random-host.com

Ever wanted to use wildcard subdomains with Microsoft Internet Information Services? You might have realized by now that this is actually not possible using only IIS as neither IIS 6 nor IIS 7 support the *.example.com notation.

The key to success is ISAPI_Rewrite, a third party ISAPI extension that brings mod_rewrite functionality to IIS. The latest version ISAPI_Rewrite 3 is compatible with Apache's mod_rewrite URL rewriting module which means that you can use the same rules you would use when hosting on Apache 2.

ISAPI_Rewrite Lite is available for free, but usually requires a more complex configuration as it does not support parsing of .htaccess files as the full version does. In this case, it doesn't matter since the following directions can either be placed inside the global configuration or inside an .htaccess file in your IIS default web.

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.+)\.example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [P,NC,QSA]

This uses the built-in ISAPI_Rewrite proxy to redirect all subdomains of example.com transparently to www.example.com. Your visitor will still see subdomain.example.com in his browser's address bar, just as if the subdomain was configured in the web that hosts www.example.com.

Now, for serving different contents from TYPO3, you need to tweak your configuration to make TYPO3 handle the HTTP_FORWARDED_HOST header sent by ISAPI_Rewrite.

To do this, you have to add the following lines to localconf.php:

$TYPO3_CONF_VARS['SYS']['reverseProxyIP'] = 'YOUR_SERVER_IP';
$TYPO3_CONF_VARS['SYS']['reverseProxyHeaderMultiValue'] = 'last';

This allows TYPO3 to handle proxy requests by ISAPI_Rewrite correctly.

You have to replace "YOUR_SERVER_IP" in the example above with the IP address of the server that is running ISAPI_Rewrite. This should normally be the IP address of the server that hosts example.com.

Once you did that, you can set up domains in TYPO3 as usual and ISAPI_Rewrite will take care of all the rest. No additional configuration is required.

Related Link: ISAPI_Rewrite 3

As you should all know, having the same password in a lot of different places is a bit of a security concern, especially when you register at a lot of different websites.

Most normal websites like this blog here don't use any form of encryption which means that your password is travelling unencrypted across the internet. Someone who is technically skilled could easily capture the password and some websites even save passwords unencrypted in their database, allowing the website administrator to read your password and gain access to your account.

Therefore, you should use different passwords whereever possible as it means that someone who gains access to one of your passwords won't be able to access other websites and ressources using the same password.

Unless your name is Data and you are serving on the USS Enterprise, memorizing hundreds of different passwords is definitely out of question. That's why some clever people invented password managers such as KeePass Password Safe, a free open source password managing application for Windows.

KeePass Password Safe, as the name suggests, is capable of storing several hundreds of passwords in an organized and safe manner. Usernames and passwords can be organized in groups. Each entry consists of a title, username, password, URL, notes and finally an "expires" field for timelimited passwords.

The URL field can be used to open a website associated with the password, to connect to FTP servers, to open SSH sessions or to execute programs on your computer.

Another great feature is the sophisticated builtin password generator. It allows you to generate complex and safe passwords by using password profiles or custom patterns for password generation. So if a website or software requires a password in a special format or doesn't support some characters, you can tell KeePass Password Safe how the password it supposed to look like.

The password database is encrypted using the encryption algorithms AES and Twofish. It can be unlocked with either a master password or a key file.

A portable version for USB flash drives is also available so you can carry your passwords with you.

Get it here: KeePass Password Safe

This should probably go somewhere else and it's very likely that no one will ever read this but I feel the urge to clear things up a bit.

Far too many people seem to think that the term "Furry" describes a group of people who have sex while wearing animal costumes. I have to say that this is not entirely wrong as some people really like to do that, but these people are just a rather small sub-group within the furry fandom.

So, what IS a furry?

The term "furry" has basically 2 meanings.

1. fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics
2. people who like those characters (also called "furry fans")

The only thing that all furries (or "furry fans") have in common is probably that we like fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics.

All the rest is a matter of personal taste.

