How to reset WordPress admin password from cPanel?

How to reset WordPress admin password from cPanel?

You have to do this through the WordPress database directly.

The most convenient way to manage the database is via the phpMyAdmin tool.

Goto your cPanel -> MySQL Databases section.

Scroll down the page till you notice the small phpMyAdmin link.

Click on it.

or

Goto your cPanel –>Databases –> phpMyAdmin

Once you are logged in to phpMyAdmin, select the WordPress database from the drop-down menu from left sidebar.

The page will refresh and the database tables will be displayed on it.

Open the SQL tab (look at the top navigation bar).

In the text field write the following SQL query:

UPDATE `wp_users` SET `user_pass` = MD5( ‘new_password_here’ ) WHERE `wp_users`.`user_login` = “admin_username”;

“new_password_here” – replace this with the new password you wish to use.

“admin_username” – replace this with the username the password should be updated for.

Once you are ready, click on the GO button to submit the query. If everything goes fine without errors, you should be able to login to WordPress with your new password.

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How to reset the password on a tripwire agent

Your server is unable to authenticate the client? Simply, you may have the wrong password on the client agent.

Go to:

C:\Program Files\Tripwire\TE\Agent\bin>

Then type:

tetool.cmd setchannelpass expectedpassword expectedpassword

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Managing Windows User Accounts using command line

 

From:

http://windowscommand.uw.hu/wincmd0071.html

Managing User Accounts

Managing user accounts from the command line is different from managing them in the Active Directory Users And Computers administrative tool, chiefly because you have more options and it is easier to work with multiple user accounts at the same time.

Viewing and Finding User Accounts

You can use the DSQUERY USER command to search for users. Not only can you search by common name, SAM account name, and description, but you can also use wildcards in any of these fields to facilitate matches. The output of DSQUERY USER contains the DNs of users that match the search criteria and can be piped as input to other commands, including DSGET USER, which you can use in turn to display user account properties.

DSQUERY USER and DSGET USER are best used together. Here, you use DSQUERY USER to obtain the DNs for one or more users, and then use DSGET USER to display the properties for the related accounts. Using DSGET USER, properties you can display are specified by using parameters, including

  • display Displays the full name attribute of matching user accounts in the output

  • desc Displays the description of matching user accounts in the output

  • dn Displays the distinguished name of matching user accounts in the output

  • empid Displays the employee ID attribute of matching user accounts in the output

  • fn Displays the first name attribute of matching user accounts in the output

  • mi Displays the middle initial attribute of matching user accounts in the output

  • samid Displays the SAM account name of matching user accounts in the output

  • sid Displays the security identifier for matching user accounts in the output

  • disabled Displays a Yes/No value indicating whether the user account is disabled

DSGET USER displays output in table format. Generally speaking, you will always want to use –Dn, –Samid or –Display as a parameter to help you make sense of and identify the users in the output. For example, if you wanted to search for all engineering users that were disabled, you can use the command line

dsquery user "OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com" | dsget user -dn -disabled

Here, you list the disabled status of each user in the Engineering OU of the cpandl.com domain, such as

  dn                                         disabled
CN=edwardh,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com yes
CN=jacobl,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com yes
CN=maryk,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com yes
CN=ellene,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com yes
CN=williams,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com yes
dsget succeeded

You could also display the SAM account name as shown in this example:

dsquery user -name william* | dsget user -samid -disabled
samid disabled
williamb yes
williamd yes
williams no
dsget succeeded

Here, you search for all user accounts whose common name begins with William, then display the SAM account name and disabled status of each.

Determining Group Membership for Individual User Accounts

You can use the second syntax for DSGET USER to obtain the group membership of individual user accounts. For example, if you wanted to see what groups WilliamS is a member of, you could type the command

dsquery user -name williams | dsget user -memberof

or

dsget user "CN=William Stanek,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com" -memberof

Both commands work the same. In the first example, you use DSQUERY USER to obtain the DN of the user account. In the second example, you specify the DN directly. Either way, the output would show the group memberships, such as

"CN=Tech,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Engineering,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

Here, the user is a member of the Tech, Engineering, and Domain Users groups.

