Miscellaneous Knowledge

The Network Time Protocol is, as the name implies, a standard for syncronising time across networks. This is extremely useful as it allows all computer clocks to be syncronised to a common, correct time rather than being “around” a certain time. It’s especially useful on servers, where co-ordinating events or tracing failures needs precision and accuracy.

So how can you sync your computer with a NTP time server? It’s actually quite simple;

• Windows – Windows XP and higher already sync out of the box to time.windows.com, however time.windows.com may be very far from you and hence there is a delay in the time making it less accurate. If you want to change the server, double click the clock (XP, on Vista double click and select “Change Time and Date Settings”), then click the Internet time tab, enter the server (XP, on Vista click Change Settings) and click Update Now to sync.
• Linux – Use the command ntpdate followed by the NTP server you want to sync with

So, how do you go about choosing a better NTP source for windows and a source for linux? Enter the NTP Pool.

There are quite a few “Stratum 1″ NTP servers, which get their time directly from cesium clocks or GPS satelits, these are the most accurate sources of time available. However, if we all synced with a stratum 1 server, they would quickly be overloaded. Most people don’t need that kind of precision, so enter “Stratum 2″ servers. Stratum 2 servers NTP sync with “Stratum 1″ servers, so while they are not as exact as they are, they are only different by a few milliseconds – hadrly a problem. Hence, you should sync with a “Stratum 2″ server. But how do you find one? The NTP pool is a pool, a collection of NTP servers intended for the masses to sync with. Either use 0.pool.ntp.org as your NTP sync source, or if you want extra accuracy select your continent, then country from the right to get a server closer to you. Now you can enjoy accurate time!

However, the demands upon the NTP pool grow daily, but not it’s supply of pooled servers. If you have a server with some spare bandwidth and a static ip address that is available 24/7, donate a server to the pool. You can adjust the amount of NTP traffic you get by setting your bandwidth in the control panel, even home users can participate as long as they meet the requirements!

Interleaving is part of ADSL, a protocol used to connect to the internet over phone lines. This can also be called DSL for those of you in the US.

Interleaving is a technology that increases the stability of the line, at the expensive of latency. Simply put, while it is activated your line will not disconnect as often but will have a slightly higher ping. For most people this is fine, however Gamers and users of a VOIP service or anything where latency is crucial want their ping as low as possible.

Most ISPs turn on interleaving by default, if your line is relatively stable then you can request them to turn it off. Some ISPs will not comply, but most will happily do so. My new ISP ADSL24 (who are a reseller for Entanet) allow you to control interleaving on the line. I requested that it was turned off, and my ping decreased by 10ms. Game on!

Not only this, but my line is just as stable. If you are a gamer or VOIP user, ask your ISP to turn off Interleaving to improve your latency.

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Owned. I’ve left BT over their illegal privacy invading Phorm system. I will not have my privacy invaded to increase the bonuses of overpaid BT executives and shareholders – I suggest others do the same.

I recently got mobile broadband from Voadafone UK (3GB/mo for £15/mo). Now, while they advertise “upto” 7.2mbit/sec, I appreciate that you will never recieve it – the same with Wireless Networks, you never receive 54mbit/sec, even right by the WiFi point you will probably get just 30mbit/sec at most.

Anyway, you should expect to get around 2mbit/sec from your mobile broadband if your modem for it supports 3.6mbit rate or higher. However, I have heard complaints from some that they are getting extremely slow internet.

If your Mobile Broadband Access Program (e.g Vodafone Mobile Connect) is showing GPRS connection, then you are on the 2G standard of mobile internet access, giving you a speed similar to that of a dial up modem. GPRS is the “fallback connection”, when there is not enough signal for a relibable 3G or better connection.

Therefore, to get a faster speed, you need to get a better signal. The best way to do this is to relocate your modem. Many MBB modems now are based off USB, so you can buy an inexpensive USB Extension cable to move your modem to a better location. If indoors, try moving the modem to a windowsil. Do not put it outside at all, no matter what you wrap it in!

You can also look (in the UK) at SiteFinder, the UK’s database of Mobile Phone towers. You can then see where your local tower is and position the modem best.

Hopefully these steps will help you to get a faster speed – enjoy!

I run my own home mailserver for two reasons, because I enjoy setting up systems and because I can. However, having just 1 mailserver introduces some problems. While according to the RFCs, sending servers are to keep sending failed mail for some time, they often dont. Consequently, if my server goes offline, loss of internet, reboot etc, I often loose a lot of email.

