Follow up testing results with OpenDNS
After posting about OpenDNS I figure I try this out at home to test. So far after using it for a few days, I have not seen any slowness or change of Internet speeds. Using a custom filter, I blocked the usual sites any business would block, pornography, plus other sites like proxy bypass sites (these allow users to bypass OpenDNS's filtering).
Using Google I made a search for "proxy bypass" and just clicking the first result received a OpenDNS message window that the site in question has been blocked. A nice feature is each site blocked brings up a "contact your admin for questions" window. If a user is indeed using the site for business use, they can send a e-mail message and this will be directly sent to the registered e-mail address. From here you are given a choice as the admin, either continue blocking the site (no action needed) or "white list" the site, by unblocking it.
Overall it works but there are some slight issues. First is the filtering is connected to your IP address. For some ISP's they do not issue a static IP address but a dynamic IP address. Blocking these addresses is more difficult but not impossible, normally your router should not acquire a new IP address frequently so the filtering will still work. OpenDNS also features a nice tool that allows a computer in the network to update OpenDNS with a change in the dynamic address. This is important because if OpenDNS is not updated with the new IP address, the filtering will no longer work.
Overall I am giving a high recommendation for OpenDNS at home or work, anywhere you want to filter Internet access. It's great for parents who can't watch their kids all of the time on the Internet but still want some on-line safety. Important to say the best method of protection for kids is basic supervision and not leaving them alone with the computer.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
A bit technical, Microsoft Active Directory and password polices.
For years I worked in a large corporate environment where we have a large range of users. From the very basic who's task was only to enter data or scan documents, to a wide range of computer engineers. In the mix of these users was also a mix of people who has various rights to sensitive data, from payroll information to details of sales forecasting.
So you know that there's so much important information, how do you start securing the data? The first block is your password.
As simple as it sounds, many users don't take this very seriously. You can often find users keeping their passwords on a note on their desk, or even using a simple word for their password. While you can force all of the users with a strong password policy enforced by Group Policy, the problem is this will sometimes have a backwards effect.
Instead of the users making more complex passwords and remembering them, they might be more inclined to make a password to meet the requirements and then write this down on a note. An example of this is a password policy that requires 10 letters, special characters, users could use something simple such as JohnSmith123#, then change this as required to JohnSmith124#, etc.
So now you know the users have a problem with complex passwords, how do you get around this hurdle? There's ways where you can have upper management force password policies but the time and money spent on helping users with complex passwords might not be best for users who have no access or little risk to important data. Now you are considering two password policies on the domain.
With Windows 2003 Active Directory you are only available to apply a password policy to the Default Domain Policy that will take affect on all users in the domain. This is tough because you only want to limit the high risk users such as Administrator.
Introduced in Windows 2008 Active Directory you can now have "sub groups" called Password Settings Object (PSO) which can apply a password policy to a domain group instead of to the entire domain. This is great feature which many admins have battled with in their domain, trying to secure a group of powerful users.
It's a great feature and think this is a valid reason alone to upgrade to Windows 2008.
For years I worked in a large corporate environment where we have a large range of users. From the very basic who's task was only to enter data or scan documents, to a wide range of computer engineers. In the mix of these users was also a mix of people who has various rights to sensitive data, from payroll information to details of sales forecasting.
So you know that there's so much important information, how do you start securing the data? The first block is your password.
As simple as it sounds, many users don't take this very seriously. You can often find users keeping their passwords on a note on their desk, or even using a simple word for their password. While you can force all of the users with a strong password policy enforced by Group Policy, the problem is this will sometimes have a backwards effect.
Instead of the users making more complex passwords and remembering them, they might be more inclined to make a password to meet the requirements and then write this down on a note. An example of this is a password policy that requires 10 letters, special characters, users could use something simple such as JohnSmith123#, then change this as required to JohnSmith124#, etc.
So now you know the users have a problem with complex passwords, how do you get around this hurdle? There's ways where you can have upper management force password policies but the time and money spent on helping users with complex passwords might not be best for users who have no access or little risk to important data. Now you are considering two password policies on the domain.
With Windows 2003 Active Directory you are only available to apply a password policy to the Default Domain Policy that will take affect on all users in the domain. This is tough because you only want to limit the high risk users such as Administrator.
Introduced in Windows 2008 Active Directory you can now have "sub groups" called Password Settings Object (PSO) which can apply a password policy to a domain group instead of to the entire domain. This is great feature which many admins have battled with in their domain, trying to secure a group of powerful users.
It's a great feature and think this is a valid reason alone to upgrade to Windows 2008.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
A cheap alternative to Websense
There's sometimes issues where you need to filter or block the Internet access at home, school or in special environments such as a church. There are solutions but many of them cost a subscription fee or their prices are beyond normal affordable prices. What can you do when the client is looking for something that is free or of little cost?
This where you can use a service from OpenDNS, which blocks or allows custom websites depending upon your requirements. The cost of this service is free and open to home user including small businesses, not sure if this is ok for large businesses you will need to check before implementing.