While this technique could be used to display the membership of multiple users, there is no way to display a DN or SAM account name for the associated users. Thus, you get a list of group memberships and the only indicator that the memberships are for different users are the blank lines in the listing. For example, if you used the query

dsquery user -name bill* | dsget user -memberof

the output might look like this:

"CN=Tech,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Engineering,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

"CN=Tech,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Engineering,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

"CN=Engineering,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

"CN=Tech,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Engineering,OU=Eng,DC=cpandl,DC=com"
"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

Here, you have output for seven user accounts. You can tell this because of the blank lines separating each group membership listing. But you have no indication of which user accounts the entries specifically relate.

Setting or Changing User Account Attributes

From the command line, it is a swift and easy matter to set or change user account attributes using the DSMOD USER command. You can, in fact, set attributes for one or many users at the same time. Suppose that you want all 150 users in the Sales OU to have their department attribute set as “Sales & Marketing,” their company attribute set as “City Power and Light,” and their title set to “Customer Sales.” You can do this with a single command-line entry:

dsquery user "OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com" | dsmod user -dept "Sales & 
Marketing" -company "City Power and Light" -title "Customer Sales"

The DSMOD USER command would then report the individual success or failure of each change:

dsmod succeeded:CN=edwardh,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com   no
dsmod succeeded:CN=erinp,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com no
dsmod succeeded:CN=jayo,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com no
dsmod succeeded:CN=johng,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com yes
...
dsmod succeeded:CN=williams,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com yes

Although changing these values in the GUI could take you hours, the entire process from the command line takes only a few minutes. You simply type the command-line entry and let DSMOD USER do the work for you.

Other parameters that you’ll work with frequently include

  • webpg Sets an intranet or Internet address that will appear in the directory listing for the associated user, such as \\Intranet\Sales.

  • profile Sets the path to the user’s profile, which provides the environment settings for user accounts, such as \\Gamma\Profiles\wrstanek.

  • hmdrv Sets the drive letter of the user’s home directory, such as X:. The user’s home directory will be mapped to this drive letter.

  • hmdir Sets the home directory for the user, such as \\Gamma\Users
    \wrstanek.

Caution

Generally, you don’t want to change user profile paths, home drives, or home directories when users are logged on, because this might cause problems. So you might want to update this information after hours or ask the user to log off for a few minutes and then log back on.

Tip

By default, if an error occurs when processing changes, DSMOD USER will halt execution and report the error. Generally, this is the behavior you want, because you don’t want to make improper changes. You can, however, use the –C parameter to tell DSMOD USER to report the error but continue.

These parameters accept the special value $username$. This value lets you assign paths and filenames that are based on individual user names. For example, if you assign the home directory path as \\Gamma\Users\$username$\ or C:\Home\$username$, Windows replaces the $username$ value with the actual user name—and it does so for each user you’re managing. This would mean if you are working with the accounts for erinb, sandyr, miked and kyler, they would all be assigned unique home directories—either \\Gama\Users\erinb, \\Gama\Users\sandyr, \\Gama\Users\miked and \\Gama\Users\kyler or C:\Home\erinb, C:\Home\sandyr, C:\Home\miked and C:\Home\kyler. In these examples, \\Gama\Users is a path to a network share and C:\Home represents a directory on the user’s computer.

Following this, you could set the Web page, profile, home drive, and home directory for all users in the Sales OU by typing

dsquery user "OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com" | dsmod user -webpg 
\\Intranet\Sales\$username$ - profile "\\corpdc02\sales\$username$"
-hmdrv "X:" -hmdir "\\corpserver01\users\$username$"
Real World

With The Active Directory Users And Computers administrative tool, you enter the value %username% to get paths and filename based on individual user names. Don’t use this value with the special parameters discussed here. %username% is an environment variable and the GUI knows to replace the environment variable on a per-user basis. The command line interprets this and other environment variables based on the current logged on user, however. So in this case the value of %username% is the SAM account name of the user account under which you run the command.

