Cocktail de nowël de la muerte

Le titre en dit long, mais bon, en gros quelqu’un devait prendre charge du cocktail pour le réveillon de noël.  Ça a pas été long que les idées sortaient et plusieurs thèmes sont ressortis :

• À base de produits du terroir
• Style bûcheron
• Punch avec jus d’orange et rhum
• Basé sur un Mai Tai
• Quelque chose de vert et rouge
• …

Par contre, comme d’habitude, j’étais un peu difficile…je tentais de :

• Limiter le sucre
• Faire différent et innover
• Rappeler les tropiques
• Faire en sorte que ça goûte pas l’alcool tout en mettant l’ambiance festive
• faire en sorte que tout le monde en redemande

À défaut d’avoir pris une photo du cocktail, c’était trop bon…

Bref, J’ai été avec un mix du style Mai Tai et produits du terroir.  Voici les ingrédients :

• Havana club (le rhum Chic Choc aurait fait la job, mais on avait du Havana en stock)
• Triple sec
• Bleuets congelés
• Jus de pêches-ananas (curieusement, c’est pas simple trouver juste du jus de pêches…)
• Thé automnal rooibos de Monsieur T
• Bière de gingembre (The great Jamaican) + Ginger ale (Canada Dry) half-half
• 4-5 limes tranchées, essentiellement pour le look
• 1 orange tranchée, essentiellement pour le look
• Miel et sirop d’érable pour adoucir
• Angostura bitters pour un brin d’amertume
• Menthe fraîche
• Gingembre tranché optionnel, ou sirop de gingembre (j’ai pris celui de Monsieur Cocktail)
• Épices de thé du Labrador optionnelles
• …pis d’la glace

C’en fait pas mal, j’ai hésité un bout avant de décider que c’était la bonne affaire, en me demandait si j’en faisait trop…ou pas assez…Chic-Choc ou Havana Club…?  En quelle quantité?

J’ai carrément demandé à Monsieur Cocktail sur Facebook et il a pris le temps de me répondre dans le rush des fêtes et de fixer quelques éléments qui ne fittaient pas dans mon idée initiale :

Bonjour!
Vous avez un bon instinct pour les saveurs! Nous vous recommandons de partir de la recette suivante :
https://monsieur-cocktail.com/recette/charlies-punch/

Vous pouvez utiliser le Chic Choc et/ou le Havana sans problème.
Vous pouvez changer le Cointreau pour du jus d’orange, le jus de pêche au lieu du jus d’ananas.
Vous pouvez remplacer la ginger beer par 3 oz de sirop de gingembre et 1/2 tasse de soda. L’Angostura (qui apporte l’amertume) pourrait être remplacé par 250 ml de thé infusé, refroidi.
Nous ne recommandons pas d’ajouter d’abricot brandy, de Schnaps ou pêche en canne. Ce serait trop sucré et les saveurs seraient en compétition au lieu de se compléter.

Bref, en jumelant les conseils et les idées, j’ai été fixé et pour les quantités, ben j’ai été avec le flow.  J’en ai refait…2 ou 3 fois je pense, sans forcément avoir tous les ingrédients à chaque fois et c’était tout aussi bon!

En gros, la procédure :

1. Préparer le thé à chaud (pas essayé à froid)
2. Mixer le rhum, Triple Sec, jus de pêches-ananas et le thé
3. Ajouter de la glace pour refroidir
4. Goûter et ajuster
5. Ajouter la bière de gingembre, le ginger ale, miel, sirop d’érable, angostura bitters et bleuets congelés
6. Remuer, goûter et ajuster – j’ai pris une cuiller de bar pour le style =)

Le faire donne d’autres idées aussi…thé du Labrador?  avec des piments chili? avec du gin et du whisky à la place?  Aurais-je dû infuser le thé pour plus de saveurs?

Si vous expérimentez, donnez-moi en des nouvelles!

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Dearborn-style yogurt marinated chicken experiment on the BBQ

So, we’re in winter, in a warmer period and I decided I needed some BBQ food.  One of my year challenges was to experiment with unknown spices (last year was ingredients) regularly.  So there I am, wanted to use some from the stash I have and this recipe could use more than one – paprika, sumac, fenugreek were the unknowns.

See ingredients at the end, I basically eyeballed it, I hate exact measures, gotta follow our gut :)

I first crushed sumac, fenugreek, paprika, cumin, cinnamon together at first, then crushed with the whole dry pepper followed by garlic to form a paste.  When homogeneous, I dropped it in the bowl with yogurt, mixed well and added lemon, lemon zest, salt, pepper, olive oil, mixed a last time and then added the chicken thighs.

To the fridge for 9h it went.  Original recipe said for 4h to overnight.

