I have been running a wiki web server on my computer for 3 or 4 years now. I noticed about a year ago that my system would slow down for no apparent reason. It was intermittent and not a real problem so I didn't worry to much about it.I have been using OpenWiki and it works well for my needs which basically boil down to using it as an enhanced favorites tracker and for information I need on a semi-regular basis. I noticed about 5 months ago that the little Access Database had grown to about 50megs which was far more than I would have created. More researched showed that I was being attacked by some automated update bots so I just password protected the wiki, cleaned out the database and continued on.This morning I tried to access the site but got the message that too many people were accessing the site, try again later. I got a little more interested and started  looking around. After some digging I found that an IP address from Iran had 10 windows (my limit) open. A bit more digging showed access from China, Denmark and the Netherlands. None of which looked like valid traffic and really isn't my target market anyway.I then logged into my Dlink router and set it to reject traffic from these IP addresses and the system speed has returned to normal.As a technical note I used the following resources to figure this out:

1. netstat -an  - a command line utility to show current network activity.
2. www.geobytes.com - Online free utility to show where the IP address is physically located.
3. www.google.com - Used to search for the IP address which turned up www.projecthoneypot.org which let me know the kind of activity seen from the IP adress.
4. IIS Log files - I pulled the log file into Excel so I could sort all the IP addresses access my site and determine if more needed to be removed.

Hope this helps someone else resolve similar problems. BTW - I believe this has also helped my Vonage phone service improve.Drop me a line if you need more information regarding how this was done.Brian.

Ever had a difficult time managing your to do lists on paper? Try this little known feature in Word to help make your life more manageable. Be careful the volume is a bit loud.

 Let me know if you find this useful.

About once a year I need to research and purchase more backup software for my clients, this year is no different. Each year the software choices become better and cheaper. I looked at three different software applications:

• BackupAssist $229
• Acronis True Image $699
• MigoSoftware PC Backup Server Edition $119.00

I selected MigoSoftware due to price and functionality. The real selling points became the fact that the backup has the functionality to create bootable media that can then restore the system from scratch. The only question I still have is how does it work with any files that maybe open, which generally is going to be a problem no matter which software you choose. The system states for Windows XP it includes the 'Open File Backup' which should alleviate the problem but even support couldn't tell me if it would work on the server or not.

BackupAssist would have been my second choice and I have used it before so I know it is good software. The main problem became money. It would cost $229 + $119 for the open file option. The advantage of this software is also that the standard windows backup software can read the file format.

Acronis has the really nice feature of the ability to backup to a virtual machine providing the end user with the ability with very little work to get the system back up and running. However the cost differential didn't offset this feature.

I will keep you posted if I run into any problems.

As the president of the www.CCSL.org we want to make a blog system for the members to support and be listed as individual members without giving everyone too much access to the remaining parts of WordPress. After some searching I found the pieces to put this together.

The main resource was http://wordpress.org/support/topic/100413. The second source was: http://www.semiologic.com/software/publishing/author-image/ for the author images.

The plugins you will need:

• Install Author Image for pictures of everyone.
• Install Usermeta to allow Userextra to be installed.
• Install Userextra for extra fields in user management.
• Install Exec-PHP to allow php to be executed in Page.
• Install Page Authors 2.0 code in a post to show all the authors/users in a Page.

If you install the plugin above in order you should have no problems getting it to work. It is a good idea to watch the video tutorial of how this can be done.

I did not tottally work out how to include the image/logo of the author from the Author Image Plugin but I did determine that if you used a little php you could get it to work out pretty easily. All the images are stored in wp-content/Authors/{username}.jpg so it shouldn't take much to include that in the profile listing.

 Let me know if you found this helpful. Author Change

I just got back from flying my new RC airplane. I would not call myself a RC geek by any means but this was really cool. I had gotten the airplane for my birthday from Harbor Freight. For $30 this was the most fun I have had in a long time. Beware if there is very much wind you can lose your plane into some distant trees. Surprisingly I only lost a propeller which is replaceable by the included extras.

Objective

To keep the snake ball from destroying ones valuable things and gain points in the process.

Game Requirements

At least one child age 2-4

One snake ball (see amazon)

A kitchen table complete with food or misc. dishes that could be broken

(Alternate) A Coffee table with drinks and misc chotskis that could be broken

How to play

With everyone seated around the table of choice talking and discussing normal adult activities hand the child the snake ball and get them excited. The child will begin move their arms rapidly up and down at some point the child will lose control of the ball and the fun begins.

The first person to notice the out of control ball yells "Snake Ball" at which point all players spring into action in order to capture the ball with as little disruption to the table as possible.

Scoring

The first person to yell "Snake Ball" receives 10 points

The person to capture the ball and stop it from causing anymore destruction receives 50 points.

Any person touching the ball but not capturing and preventing some destruction receives 10 points.

An extra 100 points is awarded to anyone who captures the ball before any destruction has occured.

Any person moving cups, glasses, plates, food or other items potentially in the path of destruction of the ball receives 5 points per item.

Everyone loses 5 points for every item that is spilled, broken or disrupted. If the item is expensive or difficult to replace then everyone loses 100 points.

Winning the Game

The cycle is repeated until one of the adults says "That's It!" This will signify the end of the game and probably the time for the child to be quickly focused on some new game. Points are added up and the winner is announced.

Warnings

This game is easy to continue too long when the excitement is in the air. All points can be lost if the too many items are broken or disrupted.

Also the child must be watched closely after the game is officially over. The child may not understand the game is over and let the ball fly without warning. This would be considered a 'Bonus Round' and all points are doubled. Anyone found to be inticing the child for one more round after the official end of the game will forfiet all his/her points.