Apologies again about the light blogging. It might have something to do with the fact that my computer got infected by a nasty evil demon virus from HELL yesterday, which took me over 6 hours to get rid of completely. This evil monster blocked me from accessing antivirus related sites, hijacked my Google searches, crippled my AV software so I couldn’t download updates, blocked my attempts to use Regedit (so I could go into the registry), and constantly crashed Firefox. It also corrupted any antivirus software I tried to download too. Only by renaming Regedit and figuring out where the virus was getting its cues from in the registry was I finally able to disable it and download the needed software to remove it from the system altogether. Gads.

And that might have been the end of it, except that I’m minding my own business watching a Netflix movie and trying to unwind from all the stress before, when I get an IM from a friend letting me know my blog was down.

Uhhhhhh?

So I surf in and sure enough the only thing left of my blog was a weird PHP error. After doing some quick googling, the error usually occurs when the site has been hacked.

Oh no, oh no no no no no….

I logged in, checked some of my files and noticed right away many of them had been changed only minutes before. Upon opening the PHP files I saw malicious javascript code had been injected at the top, explaining why my blog was no longer functioning. Left to itself, once the code was operational it would have spread and potentially infected any subsequent visitor to the site who didn’t have their browsers appropriately shielded (you know, like dumbass me.) The irony of it is that the unique setup of my blog prevented the code from working properly, the one saving grace from having so much junk on my blog to begin with.

I contacted support in a panic, and they responded almost immediately, and restored my entire site within a few short minutes. I asked them to investigate and they found FTP logins that were out of the ordinary and didn’t match the IP addresses I normally used. After some investigating of my own, I confirmed it was the same group that infected my PC with a virus before. Evidently the trojan I was infected with had sent them my FTP passwords, and the hackers’ server later used that info to log in and inject my blog with all kinds of malicious crap. Fun times.

My host sent me the FTP logs and from there I was able to determine exactly who the culprit was, a server in Norway that appears to be a clearinghouse for Russian criminal activity. I’m pretty sure what happened to me was all automated, and that I was just one of many victims of what’s become a well organized setup designed to do what else, make money. The Google searches I tried when I was infected hijacked my searches and redirected me to spam sites instead. I also discovered 419 type scams as well coming from the same server (including my personal favorite, one from a Russian “single mother” pleading for money so she could feed her starving family, and oh by the way, she’s 30 and a hottie too.)

Glad the nightmare’s finally over though (I think). Can I go back to watching my movie now?

Tags: antivirus, blog, code, computer, criminal, firefox, googling, hackers, javascript, nightmare, norway, pc, registry, scams, script, server, software, spam, support, trojan, virus
Categories: Tangled Webs
 
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Recently I emailed some feedback to Jimmy Kukral (the developer of Scratchback) after testing out his widget on my site. When it comes to using widgets I like to use IFrames whenever I can in order to prevent them from bogging my site down, just in case the servers running the widgets crap out for whatever reason. Anyone who’s ever used a Twitter widget knows exactly what I’m talking about too.

Only problem was, clicking on a link in the Scratchback widget opened it up within the IFrame instead of loading a new page altogether. So I made the suggestion of including a target that directed the link outside the frame in order to resolve this minor issue.

And what happens? I get this snippy response from Jimmy:

That violates our terms of service. Can you stop doing that? If not, please stop using the widget. We have to maintain a consistent user experience.

Never mind the fact that there’s no direct link to the terms of service on his site, (I had to pretend to register again in order to locate it), but there’s no visual difference between me adding the widget directly into the source code or enclosing it within an IFrame instead. So I’d be changing the user experience… how again?

I emailed Jimmy back again asking for clarification, since there was certainly nothing on the Scratchback site itself that addressed the use of IFrames. I got this response:

It’s in there in so many words. You’re modifying the pre determined user experience by putting our code in an iframe.

Ah, it’s there in so many WORDS. Well that certainly clears it up.

I don’t think any thought may have been given to the possibility that some users may opt to use IFrames in order to offload potentially slow loading widgets from the main source code, that way it doesn’t interfere with the page’s load time. That this would be considered a nefarious act on my part and a violation of Jimmy’s sacred TOS kinda cheesed me off.

Look, it’s not a huge deal, and I don’t really want to even worry about it. I’m just asking you don’t do it.

Oh don’t you worry your pretty big head about it honey pie, I’ve permanently taken the widget off. You can sleep easy now knowing us evil bloggers will not be changing the “user experience” of your precious widgets.

You know, it was just an innocent suggestion too. If I thought the way I used IFrames would significantly change how the Scratchback widget operated on my site, would I have emailed the DEVELOPER about it so he’d know exactly what I was doing??? Idiot.

Ah well, it’s one less widget I need to worry about. Next time I’ll be more careful before getting into those types of arrangements where I’m expected the shave the backs of those who scratches mine.

Tags: code, email, iframes, scratchback, suggestion, terms of service, tos, user experience, widget
Categories: Blog Fog
 
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I just spent the last few days squashing some of the remaining bugs on my site, and I’m telling ya, these were cyber cockroaches from hell. I stomp one bug, and another one shows up, stomp that one, then another shows up.

It’s the kind of thing that could suck up whole days of my life if I’m not careful. I see a problem and I think “ohh, let me just tweak this one lil’ thing, shouldn’t take more than a few seconds…” Next thing I know it’s Wednesday, and I had started tweaking that lil’ thing on Sunday. Whether it’s some coding error with a plugin, a flickering bug in IE6, or the layout being a few pixels off in browsers like Safari, I was just resolved to fix every remaining issue on my site so I could finally put it behind me and delve into my real passion, which had always been writing (blogging).