Lit up some coals, used the Allumax to start it (first use of it!), dropped the bowl when coals looked ready and well lit to finally spread the chicken and some bell peppers, about 30mins per side – well charred outside, tender and not reddish in the middle.

I initially used it in turkish-inspired pitas with some bacon, tzatziki, fresh italian tomatoes, those yellow peppers, local cheddar cheese (should have used feta) and semi-roasted pita bread (on the BBQ ofc). Kept some for an experiment in the rice cooker with homemade broth (also my first)

Yummy.  All of it.  Not gonna eat at the corner lebanese joint anymore.

Next time, I’ll try to roast the fenugreek beforehand and hydrate that pepper.  The spiciness of the trinidad scorpion was mitigated by the yogurt and olive oil.  It could have used some hydratation before.  Also, may be a good idea to pilòn the lemon zest with the rest of the spices, before adding the garlic.  The best part in this?  The discovery of the sumac – acidic, yet a bit spicy that marries very well with the rest.  I’ll also have to experiment more with fenugreek to see what’s its place in such recipes – I believe it agrements the char on the meat and plays a role on “yogurt cooking” along with lemon juice.  For more spiciness, could use hungarian strong paprika.  It isn’t the kind of spiciness most would find intolerable IMHO, it goes well with the rest, but being a heat addict, I want more =)

============================================================================

1 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons paprika (mine is fresh from Madagascar!)
1 teaspoon sumac (says from Turkey, don’t know if there are variants)
1 teaspoon fenugreek (initial recipe called for zhaa’tar, but I don’t have that)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (reduce to 1/2 teaspoon if you don’t like heat) (I took a dried trinidad scorpion)
Zest from one lemon
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, from one lemon
1-3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 garlic cloves, minced
2-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of any excess fat and cut into large bite-sized pieces

Prendre contrôle de nos mots de passe

Dans les dernières années, il y a eu plusieurs leaks de bases de données de mots de passe et à chaque fois, il est recommandé de changer vos mots de passe de façon sécuritaire.  Peu d’entre nous l’ont réellement fait et des analyses d’un leak à un autre permettent de déduire de telles informations qui aident notamment à prioriser diverses techniques de cracking et à exposer les [mauvaises] habitudes des utilisateurs qui aident dans leur cas à développer de meilleurs techniques pour cracker (et de noter la réutilisation des mots de passe sur plusieurs services).  Pour la plupart des faiblesses humaines dans la mémorisation des mots de passe, il y a une mnémonique et plusieurs sont implantées dans des outils de cracking.

On était donc le premier janvier et on m’achalait quant à savoir quelles seraient mes résolutions de l’année et les trucs habituels que j’oublierais après 3 semaines…très peu.  Quand j’ai pensé à changer mes batteries de détecteur de fumée, j’ai eu un déclic…excellent moment pour upgrader mon setup de mots de passe.

Ce n’est pas aussi simple que c’en a l’air comme nous verrons…

Tout d’abord, sans avoir d’index, il faut se rappeler de tous les systèmes qu’on utilise avec des mots de passe…

• Sites Web
• VPS
• Appareils connectés
• Steam
• Services locaux
• Codes de cadenas
• Trucs de cellulaire
• Messagerie Instantanée
• Réseaux WiFi
• …

Pour les sites Web, on peut utiliser nos e-mails ou y aller au fur et à mesure qu’on utilise ceux-ci.  Dans mon cas, je n’ai pas tout trouvé du premier coup, donc je ne m’en ferais pas trop pour ça.  Afin d’éviter cette problématique à l’avenir et d’alléger ma mémoire de tous mes mots de passe et leur mnémonique, etc je suggère donc l’utilisation d’un gestionnaire d’un mot de passe.  Il en existe plusieurs – LastPass (soyez sûr d’avoir une version avec les très récentes vulnérabilités patchées) et KeePass en sont 2 bons – sur diverses plateformes ayant leurs particularités et fonctions intéressantes.  Parmi celles-ci :

• Création de mots de passes “random” ou suivant des critères de notre choix
• Raccourcis clavier
• Rappels d’expiration

Une question survint…qu’en est-il si j’ai un keylogger, ou qu’un de mes sites se fait pirater et ainsi mon compte sur ce site?  Ou toute autre raison pouvant faire que je n’ai plus accès?  Il faut donc penser au 2FA (2-factor authentication) qui consiste à avoir un autre élément d’information afin de vérifier qu’il s’agit bien de nous.  J’ai cependant été déçu de m’apercevoir que ce n’est pas tous les services qui proposent du 2FA et que certains se limitaient aux SMS.  En effet, les SMS peuvent ajouter d’autres vecteurs de vulnérabilité (lien vers référence de fake tower openBTS+MITM, lien vers vol de cryptocurrencies en prenant contrôle du compte de téléphone), ce que nous cherchons à éviter.  Notamment lors d’un vol de téléphone, une carte SIM peut facilement être changée de téléphone et ainsi le # de cell pour potentiellement récupérer des codes 2FA.

