Daily DIY

Flickr user izatchu has turned an old hard cover book into one of the coolest iPod carrying cases these eyes have ever seen.

The idea is very simple: Just hollow out a book with room for your iPod and accessories. The Flickr pool doesn’t go into detail on this process; luckily we’ve covered the DIY secret hollow book before. Oh, and if you can believe it, this will work for non-iPods as well, so if the Zune is your new favorite MP3 player, you can still make the case! — Adam Pash

Windows/Mac/Unix (Firefox): The PhishTank SiteChecker Firefox extension uses data from previously-mentioned anti-phishing web site PhishTank to help prevent users from falling victim to online phishing scams.

When you visit a site PhishTank has verified as an active phish, the SiteChecker extension blocks the site, giving you the option to go back, continue safely to the site for a limited time, or view details of the dirty site on PhishTank. If you know anyone who’s particularly susceptible to phishing scams (surely you can spot a phishing site a mile away), this Firefox extension could prove invaluable. PhishTank SiteChecker is a free download, works wherever you’re running the ‘fox. — Adam Pash

Reader Tim writes in with this tip for creating a simple file shredder to permanently and securely delete files from your hard drive:

I add an instant file shredder to my Windows desktop using the SDelete utility, available freely from Sysinternals. Save the SDelete.exe in your C:\WINDOWS\system32 directory. Add the following text to a new text document:


@echo off
echo .* * *W A R N I N G * * *
echo .
echo .The File(s)/Folders(s) Will Be Permanently Deleted!
echo .
echo .Press CTRL-C to Abort and Terminate Batch Job Or…
echo .
pause
sdelete -p 4 -s %1
pause


Save the file as “shred.bat” on your desktop right next to your Recycling Bin. Now just drag and drop those sensitive files onto the icon to make them disappear forever!

I gave Tim’s batch script a try and it seems to work perfectly. I love the idea of keeping your permanent file shredder right next to the Recycle Bin, giving you the choice to send files to the recoverable Recycle Bin or shredding them to hell so they can never be recovered. To make things easier on you, I’ve put together shred.bat as described above for download, Windows only.

Shred.bat isn’t your best bet if you’re looking to permanently delete data from an entire drive, but it’s great for any regular old file deletion. If you’ve got your own method for simple but secure file deletion, share it with the rest of us in the comments. — Adam Pash

Learn how to backup your *nix box to an external harddrive (or tapedrive without much effort). I cover installation of the backup medium, using `dump`, restoring, and also backing up files from a remote server to an external harddrive.



Step 1: Get stuff ready

Step 2: Take a `dump`

Step 3: `restore

Step 4: Remote backups

Step 5: Automation


By: Johntron

by Adam Pash

You just shelled out a bucketful of clams for your new MacBook and you want to protect your investment. What if a sticky-fingered thief eyes your hot new lappie at the coffee shop? It’s easy to add a security system to your MacBook that’ll help you ID would-be robbers.

With freeware app iAlertU and some Applescript magic, your MacBook can snag a photo of the thieving scoundrel and upload it to your FTP server automatically. Here’s how.

NOTE: iAlertU requires an iSight camera and the motion sensing features built in to Apple’s MacBooks and MacBook Pros, so you’d need one of those two computers for this to work correctly. Also, keep in mind that this method is far from foolproof. This won’t necessarily save your Mac from being stolen, but hey - it’s cool, and it certainly *could* help get your stolen Mac back.

iAlertU - The car alarm for your Mac

In case you missed our original post, iAlertU is a snazzy app that works as an alarm system for your MacBook. After you arm iAlertU with the Apple remote, the alarm will go off if anyone tries to type, mouse, unplug, or power off your computer. When the alarm goes off, iAlertU also snaps a picture of (hopefully) the potential thief and saves the image in your home directory (you’d be surprised how well it actually works - the photo it saves is generally from a few seconds before the alarm goes off, so attempts to avoid being caught by the camera don’t generally work). Here’s the original video of iAlertU in action:

The problem with iAlertU is that it’s really just a noisy deterrent - the hope being that the loud, flashing alarm will scare of would-be burglars. But what happens if the thief isn’t so easily scared? Your laptop will have a picture of the thief on it, but it’s not doing you any good. So I’ve put together a couple of Applescripts that will upload iAlertU’s capture to an FTP server using Transmit. Below I’ve put together a very short video to give you an idea of what the Applescripts do:

Here’s how it works:

Set up Transmit

If you’ve got Transmit (a Mac FTP app that we simply love here at LH headquarters), open it up. If you don’t have it, well, you might want to consider getting it.

The first thing you want to do is set up a favorite in Transmit. To do so, go to the Favorites tab and hit the plus sign (+) to add a new favorite. Enter your FTP info and you’re good to go.

Next, go to the Transfers tab of the Transmit preferences. Where it says “When an item already exists…”, change the Uploading files option to “Replace the existing file”. This isn’t necessary, so if you don’t want to overwrite files by default, don’t change this setting. You just want to make sure that when it matters, your image capture will be uploaded to the FTP server.