So how does this work? It's simple!
Basically you setup you computer or router and change the DNS address from your ISP to OpenDNS's DNS servers, 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. From there you create an account on OpenDNS to choose what you would like to filter or not. You can choose various options such as adult content, gambling, or chat sites, even steaming video like YouTube. It's that simple.
In the case you need to open or allow a certain site, or a site that is not included you can manually add sites as needed. It's great for a church Internet computer that you do not want people accessing porn sites, it's also great for a kids computer where you want to block social networking sites for their safety.
I'll report back how well this works out after I try this at home.
There's sometimes issues where you need to filter or block the Internet access at home, school or in special environments such as a church. There are solutions but many of them cost a subscription fee or their prices are beyond normal affordable prices. What can you do when the client is looking for something that is free or of little cost?
This where you can use a service from OpenDNS, which blocks or allows custom websites depending upon your requirements. The cost of this service is free and open to home user including small businesses, not sure if this is ok for large businesses you will need to check before implementing.
So how does this work? It's simple!
Basically you setup you computer or router and change the DNS address from your ISP to OpenDNS's DNS servers, 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. From there you create an account on OpenDNS to choose what you would like to filter or not. You can choose various options such as adult content, gambling, or chat sites, even steaming video like YouTube. It's that simple.
In the case you need to open or allow a certain site, or a site that is not included you can manually add sites as needed. It's great for a church Internet computer that you do not want people accessing porn sites, it's also great for a kids computer where you want to block social networking sites for their safety.
I'll report back how well this works out after I try this at home.
Ham radio field day 2009
A fun day in the park with the local radio club. While I didn't make any calls I did help out with the logging of calls to the station. Overall it was pretty fun, listening for that distant station and trying to understand what their call sign was. It's amazing to contact people about 400 miles away on the somewhat simple setup. At night, the distances are further, then you can contact about 1,000 miles away.
I want to get my General class license even more!
A fun day in the park with the local radio club. While I didn't make any calls I did help out with the logging of calls to the station. Overall it was pretty fun, listening for that distant station and trying to understand what their call sign was. It's amazing to contact people about 400 miles away on the somewhat simple setup. At night, the distances are further, then you can contact about 1,000 miles away.
I want to get my General class license even more!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Windows to Linux - where to start?
I'm studying Linux further than I've studied it before. I've taken classes for the Linux certification path but only a select few classes and not the complete course. So far my only experience in the Linux world is installing and playing with various versions, but nothing as in depth or real world as I done in the Windows world.
So how do I get started?
The first is basically understanding how Linux works. This is not as easy as just reading a book since you would need to really understand what to do when things go wrong. What are the commands from Windows that will work in Linux?
An easy step to try Linux is finding an old notebook or workstation and installing any popular version, such as Ubuntu or Fedora. You can download these versions directly from the links or you can also order a CD or DVD if your Internet connection is slow. Average sizes range from 700MB for a CD and about 2GB for a DVD version, but highly depends upon the Linux version. Some versions such as PuppyLinux take up only a few megs.
The installation process is much easier than before, you should expect to have a seamless install. Even on older systems the install process is easy and not as involved as with Windows XP or Vista.
For reference here are some articles that help get you started.
Linux Newbie Guide
Linux Newbie (this is geared for an admin view so it has more details
Once you have Linux installed on your computer you can understand the basics of using the tools from the regular Windows method of using the mouse. But as you grow with your Linux skills there are some function that are best done from command prompt or by editing files.
At this point you should start reading more technical documents about Linux, from an administration point of view.
Here's some links to get started.
Rute User's Guide to Linux (a great more in depth guide)
From here there's plenty to learn.
I'm studying Linux further than I've studied it before. I've taken classes for the Linux certification path but only a select few classes and not the complete course. So far my only experience in the Linux world is installing and playing with various versions, but nothing as in depth or real world as I done in the Windows world.
So how do I get started?
The first is basically understanding how Linux works. This is not as easy as just reading a book since you would need to really understand what to do when things go wrong. What are the commands from Windows that will work in Linux?
An easy step to try Linux is finding an old notebook or workstation and installing any popular version, such as Ubuntu or Fedora. You can download these versions directly from the links or you can also order a CD or DVD if your Internet connection is slow. Average sizes range from 700MB for a CD and about 2GB for a DVD version, but highly depends upon the Linux version. Some versions such as PuppyLinux take up only a few megs.
The installation process is much easier than before, you should expect to have a seamless install. Even on older systems the install process is easy and not as involved as with Windows XP or Vista.
For reference here are some articles that help get you started.
Linux Newbie Guide
Linux Newbie (this is geared for an admin view so it has more details
Once you have Linux installed on your computer you can understand the basics of using the tools from the regular Windows method of using the mouse. But as you grow with your Linux skills there are some function that are best done from command prompt or by editing files.
At this point you should start reading more technical documents about Linux, from an administration point of view.
Here's some links to get started.
