… but the default MTU size on Windows XP systems will often reduce the throughput of PPPoE connections. You need to check out your provider’s MTU size and adjust accordingly (thanks to Scot’s Newsletter for this). In it he makes reference to SpeedGuide.net, a site I haven’t been to in a long time, spending instead, a lot of my time on the DSLReports site. But the SpeedGuide.net site has got a lot of good information on it that DSLReports only has in its forums like its Windows 2000/XP Registry Tweaks as well as downloads like the TCP Optimizer which will optimize your settings for your provider.

Some of the stuff is wildly out of date (a review of Tiny Software Personal Firewall V1.0 from 2000?) but the downloads and the tweaks and the news are worthwhile. Just wish they had an RSS feed.

BTW, check out the current issue of Scot’s Newslettercause he’s got a review of VoIP residential provider Vonage.

There’s a nice collection of online tools at http://www.dnsstuff.com that can give information based on IP address or domain name including DNS server response time, traceroute, reverse DNS lookup, CIDR/netmask lookup and ping. Thanks to 07/10/2003 Lockergnome Windows Daily for this site.

I think I heard of these two before but Dan Gillmor’s weblog entry brought them to mind again. Give it a shot.

In case you have something against going to Gillmor’s journal, go to Google and search for “French military victories”. Click the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button instead of the “Google Search” button.

The other one is to search for “weapons of mass destruction” and hit the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

Found this posting in the Scobleizer weblog listing RSS feeds from and about Microsoft. This link at Microsoft lists all the MSDN-related RSS feeds. He’s also got this link to a feed that lists the newest additions to the Microsoft download site. And don’t forget the Microsoft Watch.

Kevin Savetz has compiled and maintains a list of commercial and free faxing services that that you can use via email or the web (yes, eFax is one of them). His list includes international sites as well as U.S. domestic.

A couple of note here:

eFax (free and commercial)

Fax1 ($1 credit when you sign up, no monthly fee, $0.12/page to the U.S.)

MaxEmail (commercial but it only costs $14.85/year for the basic service)

Kelly’s Korner XP, that is. All sorts of good and interesting tidbits, tweaks, how-tos and … Some require a “donation” (I dunno, if it’s required, I don’t consider it a donation but what do I know?)

… so you can add this blog to your RSS reader if you like. See the little icon over there in the archives area that says blogrss (all in lowercase)? — that’s the link for the RSS feed. Copy the URL associated with it in to your RSS reader. The feed is courtesy of BlogMatrix. It’s supposed to be updated about every hour so you’ll always be up-to-date; 😀

I’ve been using TPF5 Beta for a while now and, even though it’s a beta and has some rough edges on its UI and it dramatically underdocumented, I’ve gotta say I like it! I think I may actually shell out some $$ for a firewall here in the near future.

OK, the question is, why? The application sandbox is pretty dang comprehensive, allowing me to group apps and give permission to the group as opposed to the apps. Separate permissions apply to registry keys and files as well as the standard networking protocols. I can set permissions to allow but monitor which means it logs the event in its own log and I can set the permissions to always ask me whether I want to allow it or not.

The connections view leaves a lot to be desired but it’s usable. It doesn’t look like I can shut down a connection I don’t like — a feature that I’d really like to have available.

And, of course, there are bugs. For instance, since I can’t find a way to bypass the prompt asking for permission to let IE create HOSTS.TMP in system32\drivers\etc even though I’ve explicitly added a rule to that effect.

The UI is supposedly very customizable butI don’t care a lot about that (yet). Basic feature set and usability is what I like.

See McDWireless. There are locations in Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and San Jose as well as a bunch of others. Cost is $4.95 for 2 hours but you’ll probably get time for buying a combo meal. Here’s a link to a NewsAlert story.

Nominated for “Quote of the Year” is the statement made by (retired)
Texas Congressman Dick Armey when asked, “If you had been in President
Clinton’s place would you have resigned?”

Armey’s reply: “If I had been in the President’s place, I would not have
gotten the chance to resign. I would have been lying in a pool of my own
blood, looking up and listening to my wife ask, ‘How do you reload this
son of a bitch’?”