Veazer

Anyone have any good ideas for protecting a USB flashdrive from malicious behavior like viruses when it's used in other PCs?

My GF was always bringing home viruses everytime she goes to the internet cafe (!@#$ Godzilla virus!!!). She's also had problems where sometimes a script on the cafe PC erases all her stuff. I know some thumbdrives have a write protect feature but this is just a cheapo model that doesn't have that. It's generally just an annoyance since NOD32 catches them but she's also transferred viruses to friend's PCs before.

My solution was to format the drive as NTFS and create a blank autorun.inf that only allow administrators from my PC can modify (using NTFS security and ownership). I created a single folder with write access and this is the only folder that can be written to or changed on the drive from PCs other than mine. Of course any reasonably smart script could just re-claim ownership of the other files and folders if the cafe lets people login as admin but so far it seems to work.

NTFS also slows down the drive tremendously, literally half the speed of FAT32 on my drive. And it means i can't swap files with Mac friends. Anyone have a more elegant solution?

On a side note, why is NTFS so <deleted> slow on flashdrives?

I used to use encrypted excel files for this but I've sinced changed to KeePass. It works great for me and it's portable.

http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/keepass_portable

and you'll see that they quite clearly state that this package is best used for surfing Thai based websites and that both P2P and VOIP have limited bandwidth available!!!!!

I agree with their stance on P2P traffic, but it would be nice if they still gave some better traffic prioritization VoIP even on the home packages. P2P essentially uses every usable bit of bandwidth whereas VoIP uses 64kbps at most, maybe 80 with overhead, usually much less for more compressed codecs and proprietary stuff like Skype. It's not asking a lot to give more priority my 20kpbs phone call than my neighbors 200 meg download, IMHO.

So my advice is, if you can get the line fixed in some way to just move up to the premier package. You'll see a huge difference in speed and stability, albeit at higher prices...

Yes, I was able to get a 5-day free test of a premier 512/256 package and it's significantly better than the same speed Indy package. Just be warned that you need to re-login to your Indy/Home account after 5 days or they'll attempt to stick you with a big bill.

@Monty - Is your connection still back to normal? My connection in Chiang Mai is virtually unusable. Using SpeakEasy speed tests (LA servers selected) I am getting the following results:

Download Speed: 13 kbps (1.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 314 kbps (39.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

I'm using a MaxNet 1024/512 Indy package.

Just for comparison sake, here's my results using a MaxNet Indy 1024 package over a 802.11g connection near Chiang Mai:

C:\>tracert 203.153.165.88 -d

Tracing route to 203.153.165.88.sta.isp-thailand.com [203.153.165.88]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

 1	 1 ms	 1 ms	 1 ms  192.168.1.1
 2	 9 ms	 8 ms	 8 ms  58.147.0.50
 3	 9 ms	 9 ms	 9 ms  10.122.50.250
 4	 *		*		*	 Request timed out.
 5	 *		*		*	 Request timed out.
 6	 *		*		*	 Request timed out.
 7	 *		*		*	 Request timed out.
 8	28 ms	27 ms	27 ms  172.17.10.253
 9	26 ms	26 ms	26 ms  202.47.255.53
10   313 ms	25 ms	25 ms  61.19.60.42
11	 *	   24 ms	24 ms  202.57.146.29
12	24 ms	23 ms	23 ms  202.57.146.33
13	26 ms	25 ms	26 ms  202.57.147.161
14	27 ms	26 ms	26 ms  203.153.165.88

Trace complete.

...Plus start with realistic capping of usage, based on the package you have...

yeah, and some basic bandwidth management would help as well, not only capping total downloads.

People can currently takeover unrealistic portions of shared connections simply by breaking downloads into absurd numbers of pieces and thereby having a greater piece of the total pie. This low-tech solution shouldn't work but it does. It also seems that VoIP traffic such as SIP & skype are not getting the traffic priority they should, despite being a small portion of total bandwidth in use. Sometimes I can't manage a 8 or 20 kbps VoIP call on an otherwise idle 1024 connection.

If you've got sufficient CPU power, ffdshow works really well with stored video content (.avi, DVD, etc.) but I'm not sure if it can be used with live feeds or not. There's loads of info about using FFDshow for this purpose at AVS Forum, try this thread HERE.

If you've got the right TV card, DScaler does a nice job for live standard TV. I know it's got great de-interlacing filters, I'm not 100% sure about upscaling filters as I haven't used it for years.

Replay-Radio records 10 shows from across the world. It doesn't record Michael Savage on the weekend because it knows it is a weekly show. It starts, stops and does everything all the others do but does it in one software program.

Did you even look at the website?

Yes, I did. That's why I said it looks good. Did you even read my post? -->

...A better solution is to use a program which records the incoming data stream directly to disk, such as Replay Radio that jeffrosner recommended. I haven't used Replay Radio, but it looks good...