Rute User's Guide to Linux (a great more in depth guide)
From here there's plenty to learn.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Career path change, with certification
After loosing my job from my employment for almost 9 years I have been taking some time off to research where I want to go next. For the past few years I've been loosing interest in my job, where I was a Windows system administrator. Day in and day out, I felt like I was stuck in the same job functions, not learning anything new, while I was just called upon when things went south.
Once I was let go, I started to deeply think what was wrong with my old job and what did I want to change to. It's such an easy question, most people would say that they don't like their managers, co-workers, job functions, etc. When I started to write the list of what I don't like about my current job, and what I do like.
Below was my list.
Dislikes -
Being called at all hours
Working with non-team players
Limited growth
Likes -
Helping people
Working in a team
Able to move towards different teams or departments
After thinking about the jobs available I realized that I could move to any career I wanted but the first step is learning and getting the experience. I do enjoy working in the IT field, but wanted to do more than stay on the Windows side. My first choice was to look at the Linux administration, I always felt that when I was working on Windows there was so many functions "hidden" from an admin view. When I would call Microsoft for help they only offered more cryptic answers which really bothered me. It was as if I bought a car but couldn't open the engine hood to see what was wrong but had to take it to the dealership.
Then I was thinking that I do like security, on Windows but any other OS in general. I liked the research I did for Windows and see how I could apply security in order to keep a system safe from harmful users. While I would need to understand the Windows world even further, there is also a matter of learning new security information.
Down the longer 1 year path I might still make a serious change in my career but I first need to find a job again, and make the best of it.
Where I want to go is first get a certification, which will allow me to further sell myself as a more successful administrator. The choice on which certification is pretty basic, I'm mostly thinking of the Microsoft Windows MCITP Administrator, but at the same time I am also interested in the Redhat Linux RHCE which is also a great selling point.
Which will I finally go for? I have much more experience on Windows so I will go for the MCITP first, but until I have a full time job, I have the time to explore the two.
Will see just where I land, I'm currently looking for a job and hope I can get employed shortly.
After loosing my job from my employment for almost 9 years I have been taking some time off to research where I want to go next. For the past few years I've been loosing interest in my job, where I was a Windows system administrator. Day in and day out, I felt like I was stuck in the same job functions, not learning anything new, while I was just called upon when things went south.
Once I was let go, I started to deeply think what was wrong with my old job and what did I want to change to. It's such an easy question, most people would say that they don't like their managers, co-workers, job functions, etc. When I started to write the list of what I don't like about my current job, and what I do like.
Below was my list.
Dislikes -
Being called at all hours
Working with non-team players
Limited growth
Likes -
Helping people
Working in a team
Able to move towards different teams or departments
After thinking about the jobs available I realized that I could move to any career I wanted but the first step is learning and getting the experience. I do enjoy working in the IT field, but wanted to do more than stay on the Windows side. My first choice was to look at the Linux administration, I always felt that when I was working on Windows there was so many functions "hidden" from an admin view. When I would call Microsoft for help they only offered more cryptic answers which really bothered me. It was as if I bought a car but couldn't open the engine hood to see what was wrong but had to take it to the dealership.
Then I was thinking that I do like security, on Windows but any other OS in general. I liked the research I did for Windows and see how I could apply security in order to keep a system safe from harmful users. While I would need to understand the Windows world even further, there is also a matter of learning new security information.
Down the longer 1 year path I might still make a serious change in my career but I first need to find a job again, and make the best of it.
Where I want to go is first get a certification, which will allow me to further sell myself as a more successful administrator. The choice on which certification is pretty basic, I'm mostly thinking of the Microsoft Windows MCITP Administrator, but at the same time I am also interested in the Redhat Linux RHCE which is also a great selling point.
Which will I finally go for? I have much more experience on Windows so I will go for the MCITP first, but until I have a full time job, I have the time to explore the two.
Will see just where I land, I'm currently looking for a job and hope I can get employed shortly.
Ham Radio Field Day
Next weekend is the ham radio field day. During June 27th to 28th all amateur radio operators are encouraged to bring out their radios into the outdoors and operate with other amateur radio operators. This is also a great time to view how ham radio works and ask the operators questions.
My friend and I are planning to visit the local ham radio club to see their field day setup. Not only will we get to ask some questions and see a full radio operation, but also get more ideas of how we want to pursue ham radio further. While exploring ham radio there are some great areas to learn about it's much easier to just ask someone in person than read a book.
Will report how this turns out, but I think this will be a good experience.
Also I am hoping to get more information about the amateur radio ARES. ARES is Amateur Radio Emergency Services, a volunteer program that gathers ham radio operators in need of emergency communications.
Recently in Santa Cruz county a major communication line was cut. This in turn stopped almost all communications between the Santa Cruz area to the South Bay. Thanks to the ham community who helped out as line communication was down, but radio is always available.
Since I have a C.E.R.T. certification already I could be more helpful.
Will report back. :)
Next weekend is the ham radio field day. During June 27th to 28th all amateur radio operators are encouraged to bring out their radios into the outdoors and operate with other amateur radio operators. This is also a great time to view how ham radio works and ask the operators questions.
