System Defender Infection

A user reported that annoying messages kept popping up on his sysetm every few minutes from System Defender stating his system was infected. When I checked his system, I found the rogue anti-spyware/anti-virus software named System Defender on the system. I was able to remove it with Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, which has a free version of the software that can be used to remove spyware and viruses. The commercial version will run continually while the free version can be used to manually scan a system.

[More Info]

[/security/malware] permanent link

Determining File Location for an Alias

Aliases on a Mac OS X system are similar to shortcuts on a Microsoft Windows system. Just as with Windows, you will see a small arrow at the lower left side of an icon when it represents a shortcut/alias. Unlike Microsoft Windows, however OS X will keep track of the location of the original file associated with the alias, so that, if you move the file, the alias still points to the file's current location.

If you need to see the location of a file to which an alias points, right-click on the alias and choose Get Info. You will see the location for the file it points to after Original.

If the original file has been deleted, when you click on the alias, you will see a message indicating the alias could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found. E.g., in the case of a missing Parallels .pvm file, I saw the following:

You have the option to select Fix Alias, which will allow you to search for the original file, but if it has been deleted and can't be recovered from the trash, you won't be able to find it.

References:

1. How to Use Mac Aliases
   Dummies.com

[/os/os-x] permanent link

Off-Topic BBC Tag 1.1.2 Installation of SMF 2.0 RC5

I tried to install the Off-Topic BBC Tag 1.1.2 by (Ha)² on a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) version 2.0 RC5 forum. The installation process reported errors for its testing, however.

Type	Action	Description
Execute Modification	./Themes/default/languages/Modifications.english.php	Test successful
Execute Modification	./Themes/default/languages/Modifications.swedish.php	Skipping file
Execute Modification	./Sources/Subs.php	Test failed
Execute Modification	./Sources/Subs-Editor.php	Test failed
Execute Modification	./Themes/default/style.css	File not found
Extract tree	./Themes/default/images

At Re: Off-Topic BBC Tag, I found a poster, JD82, had posted an update to the mod for 2.0 RC3. When I used the mod, when I clicked on Install Mod, I no longer saw any of the errors that I had seen above. However, I did see errors under Install in Other Themes for other themes that were available on the forum.

Type	Action	Description
Execute Modification	./Themes/default/languages/Modifications.english.php	Test successful
Execute Modification	./Themes/default/languages/Modifications.swedish.php	Skipping file
Execute Modification	./Themes/default/languages/Modifications.italian-utf8.php	Skipping file
Execute Modification	./Sources/Subs.php	Test successful
Execute Modification	./Sources/Subs-Editor.php	Test successful
Execute Modification	./Themes/default/css/index.css	Test successful
Extract tree	./Themes/default/images

For each theme, I saw two "Test failed" entries for the file ./Themes/core/css/index.css.

Examing package-info.xml within Off-topic_BBC_Tag_RC3.tar.gz, I saw the following:

        <install for="2.0 RC3 - 2.99.99.99">
                <modification>off-topic_2_0_curve.xml</modification>
                <require-dir name="images" destination="$themedir" />
        <readme type="file" parsebbc="true">readme.txt</readme>
        </install>

That showed me that for SMF 2.0 RC3 or later 2.x versions, the installation process would use off-topic_2_0_curve.xml.

Checking the code it was looking for by examing the off-topic_2_0_curve.xml file within the Off-topic_BBC_Tag_RC3.tar.gz, I saw the following:

 <file name="$themedir/css/index.css">
                <operation>
                        <search position="before"><![CDATA[/* The "Quote:" and "Code:" header parts... */
.codeheader, .quoteheader
{
        color: #666;
        font-size: x-small;
        font-weight: bold;
        padding: 0 0.3em;
}]]></search>
                        <add><![CDATA[/* The "Off-topic:" header part... */
.off-topicheader
{
        color: #696969;
        text-decoration: none;
        font-style: normal;
        font-weight: bold;
        font-size: xx-small;
        line-height: 1.1em;
}]]></add>
                </operation>
                <operation>
                        <search position="before"><![CDATA[/* A quote, perhaps from another post. */
blockquote.bbc_standard_quote, blockquote.bbc_alternate_quote
{
        font-size: x-small;
        color: #000;
        line-height: 1.4em;
        background: url(../images/theme/quote.png) 0.1em 0.1em no-repeat;
        border-top: 2px solid #99A;
        border-bottom: 2px solid #99A;
        padding: 1.1em 1.4em;
        margin: 0.1em 0 0.3em 0;
        overflow: auto;
}]]></search>
                        <add><![CDATA[/* Silly users may go off-topic */
.off-topic
{
        color: #444444;
        background-color: #dadde2;
        border: 1px dotted #696969;
        margin: 2px;
        padding: 2px;

