tlanks to the kind folks at Certicom, I’ve got my little Pocket PC 2003 device up and running through a Sonic.net Hotspots AP. It took some doing, as this connection requires proper IPSec tunelling, and the buit-in PPC2003 VPN client only handles PPTP and L2TP. Thanks Certicom! I’ll buy the non-beta version as soon as it’s out.

Go, go gadget counter-worm! Apparently some clever monkey out there decided to use the RPC vulnerability inherent in unpatched Windows 2000, XP, NT 4, and Server 2003 systems to counteract the effects of another worm that has been in the news lately and causing all manner of problems for folks that don’t keep their systems updated, their computer consultants, and their overburdened ISP tech support departments. Some will say (and probably have for a few hours already) that fixing a worm with another worm is highly unethical. By what ethical standard, I am unsure. If well-executed, it would seem to fulfill the criteria of the Principle of Utility quite nicely. This is widely accepted as one of the most reasonable ethical yardsticks available these days, so I’d be interested in seeing where that debate ends up taking us.

Update your Goddamned computer. If you think that running automated updates is a pain, trying waiting on hold for a half hour to talk to your ISP’s tech support only to find out that they aren’t going to fix it for you. You see, when some script kiddy finds out about a system security problem in a popular operating system or software package, he will exploit it. In most cases, either the folks who made that software already know about and have made fixes to it, or the folks who make popular antivirus software already have their programs set up to defeat the damned thing. Oh yeah, and firewalls are good. You can get one for free, too.

</rant>