Donc, j’active le 2FA sur tous les comptes possibles et de préférence avec Google Authenticator qui est une application mobile permettant de synchroniser des codes uniques entre le site Web et le PRNG pour se servir du cellulaire afin d’obtenir les codes.  Par contre, qu’en est-il si quelqu’un me vole mon téléphone?  Il devra évidemment soit :

• Avoir mon mot de passe et des codes 2FA d’urgence
• Avoir mon code de déverrouillage de cellulaire…avant que je le désactive à distance
• Me menacer physiquement…peut-être

Le tout protège aussi en quelque sorte de vulnérabilités sur le gestionnaire de mots de passe. Tel qu’arrivé “récemment” avec LastPass et 1pass.  Il est à noter qu’une alternative à Google Authenticator peut être une YubiKey.  Par contre, vu que c’est physique, ça se perd plus facilement…  

Codes 2FA d’urgence? Kessé?  Bien, imaginez vous quoi faire si vous avez oublié votre cell à la maison ou qu’il est perdu ou volé…comment rentrez-vous dans votre compte?  Bon, vous pourriez toujours vous connecter sur un autre appareil connu, mais encore…  Ces codes sont à conserver hors ligne ou dans d’autres comptes, afin de pouvoir se sortir des situations fâcheuses qui arrivent.  Bien évidemment, conserver dans un endroit sécuritaire et/ou sous votre contrôle.  Une autre bonne option est d’avoir un backup phone pré-configuré.

Autre point à surveiller avec le 2FA…plusieurs sites permettent une solution alternative aux SMS, mais ne permettent pas de désactiver ceux-ci!

Votre keyring devient corrompu?  Faites des backups…, encryptés, sachant que c’est carrément une clef passe partout.  De plus, il est possible d’utiliser un fichier de clef en plus d’un mot de passe pour protéger l’accès au keyring.  Évidemment, il va sans dire que le mot de passe maître ne doit pas être devinable en fonction de la personne, ou être constitué de termes communs – modifiés ou non.

Un élément souvent ignoré ou omis sont les questions secrètes.  Trop souvent, des sites vont nous forcer à prendre les mêmes questions habituelles et n’offrent pas la possibilité de choisir vos propres questions.  En donnant toujours les mêmes questions faciles, on s’entend que souvent les réponses sont aussi faciles, sinon facilement obtenables par social engineering.  Rien ne vous empêche de mettre une réponse qui n’a pas rapport à la question, ou de noter à une autre place la question choisie ainsi que la réponse saisie.  De plus, il est parfois bon de changer de question secrète – peut-être pas aussi souvent que vos mots de passe par contre.  Considérez le tout un peu comme une backdoor.

Vous désirez aller un peu plus loin?  Avec toutes les bases de données de mots de passes et autres informations qui ont été leakées, il est facile de faire de la corrélation en recherchant une même adresse de courriel ou nom d’utilisateur.  Vous désirez compliquer cette tâche?  Vous pouvez utiliser des points dans votre adresse et ceux-ci seront ignorés à l’envoi de courriel ex:ban.ane.nav.et@hotmail.com donnera bananenavet@hotmail.com.   L’autre option est d’ajouter un signe “+” après la première partie de votre adresse courriel et le texte que vous voulez entre celui-ci et le @ ex: aleksandr_polyatuk+duproprio@gmail.com. Ce texte sera ignoré, mais présent.  Si vous avez votre propre domaine et du courriel sur celui-ci, encore plus simple d’utiliser une boîte “catchall” où klasjflkjalsijfa@votredomaine.tk recevrait le courriel quand même.  Très simple pour un antispam personnel.

Annexe

Suggestions de sites/applications à checker pour des comptes :

• Reddit
• Steam
• iTunes
• Google
• Telegram
• Air Miles
• Slack
• Origin
• Amazon
• Newegg
• Fournisseur Internet
• Sites de recherche d’emploi
• LinkedIn
• Uber
• Dropbox
• Battle.net
• Twitter
• AirBnb
• Untappd
• Site perso/WordPress
• Facebook
• Skype/MSN
• Votre fournisseur DNS
• Votre site préféré de livraison de bouffe

Motorola Droid Maxx – SMS/text cannot be sent after 5 minutes of connectivity OR data dropping

Ordered that phone from an US friend (I am based in Canada) back when it got out because it looked so much like the next beast and I’m a fan of the DROID series from Motorola.  I got tired of my Milestone and was changing jobs so it was time for a new phone.

For a while, I had no issues, it was really the best phone I could have, best size, rugged et al.  Things changed when I got the KitKat (Android 4.4) update.

