NeoSmart Wiki Grand-Opening!

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Finally, after months of writing, testing, researching, and proof-reading, the NeoSmart Technologies Wiki is now online!

The NST Wiki is home to the long-awaited documentation for EasyBCD, and will, in the near-future, contain documentation for other programs as well as real wiki-content regarding certain obscure sections of Windows Vista.

Although our wiki has just made its grand debut (unlocked for all to see!), we’re still looking for people to contribute, because our work is far from complete. The EasyBCD documentation is mostly up, but we still have hundreds of case-studies, scenarios, and troubleshooting guides that need to be published – all that for just one product!

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We Love You, Rinbot!

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It’s not often that we openly sympathize with the virii writers, but this time, it’s too good to be true. Rinbot Generation 7 is targeting Symantec [[SYMC]] and Symantec users – and that’s a good thing.

Anyone using Symantec’s anti-virus software from 2006 and hasn’t updated it is vulnerable to a very powerful complete remote control vulnerability. What does Symantec have to say about it?

Users of Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition and Symantec Client Security should apply the appropriate update as soon as possible, Vincent Weafer, a senior director at Symantec Security Response, said Tuesday. However, because there are no known attacks that exploit the flaw, the need to patch is not urgent, he added.

That’s an excerpt from a c|net article dating all the way back to May of 2006 – a year ago now. Thanks to Symantec’s non-chalance and Turner Broadcasting Systems’ (the owners of CNN) complete disregard for standard IT procedures, they were infected earlier today by Rinbot.

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The Wrong Impression Maybe?

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Since Windows Vista has gone RTM, it seems like we haven’t posted much about the positive aspects of Microsoft’s newest OS. Instead, we’ve ranted (well, within reason) about UAC, Vista’s ease-of-use, bugs, UAC, security, UAC, drivers, and compatibility issues. While each “rant” was properly documented, with plenty of workarounds, numbers, or sources as the case may be; we feel the wrong impression might have come across.

In light of several posts on the internet by certain Windows Vista “enthusiasts,”1 we felt it necessary to plaintively put our point across: Windows Vista doesn’t suck. That certainly isn’t the most beautiful and eloquent language we’ve used to date, but it does get the point across – we hope. Windows Vista, despite the stuff we’ve posted, the stuff we’re going to post, and the stuff that we neglected to mention, is still Microsoft’s best operating system ever.

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  1. Note the quotes, they’re there for a really good reason! ↩

Why isn’t WPA2 an Automatic Update?

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If you’re using Wi-Fi in your workplace, chances are, you’re using WPA2 security. After all, nothing else is worth using. WEP (extended or otherwise) was cracked virtually before it was even released, despite the obvious misnomer, you do not want to be using this! WPA came a while later, and is several hundred times more secure. Unfortunately, WPA is also susceptible to wireless cracking techniques and if you aren’t using a strong password, it’s even less secure than a WEP-encrypted network.

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TweakUI for Vista (x64 too!)

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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NeoSmart Technologies has withdrawn this particular guide because it has proved to only work on pre-release editions of Windows Vista, and versions of Vista that were upgraded to RTM from beta Vista builds.

The original workaround involves install the x86 or x64 versions of TweakUI and running both the setup and the executable in XP SP2 Compatibility Mode with UAC disabled. Unfortunately this has been found to not work on current builds of Windows Vista.

NeoSmart Technologies apologies for this erroneous guide. We are currently working on a fix for this matter. NeoSmart Technologies does not engage in paid advertisement reviews, posts, guides, or anything of that nature. We made a simple, honest mistake, and we’re sorry. Hopefully we’ll have another workaround soon – that really works.

Wanted: Documentation Experts

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NeoSmart Technologies is pleased to announce its first opening in a long time: we’re looking for a documentation expert to help us finalize our documentation for a number of programs, chief of which is EasyBCD.

We already have a “template” for documentation pages, the documentation system, and all information needed available, we just need someone with some time to devote to NeoSmart Technologies and our 100% free & non-profit projects to help fill in the content and look over the info to see if anything is missing.

Ideally, we’d like someone with previous experience writing either documentation, articles, guides, FAQs, or walkthroughs for the job, but even if you don’t have that extensive experience, let us know if you’re interested and we’ll see what can be done.

If you want to help one of the most up-and-coming freeware on the scene develop and grow (more than a hundred thousand downloads in 3 weeks!), please post away below or drop us an email at EasyBCD@NeoSmart.net if you’d like – we’re waiting!

Creating a (Unified!) Vendor-Neutral Markup Standard

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Take a look at any blog, wiki, forum, etc. Specifically, look at how posts are created, filtered, and displayed. There are dozens of different ways for authors to specify the formatting and content of their articles/posts, and hundreds of ways to render the results. Some blogs rely on now-famous 3rd-party markup implementations like Textile and Markdown, some use bbCode, and quite a few still rely on plain old HTML. Then you have vendor-specific proprietary implementations and many more, popping up as the need arises.

We’re not trying to standardize markup formats, on the contrary, there is no real benefit – and the web can always do with a bit more diversity. But what does need standardization is how post-markup data (the article text) is stored in the database and later rendered. In the past, this wasn’t a problem: each “platform” had its markup format, and stored the output straight in the database. Then the platform triggered the markup language’s bundled HTML renderer and converted the database contents to HTML for display.

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Dear Windows Vista Firewall…

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Dear Windows Vista Firewall,

When I ask you (repeatedly, and on multiple occasions) to turn off, why do you insist on re-activating yourself at random? Please go away.

Sincerely,
Me.

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Hard-Wired Alternative Layout Keyboards

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Although the jury is still out on whether or not alternative keyboard layouts really do stress on the joints and tendons in typical day-to-day typing excercises, and that even the speed-typing results aren’t very clear, one salient fact hasn’t been disputed: There is no real reason to ever use the QWERTY layout. Following no real pattern, rhyme, or reason, the QWERTY layout is difficult to memorize, difficult to adapt to, and difficult to master. But every single OS out there uses QWERTY as the default, and it’s not always easy to change.

The reasons vary, but whether it’s lack of user privileges, difficulty of installing new keyboard layouts, not having enough time, or simply using an OS that doesn’t support anything but QWERTY, the fact remains that a software-fixed keyboard layout isn’t always the best answer. It certainly is a very flexible solution – especially on the operating systems that let you drag and drop letters around to create your own keyboard layout that acts exactly the way you want it – but it’s not necessarily the only one.

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PostIt Notes: A Programmer’s Best Friend

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There are some things technology can’t replace. We previously discussed the typewriter, and a good novel in paperback or hardcover format certainly is another. But an often-overlooked “utility” is the PostIt Note. Something that’s been around forever, and no matter how you do it, it can’t be emulated via software for a PC and retain the same purpose and magic touch.

PostIt note’s are an all-in-one answer to almost any brain-storming, visualizing, and jotting things down for later. With a PostIt Note, you can figure out an entire algorithm on a tiny square of yellow paper. Sure, Microsoft Visio may give you more options and actually let fellow programmers understand your flowchart, but it sure isn’t going to work miracles for your creativity.

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