Why if it Works Don’t Fix it Isn’t Good for Computing

If it works don’t fix it.  How often have we heard that in our lives.  From the time we were kids our Mom and Dad would tell us this when as you geeks we would take something apart to figure out how it worked.  They’d say it worked before you took it apart!  Ahh yes it did but we learned!  We learned how to do it to a point and then we messed it up and learned not to do that again.  If it works don’t fix it.  Yet this is something that cleanly does not always apply to computers.  Why?  Well let me tell you a story first:

Went down to my parents house for the holidays and had a grand time, but on the first day I learned just how much my parents don’t really know.  I asked my Dad for the password for his wifi router so I could connect to it, but he did not know.  Now this is because Cisco/Linksys implemented Wifi Protected Setup.  My laptop and my wifes both had trouble connecting until I assigned a WPA password.  WPS attempted to make setup easy, but it actually made it harder than it should be.  Anyway, in resolving the solution, I discovered that my parents still had the default password for the router and one of their machines as being logged into only with the Administrator sign on and they had NO PASSWORD on the account!  When I attempted to explain to them how bad that is, they didn’t care.  They said: if it works don’t fix it and it works boy!  Leave it alone!

Now, you Linux people know why these things are bad.  Now I am going to attempt to explain why this is bad in layman terms.  If it works, don’t fix it doesn’t apply here.  Why?  Well not doing anything is just like not doing regular maintenance on your car.  If you don’t change the oil, your car might blow up.  If you don’t patch your router, some mischievous individual may make your computer a slave to his wishes, not yours.  They don’t even have to be in your house or even on your street.  they can be in your neighbors house or on the other side of the world.  This is why you must always do your maintenance.

What maintenance should home users do?  Well here’s what I suggest to do and when:

Monthly

1. Windows, Mac or Linux System Updates.

2. Antiviral or Spyware Updates.

3. Browser updates if you use something other than Internet Explorer or Safari on Mac OS X.

4. Other program updates.

Bi-Monthly

1. Visit your router’s website to see if a firmware update has been released.  If it has, update it.

Every 90 Days

1. Change Passwords.

Now I know what some will say, but these are my suggestions on how to stay safe.  Some of these might be scary for you, but after you’ve done it once, you whoudl feel more comfortable.  The most onerous one is probably the password changes since everything requires a password.  My suggestion isn’t to use an algorithm, but it helps.  If you just can’t seem to remember your password, I highly suggest writing them down if you are a home user.  In a corporate space, this is a nono, but at home you don’t have a choice unless you want to reset your router again.  Besides, if a stranger is in your home, you have a bigger problem than having your password discovered!  If you are afraid to write it down on paper, I suggest using Keepass which is a multi platform password storage program.

This is just an overview of what a every day Joe should do and it not meant to be a comprehensive guide.  If you or your parents aren’t capable of this, then I highly suggest getting them a iPad since it’s very easy to use and hard to mess up.

Radically Finished, Scared and Full of Hope

To the Linux people, this is the last posting on the Radical Read-Along.  God bless you guys and I hope you read.

I was struggling with finishing this book.  Not because it was a hard read, but because God is bringing me and my family to the mat with a lot of things.

Chapter 8

The part that moved me a lot in this chapter was when the mission team was serving patients with HIV.  Would I risk getting pricked with a needle and contracting HIV for the Lord??  Would I go and pray for people who are infected with a deadly disease?  I am starting to believe that I could and I will get to more of that later in the wrap.

Ampache: Web Based Media Streamer that Kicks!

I have often wanted to toy around with setting up a home server of sorts.  While I have always had something in the last 2-3 years, I wouldn’t exactly have called it a server.  I was running a DLNA program on my NSLU2 and it worked, but I just didn’t have a good feeling for it to use it beyond the oh that’s cool stage.  Now with Ampache, I think I have found something I will use and maybe even my family.

The interface is wrote in PHP, primarily and it’s awesome.  You basically only need a web browser and a flash plugin to play music.  It also supports Icecast style streaming so you should also be able to use your favorite desktop player as well.

I would write more, but I would rather talk about it in depth on TLLTS.  So, just go check out Ampache and stay tuned to The Linux Link Tech Show for more.

Radical Read Along Chapter 6 and 7: Depressed, but ended in Hope

This post is a part of my Radical Read Along series.  Linux people, be aware that there will probably only be two more posts at most in this series then it’s back to my normal weird schedule of not posting much!

As I read through these, I had many thoughts.  The first one was how much is enough??  I liked that Platt pointed to the story of the rich man in Matthew 10.  Jesus told this rich guy to sell everything he had and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and then told him to follow him.  Jesus exposed that this man was every attached to his riches and that he must be willing to give them all up to follow him.  Would we be willing to give up our creature comforts??  Would we be willing to go this far?

I don’t consider myself a rich man.  In fact, life is a constant struggle.  Even with the struggles I have, I have more than most people in the world will ever have.  Would I be willing to give up my house, my car, my cellphone, my family….my life?  I struggle with this.  It’s one area of my life that needs to improve.  I need to be more willing to go and lay it all on the line for Christ.

Radical Read Along Chapter 5 – How Can I?

The following is for my radical read along group, but it can pertain to you to.  So if you are afraid of this kind of stuff, then wait and I will have another Linux post up soon after this one.  In fact this very post may just have some Linux content mixed with the gospel so here we go.