Disabling and Enabling User Accounts

You can enable or disable users accounts from the command line using the DSMOD USER command and the –Disabled parameter. Use –disabled yes to disable the user account and –disabled no to enable the user account.

In the following example, you disable all users in the OffsiteUsers OU:

dsquery user "OU=OffsiteUsers,DC=cpandl,DC=com" | dsmod user -disabled 

yes

The DSMOD USER command would then report the individual success or failure of each change.

Resetting Expired User Accounts

Domain user accounts can be set with a specific expiration date. You can check the account expiration date using DSGET USER with the –Acctexpires parameter. For example, if you wanted to check the expiration date of all user accounts in the Sales OU, you can type

dsquery user "OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com" | dsget user -dn -acctexpires

The resulting output would show you the account expiration dates of each account in the Sales OU according to the distinguished name of the account, such as

  dn                                               acctexpires
CN=Mary Baker,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com never
CN=Bradley Beck,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com 11/15/2006
CN=Ann Bebbe,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com never
CN=Max Benson,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com 12/31/2006
dsget succeeded

Here, accounts without expiration dates have an account expires value of “never” and other accounts have a specific expiration date, such as 11/15/2006.

If you need to extend or change the account expiration date to allow a user to log on to the domain, you can do this with DSMOD USER. Set the –Acctexpires parameter to the number of days for which the account should be valid. For example, if an account should be valid for the next 60 days, you would type –acctexpires 60, such as

dsquery user -name johnw | dsmod user -acctexpires 60

or

dsmod user "CN=John Wood,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com" -acctexpires 60

In these examples you change the account expiration for John Wood.

If you want to remove an account expiration date, use a value of 0 to specify that the account never expires, such as

dsquery user -name johnw | dsmod user -acctexpires 0
Note

To set an account so that it is past the expiration date, you can type a negative value, such as –acctexpires -1.

Controlling and Resetting User Passwords

Using DSGET USER, you can check the password settings on user accounts. Typically, you’ll want to know if a user can change their password, whether the password expires and whether the password uses reversible encryption. You can check for these settings using the –Canchpwd, –Pwdneverexpires, and –Reversiblepwd parameters respectively. You might also want to know if the account is set so the user must change his or her password on next logon. To do this, you can use the –Mustchpwd parameter. For example, if you wanted to check these values all user accounts in the Users container, you can type

dsquery user "CN=Users,DC=cpandl,DC=com" | dsget user -samid -canchpwd 
-pwdneverexpires - reversiblepwd -mustchpwd

The resulting output would show you the related password settings of each account in the Users container according to the SAM account name, such as

  Samid     mustchpwd     canchpwd    reversiblepwd    pwdneverexpires
andya no yes no no
billg no yes no no
bobh yes yes no no
brianw no yes no no
conniej no yes yes yes
dsget succeeded

DSMOD USER provides several parameters for controlling these and other password settings. You can use the –Pwd parameter to set the password for a particular user account. You can then configure how the password is used as follows:

  • Use –mustchpwd yes to force users to change the password after their next logon.

  • Use –canchpwd no to set the account so users can’t change the password for their account.

  • Use –pwdneverexpires no to set the account so that the password never expires, which overrides Group Policy settings.

The wonderful thing about the command line is that you can control passwords for many user accounts as easily as for one user. Say you wanted to change the password for every user in the TempEmployee OU to Time2ChangeMe and force these users to change their passwords on next logon, you can do this by typing the command

dsquery user "OU=TempEmployee,DC=cpandl,DC=com" | dsmod user -pwd 
Time2ChangeMe - mustchpwd yes