...I downloaded Audacity and have found it works really well. It was just what I was looking for...

Audacity will work, but it is less than ideal. Audacity can record what is being played on the soundcard, but this means the resulting file will be either:

1) an uncompressed wav file taking up much more space that the original stream

or

2) Re-compressed and thus slightly lower quality. Even using high-quality settings, re-compressing previously compressed audio will always result in a loss of quality. How much the audio is degraded will depend on the compression used.

Also, audio recorded using audacity or similar programs is passed through the sound card which can add some background noise, depending on the quality of your soundcard.

A better solution is to use a program which records the incoming data stream directly to disk, such as Replay Radio that jeffrosner recommended. I haven't used Replay Radio, but it looks good.

I personally use "StreamDown" for windows media and realaudio streams, and "StreamRipper" for mp3 streams. A cool feature of StreamRipper is that it actually breaks the stream into separate files and tags and names them based using the artist and song title info passed from the server. You can record a station (or multiple stations) overnight and wake up with a folder full of neatly organized music.

Another advantage of recording the data stream rather than actual audio is you can get perfect quality files on less than perfect internet connections when recording non-live streams such as pre-recorded news programs. The program will trick the server into thinking the connection was lost and restart the stream in order to get missing bits of data. Note that StreamDown also works for video, so you can download video streams intended for higher bandwidth internet connections using this technique.

Beware of the discount drives, some of them are extremely slow despite their large capacity. If you have a chance to check the drive's speed, do so. If you're using it to move large files, a slower unit will drive you crazy.

Physical write protection is handy for net cafes, i often get virsuses on my drives without this feature when i go to print documents.

Truecrypt is an excellent package for portable encryption, so don't worry too much if the drive lacks this feature. Remember that encrypted data is far more secure than 'password protected' but non-encrypted data.

MaxNet in Chiang Mai is worst I've seen yet as well. My 'Premier' 512/256 connection is running at 47/53 using the speakeasy check (LINK - I checked LA servers).

I had a lot of stability issues with the G604T and upgraded to firmware to a more recent version intended for the G624T. It works much better for me now and a lot of the port forwarding bugs are solved as well. I doubt it would fix your problem but it might be worth a shot. ...

Thanks for bringing this to my attention! I gave myself a new firmware for Christmas and it resolved not only my unhappy wireless but it also resolved several other firewall/NAT and stability issues!

Glad to hear I was able to help someone else with this info. I've found some more great info today here:

http://www.expansys.com/f.aspx?i=110551

Keep your eyes on this project as well: http://wiki.openwrt.org/AR7Port, it's slowly making some progress.

Curious about this issue of needing to hook up a Thai telephone to a Vonage box with a US number.

I find this VERY hard to believe that this is really needed. Anyone try to hook up with a Thai phone and have it not work, then hook up a US phone, and have it work?

The reason I find it very hard to believe is that Vonage markets these boxes as being easy to go on the road with internationally. They never say one word about the need to bring along a US phone, only the Vonage box.

From the brief bit of of research I did on some VoiP forums, it looks like the thai phones use the same impedance (600) as US phones or at least it is close enough that things work. I still have not been able to find any info that positively verifies this. Several people have posted here that their thai phones are working, so from that you may conclude that it is not needed. I'm simply suggesting that it is best to configure a VoIP adapter to match the phone attached to it or use a phone that the adapter is already configured for.

There is a another possible, but unlikely, answer to all of this. Vonage uses the 'provisioning' feature of the VoIP adapter which means they can control and adjust all the settings for the user from their end. This means that they can fix problems with volume levels, echo, firmware upgrades, etc. from their end rather than having the customer do it. It's technically possible that they configure the region settings for you based on your IP address, but I don't think they would ever bother with this because it would create problems for those who *do* bring a US phone with them.

I've also attached a screenshot of the regional settings page for those interested. The adapter I'm using is not locked to Vonage so I have full access to all settings.

EDIT: typos

Xvid and DivX are both MPEG-4 codecs, either can be used for MPEG-4 playback. You don't need both. A better alternative to either IMHO, for decoding/playback anyway, is ffdshow.

DVD video is Mpeg2 and neither Xvid or Divx will do anything to help this.

Despite your hesitation to add another media player, I highly recommend Media Player Classic for video use. It has the simple uncluttered GUI of an older player with features that rival MS Media Players. It also has an Mpeg-2 filter built in that performs quite well, though you may need to manually enable it in the options.

...Could it be that Vonage has tuned their device in a way as to accept a wide variety of (world) phones?

Hmmm, I doubt it. For Vonage to try to find a setting 'in the middle' would mean deviating from US telephony standards and this would definitely not be in their best interest given their customer base. OTOH, if you told them you were using the service outside the US they may ask what phone you are using to ensure their settings are correct.