At first it was hard to establish a connection to the mobile network, except on Global network on which it was still dropping regularly.  It wasn’t related to signal since it could be dropping at -76dBm or -97.  I got the situation to stabilize a bit when I found out how to use the GSM network…had to select it, then reboot the phone and set properly or delete the APN.  However, the impossibility of sending SMS more than 5 minutes after the connection has been established to the mobile network (unless resetting the connection) was more aggravating for my friend that got the same phone…  and yes, we could receive texts the whole time.

Went to the shop to check a new phone…Fido (my company) said basically to switch phones with a GN3…naw thanks, going at Telus, the seller asked what was the issue, explained all, he said even if the phone was factory unlocked, it might have some Verizon-specific settings due to the fact the phone was VZW-specific.  That made total sense, knowing that the phone baseband was coming from Verizon.  Another thing he checked was that the phone had roaming ON or OFF.  Finally, he mentioned that some phones aren’t very stable/compatible with LTE/4G of other countries.

So..a few hours later, I fiddle with my phone, switch to GSM/LTE, disable LTE by forcing UMTS…not that bad, it’s still on H+ and…IT’S STABLE!  Yep, SMS/texts were also fixed.  A major detail is that roaming HAS to be enabled.

I have seem a LOT of people having that issue, not only for the Droid Maxx, but also on the Nexus 4/5, SGS3/4, GN2 and more.  Maybe it is the same issue?  Note that the problems were not identical between me and my friend, as we’re on different providers.  The pattern was similar tho’

HTH

dd if=/dev/baby of=/root/mouth…wondering why?

Yes, I’m angry.
Wondering why? bah…just one more drop in the cup…BUT, but…the cup is full!
Users.  Not all of them, but still, a LOT of them.  Why?

It can be fun to be a BOFH.  Periodically it’s fine, but always…naw.  Usually, some users (often the same people), can get a sysadmin angry for various reasons we’ll mention later.  However, the feelings the sysadmin has towards them should be limited to these users.  If it spreads to other users…or people, this is BAD.

As for my actual state of mind on that topic, here’s what is irritating me :

• Users that thinks themselves as clients, knowing that the client is the king – WE ARE NOT IN A SHOP.
• Those saying “hey, got a problem here, do your job!” or “hey, I got problems AGAIN, can’t you damn fix this permanently?” – We are normal people too, not machines, you can ask nicely too…  and it’s not always our fault if you got problems.  Did you listen to us?  Did you completly mention your needs previously?  Did you change your mind AGAIN?  Also, IT is something that evolves very quickly and you shouldn’t blame us for not being able to follow.
• Those needing us to have their hand held pretty much anytime, scared of reading documentation or even doing what we’re telling them, WE HAVE TO DO IT. – OK, listen : you’re grown-up adults, you should be autonomous in the use of your everyday tools.  If we’re writing in-house documentation, that’s specifically for YOU, so please use and read them.  If you have problems with those docs, please tell us what it’s about, ask concise questions, involve yourself in these docs to make them better…anything, but USE them!
• People pretending they tried stuff or that they didn’t do anything when the inverse is flagrant…
• Users trying to have their hand held by looking stupid when they are not, just to get more attention

So yea…depending on how tasks are delegated and seperated in your organization, those explanations may vary, but they still globally apply!  Don’t be scared of geeks, they may be socially different, but they’re still people with feelings and they also deserve respect, as much as you do.  If you feel they’re disrespectful to you, if you don’t like the geeky humor going on, try to wonder if you’re interacting properly…you can also ask them.

You may wonder : what’s the best way to act with tech support staff or sysadmins?  There we go :

• Be yourself.  Be cool.  Don’t lie.
• Try to do your own research before asking for support.  Do your analysis of the situation and tell us what steps you did.  We’ll be more than happy to assist you in your analysis to the end.
• We love to educate users that want to know more
• Before taking a job, ask if it requires demonstrated 21st century intelligence – nowadays we suppose that you know how to surf the interwebs, how they are working technically and structurally, that you know how to use MS Office main functions..and that you know how to use and user-manage a computer.
• Ask politely
• Don’t ask when you are emotional.
• Fully describe your expectations and your needs, we aren’t omniscient or mind readers – communicate!
• If you have specific needs, please try not to change them too often.
• We expect you to fully understand the implications of your needs and requests.
• Most importantly…listen to us, sysadmins or tech supporters, and UNDERSTAND what you’re being told. Do NOT try to memorize every small detail without understanding it.
• Being a smartass or acting like stupid WON’T help your case.

Thanks for understanding.

Smartphone OS/device wars – user profiles & ±’s

Every time I argue or troll about Android vs iPhone, I think that someone fitting in some profile is more adapted to a specific mobile phone OS.  However, the decision on which smartphone hardware, which specifications are more important are more related to the buyer preferences, how he is counselled, is the buyer verifying the informations he finds/hears/receives?  Of course, there’s the peer pressure as usual and the size of the wallet.

