The Linear Canvas
This journal is about the wrongs and rights of the world, as I see them.

The Linear Canvas

Adobe Acrobat Anti-Zombie Solutions

March 11th, 2009 . by Alexander Fisher

An associate brought to my attention that there is an already exploited flaw in all versions of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader (formerly known as Adobe Acrobat Reader). Not neccessaily dismissing his concerns, but wanting to verify for myself, I did a little investigating of my own.

I found that there is a problem with rigged Adobe Acrobat PDF’s files, but not PDF’s in general. The file has to be created by a person that knows the file is compromised. Just opening the e-mail will not activate the rigged PDF. You have to open the attached file to do that. There is always a danger opening files from people you don’t know and/or with messages that make no sense to you. If you are prone to do that for some reason, then that’s a dangerous practice, in any case.

The flaw allows the creator of the file to remotely access affected computers. Obviously that would allow the individual to steal personal information and/or create a Zombie computer that could spread the file by hijacking e-mail addresses and resending the infected file to others, usually without the computer owner’s knowledge.

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How I didn’t get AT&T U-verse

June 15th, 2008 . by Alexander Fisher

Let me start out by saying that I have been a cable television employee most of my adult life. I worked for  telephone companies for att-u-verse-logotwelve years, but I was involved in microwave video transport. I wasn’t punching down hundred pair cables, although I can.

Recently my employer, a cable company, asked for volunteers to test our new competitor, AT&T U-verse at no charge for one year. Of course, I volunteered immediately. They told me to order the best digital TV package with a DVR, the fastest Internet service and all the pay channels that they offered. (Jealous yet?) The bill would have been around $160 per month.

Here are some highlights (or low-lights) of my AT&T experience…

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Blog Meltdown

May 16th, 2008 . by Alexander Fisher

I had been having trouble with my blog software for quite awhile. I was using Movable Type v3.2 and it was working very well until last year. At that point I began noticing things beginning to mis-behave. Besides that, Movable Type v3.2 was having display problems with Microsoft Internet Explorer v7.

I started to upgrade to Movable Type v4 and had so much trouble that I installed WordPress v2.5.1 instead. I am having to restore my original posts one at a time because of the Movable Type meltdown. I am getting close to being done, but I have quite a few more posts to restore. I have some new blogging tools, including new voice recognition software, so when I do start writing again, I should be able to produce quite alot of material.

Movable Type Re-installation

December 29th, 2004 . by Alexander Fisher

I changed my domain host from Hostway to 1and1 and it took me awhile to get the paths configured on my blog. I had to re-learn what I knew about Movable Type. I am glad I took good notes the first time. It always seems to be about paths. Because of the technical nature of paths to data files on a web server, most domain hosts don’t really seem to be able to put all of the information together on one page and not make me search all over for it.

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Blog Spam

April 23rd, 2004 . by Alexander Fisher

How can spammers make money off of putting advertizing comments on my blog site? Not very many people read it anyway, but those that do are certainly smart enough not to purchase any of the crap that they are trying to sell. I put a spam blocker on my site and have been blocking certain domains and IP addresses, but I still get some comments that are just spam. It really irritates me to no end.

Spammers should be jailed like other trespassers and maybe killed. I bet they are all Talibans that work for Saddama Bin Laden. Tell George Bush that. I am sure he would believe you and start bombing their houses. Maybe I’d vote for him then. (or maybe not)

Here my Blog !

December 29th, 2003 . by Alexander Fisher

I don’t know why I decided that I should start writing this web log. I do a lot of writing and I usually have sent them to newspapers and posted them on my web site that I have been ignoring for six months. Originally I looked for a Microsoft FrontPage 2000 template so that I could just edit it from that program. It seemed like the easiest way to begin. I found one, but it was $129. Next…

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Spam

August 31st, 2002 . by Alexander Fisher

There is a real user led initiative to find a way to limit or even eliminate spam called SpamNet from Cloudmark. I don’t have to tell you how much time we all waste dealing with spam or when you lose important e-mails in the sheer volume of spam messages in your inbox.

The same techniques used in the music sharing service, Napster, are behind the service that SpamNet provides. Napster co-founder Jordan Ritter is also one of the leaders on this project. Tell your friends and have them tell theirs. Don’t wait for the government to do something about spam. Please get involved by downloading the software, which is a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. The best part is that it is free. You can download the free Outlook plug-in (An Outlook Express plug-in should be ready soon, or so they say) at the address below.

http://www.cloudmark.com/products/spamnet/download/

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