My friend and I are planning to visit the local ham radio club to see their field day setup. Not only will we get to ask some questions and see a full radio operation, but also get more ideas of how we want to pursue ham radio further. While exploring ham radio there are some great areas to learn about it's much easier to just ask someone in person than read a book.
Will report how this turns out, but I think this will be a good experience.
Also I am hoping to get more information about the amateur radio ARES. ARES is Amateur Radio Emergency Services, a volunteer program that gathers ham radio operators in need of emergency communications.
Recently in Santa Cruz county a major communication line was cut. This in turn stopped almost all communications between the Santa Cruz area to the South Bay. Thanks to the ham community who helped out as line communication was down, but radio is always available.
Since I have a C.E.R.T. certification already I could be more helpful.
Will report back. :)
Monday, June 01, 2009
Amateur Radio HF
For the past few years I had my Technician class license for ham radio. Basically you are limited to transmitting on the UHF and VHF frequencies. After searching around I found that it's more interesting to find contacts in distance areas instead of local. So now I'm studying for my General class license which will give me access to the HF frequencies and able to talk much further than with VHF or UHF.
Here's a link with more details of each license and their benefits.
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/classes.html
What do I want to do once I receive the General class license?
Basically have a HF radio set up were I can go anywhere and talk with people from longer distances, without the use of a repeater (a device that repeats a VHF or UHF radio signal to have further range). Such as this example of a hiker taking out his radio during a day on a local trail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9iJIa5feo
If you are interested in learning how to pass your amateur license tests I highly recommend going to this site which offers great practice tests.
http://www.hamtestonline.com
For the past few years I had my Technician class license for ham radio. Basically you are limited to transmitting on the UHF and VHF frequencies. After searching around I found that it's more interesting to find contacts in distance areas instead of local. So now I'm studying for my General class license which will give me access to the HF frequencies and able to talk much further than with VHF or UHF.
Here's a link with more details of each license and their benefits.
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/classes.html
What do I want to do once I receive the General class license?
Basically have a HF radio set up were I can go anywhere and talk with people from longer distances, without the use of a repeater (a device that repeats a VHF or UHF radio signal to have further range). Such as this example of a hiker taking out his radio during a day on a local trail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9iJIa5feo
If you are interested in learning how to pass your amateur license tests I highly recommend going to this site which offers great practice tests.
http://www.hamtestonline.com
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Problems on the Asus 1000HE
After tinkering around with the netbook I found that the keyboard was some what loose. So I took off the keyboard and found that there was a small amount of sticky tape that holds the keyboard to the netbook. While the tape works, it only holds for a bit before coming undone.
As a solution I bought some double stick tape from Wal Mart and applied this to the bottom of the keyboard. After I placed it back on the netbook I felt like it was too thick and caused some of the keys to stick. I cleaned off the extra double stick tape and then made much smaller strips, about the size of 1/8" x 3".
Placing this back on the netbook, I felt like it was a big improvement but a few weeks later random keys stopped working on the keyboard. So now I'm left with a netbook that can not type certain keys. :)
Will be calling Asus and having it replaced but if they don't I can just buy a new keyboard replacement and just deal with the looseness.
After tinkering around with the netbook I found that the keyboard was some what loose. So I took off the keyboard and found that there was a small amount of sticky tape that holds the keyboard to the netbook. While the tape works, it only holds for a bit before coming undone.
As a solution I bought some double stick tape from Wal Mart and applied this to the bottom of the keyboard. After I placed it back on the netbook I felt like it was too thick and caused some of the keys to stick. I cleaned off the extra double stick tape and then made much smaller strips, about the size of 1/8" x 3".
Placing this back on the netbook, I felt like it was a big improvement but a few weeks later random keys stopped working on the keyboard. So now I'm left with a netbook that can not type certain keys. :)
Will be calling Asus and having it replaced but if they don't I can just buy a new keyboard replacement and just deal with the looseness.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Small netbook experience
So this is my first post from the Asus netbook and so far it's not too bad. The keyboard while smaller is not as small as I expected. I used subcompact notebooks from Sony that were much harder to type. It did take some adjustments to get used to the smaller size, honestly even for my fingers I feel like it's very close in size to a normal laptop. The only problem I found is the shift key on the right side which I use the most is about the size of a normal key. I keep hitting this and mistyping due to it's smaller size. Also the keyboard feels like it's a bit loose, there's a little give when I press down on the keys.
After starting up Windows XP home edition on the netbook I was excited to load Ubuntu Netbook Remix. After a few readings of the instructions I was able to use my photo memory card and load a IMG image from the web site to test. Once I confirmed the wireless card and other details worked fine, I installed this over my XP install. Now it's running very smoothly under Linux. I'm going to take this to work and give it a good test on the applications. Find out just how well the netbook with Ubuntu really work out. :)
So this is my first post from the Asus netbook and so far it's not too bad. The keyboard while smaller is not as small as I expected. I used subcompact notebooks from Sony that were much harder to type. It did take some adjustments to get used to the smaller size, honestly even for my fingers I feel like it's very close in size to a normal laptop. The only problem I found is the shift key on the right side which I use the most is about the size of a normal key. I keep hitting this and mistyping due to it's smaller size. Also the keyboard feels like it's a bit loose, there's a little give when I press down on the keys.