Let’s just assume the user knows what he wants, that he has no peer pressure, a good wallet, no monetary restrictions and that he’s verifying any received information and that those are exact.  What could be the technologic behavioral profile of the buyer of each type of smartphone OS?

Android

Android users would be curious, geeky, more technical and open minded.  They are willing to search for more information, try new things, which is typical of power users.  However, there are people that want a geek toy… like “I want something I could do something different or unique I couldn’t do with other devices.”.  This gave a community…no, many communities of modders, developers (app or core), that are taking advantage of the opensourceness of Android.  One must keep in mind that the open-source model is a double-edged sword : yes, you can modify the system, a community is possible, lots of work can be acomplished, BUT, the architecture is exposed, which makes the development of malware easier for the baddies.  However, since there’s the community, a fix can be provided quickly…if someone updates!  The fact that some updates are manufacturer-dependant can be sometimes frustrating but well…you gotta assume!  The Android Market isn’t regulated, which means you can find applications containing malware.  Third party applications are also possible and unregulated so it’s up to you, usual security precautions apply there.

There is of course some system-based security that disallows most applications to run as root.  You can root your device to install system-level application such as new hardware/adapters (for VPN) or to literally mod your OS/device.

Some people believe that even if the mobile device OS is the same, applications aren’t compatible, FALSE.  Some applications may be optimized for some Android devices, some may have bugs with some devices…just gotta choose a well supported device, such at the official Google phones (Nexus One and Nexus S) or a device that is a member of the Droid family. Such device-specific bugs are uncommon on well-designed applications/games.

iPhone/iPod Touch (iOS)

In the back-to-school promos, Apple often gives an iPod Touch for free with the purchase of a Mac and that would explain why a lot of kids have them.  The fact that these devices are very user friendly helps a lot too.  It is probably the best device that can also play music…which combined with the fact that lots of kids have access to a Touch (theirs or thru their friends) and the fact they eventually want/need a phone to blah blah or to text.  how is that OS-related? Well…Apple plays the “if you bought one of our devices, it sure has our OS” card!  That means you are bound to their modifications and conditions.  you don’t like something?  In some rare cases there may be solutions or hacks, but most of the time you just should…assume.

I find these users are the ones that “don’t have the time”.  You know those that if they have a problem, they ask someone else to fix it because…of that time issue?  Lets think of computer infection issues.  You think iOS is safe?  WRONG! Anyway, even going by the fact that nothing is perfect…nothing is 100% safe.  However, due to the fact that iOS is closed-source, it may take more time to report/patch a vulnerability because only Apple can work on that.  Also, iOS tends to jail all executed applications, which means the apps are given specific privileges to the filesystem, has all privilege in its own memory space, but it cannot modify the core of the system, thus increasing the security…somewhat.  Security by obscurity isn’t necessarily the way to go and it doesn’t mean usual security precautions shouldn’t apply.  The App Store also “jails” the way the users can get applications, since every app there has to be approved by Apple before being publicly available.

The jailing is indeed a good security implementation, but lots of users are jailbreaking their device.  It removes the said security, which allows system-level (rather than filesystem) application interaction…something absolutely loved by malware developers!  It also allows the usage of unapproved applications, which may or may not host malware.  Most viruses on iOS-based devices affected jailbroken iPhones.

Oh…and don’t forget, these users must be serious iTunes lovers! *wink

Blackberry OS

Mostly used in businesses, since it was the first smartphone that allowed synchronization with a Microsoft Exchange server (and for a long time).  Why would someone buy something with BB OS rather than anything else?  Like Apple, RIM is playing the “if you bought one of our devices, it sure has our OS” game, which isn’t a bad combination.  However, it is being deprecated, didn’t have any major changes in a long time (BB OS6 isn’t a major change).  Maybe they had a BB OS-based device for a long time and they don’t like the change?  Maybe the convenience of BlackberryMessenger?  Maybe the fact it can be linked to a BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server (which allows enterprise sync with Exchange, remote device wiping and more)?  Maybe it’s the unique keyboard design?  As for the security, a BB linked to a BES if not configured properly can give access to the enterprise’s LAN.  The BB App Store is too new to be worth mentioning, anyone knows if there is some app approbation process?  Anyway, 3rd party applications are possible and trojan horses or keyloggers are indeed possible.  Otherwise, communications are encrypted and it has been proven to be safe.  Usual security precautions STILL apply!

Windows Mobile 7 & others

I have no idea except those buyers could be windows lovers, wanting to try something ‘new’ or wanting easy or cheap phones.  WM7 is too new to be judged.

Conclusion & addenda

I don’t know…I feel the iOS/Android battle is quite the same as the Windows/Linux battle on PCs.