Moving User Accounts

User accounts are normally placed in the Users container or in OUs. You can move a user account to a different container or OU within its current domain using DSMOVE. Specify the user account’s current DN and then use the –Newparent parameter to specify the new location or parent DN of the user account. For instance if you wanted to move the William Stanek user account from the Tech OU to the Engineering OU, you would specify the user account’s DN, such as “CN=William Stanek,OU=Tech,DC=cpandl,DC=com”, and provide the parent DN for the new location, such as “OU=Engineering,DC=cpandl, DC=com”. The related command would look like this:

dsmove "CN=William Stanek,OU=Tech,DC=cpandl,DC=com" -newparent 
"OU=Engineering,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

You could have also obtained the user account DN using the DSQUERY USER command. To do this, you simply pipe the output of DSQUERY USER to DSMOVE, as shown in this example:

dsquery user -name "William Stanek" | dsmove -newparent 
"OU=Engineering,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

Here, the user account DN, “CN=William Stanek,OU=Tech,DC=cpandl, DC=com”, is obtained from DSQUERY USER and used as input to DSMOVE.

Renaming User Accounts

Although moving user accounts is fairly straightforward, you don’t want to rename user accounts without some planning. When you rename a user account, you give the account a new common name. You’ll find that you might have to rename accounts in cases of marriage, divorce, or adoption. For example, if Nancy Anderson (nancya) gets married, she might want her user name to be changed to Nancy Buchanan (nancyb). When you rename her account, all associated privileges and permissions will reflect the name change. Thus, if you view the permissions on a file that nancya had access to, nancyb will now have access (and nancya will no longer be listed).

You rename user accounts using the DSMOVE command. Specify the user’s DN and then use the –Newname parameter to specify the new common name. You can rename a user object from Nancy Anderson to Nancy Buchanan by typing

dsmove "CN=Nancy Anderson,OU=Marketing,DC=cpandl,DC=com" -newname 
"Nancy Buchanan"

You could obtain the user DN by means of DSQUERY USER as well. Consider the following example:

dsquery user -name N*Anderson | dsmove -newname "Nancy Buchanan"

Here you use DSQUERY USER to find an account that begins with the letters “N” and ends with “Anderson.” You then use DSMOVE to rename this account.

Renaming the user account doesn’t change any of the other account properties. Because some properties may reflect the old last name, you will need to update these properties to reflect the name change using DSMOD USER. The parameters you might want to modify include

  • Ln Used to change the last name for the user account.

  • Display Used to change the user account’s Display Name.

  • Samid Used to change the SAM account name.

  • Profile Used to change the profile path for the account. Afterward, you’ll need to rename the corresponding directory on disk.

  • Loscr If you use individual logon scripts for each user, you can use –Loscr to change the logon script name property. Afterward, you’ll need to rename the logon script on disk.

  • Hmdir Used to change the home directory path. Afterward, you’ll need to rename the corresponding directory on disk.

Note

In most cases, you won’t want to modify this information while a user is logged on because this might cause problems. Instead, update this information after hours or ask the user to log off for a few minutes and then log back on.

Consider the following example:

dsquery user -name N*Buchanan | dsmod -samid nancyb -ln Buchanan 
-display Nancy Buchanan

Here, you change the SAM account name, last name and display name to match the previous name change for the user Nancy Buchanan.

Real World

User names are used to make managing and using accounts easier. Behind the scenes, Windows Server 2003 actually uses the account’s security identifier (SID) to identify, track, and handle the account independently from the user name. SIDs are unique identifiers that are generated when accounts are created. Because SIDs are mapped to account names internally, you don’t need to change the privileges or permissions on renamed accounts. Windows Server 2003 simply maps the SID to the new account name as necessary.

Deleting User Accounts

If you no longer need a user account, you can delete it permanently from Active Directory using the DSRM command. In most cases, you’ll want to delete only a specific user account, such as the account for Mary Baker. If this is the case, you remove the account by passing DSRM the DN of the user account, such as

dsrm "CN=Mary Baker,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com"

By default, DSRM prompts you to confirm the deletion. If you don’t want to see the prompt use the –Noprompt parameter, such as

dsrm "CN=Mary Baker,OU=Sales,DC=cpandl,DC=com" -noprompt
Note

Even though you delete a user’s account, Windows Server 2003 won’t delete the user’s profile, personal files, or home directory. If you want to delete these files and directories, you’ll have to do it manually. If this is a task you perform routinely, you might want to create a script that performs the necessary tasks for you. Keep in mind you should back up files or data that might be needed before you do this.