After starting up Windows XP home edition on the netbook I was excited to load Ubuntu Netbook Remix. After a few readings of the instructions I was able to use my photo memory card and load a IMG image from the web site to test. Once I confirmed the wireless card and other details worked fine, I installed this over my XP install. Now it's running very smoothly under Linux. I'm going to take this to work and give it a good test on the applications. Find out just how well the netbook with Ubuntu really work out. :)
Monday, April 20, 2009
Netbooks and small computers
I just recently purchased a netbook, a Asus 1000HE with a 10" screen. It's very similar to your typical laptop computer but uses a smaller processor and can last longer on a single charge. A big point of this small computer is how long a single charge will last, on my old notebook the battery was going out, so I was used to lasting about 15 minutes before the computer died. On my more recent laptop, a larger Asus gaming laptop, the power lasts about 1 hour before needing to be plugged in. Again, it's not designed to run off batteries, but in some cases it's nice to have the option.
With the netbook, the small size and long battery life allows me to run away from power up to 9 hours. This is a great feature if I want to check the Internet from the garage, or while I'm at Starbucks, etc. It's hard enough to find a power outlet from coffee shops and this would be handy when you find that nice sofa but no power anywhere.
Of course, there are down sides as well. The smaller sized keyboard, about 93% of a full size, is harder to type longer periods. In addition the screen is smaller, a 10" is now very small, not sure if this would be great for long term reading, such as PDF files. Also the netbook lacks any media drives, you need to store everything from a USB CD-ROM or USB drive.
When I receive the netbook I'll post just how well it's going to fit my needs.
I just recently purchased a netbook, a Asus 1000HE with a 10" screen. It's very similar to your typical laptop computer but uses a smaller processor and can last longer on a single charge. A big point of this small computer is how long a single charge will last, on my old notebook the battery was going out, so I was used to lasting about 15 minutes before the computer died. On my more recent laptop, a larger Asus gaming laptop, the power lasts about 1 hour before needing to be plugged in. Again, it's not designed to run off batteries, but in some cases it's nice to have the option.
With the netbook, the small size and long battery life allows me to run away from power up to 9 hours. This is a great feature if I want to check the Internet from the garage, or while I'm at Starbucks, etc. It's hard enough to find a power outlet from coffee shops and this would be handy when you find that nice sofa but no power anywhere.
Of course, there are down sides as well. The smaller sized keyboard, about 93% of a full size, is harder to type longer periods. In addition the screen is smaller, a 10" is now very small, not sure if this would be great for long term reading, such as PDF files. Also the netbook lacks any media drives, you need to store everything from a USB CD-ROM or USB drive.
When I receive the netbook I'll post just how well it's going to fit my needs.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Old games revisited
I recently found the game site Good Old Games which sells older games for very reasonable prices. Most of the games range from the early 90's to present day, and the prices are starting at $5 to about $10. A big plus is that each game is DRM free, meaning that once you buy it, that's it, no codes, authentication or any problems down the road. GoG also takes developers and custom tunes the same so they can run in Windows XP and Vista with no problems.
So after hearing about this I purchased two games. First I bought Fallout, this was the original games, with the new Fallout 3 is based upon. Since I played a few hours on Fallout 3, I wanted to see just how closely does the new Fallout feel to the original. Also I was interested in Fallout since it's often a topic of the greatest games ever made.
Surprising, the install of the game was quick and easy. GoG makes their own installer which I assume added additional files to the game to help run on newer systems. As I started up the Fallout I saw that it played with no problems but I couldn't change the screen resolution, which was stuck at 640x480. Now at the time this game came out that was normal but I'm playing on a 1920x1280 screen which makes the game screen extremely small.
After getting past this slight problem I started the actual game play. Fallout is a turn based RPG, much like Final Fantasy. You move an allowed distance and have a certian about of points to attack. I played around for a short while making my way out of the caves fighting tunnel rats. Playing the orginal Fallout felt very similar to the new Fallout 3. Even the way you attack is very similar that I quickly understood the method to play. It's amazing how different the two games appear but play so closely.
Next I wanted to play a good old style shooter. I found a few favorites, Unreal Tournament, and Unreal 2004. I loved Unreal Tournament since it was so fun and had really smart computer players, plus great levels. I finally settled upon Unread 2004 and will pick up Unreal Tournament next. To buy these games from GoG you download them, which is ok for older games since they are small around 300MB but for Unreal 2004 it's about 2GB. The download was corrupted the first time but after installing the GoG downloader, went very smooth the second time.
The install process was the same as Fallout, GoG has their own installer to insall the game. Start up was quick and I was playing right after. Playing about 2 hours, I haven't seen any issue and was able to play the game in my full resolution, big plus. Even while the game is 5 years old, still feels like a very fun game, and I'll be playing this next LAN party.