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Validating HTML and CSS

If you wish to validate the HTML code on a webpage you can use the W3C Markup Validation Service. If you wish to validate a Cascading Style Sheet for a page, you can use the W3C CSS Validation Service.

[/network/web/html] permanent link

Obfuscating Email Addresses

If you need to post an email address on a webpage, you should be aware that there are automated programs used by spammers to search webpages throughout the web looking for email addresses that they can use. There are a variety of techniques one can use to obfuscate an email address placed on a webpage. If you don't use one of them, it is highly likely that the amount of spam sent to the email address you post will dramatically increase, if it isn't already on spam distribution lists.

[More Info]

[/network/email/spam] permanent link

Adding a Logo

If you wish to add a logo or other image at the top of Simple Machines Forum (SMF) 2.0 sites, you can do so easily by taking the following steps.

1. Place the image on the server hosting your forum.
2. Log into the forum using an administrator account.
3. Under Admin, select Features and Options.
4. Select Current Theme from the Configuration drop-down menu you will see when you click on Configuration.
5. In the Logo image URL field, put the location of the graphics file you placed on the server. E.g., if the image was in a directory named "graphics" that was one level up from the forum directory itself, you could use something similar to ../graphics/logo.png. Or you can use a URL, e.g., http://example.com/graphics/logo.png.
6. Click on the Save button.

The image should then appear in the upper left-hand corner of forum pages. Clicking on it from somewhere within the forum should return a visitor to the forum's home page.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Dealing with an err-disabled port

I experienced a problem with a Cisco switch periodically putting one port in an err-disabled state. After checking the port, I found that I needed to configure the speed and duplex settings to specific values rather than letting them be autonegotiated.

[ More Info ]

[/hardware/network/switch/cisco] permanent link

The Rules

Because TinyPortal was already installed on an SMF 2.0 RC5 forum, when I installed The Rules package, I had to manually edit ./Sources/Subs.php after the installation, since TinyPortal had already modified the section of code in that file that the installation process for The Rules package was looking for, the installation process coldn't find the exact code for which it was looking. I had to manually add the code that would have been inserted by the install process after the following code in Subs.php.

 'help' => array(
                                'title' => $txt['help'],
                                'href' => $scripturl . '?action=help',
                                'show' => true,
                                'sub_buttons' => array(
                                        'tphelp' => array(
                                                'title' => 'TinyPortal',
                                                'href' => $scripturl . '?action=tpmod;sa=help',
                                                'show' => true,
                                        ),
                                ),
                        ),

By going to the webpage for The Rules and choosing "Manual Install Instructions for SMF", selecting the version of SMF installed on the system and clicking on Parse, I was able to see the code the installation process looks for and what it would add after that code, if it could find it.

When the package is installed, the rules can be configured by clicking on Admin, Features and Options, and then clicking on Configuration and selecting Modification Settings and The Rules within it.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Installing Ultimate Profile 0.9.1 on an SMF 2.0RC5 Forum

I encountered a problem when attempting to install Ultimate Profile 0.9.1 on an Simple Machines Forum (SMF) 2.0 RC5 forum. I received the error message "The package you are trying to download or install is either corrupt or not compatible with this version of SMF." I was able to resolve the problem by configuring SMF to emulate version 2.0 RC4.

[ More Info ]

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Upgrading SMF From 1.1.x to 2.0

If you wish to upgrade a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) version 1.1.x forum to a 2.0 forum you can follow the instructions here.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Backing Up a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) database

If you wish to back up the database for a Simple Machines Forum 1.1.x or 2.0 forum, you can use the forum's built-in backup capability to download a file to your system containing the neccessary SQL instructiosn that would allow you to rebuild the tables in the database associated with the forum and restore the data in the database if needed.

[More Info]

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link