What's up with the guys and girls in the costumes?

Those who wear and build animal costumes are called "fursuiters". Most of these suits are hand-made unique works which are usually made by the person who wears them later, but some fursuit makers also sell their suits to other furries. Some of these suits include animatronic like movable ears, tails and jaws.

The main purpose of a fursuit is to adopt another personality while in costume. Some fursuiters consider the fursuit a sexual item, but that's rather unusual. The reason why these people are often on TV is the same reason why there is porn on the internet: sex sells.

What's up with the people having sex with animals?

That's a really rare thing. Some of those people are furries, some aren't. Rapists aside, these people like their pet a little more than other people and as long as noone get's hurt, it's fine with me. Note that those who "do it right" have strict and rather complicated rules for doing it to ensure that noone gets hurt, one being that the animal may not be forced.

What's with the affection for stuffed animals?

Again, some furries like them, some don't. Most of those furries who like them just love them like a pet or a close friend. Of course, there are again people who see them as a sexual item but as long as they do in the privacy of their own room, there is no reason to be worried. It's just another fetish.

What's with acting like an animal and making animal noises?

Some furries, but again not all of them, have some kind of animal personality often used for roleplaying on- and off-line. Many of them draw pictures or have other people draw pictures of their "fursona". Making animal noises is part of the roleplay and some people might just like to bark or mew now and then. Again, as long as no one gets hurt there is not much to worry about. It's just a question of personal taste.

Okay. I got it. What of the above applies to you?

The answers you are looking for are hidden somewhere on this website. And if you are absolutely sure that you want to know more, you can ask me.

Comments? Questions? Don't be lazy. Leave a comment or send an @reply on Twitter.

I thought that it was time for a blog post which is actually useful for other people. It seems that most people reach this site via search engines by searching for solutions to their problems.

So, if you are still looking for a good icon editor for Windows which supports alpha transparency and doesn't cost a cent, you should definitely take a look at IcoFX. I've been using this program for some years now and I'm very happy with it.

I can't say much about the editing features such as brushes, pencils and the like because there is one particular feature of IcoFX which makes all these tool useless: PNG import.

That's right. You can simply create your icon in your favorite graphics editing software, save it in PNG format with full alpha transparency and import it into IcoFX.

You can then either use the import feature to import more graphics in different resolutions and different color depths into the same icon file or you can use the editor's built-in convert functionality to create new "sub-icons" from already existing icons.

IcoFX can also export icons as BMP, JPEG, PNG, GIF or JPEG2000 and extract icons from DLL files like shell32.dll or EXE files.

The built-in resource editor allows it to replace icons in program files.

What are you waiting for? Go, get it.

Related Link: IcoFX - The Free Icon Editor

I am thinking about pre-ordering a copy of Mass Effect 2. Besides the few annoying bugs that Mass Effect has, it's a really nice game and I had a lot of fun playing it. As Mass Effect 2 continues the story of Mass Effect, it is certainly worth the money.

So what will I get when I pre-order? This is a really interesting question which is easy to answer if you live in the US and order your copy at GameStop. Unfortunately, I'm living in Europe and this is the point were it's getting complicated.

If you order your game at GameStop, you'll get the following bonus items:

1. Terminus Assault Armor
   • Increases sprint speed by 10%
   • All weapons have +1 magazines of reserve ammo
   • Increase shields + 15%
2. Blackstorm Projector
   • Fires a singularity projectile that draws in nearby enemies, and then explosively hurls them away.

If you order your game at Amazon, you'll get the following bonus items:

1. Inferno Armor
   • negotiation bonus 10%
   • all power damage 10%
   • increases storm speed by 10%

Let me summarize this a bit:

People who pre-order at GameStop (which is not that easy if you live outside the US) get the awesome looking, heavily shielded, high tech assault armor and a portable "black hole" launcher.

People who pre-order at Amazon get a "negotiation bonus" so they can better cry for mercy and "increased storm speed" so they can run away faster.

Something is telling me that someone wants us to order our games from GameStop. Unfortunately, I can't.