Folder monitors and auto-FTP

So, now that you’ve got your favorite all set up in Transmit, it’s time to set up the first Applescript, which uses a handy Mac OS X feature called Folder Actions. In our case, we’re setting a monitor that watches your home directory and activates a script to upload the iAlertU picture if it appears in the folder. Here’s how:

1. Download the iAlertU FTP script, open the file, and edit the settings to match your settings. It’s simple enough - where it says your_name, put your username, and where it says Your Transmit Favorite, enter the favorite we set up above. There is probably a much better way to do this, but I don’t know it. Place the script in this directory: /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts.
2. Turn on Folder actions (if they’re not already enabled). To do so, go to Applications -> Applescript -> Folder Actions Setup, and click the checkbox labeled Enable Folder Actions.
3. Next, click on the plus sign (+) to add the to-be-monitored folder, in this case your home folder.
4. Now click the plus sign (+) on the script side. You should see a menu listing several Folder Actions scripts, including the script you just downloaded. Double click the iAlertU FTP script.
5. The last thing you need to do is create a folder in your home directory called alert. This will come in handy for the next section.

You’re all set. Now, as soon as iAlertU’s alarm goes off, it’ll snap a picture. The picture will go into your home folder, which will fire off the Applescript, uploading the image to your FTP server. When the image is uploaded, it is moved to the alert folder so that we know it was uploaded successfully. To give you an idea of the amount of time this takes, from alarm to completed upload normally takes about 15 seconds (in the video it only took around 12), which is pretty good.

However, if the thief gets you computer turned off before the upload can complete, this script won’t work. That’s why we head to the second tier of the iAlert FTP upload.

Upload iAlertU image on startup

The next Applescript will check the home folder for the iAlertU picture on startup, and, if it’s there, upload it to the server. This way, even if the thief gets your computer home, you’ve still got a good chance of getting the iAlertU picture as long as he connects to the internet eventually.

1. Download the Upload image on startup script.
2. Again, open the Applescript file and edit the config section to match your settings.



3. After you’ve set up the Applescript, you need to save it as an application. Go to File -> Save as…, change the File Format to application, and uncheck the Startup Screen option. Click save.
4. Finally, go to your Accounts settings in the preferences. In the Login Items tab, add your new upload image on startup.app to the list of startup items.

Now, if the iAlertU image was not uploaded the first (or subsequent times), it will continue to try and upload the image every time the computer starts up until it’s successful. When it is successful, the image will be moved to the alert folder and the Applescript will no longer attempt to upload it to the server.

This method could definitely be tweaked if anyone out there knows more than me and feels like putting in the time, but as-is it’s a pretty good method for bolstering, if not your theft protection, your vigilante justice prospects.

Got any good theft-proofing ideas/methods of your own (even if they’re, “don’t leave your computer alone”)? Let’s hear them in the comments.

Related:

• How to set up a home FTP server
• TMO Quick Tip - Monitor Your Mac with Folder Actions [Mac Observer]
• Use your webcam as a security camera (Windows)
• Gawker time lapse file maker
Remotely delete files from a stolen Mac

Adam Pash is an associate editor for Lifehacker who works hard to get a glimpse at the face of evil. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

by Gina Trapani

Anyone who’s done any Unix work has used SSH (Secure Shell) to connect to other computers and perform tasks like transferring files. But you don’t have to be a Unix whiz with a beard, ponytail and penguin tee-shirt to reap the benefits of the secure, remote computing that SSH offers.

It’s simple to set up an SSH server right on your Windows PC with Cygwin (and even simpler on your Mac). Once your personal SSH server is up and running, you can connect to your home computer securely from anywhere on the internet, up and download files and perform all the command line tasks your heart desires. Here’s how.

Notes: Running a server and opening a port on your computer is a risky undertaking. Do make sure your computer’s up to date, has strong logins and is behind a firewall before proceeding.

Why SSH?

We’ve covered how to install several different kinds of home servers here at Lifehacker. Here’s what sets SSH apart:

• Unlike a home web server, SSH is read/write, meaning you can get and put files on a server with it.
• Unlike a home FTP server, SSH is secure. All the transactions are encrypted and cannot be sniffed.
• Unlike a VNC server, SSH (alone) doesn’t let you drive your computer remotely, and it is also secure and encrypted (while VNC is not.)

Like the sounds of SSH? Let’s get started.

Install and configure OpenSSH

We’re going to use the free Unix emulator Cygwin to get the Open SSH suite installed on your Windows machine. If you’re new to Cygwin, check out previous Cygwin tutorials, part 1, 2 and 3.

Run Cygwin’s setup.exe and from the package list, check off “openssh,” which appears in the “Net” group, as shown. (Click to enlarge.)

Complete the Cygwin setup and restart if necessary.

Then, launch a Cygwin command line window and type ssh-host-config. When the script asks you about “privilege separation,” answer yes. When the script asks to”create local user sshd,” answer yes. When the script asks to “install sshd as a service,” answer yes. When the script stops and asks you for “CYGWIN=” your answer is ntsec tty. (Thanks to the author of this page for the help here.).