Overall my experience with GoG has been excellent. I still have older games in my collection but as computers get faster and OS changes, they don't run like they used to. GoG takes out the risk and makes the old games run with no changes. It's well worth the $10 to grab a old game and give it some more life.
I recently found the game site Good Old Games which sells older games for very reasonable prices. Most of the games range from the early 90's to present day, and the prices are starting at $5 to about $10. A big plus is that each game is DRM free, meaning that once you buy it, that's it, no codes, authentication or any problems down the road. GoG also takes developers and custom tunes the same so they can run in Windows XP and Vista with no problems.
So after hearing about this I purchased two games. First I bought Fallout, this was the original games, with the new Fallout 3 is based upon. Since I played a few hours on Fallout 3, I wanted to see just how closely does the new Fallout feel to the original. Also I was interested in Fallout since it's often a topic of the greatest games ever made.
Surprising, the install of the game was quick and easy. GoG makes their own installer which I assume added additional files to the game to help run on newer systems. As I started up the Fallout I saw that it played with no problems but I couldn't change the screen resolution, which was stuck at 640x480. Now at the time this game came out that was normal but I'm playing on a 1920x1280 screen which makes the game screen extremely small.
After getting past this slight problem I started the actual game play. Fallout is a turn based RPG, much like Final Fantasy. You move an allowed distance and have a certian about of points to attack. I played around for a short while making my way out of the caves fighting tunnel rats. Playing the orginal Fallout felt very similar to the new Fallout 3. Even the way you attack is very similar that I quickly understood the method to play. It's amazing how different the two games appear but play so closely.
Next I wanted to play a good old style shooter. I found a few favorites, Unreal Tournament, and Unreal 2004. I loved Unreal Tournament since it was so fun and had really smart computer players, plus great levels. I finally settled upon Unread 2004 and will pick up Unreal Tournament next. To buy these games from GoG you download them, which is ok for older games since they are small around 300MB but for Unreal 2004 it's about 2GB. The download was corrupted the first time but after installing the GoG downloader, went very smooth the second time.
The install process was the same as Fallout, GoG has their own installer to insall the game. Start up was quick and I was playing right after. Playing about 2 hours, I haven't seen any issue and was able to play the game in my full resolution, big plus. Even while the game is 5 years old, still feels like a very fun game, and I'll be playing this next LAN party.
Overall my experience with GoG has been excellent. I still have older games in my collection but as computers get faster and OS changes, they don't run like they used to. GoG takes out the risk and makes the old games run with no changes. It's well worth the $10 to grab a old game and give it some more life.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Long time with no update
It's been a while without an update. I haven't played WoW in a few months due to work and other interests. After some time at 76 on my paladin I'm planning to transfer to another server and play with new friends. The idea of dual boxing is fun but it's hard to keep up and have fun.
New laptop
After a long time with my old IBM Thinkpad I bought a new laptop. It has enough power to play games and run other applications at the same time. It's pretty fast and should last a few years.
It's been a while without an update. I haven't played WoW in a few months due to work and other interests. After some time at 76 on my paladin I'm planning to transfer to another server and play with new friends. The idea of dual boxing is fun but it's hard to keep up and have fun.
New laptop
After a long time with my old IBM Thinkpad I bought a new laptop. It has enough power to play games and run other applications at the same time. It's pretty fast and should last a few years.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, December 08, 2008
70! Northrend!
Finally after 4 days and 17 hours, my shadow priest hit 70. This is really the fastest I have leveled and now my second highest character. My highest character is only 70 and two bubble, so soon this priest will my main character. Right now I'm working on maxing out my skinning, a profession I just took, and want to level to 375 before heading to Northrend.
In order to get from 60 to 70, I followed the guides from Jame's Horde Leveling guides. So far with the new XP curve, I made 70 in Nagaran, where the guides listed as I should have been 66. Instead of working through old world I just finished my zone and now going to move to the new zone. It was a good thing because I just turned in the last quest in the quest hub and dinged, perfect timing.
For my paladin I'm level 63, going to start leveling this character to 70 and then move to Northrend as well.
Finally after 4 days and 17 hours, my shadow priest hit 70. This is really the fastest I have leveled and now my second highest character. My highest character is only 70 and two bubble, so soon this priest will my main character. Right now I'm working on maxing out my skinning, a profession I just took, and want to level to 375 before heading to Northrend.
In order to get from 60 to 70, I followed the guides from Jame's Horde Leveling guides. So far with the new XP curve, I made 70 in Nagaran, where the guides listed as I should have been 66. Instead of working through old world I just finished my zone and now going to move to the new zone. It was a good thing because I just turned in the last quest in the quest hub and dinged, perfect timing.
For my paladin I'm level 63, going to start leveling this character to 70 and then move to Northrend as well.
Monday, December 01, 2008
65-68 now in Nagaran
I leveled the priest to 68 this weekend, slower than expected since I wanted to hit 70 but I wanted to stay in rested xp so gave him a break. While resting, I played my rogue and got him to level 62. A few Outland greens and a couple of blue items from running Ramps so many times. Overall I still like the priest better but it's a different change of pace.