As for web design and all that that entails, it was a good learning experience but man, I have just about had enough of this crap. Next time I want my blog redesigned, I’m hiring a super web guru from Silicon Valley to do it for me. I of course expect to be making some money off my blog by that time, so I should be able to afford it when the time comes.

I hope.

Tags: blink, blog, blogging, browsers, bugs, cockroaches, code, crap, errors, few days, hell, IE6, learning, money, passion, pixels, plugins, rendering, safari, silicon valley, tongue, tweaking, web design
Categories: Blog Fog
 
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I’m often criticized for taking a lone ranger approach to life, and while it’s true that I’ve always been a loner, I’m not against looking for help when I really need it. I knew if I wanted to build a successful blog that I was going to need some kind of support to help me get going, and one of the things that held my site back in particular has been this irritating problem where the footer just wouldn’t stay where it belonged. It kept jumping all over the place and screwing my sidebars up, so as a temporary fix I removed the sidebars from most of my pages. That wasn’t really a solution though, so I started checking around for blog designers I could hire to fix the problem for me.

If I could tell you how many emails I’ve sent out to designers that never got returned, you’d never believe it. You’d think they’d want my business, but I guess I’m not enough of a lucrative prospect for them. Snobs.

Finally, one designer got back to me and worked on my site for a couple of hours, then gave up. He also left one of my sidebars crooked, but promised to look into it, as well as look into a javascript solution I suggested to him to fix the footer. I didn’t hear back from him again until almost a week later, where he sent me a “Dear John” type email suggesting that I’m better off going with a complete revamp of the site. Sure, what’s another 800 bucks or so to destroy the months of work I’ve put into my blog and replace it with whatever crap they had in mind?

Man, when you want something done…

That weekend I rolled up my sleeves and went to work on the blog myself. I only had a rudimentary understanding of CSS, javascript and whatnot, but I kept at it for the whole day and by some miracle of God, I managed to pull it off. The footer issue was finally resolved.

I spent a few hours more banging my head on the keyboard, trying to get my sidebars looking right across different browsers, but without much luck until I started using Firebug, which is quite possibly the greatest web development tool ever invented in the history of mankind. I was able to test and check the results of CSS modifications I made in real time, rather than saving the file, uploading it, reloading my browser, and repeating as necessary ad infinitum. It also helped me locate what file was causing my site to take forever to finish loading, and after I got rid of that it was like I had a new blog all over again.

Deal with THAT, you cheapskate freelance web designers.

Seriously, I learned a lesson here. One, that God is merciful. Two, that people suck big monkey balls. In the end, I realized my project here was going to be a solo operation after all. But I do faith that whatever I can put my mind to, I can achieve, not because I’m so talented and all, but because God is capable of opening up my understanding, and within His will, I can “do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.”

Tags: blog, blogging, christ, code, css, dear john, design, designers, firebug, footer, freelance, God, javascript, keyboard, lone ranger, loner, miracle, people, snobs, solo, success, tongue, troubleshoot, whatnot
Categories: Blog Fog
 
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¿ʇsod sıɥʇ xǝpuı oʇ sǝıɹʇ ʇı uǝɥʍ ʇɔɐǝɹ llıʍ ǝlƃooƃ ʍoɥ ɹǝpuoʍ ı  ˙s˙d

¿¿ʞsɐ oʇ ɥɔnɯ ƃuıddılɟ ooʇ ʇɐɥʇ sı  ˙ʎʇıɹɐlɔ ɟo ʇıq ǝlʇʇıl ɐ ǝʌɐɥ oʇ ǝɟıl ʎɯ ʇuɐʍ ʇsnɾ ı  ˙ʇǝƃ plnoɥs ı ɐɹǝɯɐɔ lɐʇıƃıp ƃuı**** ɟo puıʞ ʇɐɥʍ ʇno ǝɹnƃıɟ oʇ ƃuıʎɹʇ sɐ ǝuɐpunɯ sɐ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos uǝʌǝ ɹo ‘ɥʇɐd  ɹǝǝɹɐɔ ʍǝu ɐ ʇno ǝɹnƃıɟ oʇ ƃuıʎɹʇ ɹo ‘(ɟoǝɹǝɥʇ ʞɔɐl ɹo) ǝɟıl ǝʌol ʎɯ s,ʇı ɹǝɥʇǝɥʍ ‘ǝɯ oʇ ǝsuǝs sǝʞɐɯ ƃuıɥʇou  ˙ǝɹoɯ ʎuɐ ƃuıɥʇʎuɐ ɟo slıɐʇ ɹo spɐǝɥ ǝʞɐɯ ʇ,uɐɔ ʇsnɾ ı uǝɥʍ sǝɯıʇ ǝɹɐ ǝɹǝɥʇ  ˙op ʎluıɐʇɹǝɔ ı  ¿sǝɯıʇǝɯos ʇno ǝpısuı ɹo uʍop ǝpısdn pǝuɹnʇ ƃuıʇʇǝƃ sı ǝɟıl ɹnoʎ ǝʞıl lǝǝɟ ɹǝʌǝ 

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Tags: code, confusion, decryption, encryption, fun, humor, life, purpose
Categories: Comic Relief, Lincoln's Personal Log
 
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