSD. In saying that SSD's definitely have their place, if you are going to use in an office environment where no user content is stored on the SSD then happy days, but I would not be storing family photos on one until I am convinced they have become as reliable as the mechanical brethren.

DD-WRT and Linksys E2000 awesomeness

Having recently found out the many benefits a VPN service provider adds to my internet connection I have  signed up with a Pro VPN account from HideMyAss. Mainly for protecting my internet connection from potential snoops but has the added benefit of accessing content that could be IP region locked.

One of the main services I and many others want to access is Netflix, and this and other video services Hulu are not available services in Australia at this time.

Region locking on US based services is all too familar for Australian internet users.

With a VPN service like HideMyAss (HMA) you can simply connect to a server in the US and then services such as Netflix see your connection as a US connection so you can access the service just like you are in the US. Now when you sign up HMA they give you access to the HMA software which will create a connection for your Windows, Mac or Linux box. This software works great and has heaps of configurable options, but what if you want to connect a device through this VPN that does not have a VPN client configuration available. For example a PS3 or Nintendo 3DS.

This is where DD-WRT steps in, its essentially a custom firmware that is supported on a handful of routers which will allow your router to maintain the connection to HMA and share the secure VPN connection to any device on your network.

Cisco Linksys E2000

There are multiple routers which are supported by DD-WRT so I picked one and ordered the Linksys E2000 and attempted to set it up with DD-WRT. The setup was so simple, as the process was detailed on the DD-WRT Wiki including links to the latest firmware. The guys at DD-WRT really value documentation and have lots of information about the supported routers and how to install.

After downloading the firmware you just login to the standard E2000 interface then upgrade the firmware as you normally would. After that upon reboot of the router you will be running DD-WRT. This interface now gives you a plethora of options along with the ability to create the PPTP connection to a HMA VPN server with your HMA username and the PPTP password from HMA.

Since DD-WRT is a standard across routers that support it you can follow the guide to get it up and running. Once you have done it now all you have to do is hook up the PS3 to your new wireless router and your PS3 will think its in the US, so that means secured internet and access to Netflix. Not to mention a lot more control over your Linksys E2000 router.

Nice DD-WRT, nice work.

Exchange vs Cloud and why SMB should care.

Back again, been a long time since I had anything useful to share but having recently done yet another Exchange to Google Apps migration I thought I should update people as to just how easy this process has become.

I have inherited a client with 10 users they have an exchange server running Windows Server 2003, it's unreliable crashes constantly and basically causes havoc with the users. Its the gateway and manages DNS and DHCP so if it goes down, internet, email, file sharing stop. The business grinds to a halt and people get upset as they cannot do anything at this stage.

They were sitting on the option to upgrade everything (the server was quite old) which would mean, new server estimated around $4000 new licenses for the server and the cal's for the other computers on the network. Not to mention the setup and ongoing maintenance. A cloud solution with Google Apps is a fraction of that cost. Before I got involved they were going to head down this road but after I met with my new client I explained the cloud and how cost beneficial it can be (not just in the initial setup but the ongoing cost's as little to no maintenance is required).

People love what they are used to Google allows a user to stay in this world.

Keen to go ahead the only concern was that the change might interrupt the current obsession that most of the staff have with outlook. Google to the rescue, they have thought of this and have the almost perfect solution Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook. My client was not convinced everything will look the same as it does currently, so I showed them on my laptop I linked to my Google Apps account and all was proven. The only thing that was missing was the lack of public folders my client was using public folders for a sort of global contact list but I found a solution for that too by using Apptivo Contacts Sharing for free they were able to sync all their existing contacts and this would then sync across to all users.

So my client went ahead with the solution, migration was smooth, only thing is it takes a long long time to upload the content onto Google's servers, I used the Google Apps Migration Tool for exchange on the server. Now my client doesn't have to worry about the exchange server going down and disrupting his whole workplace. The issue now is making sure the internet connection is 100% stable and maybe even setting up a backup.

I could see how this can be a massive headache migrating a larger user set to the cloud in this manner, but for  an small to medium business without internal IT support this just makes so much more sense then having a self hosted mail solution.

D-Link Print Server DPR-2000 - Windows 7 Printer Not Responding

I have a client who is running a HP 4250 Laserjet, with no network in the printer, this is the non 'N' version from HP. The printer runs fine when plugged into the USB port through Windows 7 and all is great. Client wanted to share the printer but not be reliant on a computer having to be on to be able to send print jobs.

The D-Link DPR-2000, slow print.