After playing for a bit, I switched over to my paladin. I made this character a while ago but somewhat gave up playing him. Then I transferred him from a PvP server to a PvE and gifted the last few levels to 60. I went into the Outlands with mostly level 40 gear but didn't do too bad. After questing for a short time I got to level 61 and bought the epic mount. So far I forgot how tough plate tanks can be. This guy is pretty tough and with the healing, can really be a life saver when you accidentally pull too many mobs. While the damage is much slower than my priest, I can usually take on 3 mobs and takes about the same time as my priest doing it one by one.
Overall, I think I'm going to stop leveling the rogue and only work on the priest, with the paladin in a close second. Just having the ability to heal is so nice and both classes have a bubble feature I used allot.
This week, I hope to get to level 70 on my priest and then continue in Outlands until 71 or 72, then go to the new zones.
I leveled the priest to 68 this weekend, slower than expected since I wanted to hit 70 but I wanted to stay in rested xp so gave him a break. While resting, I played my rogue and got him to level 62. A few Outland greens and a couple of blue items from running Ramps so many times. Overall I still like the priest better but it's a different change of pace.
After playing for a bit, I switched over to my paladin. I made this character a while ago but somewhat gave up playing him. Then I transferred him from a PvP server to a PvE and gifted the last few levels to 60. I went into the Outlands with mostly level 40 gear but didn't do too bad. After questing for a short time I got to level 61 and bought the epic mount. So far I forgot how tough plate tanks can be. This guy is pretty tough and with the healing, can really be a life saver when you accidentally pull too many mobs. While the damage is much slower than my priest, I can usually take on 3 mobs and takes about the same time as my priest doing it one by one.
Overall, I think I'm going to stop leveling the rogue and only work on the priest, with the paladin in a close second. Just having the ability to heal is so nice and both classes have a bubble feature I used allot.
This week, I hope to get to level 70 on my priest and then continue in Outlands until 71 or 72, then go to the new zones.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Rogue project
I have a level 60 rogue that I leveled normally from 1-20 but used my Recruit a Friend gifted levels to take him to 60. In the past few weeks as a side project I leveled the weapon skills to about 300, and leveled skinning to 240. The other profession is mining but I might drop this for leather working. It would be nice to make some gear and leather items while I level.
Now I'm pretty much set, my friend made me some basic green 60 gear and I found a mace/dagger combo from the auction house. The only item I need next and it's not a big deal is a epic mount. After having an epic mount on my priest I really miss the speed on the slower regular mount. With my druid I'm farming about 100 gold per day so I should have the rogue ready by this weekend with his own epic mount.
I have a level 60 rogue that I leveled normally from 1-20 but used my Recruit a Friend gifted levels to take him to 60. In the past few weeks as a side project I leveled the weapon skills to about 300, and leveled skinning to 240. The other profession is mining but I might drop this for leather working. It would be nice to make some gear and leather items while I level.
Now I'm pretty much set, my friend made me some basic green 60 gear and I found a mace/dagger combo from the auction house. The only item I need next and it's not a big deal is a epic mount. After having an epic mount on my priest I really miss the speed on the slower regular mount. With my druid I'm farming about 100 gold per day so I should have the rogue ready by this weekend with his own epic mount.
61 - 65, Zangarmarsh
Last night I got to about 64 1/4 before I logged out. I'm almost halfway done with the quests in Zangarmarsh, still following the Jame's guide. I did find a possible error in the guide but most likely it's something I did wrong. While getting new quests in Swamprat Post, I hit my max of 25 quests, with 3 more I needed to pick up.
Another issue I'm having is my professions are too low to pick up anything in the areas. I have herbalism and mining but with the Death Knights leveling the professions as well, it's been hard to find nodes to pick up. Since I'm a caster I'm thinking of dropping mining on my priest and picking up alchmey for the mana pots, which I'm always in need of.
The only problem is to level herbalism high enough to start gathering in the Outlands will take a long time to gather the items in old world. I'm thinking I should just to take a break from the quest grinding and this will greatly boost my income. Since I'm 5 levels from 70, I think keeping the push will be easy, then at 70 I'll take a break and level the professions. If things are getting slow, I'll stop at 66, and level.
So far, after so many levels with the priest I'm enjoying the game. It's a good mix of damage and healing which keeps the playing exciting.
Last night I got to about 64 1/4 before I logged out. I'm almost halfway done with the quests in Zangarmarsh, still following the Jame's guide. I did find a possible error in the guide but most likely it's something I did wrong. While getting new quests in Swamprat Post, I hit my max of 25 quests, with 3 more I needed to pick up.
Another issue I'm having is my professions are too low to pick up anything in the areas. I have herbalism and mining but with the Death Knights leveling the professions as well, it's been hard to find nodes to pick up. Since I'm a caster I'm thinking of dropping mining on my priest and picking up alchmey for the mana pots, which I'm always in need of.