Thanks Bioware.

Update: I just realized that my Anti Virus software is going to expire soon, so I won't be able to afford any new computer games anyway.

This is a message to all trolls and wannabe tech experts out there who think that "reinstall Windows" and "buy a new computer" is a problem solution:

Shut the f*** up!

I'm going trough 39 pages filled with utter crap, posted by brain-dead monkey zombies to find a fix for another common problem in Mass Effect that the folks over at Bioware are either unable or not willing to fix.

General protection fault!
History: GMatrix2D::Swap() Address = 0x114de3dc (filename not found)
Address = 0xc62feb3b (filename not found)

It seems that every single idiot who somehow managed to find the power button on his computer has his own opinion that he has to share with the rest of the world, no matter how incredibly stupid it is.

Do you guys have any idea how annoying it is to read through a post with about 2375 bullet items of things you tried just to find out that the last line is something along the lines of but it didn't help!!!!11 XD lol rofl haxx?

And please keep your useless works for me posts to yourself or I'll take this as an invitation, come to your place, take your PC and carry it back to me so I can finally play the game.

I would also like to mention that Uninstall your Antivirus. XD lol rofl haxx is a stupid idea, especially when you spent a lot of money for professional Antivirus software and license updates. If the problem is caused by Antivirus software, I expect the software developers to get in contact with each other to find a fix.

If someone who comes across this blog post has any serious and meaningful suggestions to fix the problem described above, although I think that this is just another example of Bioware's poor coding, please don't keep it to yourself and write a comment.

Thanks.

I'm in the process of bringing my MyMiniCity Dynamic Signature script to SourceForge. While creating the download archives, I came across a very simple and yet very interesting question:

How do I create a ".tar.gz" file using 7-Zip on Windows?

On Linux, I would simply run:

tar cfz archive.tar.gz folder

When using 7-Zip on Windows, this process is a little bit more complicated.

As a GZIP compressed archive can contain only one file, 7-Zip won't offer you GZIP compression if you try to compress a folder or multiple files at once. When you choose TAR, you can't select any compression algorithm.

The trick is, that you have to create a TAR archive first. You can then put that single TAR file into 7-Zip and it will finally offer you the ability to compress that file using GZIP.

The result is an archive with the .tar.gz extension which is exactly what you wanted to do.

That's another example how something that needs several mouse clicks on Windows needs a single line on a Linux shell.

If you are in the same situation like I was for a few months now and you get a "Code: 80048823" error when trying to sign in to Games for Windows LIVE on your Windows PC with your correct username and password, this article might contain the solution you are looking for.

If you were wise enough to choose a long (> 10 characters) and cryptic password so script kiddies can't just take over your LIVE account, Microsoft's pathetic fail software which they call the Games for Windows LIVE client simply can't handle your password and will give you meaningless error messages.

Login to your LIVE account through https://login.live.com - which was obviously programmed by people who know a lot more about programming than those who created the Games for Windows LIVE client software - and change your password to something that is no longer than 10 characters.

There you go. That's it. You should be able to login again.

Thanks to Microsoft for creating a software which asks for credit card information but doesn't support secure passwords.

Valve did about 200 times better with their Steam platform and this proves that Internet browsers are not the only type of software that Microsoft fails at.

I'm giving up. I spent the last few hours trying to login to Games for Windows LIVE. If you don't know what this is:

Games for Windows LIVE is Microsoft's pathetic failed attempt to compete with Valve's Steam platform and their "achievements" by bringing their XBOX Live platform to the PC.

The last time I managed to login to Games for Windows LIVE, I couldn't even have a custom profile picture without signing up for an expensive premium membership. On Steam, you get this for free.

But that's not enough. When you play a game which supports Games for Windows LIVE and you have this thing running in the background, it will most likely create a new player profile and all your previous savegames will be gone. If you are lucky, you "just" have to manually copy all your savegames to the new profile and it might work.