Disable SSH protocol 1

On a particularly locked-down network I spend a lot of time on, the admins asked me to disable SSH’s Protocol 1 on my SSH server for security reasons. This goes a bit beyond my level of SSH expertise (so network admins, feel free to jump in here), but apparently some vulnerabilities have been identified with Protocol 1, which you don’t need for your server anyway. To disable it, open SSHD’s configuration file in a text editor, located at c:\cygwin\etc\defaults\etc\sshd_config. Change the line that reads:

#Protocol 2,1

To:

Protocol 2.

So you’re just removing the # and the ,1. Save the file.

Run your SSH server

Now it’s time to get your SSH server running. Since we’re on Windows we’ll start it as a service. It will use your Windows login names and passwords to authenticate users. (Make sure all your PC login’s have strong passwords associated with them!)

At the Cygwin prompt, type:

net start sshd

You should get:

The CYGWIN sshd service is starting.
The CYGWIN sshd service was started successfully.

Now you’re rockin’ and rolling!

Note that you can also start and stop the Cygwin SSH server in the Services panel. In Control Panel, Administrative Tasks, choose Services. Right-click on the “CYGWIN sshd” item to start, stop, disable or edit other properties of the service, as shown.

Open SSH port 22

Now that your server’s running, you have to open a port on your firewall to let clients connect to it. If you’re behind a router/firewall, here’s a refresher on how to access a home server behind it. Remember, SSH runs on port 22, so that’s the port you want to forward.

For folks running the regular Windows Firewall, add the SSH port to your list of exceptions. In Control Panel, click on Windows Firewall, and on the Exceptions tab, click “Add Port” and enter ssh and port 22, as shown.

Now you’re ready to log in.

Connect to your server

There are several ways to connect to your new SSH server. You just need the server’s IP address (internal for local networks, external from out on the internet, or perhaps your dynamic DNS name.)

From the command line on the other machine, type:

ssh <ipaddress> -l username

(That’s a dash lower-case L, not 1 before username.) Once you’re logged in, you’re sitting at the command line of the remote machine with freedom to do whatever you want at the prompt.

For a graphical user interface that transfers files, download and install the excellent, free WinSCP. Create a new connection to your server, as shown (replace “localhost” with your server’s IP address.) (Click to enlarge.)

Once you connect, browse the server’s files, download and upload the documents you need.

Finally, you can just use a regular FTP client that supports SFTP, or secure FTP. For example, Transmit on the Mac can SFTP to your SSH server and transfer files that way.

Mac SSH Server

As with most networking utilities, Mac users have it easy when it comes to running an SSH server. From System Preferences, Sharing, under Services, check off Remote Login, as shown. (Click to enlarge.)

And you’re all set! You can connect to your Mac SSH server with WinSCP on a Windows machine as well, or just at the Cygwin command line as well.

Once your SSH server is up and running, you may not want to have to remember its IP address all the time. Check out this tutorial on how to assign a memorable domain name to your home server.

In the meantime, happy SSH’ing! Post any questions/thoughts/tales of SSH sorrow or joy up in the comments.

Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, types SSH 20 times a day. Her semi-weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Wednesday and Friday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

Just-launched web site PhishTank is a central database of user-submitted and verified phishing sites - you know, the ones that try to dupe Grandpa into handing over his credit card and bank account numbers.

If you keep getting those “Please update your PayPal account” messages, instead of clicking the link, help protect others less savvy than you from doing so. Copy and paste it into PhishTank for other users to verify, then confirmed phishing URLs will be blocked by OpenDNS and any application that implements the freely-available PhishTank API. Sounds like a fabulous internet community watch to me. — Gina Trapani

Parent Hacks has an interesting way to scare off the baddies: just use the panic button on your car keys control fob:

If you think someone is trying to get into your house, just press the panic alarm on your car key fob. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. Also good for parking garages.

Of course, you should test your panic button before crunch time to make sure it really works, but this definitely could work as a cheap crime deterrent. — Wendy Boswell

Now that Im in a dorm I have to be more careful with my possessions. I thought it would be great if there was an easy way to use my webcam to look over my room when Im not around. I found a forum online containing the instructions that I am going to use now, and I added some helpful tips.



And if trebuchet03 is reading this I was wondering if you could write something on how to do the webcam in the peephole I remember seeing in one of your pics. It would be cool to monitor both your room and hallway too.


By: Tetranitrate

Web site Simplehelp has a tutorial for setting up your own motion-detecting security camera - all you need is a PC, a webcam, and a free, open source program called Dorgem.

Simplehelp’s instructions are very detailed, and in the end you should have a security camera that can, for example, take pictures of intruders and upload them to a remote location via FTP (just in case the computer gets stolen). Or maybe you’ll just end up with a lot of pictures of your son doing things in front of your computer that you never wanted to know about. Either way (well - not so much the second way), this is pretty cool. Works on Windows 98 and up. — Adam Pash