I think it's more likely that the Thai phones use settings that are close enough to the US settings that they work, but this certainly would not be true in all countries. Some of the settings have a pretty big usable range/tolerance too, US phones use a ringer voltage standard of 90V but many phones will still ring even if the adapter has been left at 70V if I recall correctly. Port impedence IS quite critical from the discussions I've read, though I have never intentionally set it wrong to see what happens.

Is there an option to back up the original firmware somewhere in the admin settings?

Not sure, but you can get the Thai firmware from the Singapore D-Link site.

Will the username/password change when I change the firmware?

Yes, all the settings will revert to default including admin password.

What about my port forwarding settings, can I back them up easily or will i have to write them down manually and do the same settings all over again?

Because you are jumping from Version 2 firmware (possibly Version 1?) and using firmware from a different model, I would definitely recommend that you *DON'T* save your settings and apply them to the new firmware. I would copy everything down and just re-type it.

Best of luck!

You would need to either bring a US phone or have someone configure the adapter for a thai phone...

This is an absolutely false statement. I am using a telephone that I bought here in Thailand and it works perfectly with the Vonage router. The phones sold here use RJ-11 jacks just like the phones back in the US. It plugs right into the Voange router without any type of an adapter.

I'm not talking about the plugs used on the cords, I'm referring to the specs of the of the phone itself. Dial Tone, Ring Back Tone, Ring Cadence, Busy Tone, Caller ID Method, FXS Port Impedance and Ringer Voltage vary from region to region. North America uses an impedence of 600 ohms, New Zealand uses 370+620||310nF, Australia uses 220+820||115nF, etc. I know Vonage blocks access to many setting on their adapters and if regional settings cannot be configured then this could potentially cause problems with caller ID, echo, etc. Finding these settings can be difficult depending on the country, my advice would be to find a shop selling Linksys PAP2 adapters configured for thailand and copy the regional settings from the administrator page if you wish to use a thai phone.

Rice_King, that's great if your setup works as is, but adapter settings should match the region of the phone used to ensure it works as good as possible.

Just to double check - you do live in Thailand? I have also had problems with the same wireless router and have been considering changing the firmware, but haven't dared trying it yet for fear of messing things up even worse..

Have you experienced any problems at all with this?

No problems at all for me, and yes I'm in thailand. Even navigating the admin pages is noticeable faster. I would have returned the router if i hadn't found the discussion about other firmware, it was just too buggy before. I've only had one need to reboot since the upgrade, about 2 months of uptime (not counting unintended reboots from outages). The QOS features of the 624 are not available though. I can access the QOS pages if I type the direct address to it but the settings don't seem to stick. I've upgraded my neighbors 604T as well, no problems.

As for any danger, this is one case where you can safey mess with the firmware without much risk at all. In the words of a D-link user more knowledgable than I, " One of the nice things about the D-Link T-series products (indeed all products based on the TI AR7) is that they are virtually crashproof. By that I mean it is possible to recover from virtually any problem other than an actual hardware failure. Do not believe the (apparent) horror stories that you may read on this forum - it really is quite straightforward to recover a 'dead' T-series product. The only question is: why hasn't D-Link issued a simple, easy-to-use recovery utility program..."

This is not to say that there is not a recovery program, just that it isn't 'click and reboot' like it should be. I've got every firmware upgrade utility & repair util i could find just to be safe, but i never needed them.

DO be sure to get the firmware for the correct revision however, i believe it is after the model number on the sticker. My router was A3 so i use revision A firmware, etc. Sorry i don't have more detail about this, you'll need to do your research.

[ DOUBLE POST - DELETED ]

I do not mind paying for my occasional over seas calls.

But, what about receiving calls from a standard phone to a VOIP phone in Thailand?

others easily contacting me is what I'd like to see happen. any unusual prefixes or dialing (much less expense) would discourage others from contacting me.

I would not mind paying a minimal fee for their call.

can skype in Thailand have a US prefix .. if there is no computer in the US?

First, you should be able to bring your VoIP adapter with you and simply continue to use your vonage number seamlessly unless vonage differs from other providers and checks where the service is being used from, not sure why they would bother to do this. You would need to either bring a US phone or have someone configure the adapter for a thai phone, but the potential problem with the latter is that vonage often locks the configuration pages for their devices. I personally feel that vonage's prices are way out of line.

I have used a few US discount VoIP providers with ATA devices (analog telephone adapters) that plug in the back of the router. They work pretty well but the internet service in thailand is generally rubbish unless you're paying for business class service, and even that doesn't seem to guarantee you anything. My 512kbps connection went from 430-440 kbps for international traffic last week to 40-45 kbps the past few days and this is deemed acceptable by my ISP. In the words of the customer support rep "I will explain that your packge is home package , mean speed in thailand is good but outside country not so good up to traffic." I've seen people pay the extra cash for "premier" service and end up with the same problems. It usually works, but don't expect VoIP to work as reliably in the land o' smiles as it does at home.