Games for Windows LIVE also grants you access to "downloadable content" (DLC) for games such as Fallout 3 and Mass Effect. I'm buying my games on Steam, including those that support Games for Windows Live. I can't see why I have to buy DLC through Games for Windows LIVE when using Steam. As a matter of course, the otherwise useless Games for Windows LIVE client has to run in the background for DLC to work. This means that people like me who bought their game on Steam need to have two programs running in the background to run a simple computer game.

But since all I get when logging in is "Code: 80048823", I can't use any of the DLC. I changed my password since their crappy support websites which are spread across at least 20 different domains told me to do so. While looking for information regarding "Code: 80048823" on different Microsoft websites, I encountered several redirections, at least one "500 Internal server error", one endless redirect loop and a lot of "404 File not found" errors.

Talking about downloadable content, it's certainly worth mentioning that the only currency supported by Games for Windows LIVE is Microsoft Points. You can buy Microsoft Points in a store in the form of a points card (I've yet to find a store here in Germany where they sell those) or you can use a credit card. That's it. If you don't have a credit card (not that uncommon here in Germany) and you can't find a store, you are out of luck.

That's the reason why there are online shops which sell the scanned codes from the cards. I was lucky enough to find a shop which accepts payment through PayPal and direct debit.

I therefore come to the conclusion that

Games for Windows LIVE sucks

Update: The solution to this problem can be found here: Games for Windows LIVE "Code: 80048823" solved

Okay. How does Bioware get their customers to pay for this shit they call computer games? Seriously.

I finished Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic last week and that was the game that had the most annoying bugs I ever encountered in a computer game so far.

Examples:

• Triggering a cut scene while the active character is in "stealth mode" causes the game to crash
  
  Since the game can't find the person who is supposed to talk, it throws an exception and dies. Perfect. I did save before triggering the cut scene. But as this game fails to fully restore from savegames (see below), something like a "stealth" variable obviously got messed up and I actually had to activate stealth mode to make the script think that I'm not in stealth mode anymore.
• Motion blur effects cause weird graphic glitches on ATI cards
  
  Bioware blames ATI for this problem. Okay. Then please tell me why all my other games don't have this problem with motion blur. To me it seems that the guys at Bioware decided to realize this feature in a way that simply doesn't work well on ATI cards. They should be well aware that NVIDIA is not the only mayor graphics chip manufacturer on this planet, right?
• The game fails to restore properly from savegames and fails to restore certain information when moving from one zone to another
  
  On Tatooine, the sand people are not supposed to shoot at you if you are dressed as one of them. I saved before entering their enclave. A cut scene is supposed to play when you enter their enclave. But instead, the sand people turned hostile and started shooting at me. Loading the previously saved game caused my entire party to die within 2 seconds. The game didn't restore the friend/foe status and so the automated turrets outside reduced my entire party to dust. I had to zone in and out of their enclave about 10 times until the game finally decided that it should play the cut scene.

Okay. Star Wars: KOTOR is pretty old. I can't expect old games to run perfectly on today's systems.

So I decided to give Bioware another chance and bought Mass Effect on Steam. The game is really, really nice. It looks nice. It is fun to play. But... Bioware obviously didn't learn.

• The games locks up during conversations
  
  It seems to be a Bioware tradition that their games have to lock up during conversations. But instead of just crashing, Mass Effect causes 99% CPU load and therefore causes the entire operating system to freeze. The only chance to regain control of the computer is to push the reset button.
• Conversations have no voice overs
  
  I landed on a planet called Feros. On this planet, 50% of the conversations lack the sound output. Unless you enabled subtitles (which you won't need unless you are deaf), you have to read the characters lips or just guess the question to give the correct answer. This totally kills the atmosphere of the game.

Hey Bioware. Did you ever hear the word software testing? How much time did you guys spend to test your game on different systems? Did you test it on different systems at all or did you just test it on one of your development machines before rolling it out into the stores?

Let me guess. The next thing you will do is to blame Creative for not playing your sound files on their cards, right?

Games are meant for entertainment and relaxation. Your games cause me heart attacks.

Thank you, Bioware.