Of course, that is just what came to my mind for now so it is preliminary.  I’m open to comments/critics; with those, the post content may (or may not) be updated.

Quotes:

<+_bowser> android people eat steak, iphone people are vegetarians

<+Ethos> android people eat rice because they’re poor, iPhone people eat the best steak imo ;)
<+scratchme> Ethos: Not on the boon-docks IT salaries, you showed us.

Interesting links :

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/02/25/6-ways-iphone-and-android-users-differ/
http://www.worldnewsco.com/2516/compared-iphone-android-easily-attacked-viruses/

First experiences with embedded video extraction

People are often wondering how they could grab videos embedded in flash players on websites, and someone asked me to yesterday.

SO, I remembered that talk from Honey @ DefCON 18 last summer in Vegas (1) about “Ripping media off the wire” that was talking about how online music works, what are the “securities” in place, why they are weak and how to exploit them.  It mentioned getting essentially the tool HttpFox and if you want to convert your file from FLV to something else, a converter.

I did put that in application for this video and httpfox gave me the link to the infomercial first (*yawn*) but that was a start, was able to grab it!

03:53:13.000    0.176    681    (7.7M)    GET    (Cache)    video/quicktime    http://cdn.adgear.com/astw/assets/741/2225/20110218210645_0.379090031747797_desjardins_soucidelepargne_ok8.mov?videoId=803341163001&lineUpId=&pubId=618566855001&playerId=745466524001&affiliateId=

Was the interesting line, since it had a mimetype corresponding to a video format.  Then I noticed that more lines appeared when the real clip shows up :

00:00:28.855    0.091    522    313    GET    200    image/gif    http://dstw.adgear.com/interactions/int/p=1474/pm=2232/as=2950/asm=93272/i=1202?AG_R=66868943237144
00:00:28.891    0.009    475    (5704)    GET    (Cache)    application/x-shockwave-flash    http://admin.brightcove.com/viewer/us1.25.01.02.2011-03-02064508/controllers/FP10StreamingMediaController.swf
00:00:29.271    0.169    807    223    GET    200    text/plain    http://goku.brightcove.com/1pix.gif?dcsdat=1299356301604&dcsref=not%20available&playerURL=http%3A//vtele.ca/videos/dumont/l-humanite-devrait-nous-imiter-l-eglise-de-scientologie-au-quebec_25470_25472.php&flashVer=WIN%2010%2C2%2C152%2C32&os=Windows%207&dcssip=&lang=en&affiliateId=&dcsuri=/viewer/video_start&sourceId=618566855001&videoId=803341163001&mem=64944&time=-1&publisherId=618566855001&connectTime=64&playerId=745466524001&playerTag=
00:00:30.449    0.601    557    442    GET    200    application/xml    http://rcv-srv43.inplay.tubemogul.com/crossdomain.xml
00:00:31.050    0.332    2047    134    POST    200    application/xml    http://rcv-srv43.inplay.tubemogul.com/StreamReceiver/services

I believe the answer is in the bold part, but then I thought my good friend scratchme mentioned some tool for hulu videos that might work for other sites, StreamTransport (2).  That was pretty straightforward, download, install, execute, paste the webpage link, the it links to the 2 available clips in that page, the ad and the real one, just had to select the second one and click download, voilà!

——————

References :

1- http://www.defcon.org/images/defcon-18/dc-18-presentations/Honey/DEFCON-18-Honey-Ripping-Media.pdf
2- scratchme from ##windows-pro on Freenode (IRC) — http://www.streamtransport.com/

How I fixed my recurrent BSODs

Here was my situation with my unstable main home computer, the thing happened between thursday evening and monday morning randomly.  It could be reproduced sometimes with specific processes.  My last major hardware upgrade consisted of a BIOS upgrade, new HDDs, more RAM, another DVD drive, a new CPU and a new graphics card.  At that exact moment, I went into a Windows 7 upgrade from XPSP3, tried the x64 version, crashed for no specific reason so I used x86 W7 for months before trying again and having a successful install.  Note that BSODs did happen with the x86 version but they were rare.

So much happened and since I just upgraded the system, it was very hard to see if it was related to hardware, Windows or software.

