(no subject)
oy, headache today... :(
I've been busy trying to fix a number of problems with my friend Kathy's computers and wireless network. I couldn't believe it when I saw that the guy who they had set up their wireless network initially set it up without any form of security whatsoever, no encryption of the data, no authentication, and the SSID for the wireless segment was left at it's default of Netgear. Poor girl has been doing her freakin' banking over this connection for the last few years. Fortunately, her bank caught some fraud going on with her credit cards and promptly sent her new ones. I'm only glad that there wasn't more damage caused beyond that which is fixable. Whomever hacked into her network also took over control over the Netgear wireless router, and totally blew away all the TCP/IP settings, like they're totally missing from the registry, from her desktop system as well. The desktop itself is running XP Home Media Center Edition, had file sharing turned on, and no firewall in use, even the Windows one was turned off! No passwords on any of the accounts, and all of the user accounts were configured as Administrator. Un-fuckin-believable! Not that Kathy would know better of course, but the fact that the guy who left the system in that insecure of a condition used to be the I.T. guy for Jimmy's company??!! Well, he was fired now, or laid off or something. Shee-it!
I had went over her house Wednesday night and worked right through the night, leaving there about 2 in the afternoon on Thursday. I took a couple hour nap once I got home, but I didn't get much time in there, and thus, by 11pm last night I was beat! I saw bedtime by midnight for the first time in a very long time. I'm going to try to use this to readjust my body's schedule a bit, so I'm not awake till 5 or 6 in the morning as I often am.
But anyway, I ordered some new wireless equipment for Kathy's network, some 802.11g stuff supporting WPA encryption. (Yeah, I know that n is on the way soon, but since it's not my equipment, I can't have her dealing with pre-release standards, flashing ROMs, and shit like that. Besides, the g stuff is pretty cheap right now and will still be supported for a long time to come.) That equipment should be here by Monday and I'll be back over there on Tuesday finishing up. I ended up having to completely wipe the desktop system I mentioned above so I'll be reconfiguring that when I go back over too, and make sure it's as secure as can be.
Whenever I do work for my friends, they always offer to pay me for my time. Hey, I do this stuff for a living right? And get paid for it from others... However, I feel like a heel accepting $$ from friends, so I usually bargain for a nice dinner out or something like that. With Kathy, I'm shooting for either a couple more laser hair removal sessions at the salon where she works, or maybe even a membership to Costco or a new all-in-one printer/copier/fax. We'll see what pans out. :)