I was browsing around the MySQL bug section posting some bugs and looking for old ones that have been solved. I came across bug #2: Does not make Toast

I guess it’s funny in that nerdy way. So this begs the question: When will computers control toasters and other kitchen appliances? There are fridges with computers built into them, fridges with control systems, and computers put into fridges but no ovens or oven-fridge combinations that choose a recipe, mix it up and cook it based on a computer’s recommendation. I say, bring on the computer cook! Or the hydrating oven from Back to the Future Part II w/ the mini-pizzas.

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Coding Horror had an interesting piece on how CAPTCHA is broken. We all knew this.

Granted, CAPTCHA is very hard to break from a computer’s point of view, but it is also very hard to break from a human’s point of view. (see the image below, can you decipher it?) The more difficult CAPTCHA becomes for computers, the more difficult it becomes for humans. There are numerous times where I will not buy from a website because of the horrible CAPTCHA implementation.

Alternatives? How about questions! There are certain tasks computers fail at doing better than humans. Anything that a human can understand or interpret better than a computer will be a better safeguard.

On one of my websites I use random questions to perform verification. The problem with CAPTCHA is that the hacker knows he has to type into the box whatever is in the image. If you add a human only element, where the user has to understand and/or interpret a question, then it makes it infinitely harder to break. If you’re Ticketmaster, and using the English site in the US, you could ask a question such as: “We live in the _____ States of America” or something similar. As long as the users can spell “United” they can move on. What if, you say, the user cannot spell it? Well, chances are if they cannot spell it or know the answer, they won’t get the impossible CAPTCHA image either. Obviously hackers will compromise that question because they’ll get the answer and program it into their scripts, but if you have a database of questions large enough (say 5000 questions) each dynamically generated when you load the page, the likelihood of answering the question correctly is slim. Even knowing all the answers to all the questions is slim too! By having different methods of answering such as blanks, checkboxes, radio buttons, etc, it makes it more difficult. If the question is: “type cat with an ’s’ after the ‘t’ into the box below” it will fool any script UNTIL the hacker finds a pattern in the question or the answer to the question. Website’s CAPTCHA implementation is static based on an algorithm for image or text manipulation. Once it is broken, attackers can defeat the safeguard quickly and easily. Make the questions random and the database of questions large enough and you won’t have as big a problem. When we had the standard vBulletin CAPTCHA installed we got 100s of spam users/posts a day, once I implemented a few hundred random questions I haven’t got a single spam user (other than a REAL person) in almost 6 months. There are/will be some flaws, the questions themselves may be too difficult for people to answer, but considering the sad state of CAPTCHA as it is, when 50% of people can’t get the damn thing right, the questions aren’t such a bad idea.

Another idea is “Hot Captcha” which is a website that has photos of women on it. As the user you are supposed to choose the 3 ‘hottest’ women based on a popular culture criteria. The split is very obvious to a human, like comparing a monkey to Angelina Jolie, but not so obvious to a computer. This particular method would never actually work due to the nature of the images being analyzed, but the principle is there. Have simple objects and have the user identify them (square, circle, tree, kitten, etc).

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If you have received outlook error 0x80040154 you may have a big problem. This is one of those generic “no one knows” or “has a thousand fixes-and none work for you” errors. In outlook it comes up as “unknown error” which is very frustrating.

Files that were once registered become unregistered or something in the registry is corrupt. In Outlook 2003 the major offender is inetcomm.dll. I’ll guide you through a few common solutions:

1. Click Start -> Run and type regsvr32 inetcomm.dll
2. Restart your computer and try to start Outlook. If it works, fantastic! The problem was inetcomm.dll somehow became unregistered.
3. Restart your computer in Safe Mode with Networking (F8 a second after boot-up but before the Windows load screen pops up) and try to open Outlook. If it works, you may have a virus or piece of software that is conflicting with Outlook. If you have recently installed any software that could be the culprit, uninstall it and try again. Otherwise, while still in Safe Mode, start an antivirus program and scan for viruses/trojans/spyware, etc.
4. If that doesn’t work, try removing the current Outlook profile you are using. Be sure to backup your email folders and settings first. Go to Control Panel -> Mail -> Profiles. Either delete the current profile or add a new profile and set it to default. Since it is likely a problem with the old profile, you do not want to use any of the old outlook files* or settings but reenter or import them. Setup an email account with the new profile and test it out before you import your old personal or archive folders.
5. If that doesn’t work, try repairing Outlook/Office*. Go to Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Outlook or Office and click uninstall or repair (depending on the version of Windows). A dialog box will appear and walk you through the repair process. Be sure to backup your folders and settings.
6. If the repair doesn’t work, you will need to uninstall Outlook and reinstall it.

* When you repair or reinstall Outlook it does not delete the personal folders by default. This is a good feature in case Outlook does get damaged, however, when Outlook is damaged as a result of the folders or profiles, not removing them during the above operations does not help. I recommend once you backup your folders and settings to delete all traces of Outlook information from the location: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\ . Then reinstall outlook or create a new profile. This is a last resort of course, because it is 100% starting over. With many people Outlook is their lifeline and keeping all information within it is critical.

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One of the most frustrating issues to deal with in Outlook is having an email history file that is either too large, or full of incomplete/incorrect email addresses. When you begin to type an email address in the TO: field, Outlook looks into the history cache and creates a dropdown list of email addresses, contacts or exchange names to match. It holds the last 1000 used addresses. New names are not added until the current outlook session ends and outlook is restarted.

How to Delete the Entire History List File

If you find too many of the addresses in the history are malformed or you wish to move a history list from one computer to another, you can find the file in the following location: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\<profile_name>.NK2
You will have to have hidden files and folders disabled in folder options to see the application data folder.

How to Remove Individual Names from History List

1. Begin typing the name of the name you wish to remove in the Outlook TO: Field in a new message.
2. Use the arrow key (not the mouse) to select the incorrect name.
3. Hit the Delete key (not Back Space). This will remove the name from the history list.

How to Change the Maximum Names in the History List

1. Click Start and Run. Type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Find the key: H_KEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\microsoft\Office\10.0\outlook\
3. In the right pane, right-click and select New, then DWORD Value. Name it: MaxNicknames.
4. Double-click on the key and type the number of entries (in the value box) you wish to have as the maximum. The Default is 1000.

How to Edit Names in the History List

There is no way to edit the cache unless you purchase a program such as Ingressor Desktop for $40.

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Below are ways to view the advanced headers of email messages in some common email programs. This is useful for identifying spam, and illegitimate email account use within a company.

Outlook 2007
With the message in its own window, click the message tab, look at the options block, and click the small button with the arrow on it (bottom right corner). This will open the message options. The Internet Headers will be displayed at the bottom of the box.
If the message isn’t open in its own window, right-click the message and select Message Options.

Outlook 98, 2000, 2003
With the message open, click on View -> Options. Near the bottom you will see a section called “Internet Headers.” Select the options accordingly.

Hotmail
Go to Options -> Preferences -> Under Headers click Advanced Headers

Thunderbird
In the menu, go to View -> Headers and select All.

Eudora Pro
With the message open, double-click the “blah blah” icon (left of subject field) to reveal the advanced headers.

Outlook Express
Highlight the message and go to File -> Properties -> Detail Tab -> OK. The properties box will then display the fill headers. Press Message Source.

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