I had a heavily used Win7 x64 computer doing persistently 0x0000003B BSODs and I looked so long for a solution since I tried pretty much all I could think about :

• Doing a repair upgrade install fixed some causes of that BSOD (I could reproduce it by trying to install Office 2010!)
• Flushing the folder SoftwareDistribution while WU service is stopped (not sure that works in W7 to reinstall all updates…)
• Memtest86 found an errored stick 3 months ago, removed it. (used to do 0x0000000A errors (or 1A)
• chkdsk /f fixed some errors, but nothing to fix it
• I used smartmontools to check HDD life, there’s like 15% left, no errors.
• I unplugged weirdly behaving speakers and the APC UPS data cable to dismiss them as possible causes, no changes.
• I updated graphic drivers
• sfc /scannow reported errors it couldn’t fix, at the beginning but it’s fine since the repair reinstall.
• Swapped power supply and memory with known working ones, to test
• Tried intensive work from a Linux LiveCD without issues
• Unplugged all hard drives and DVD drives, except the system HDD, still happened
• Tried 3 times a parallel install of W7, BSODed 3 times…same one same code.
• Tried different manual settings from the BIOS about memory voltage, virtualization, memory speed, dual channel or not.
• …I probably forget something

See at the end of the post for more infos about the whole setup and error messages.

Here’s some details from BlueScreenView :

Here’s what I finally dove into to fix this issue :

• I took the time to understand how to interpret and decode BSODs to get more informations from this link
• Since I noted a lot of VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT in the logs, I thought I could double-verify drivers and indeed, I used 1 Vista driver and 1 W7 x86 driver while there was a x64 one.  NOTE : Don’t rely on your motherboard maker for drivers, go on the chipset/integrated device manufacturer’s website for specific drivers that are supposed to be way more up-to-date (in my case, went to nvidia.com to update my chipset’s)  Although, this didn’t fix anything.
• Analyzed eventvwr logs where there wasn’t much helpful data
• Checked for malware in files, registry, startup : none to be seen
• Double-checked BSOD informations, found the faulty processes and blocked them from any execution, those were Windows Media Player Sharing Service and the Search Indexer (Windows services).  No more recurrent 0x3B bluescreens since that time!

Conclusions

• It isn’t hardware related since Linux has no issues
• Reinstalling fails because it detects another Windows install, tries to access its hive which may be corrupted. [theory]
• Such a corrupted hive could explain non-random crashes such as those from Internet Explorer, .NET Framework or Office 2010 install.
• It could be the combination of an updated BIOS and a new CPU that causes instability into drivers or Windows’ kernel (note that the SP1 isn’t out yet!) [theory]
• What could have been damaging the system is the faulty memory that has been removed since.  I should try a reinstall without the actual system drive plugged in, but I am lazy since everything is fine now.

Here are some annexes :

My hardware setup :

750w PSU
ASUS M2N-SLi DELUXE with latest stable bios version (not the beta that supports AM3 socketted CPUs)
AMD Phenom X4 9850BE
5 hard drives for a total of 3.14 Tb, system is on a 250Gb one
Radeon 4890 graphic card
SoundBlaster Audigy 4ZS
2 DVD drives one from Pioneer and one from LG
Phones are often hooked on the system, a Blackberry Bold 9000 and a Motorola Milestone via its dock
Saitek Cyborg keyboard
Microsoft mouse
Monitor is a Samsung 225BW
A PCI network card DFE538TX I think, because the onboard NICs are known to do freegames
The computer is protected from surges and such by a 1300VA UPS from APC

———————————

Here are some error logs I got from BSODs :

SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (3b)
An exception happened while executing a system service routine.
Arguments:
Arg1: 00000000c0000005, Exception code that caused the bugcheck

EXCEPTION_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 :

//
// MessageId: STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION
//
// MessageText:
//
// The instruction at 0x%08lx referenced memory at 0x%08lx. The memory could not be %s.
//
#define STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION          ((NTSTATUS)0xC0000005 L)
PROCESS_NAME:  mscorsvw.exe

STACK_TEXT:
nt!HvpFindFreeCellInThisViewWindow+0x45

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR: 0x3B
PROCESS_NAME: wmpnetwk.exe
CURRENT_IRQL: 0
LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 0000000000000000 to fffff8000314c855
STACK_TEXT:
fffff880`06da66e0 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!HvpFindFreeCellInThisViewWindow+0x45

---

Tester un disque dur qui semble mourir et recouvrement [irclog]

J’arrivais pas à mounter une partition systeme linux qui est du ext3 a cause d’une read error…why? Je sais pas, mais voici ce que j’ai appris avec des avis de diagnostic.

