Computer Stuff: September 2003 Archives

I'm sure it's just me, but I suspect that the Overnet client has so called "intelligent" bandwidth throttling - though why it would be so significantly different to ed2k is beyond me. This just means that if you start surfing your downloads (not uploads) decrease in speed, which is less than ideal. But of course, Louis is just obsessive.

Louis should write a how-to of his surmises how to avoid getting into trouble with the law over copyright issues.

So yes, back to the Donkey, which among other things, has a much cooler name.

I was also fiddling with my router settings, but having set them to the delight of Steve Gibson at grc.com, eDonkey slowed to a crawl, despite firewall status showing as "open". Pretty damn annoying.

So I'm now back to being DMZ, after figuring out how port forwarding works (sort of) - if only because I'm tired of experimenting, being the obsessive freak I am.

That said, I've now got very good things to say about the latest iteration of the free Kerio Personal Firewall, since it seems to have all the functions firewalls should, and yet allows file sharing without the latency problems. The only others to do this are ones that are hideously bloated and buggy - ZoneAlarm and Norton. Way to go Kerio (who were formerly Tiny, if that interests you).

If you wonder why there are no links: 1) even Movable Type seems to have issues with putting lovely URL links that work with Opera 2) Louis is lazy. As we tell Clarissa when she asks about Snowballing/Fisting/Golden Showers, Google is your friend (even if they don't employ you).

Oh, and leaving your maximum download speed at the recommended level below the max is a good way not to kill your bandwidth, as Louis discovered after all this time.

I've just been using the newest Overnet client, basically developed by the eDonkey people and meant to solve issues of scalability with ed2k's server based searching. Not bad, downloads seem to move apace compared to ed2k, though I suspect they have an auto bandwidth throttling feature which doesn't quite work as well as hoped. Definitely worth looking at though.

Perhaps it's because Christian Krebs is no longer so actively skinning for Opera, but it's also because the icons are absolutely lovely: I've got a new favorite skin, though admittedly by an author who I'm otherwise quite ho hum about. It's called "She", and can be found at the bottom of this page.

At the risk of doing this too often, I'd like to point you to yet another side-splitting article from the Inquirer - my tech tabloid of choice, this one entitled "How the Inquirer Reviews Products". Sensible stuff.

Since I fancy doing something productive, I'll be posting an article about input devices/mice some time soon. It's in the works. Delayed by both a 20 hr flight and MS releasing a new mouse/keyboard software. Oh and me being idle.

If that goes well, I might post something about file-sharing/dialectics/donkey/torrent/Pricewatch :D.