A low cost VoIP provider will be cheaper than a SkypeIN number and won't require you to have your PC on, but it is a bit trickier to get everything setup and working. Skype-to-Skype (ie PC to PC) calls are much better quality than a phone line but SkypeIn calls (phone-to-skype) are the same or worse than a typical phone call.

The provider I am currently using costs 1.1 cent per minute outgoing (anywhere in US) and 2 cents per minute incoming (because i chose a 1-800 number). The monthly rate is a whopping $1. I have had mulitple problems with their customer support so I prefer to not name them in the risk that someone else might suffer the same. However, I have heard good things about Vitelity (here) and their prices are very similar, 1.39 cents outgoing and 1.9 cents incoming. Monthly fees are 50 cents for toll-free numbers and local numbers vary from $1.49 to $7.49 per month. Note that there is no charge for incoming calls on local numbers, hence the higher price.

EDIT: Note that you can also get 100% free incoming numbers from ipkall.com, but they are all Washington state numbers at this time. I was extremely fortunate, when i signed up they happened to give me a phone number from my home town. I don't pay anything to receive calls in thailand.

To the original poster, one odd thing I've noticed is that the same D-Link DSL-G604T router has been on sale here since I bought one in 2004. Back then they cost nearly 7k THB and now they are only about 2.5k THB. The wireless part of ours recently died after over two years of constant use. The router and configuration program runs and will try to operate the wireless, but there doesn't seem to be signal anymore and my belief is that the radio chip is dead; I already tried reconnecting the antenna, even taking the thing apart to look for broken conductors, insects and corrosion with no luck.

I am not sure if it is just dumb luck or whether it overheated or something... however, the main use for us is the ADSL router function and I can use wired ethernet, so I haven't thought about a replacement yet.

I had a lot of stability issues with the G604T and upgraded to firmware to a more recent version intended for the G624T. It works much better for me now and a lot of the port forwarding bugs are solved as well. I doubt it would fix your problem but it might be worth a shot. More info here. Be sure to change the VPI/VCI after the upgrade if you try it, the EU firmware uses different values from the Thai firmware. I'm using firmware version V3.00B01T02.EU-A.20060720.

TOT works fairly well here in the north. I am using GoldCyber 1024.

International has been a bit slow over the last couple of days, maxed out at 600kbps for me, but generally, they are pretty good.

Also, restart your DSL router. Sometimes helps.

Any idea how to find current prices for this package? Their website is a cluttered nightmare. The only reference to GoldCyber I could find was upcoming service notices in Thai script. I suppose visiting the local office is best.

Restarting the router won't help in this case as in-Thailand service is working normally, though it does seem to fix things when it is slow everywhere. And my router is Linux-based, go figure.

maxnet is horrible, 1024 pack...not a k faster than the 512.

If you upgraded from 512 to 1024 and literally saw no increase in performance whatsoever then you should login to the router and verify that the data rate for the ADSL link has been upgraded. The login name assigned to you is not a good indicator of ADSL speed, i was originally given a "home256" login name by mistake but the router status and internet speed tests showed that it was indeed running at 512/256.

Regadless, I still agree with your opening statement...

Using various speakeasy speedtest servers (speakeasy.net/speedtest) as a gauge of net performance I was formerly able to get around 300+ kbps down on my MaxNet 512/256 connection in the day and about 430kbps in non-peak hours, sometimes even during those hours. Now I am getting about 40-50 kbps down during the day and for most of the evening. There are massive gaps /pauses during downloads (easily seen on the speakeasy test) and I'm getting far more web page timeouts than before. Skype and VoIP are unusable and I can't even maintain a 48 kbps streaming radio station. The MaxNet customer service rep I have been working with for months now tells me in writing that this is acceptable performance and that the home 512 package is "not so good" for use outside of thailand, despite working much better previously. He suggests I upgrade to "premier' service but I am reluctant to hand over any money to this company.

Anyone else experiencing similar problems? Are there any alternative providers worth using in CM?

there was a thread a couple of years ago regarding servicing for Dell products. I you are corporate customer with lots of Dell desktops then there is servicing available in Thailand. For an individual with a measly laptop the nearest Dell service place is Malaysia. This was a factor in buying the piece of shit HP laptop that I currently have (HP has a service center in BKK). Dell has quality goods but in Thailand you're out of luck...

Unless things have changed from 2 years ago, this is not the case. My previous employer had a Dell laptop purchased in the states with the "complete care" package and they sent technicians to his house outside of Chiang Mai on more than one occasion for repairs.