This chapter meant a lot to me, but it just wasn’t as deep as the others have been for me.  I think part of this is because I actually kind of get what Platt is saying.  Why?  Well if you have not read my blog before this or my other posts on geardiary.com or on Linux for Christians one thing that I love to work with (after God and my Family of course) is Linux and Open Source software.  One thing that I noticed once I had become more involved with Linux has been the word community.  Linux itself is a community of Linux users and software developers working towards making a better software.  We hold Linux fests, Install fests and other things in the local community to help “preach the gospel” of Linux and Open Source Software.  In many ways, this is exactly what Platt is talking about and I think it is something that the Linux community have down better than we Christians do because there is no Church of Linux.  There is no building that is dedicated to teaching Linux.  We have no choice but to go into the community and find a place to meet.

Some Reviews I am working on…

I have a few reviews in the queue for on geardiary.com and on the tech show.

The first one I will be working on is the Sansa Fuze+ review.  Will the new version hold up to the old Fuze?  Stay tuned to the Linux Link Tech Show and geardiary.com to find out.

The second is the ZaReason Terra HD Netbook.  In fact, I am typing this post on it now.  So far, I like it!

There will be both audio and text reviews on both of these devices coming to geardiary.com and tllts.org.

A word, then a post: My Top Ten Essential Admin Tools for Linux

This post comes from a post that Linc had shared via Facebook on someone’s top ten essential admin tools for Linux.  Linc and I as well do NOT totally agree with this writer.  Some of the things he suggest like Dropbox aren’t even for running on servers.  Sure you CAN run it on a server, but drop box is NOT a backup solution.  Also he ignores MANY of the tools that are really essential.  So, here is MY top ten essential admin tools for Linux:

Radical Read Along Chapter 4 – How DO we share God’s Glory with the World

The one quote in the book that gripped me the most is this one:

Based on the purpose of God we’ve seen in Scripture, shouldn’t every Christian’s heart be ultimately consumed with how we can make God’s glory known in all the world?

How can we even do this?  That is a radical faith in God that is needed in order to make His glory known throughout the world or does it?  The more I thought and prayed about this and in the rest of my prayer life, the more I thought each of us can have a impact not just here, but in the rest of the world too.

Imagine this….say God is calling you to minister to children.  What if you, with God’s help of course, helped to show a child the glory of God?  What if you prayed with a child or a teen who fully commits himself to Christ and then God calls him to be a missionary in Uganda or somewhere else in the world.  What is that?  Impact. In your calling and your relationship with God, you helped a child come to Christ!  You did what God wanted you to do and thus showed God’s Glory to the world.

In this modern world, it is even easier to do this.  This read along itself that Marla has been leading is reaching all across the United States and God is enabling us all to be blessed enough to purchase the book and to read and have all we need to share this message on the Internet.  The Internet’s reach is world wide.  We may not be directly feeding someone in another country or showing God’s love directly to someone who really needs it, but we may be helping or ministering from the other side of the world.

So if you think I have I heart for South Columbus, I think that still may be correct however, Columbus is part of the State of Ohio.  Ohio is part of the United States and the United States is part of the world.  The very world that God wants us to show his glory.  So do you have a heart for the world?  Sure you do.  God may just have placed you where he wanted you to be so that you can through all of those degrees of connections you make an impact in his kingdom.  So you can show God’s glory to just a little piece of the world.

With that said though, God definitely calls people to be missionaries in other parts of the world.  That person may be you.  That person may be the one you prayed with 10 years ago.  Think about it.

Radical Read Along Chapter 3 – Losing Ourselves

I was enthralled with this weeks reading just like all of the others, but I think the reason why I was enthralled is God wanted me to be alert for something that required a radical change in my schedule and in myself.  What I am talking about is an experience that I will share below:

Sunday morning, I was in my normal routine except I did make a couple changes already.  I had decided to wake up a bit earlier than I did to go for a run.  This was my first run in a long time.  I prayed to God to get me through this radical physical effort that I was about to undergo that morning.  I threw on the headphones with some worship music and fired up the C25K program on my phone.  God got me through the run, but the big change was yet to come.

Radical Read Along – Chapter 2 – Giving Your ALL for Him.

I think, for me, Chapter 2 of David Platt’s Radical is really about separating yourself from the world and concentrating on God. I loved the stories about the house Church and the Secret Church.  I love the idea of holding a “secret church” service.  Removing all of the creature comforts of the modern day Church and go into a room without electric or air conditioning and just have your Bible and your fellow Christians and studying about God.  Seriously studying him and concentrating on him and only him.  Makes me just go wow. Then I think of the story of the gospel and how wrong a lot of us get this.  Jesus wasn’t scared of the nails being driven into his palms.  He was scared of having God’s wrath poured out on him for our sins.  Wow….even the son of God was concerned about this to the point of being on his knees praying to God and sweating blood.  What amazes me most is why he even had to go through with this.  It;’s my fault.  It’s all of our faults.  We’re not worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Without him, we can’t get through this life. To cap this weeks reading off, I have to look to my friend and pastor, Rob Faught and his wife Leah.  They told their story of their trip to Belize.  Leah told the story of a mother who traveled 3 hours in the morning on a bus with 3 kids just so they can hear his word.  Now in Belize, it is hot and humid just like Marla’s Cambodia.  They were always drinking bottled water because the water in Belize was not safe for us Americans to drink.  One of the kids asked her for a drink of water and because she was afraid she wouldn’t know when they would get more water, she said no.  They got ready to leave and got in the van to ride back to camp and as they got in the van, the leader of the group asked if anyone needed to get water at the store.  Leah just realized she should have gave this child her water.  Leah and her husband Rob sacrificed so much so they could go and serve God in Belize.  Even as radical as that sounds, you can always go further.