The solution to this is to have a Secondary MX (Mail Exchanger). This is another email server that will also accept email for your domain and keep trying to forward it to your Primary MX, forever. So, when my server comes back up, the email gets sent and not lost.

For a while, i’ve been using DNS Made Easy for my Secondary DNS and MX (don’t forget a secondary DNS, otherwise they can’t find out about your Secondary MX if your Primary DNS is down!). It worked, but not very well and recently i’ve noticed that i’ve been loosing email. DNS Made Easy have no information about their service status either, you have to trust that it’s working.

So, after searching for a while, I came across RollerNet. They provide many serivces, Primary/Secondary DNS/MX etc. I got a free account with them and was amazed at their quality of service. Most importantly, they give detailed logs of your MX status, such as mail received, mail in queue and the option to force-initiate a transfer of mail to your Primary MX. On top of that, they have all the usual spam filtering using the major blacklists, so no false-positives. Unfortunately, their free account has a limit of 50 messages a day (and many spammers target the Secondary MXes) so i’m now exceeding my message limit. No harm done though, i’m really impressed by their quality of service and going to take out a proper subscription. Good job RollerNet!

I recently got talking with someone about Paid to Click (PTC) schemes. These have been around since the early days of the internet- the concept being that you are paid to click on links and view websites, simple right? you’ll be earning money like no tomorrow.

Or not. It is possible to make money from PTC, and i’ll go into that later. However, for the most part, you’ll be earning small cash and wasting a lot of time. Mostly, there is a minimum view time requirement and you have to enter spambot-style picture codes to prove that you’re not a robot. At best, you’ll be earning $10 a month for a couple of hours work, even burger flippers earn more!

There are 2 ways to make money in PTC, the secret being to get someone else to do the work for you, i’m talking about referrals. Almost every PTC scheme has a referral program, you get a percentage of your referral’s earnings, and some even go down several levels. So, you can potentially earn money for doing nothing, get a few referrals and let them click away, and encourage them in turn to refer users. Now, this isn’t simple, but there are systems out there to help you. Forums such as Get Paid Forum have threads where you join using the referrer’s address above you, then post your own and people sign up under you and so on, this is a great way to start building your referral tree. From then on, it’s your own responsibility to get people to sign up under you, think of a few innovative ways to get people to do things for you.

Personally, I gave up on PTC, building a referral tree isn’t easy and while I was getting paid, it was peanuts, especially when those referrals under me also gave up and the money stopped coming in. Sure, I could have got more, but it was more work than I was prepared to do. I might retry it though, talking to this person has made me think about trying PTC again and test a few ideas i’ve got floating around to get lots of referrals.

There is however one “get paid for doing nothing on the internet” scheme that’s done well for me, and also has a minimum of effort. It’s the Gomez Peer, the concept is that you get paid for running a program on your computer. If the alarm bells are ringing at this point, turn them off. It’s not spyware, adware nor does it impact your system performance. The company that makes Gomez Peer, Gomez, are a large website testing service. They test the websites of big companies such as Microsoft, Google etc to see how they perform from many different internet connection types all over the world. While Gomez could buy computers and situate them around the world, it makes much more sense for them to get real people to do this and give them a little bit of money, Gomez saves money and people earn some, not bad I say.

So, if you want to try it out, click here to sign up. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll be asked to download the program, it’s 20mb. Once installed, it will start testing websites. You will not earn money until Gomez “approves” your account. This takes around 1-2 weeks, they use this period to see how committed you are going to be, they see how long your PC is on and when and if it matches their ideals, you’ll be accepted and start getting paid. I get paid around $10 per month just for running the program, plus in June they are going to start paying people 60% more – excellent. You can install the program on multiple programs to help increase your earnings.

So, if you want to make money for nothing, I strongly recommend the Gomez Peer. It might take time for them to approve your account, but they’ve always paid me on time and the right amount, plus i’ve done no work to earn it! Not bad at all I say. Also, they have quite a few methods of paying you, including PayPal.

And if you want proof, have a look below. This is screenshot form the account section of Gomez. As you can see, so far i’ve got $56.41 out of them, for doing nothing. I’d also post the PayPal payment as proof, but I can’t find it, next time I get paid I will update this post with the proof.

Gomez Peer Lifetime Earnings

(Oh, all the links in this post are referral links in case you didn’t notice. If you sign up for Gomez Peer and get accepted, I get $1. If you don’t want to give me this (doesn’t cost you anything remember) then simply remove the referrer bit from the URL)