I thought I would try out a D-Link print server DPR-2000 to do the job, this way all users on the network can access when the computer isn't on, and this device will serve the print jobs.

After installing the device (not hard, one plug into the USB and other into network) and setting it up getting the users printing, over the coming days users noticed the computer being very slow, and printing was taking ages. I sort of didn't believe them as I was using a couple of computers and everything was running quick for me. That is until you click on the print button, the Windows print screen screen would take about 30 seconds to a minute to come up and the program in the background would usually say 'Not Responding' and grey out like its going to crash.

You will be waiting for this screen a lot with the DPR-2000

Puzzled I tried to search for answers thinking that this was a network issue with the computers, I had AVG running so I tried opening up IP ranges, turning off the firewall completely and nothing. I also had a look for firmware updates for the DPR-2000 of which I found none. Last resort was to remove the print server all together and use Windows to share the printer. Now there are no speed issues or anything no, 'Not Responding' errors etc.

So you buy a device to do one thing and it can't do it as well as Windows built in print serving, poor form D-Link. I will refrain from purchasing your products in future.

PC turns on sometimes, others no chance.

I had a client give let me look at their old computer which would not switch back on following a hard unexpected shutdown. Where clients monitor was still on saying 'No signal detected'. The client then tried to turn the computer back on with no success, nothing at all, no sound of the computer attempting to boot, seemingly no power.

The computer is around 4-5 years old so first thought was the motherboard or power supply. Upon receiving the computer I attempted to start it up, and it did, got into Windows Vista (yuck!) and then I was able to use as normal.

So quickly I copied all the content from the PC to a USB drive just in case this was a fluke. Turns out it was a fluke, as I tried to shutdown and then turn the PC on again I witnessed what the client described, no power, no lights.

Since at this stage I was thinking definitely power supply and motherboard and that it could cost a bit to replace if its a motherboard that has become faulty, the client decided not to proceed with diagnostics and that they would buy a new PC, the most important part was the data is recovered. Fair enough, so I gave the  PC back and everyone was happy.

Seeing as though the client had the computer originally built by a friend who knows hardware, the client took the computer back to their friend to get a second opinion. Long story short the friend apparently found what the issue was, the CMOS battery had died or become faulty. Usually when this happens I find the BIOS tells you that the battery is low or CMOS memory mismatch etc, this computer no signs.

Standard CMOS Battery

Replacement of the battery is cheap, so just another thing I can check in the future when diagnosing faulty hardware next time.

Overheating Acer 5741 series

Looked at a random switching off issue on an Acer 5741 Laptop the other day. Clients main use of the computer is as a media center and was saying that is would randomly shut down when it had been on for a while. 

This was actually the second Acer machine I looked at as I had another client with a similar problem in an All in One (Z5610( which turned out to be a heat issue, so for this case that's where I headed first.

The laptop has an intel i3 inside and and Nvidia GT320 so I suspect one of these to be the culprit, I set out trying to replicate the issue and get the laptop to shutdown. So let the torture begin, I used Prime95 for CPU stressing and FurMark to test the video card. Both are free and push your components to the limit. I first ran each test independently and the CPU was close to max hovering around 70 degrees under stress, video card was at around 75 - 80 degrees. So for a laptop I thought these were fairly high.

I couldn't get the laptop to shut down on me though.

That is until I tried running both tests at the same time, within about 30 seconds the computer shut down, the heat caused by both components must have freaked the fan out and the CPU jumped to around 90 degrees before shutting down.

Problem found, now to find a fix, I ventured to google to find instruction on how to open the laptop, quickly I found an awesome Services Guide which step by step tells you how to disassemble the system and put it back together, with pictures, great news. Now the plan was to go in look at the heat contacts on the CPU and Video card and clean/re-apply thermal paste to the contacts. Close it back up and test.

Opening was easy and as soon as I got to see the CPU and Video card it was quite evident what the problem was.

CPU Before

CPU After

Seems as though Acer had been quite sloppy when applying this in the factory as that did not look right to me at all. So began cleaning both the CPU, Video card and the heat sinks.

Heat Sinks before

Heat Sinks after

Applied Artic Silver Thermal Paste and sealed the laptop back up. Booted the system and went straight back to the CPU stress testing, CPU is now hitting 45-55 degress instead of 70 under stress. Video card also has improved 55-65 under stress whereas before it was closer to 80. Now the big question will it still restart running together. The answer no, I ran the test with both components under stress for 30mins and the CPU didn't come within 20 degrees of where it was before the clean out.

So another computer saved from the scrap heap where Acer staff reported this was a software error.