The only problem is to level herbalism high enough to start gathering in the Outlands will take a long time to gather the items in old world. I'm thinking I should just to take a break from the quest grinding and this will greatly boost my income. Since I'm 5 levels from 70, I think keeping the push will be easy, then at 70 I'll take a break and level the professions. If things are getting slow, I'll stop at 66, and level.
So far, after so many levels with the priest I'm enjoying the game. It's a good mix of damage and healing which keeps the playing exciting.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
58-61, Outlands
This past Sunday I finally got both the priest and mage to 60. I did make a mistake of leveling the priest past 60, if I had only leveled to 59 and 80% to 60. I could have gifted one level and been at 60 with 80% to 61. But either way I'm done and happy with the results. Total time to 60 was 1 day and 12 hours played, almost 20 hours faster than my last run. I focused more on skipping quests that were collection and any quest that was overall difficult or took too long to complete.
Once I got this team up, I went back and gave my remaining toons enough gift levels to get them to 60, so now I have the following toons.
60 - Undead priest (now 61)
60 - Undead mage
60 - Undead rogue
60 - Blood elf paladin
60 - Blood elf priest
60 - Blood elf mage
20 - Orc shaman x 2
23 - Dranie shaman x 2
After this I'll have more than enough toons and doubt I'll ever need to start a new alt. :) The total time spent doing this project was small, since I was dual boxing, it was like playing one toon but leveling two. Now that I'm done, my main, the 61 undead priest I'll be focusing on.
Once I got to 60, I first trained for all of my spells at 60. Then I took two professions, herbalism and mining. The reason for the two collection professions is to make extra money and since I kept seeing the nodes everywhere but couldn't take any. I ventured out around the newbie areas and started to level both professions but found out that it was taking much longer than expected.
At the same time I also skilled up my weapons training which was very low since I only used the casting spells while power leveling. This was extremely fast, and in an about 1 hour I had wands, staff, mace, all leveled to about 300.
Once I was leveling the professions I stopped at 90 for both and headed to the Outlands. I figured the gold I could make out there was more than I could sell the materials I collected in the same time. In the Outlands within the first few quests I replaced 4 pieces of my old world gear and made about 20 gold. The xp was pretty good as I leveled to 61 in about 2 hours.
So far the shadow priest is fun to play but I'm going to need some more practice. I can take about 3 to 4 same level mobs at one time but it really burns through my mana pool. I'm thinking of taking up alchemy as a profession to make my own pots and to save money.
This past Sunday I finally got both the priest and mage to 60. I did make a mistake of leveling the priest past 60, if I had only leveled to 59 and 80% to 60. I could have gifted one level and been at 60 with 80% to 61. But either way I'm done and happy with the results. Total time to 60 was 1 day and 12 hours played, almost 20 hours faster than my last run. I focused more on skipping quests that were collection and any quest that was overall difficult or took too long to complete.
Once I got this team up, I went back and gave my remaining toons enough gift levels to get them to 60, so now I have the following toons.
60 - Undead priest (now 61)
60 - Undead mage
60 - Undead rogue
60 - Blood elf paladin
60 - Blood elf priest
60 - Blood elf mage
20 - Orc shaman x 2
23 - Dranie shaman x 2
After this I'll have more than enough toons and doubt I'll ever need to start a new alt. :) The total time spent doing this project was small, since I was dual boxing, it was like playing one toon but leveling two. Now that I'm done, my main, the 61 undead priest I'll be focusing on.
Once I got to 60, I first trained for all of my spells at 60. Then I took two professions, herbalism and mining. The reason for the two collection professions is to make extra money and since I kept seeing the nodes everywhere but couldn't take any. I ventured out around the newbie areas and started to level both professions but found out that it was taking much longer than expected.
At the same time I also skilled up my weapons training which was very low since I only used the casting spells while power leveling. This was extremely fast, and in an about 1 hour I had wands, staff, mace, all leveled to about 300.
Once I was leveling the professions I stopped at 90 for both and headed to the Outlands. I figured the gold I could make out there was more than I could sell the materials I collected in the same time. In the Outlands within the first few quests I replaced 4 pieces of my old world gear and made about 20 gold. The xp was pretty good as I leveled to 61 in about 2 hours.
So far the shadow priest is fun to play but I'm going to need some more practice. I can take about 3 to 4 same level mobs at one time but it really burns through my mana pool. I'm thinking of taking up alchemy as a profession to make my own pots and to save money.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
52 to 58, soo close!
Tonight I got from 52 to 58, still have more quests to go and I haven't done Eastern Plague Lands yet. So far I seen a lot of Death Knights but they have not taken any of my mobs or caused issues. After some of my problems with the Internet I'm back on track to get to 60 by this weekend.
Tonight I got from 52 to 58, still have more quests to go and I haven't done Eastern Plague Lands yet. So far I seen a lot of Death Knights but they have not taken any of my mobs or caused issues. After some of my problems with the Internet I'm back on track to get to 60 by this weekend.
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