[21:48:18] <DrMax> vn0 : essaye smartmontools et smartctl avant
[21:48:34] <DrMax> sudo smartctl -t long /dev/tondisque
[21:48:47] <DrMax> ça va lancer le low-level diagnostic de S.M.A.R.T.
[21:48:57] <DrMax> ça donne rien de fsck si ton disque est en train de mourrir
[21:49:02] <DrMax> ça va juste empirer
[21:49:07] <vn0> avant fsck?
[21:49:09] <vn0> ok
[21:49:11] <DrMax> oui!
[21:49:22] <vn0> hum je lai pas sur le livecd
[21:49:23] <DrMax> le low-level test est fait par le HD lui-même
[21:49:30] <vn0> juste un truc smartdimmer
[21:49:34] <DrMax> sudo apt-get install smartmontools
[21:49:47] <DrMax> t’as quand même teh interwebs ?
[21:49:52] <vn0> y
[21:50:04] <DrMax> le low-level test est fait par le HD lui-même et c’est “off-line”
[21:50:09] <DrMax> tu peux continuer à travailler après
[21:50:13] <vn0> neat
[21:50:23] <DrMax> quand tu vas le lancer, il donne un estimé du temps que ça va prendre
[21:50:24] <DrMax> et
[21:50:31] <DrMax> sudo smartctl -a /dev/tondisque
[21:50:36] <DrMax> ça va montrer le status
[21:50:39] <vn0> wtf ca installe postfix
[21:50:55] <DrMax> ouais, pour te notifier que ton HD saigne du cul par mail
[21:51:04] <DrMax> t’as qu’à mettre no config pis c’est tout
[21:51:10] <DrMax> (c’est nouveau, ça faisait pas ça avant)
[21:51:11] <vn0> done that
[21:51:25] <DrMax> « my anus is bleeding »
[21:51:28] <DrMax> « my anus is bleeeeeeeeding »
[21:51:31] <DrMax> lol
[21:51:48] <DrMax> donc quand tu vas lancer le long test
[21:51:55] <DrMax> < DrMax > sudo smartctl -t long /dev/tondisque
[21:51:59] <DrMax> il va te donner un estimé de temps
[21:52:10] <vn0> deja le -a jai un output
[21:52:21] <DrMax> tant que le test sera pas fini, il apparaît pas dans -a
[21:52:41] <vn0> ok c c ala partir “not_testing”
[21:53:09] <vn0> 61 menutes
[21:53:11] <vn0> pas si pire
[21:53:13] <DrMax> quand ton long test va compléter, tu vas voir :
[21:53:21] <DrMax> SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
[21:53:22] <DrMax> Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
[21:53:22] <DrMax> # 1 Extended offline Completed without error 00% 17 –
[21:53:26] <DrMax> (mettons, c’est mon HD)
[21:53:34] <DrMax> tu vas peut-être avoir des erreurs
[21:53:42] <DrMax> si ton HD rapporte des erreurs, c’est le temps de le changer
[21:53:43] <vn0> avec le -a ca?
[21:53:46] <DrMax> oui
[21:53:52] <vn0> okey tks
[21:53:56] <DrMax> tant que le long test sera pas complété, ça apparaîtra pas
[21:53:58] <vn0> je not ele log, c fort utile
[21:54:14] <vn0> si y na pas, fsck?
[21:54:23] <DrMax> oui, sinon c’est juste un prob de fs
[21:54:32] <vn0> k
[21:55:05] <DrMax> sinon… ben payes toi un nouveau HD
[21:55:07] <DrMax> il est foutu ;)
[21:55:27] <vn0> ehe no biggie.thanks @ backups
[21:55:57] <DrMax> s’il est foutu, tu vas voir, genre #1 extended offline <raison de l’erreur> completed 65% <lifetime> <secteur de l’erreur>
[21:56:08] <DrMax> c’est pas supposé être un biggie non plus
[21:56:33] <DrMax> mais c’est mieux que tu détecte le fail du HD lui-même au lieu d’en beurrer plus épais en réparant un FS sur un hd qui sait plus tenir ses données
[22:00:09] <vn0> indeed
[22:07:07] <DrMax> si tu reboot ça cancelle le test
[22:07:21] <DrMax> ça va montrer, ex “cancelled by host” ou quelque chose comme

sidenote : normalement tu fais un safedd pour faire une image de ton drive dans un autre fichier, tu travailles sur l’image et tu as un backup boot sector, backup superblock…safedd ignore les read error (il remplace les error par des null) ca permet de faire une image disque travaillable. ca fait une copie byte a byte du drive

 

Note 21-02-2011 : on peut aussi utiliser le dd normal avec les options conv=noerror,sync

Network printer drivers shared on a x64 server for x86 clients

Topic says a lot…maybe you’ve never done it but I’m telling you, this can be a PITA.

Sometimes the normal way may work out…but it’s rare. Normal way being adding a local TCP/IP port on the server, then installing this printer on the server with x64 drivers. For the client drivers, we’re going to the sharing tab of the printer, click Additionnal drivers and check x86 to add the driver that’s supposed to work. When it doesn’t it either complains the driver isn’t the right one, isn’t found or isn’t for the right architecture…MEH

Yesterday, thanks to Freenode’s #windows-server folks, I tried another way that worked out great : you add the drivers first on the server (2008 in my case for W7 clients), both x64 and x86. Then on the same server you proceed to install the printer from its port, select both x86 and x64….voila! now you can share it…