 

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Dealing with Cyberbullies – Cyber Security Tip

Cyber Security Tip ST06-005

Dealing with Cyberbullies

Bullies are taking advantage of technology to intimidate and harass their victims.

Dealing with cyberbullying can be difficult, but there are steps you can take.

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying refers to practice of using technology to harass, or bully, someone else.

Bullies used to be restricted to methods such as physical intimidation, postal mail, or the telephone.

Now, developments in electronic media offer forums such as email, instant messaging, web pages, and digital photos to add to the arsenal. Computers, cell phones, and PDAs are current tools that are being used to conduct an old practice.

Forms of cyberbullying can range in severity from cruel or embarrassing rumors to threats, harassment, or stalking. It can affect any age group; however, teenagers and young adults are common victims, and cyberbullying is a growing problem in schools.

Why has cyberbullying become such a problem?

The relative anonymity of the internet is appealing for bullies because it enhances the intimidation and makes tracing the activity more difficult. Some bullies also find it easier to be more vicious because there is no personal contact.

Unfortunately, the internet and email can also increase the visibility of the activity. Information or pictures posted online or forwarded in mass emails can reach a larger audience faster than more traditional methods, causing more damage to the victims.

And because of the amount of personal information available online, bullies may be able to arbitrarily choose their victims.

Cyberbullying may also indicate a tendency toward more serious behavior. While bullying has always been an unfortunate reality, most bullies grow out of it.

Cyberbullying has not existed long enough to have solid research, but there is evidence that it may be an early warning for more violent behavior.

How can you protect yourself or your children?

Teach your children good online habits – Explain the risks of technology, and teach children how to be responsible online.

Reduce their risk of becoming cyberbullies by setting guidelines for and monitoring their use of the internet and other electronic media (cell phones, PDAs, etc.).

Keep lines of communication open – Regularly talk to your children about their online activities so that they feel comfortable telling you if they are being victimized.

Watch for warning signs – If you notice changes in your child’s behavior, try to identify the cause as soon as possible. If cyberbullying is involved; acting early can limit the damage.

Limit availability of personal information – Limiting the number of people who have access to contact information or details about interests, habits, or employment reduces exposure to bullies that you or your child do not know. This may limit the risk of becoming a victim and may make it easier to identify the bully if you or your child are victimized.

Avoid escalating the situation – Responding with hostility is likely to provoke a bully and escalate the situation. Depending on the circumstances, consider ignoring the issue. Often, bullies thrive on the reaction of their victims. Other options include subtle actions. For example, you may be able to block the messages on social networking sites or stop unwanted emails by changing the email address. If you continue to get messages at the new email address, you may have a stronger case for legal action.

Document the activity – Keep a record of any online activity (emails, web pages, instant messages, etc.), including relevant dates and times.

In addition to archiving an electronic version, consider printing a copy.

Report cyberbullying to the appropriate authorities – If you or your childcare being harassed or threatened, report the activity. Many schools have instituted bullying programs, so school officials may have established policies for dealing with activity that involves students.

If necessary, contact your local law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies have different policies, but your local police department or FBI branch are good starting points. Unfortunately, there is a distinction between free speech and punishable offenses, but the legal implications should be decided by the law enforcement officials and the prosecutors.

 

Additional information, the following organizations offer additional information about this topic:

National Crime Prevention Council – http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying

StopBullying.gov – http://www.stopbullying.gov/

 


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Keeping Children Safe Online

Cyber Security Tip ST05-002     Keeping Children Safe Online
Children present unique security risks when they use a computer not only do you have to keep them safe, you have to protect the data on your computer.   By taking some simple steps, you can dramatically reduce the threats.

What unique risks are associated with children?

When  a  child  is using your computer, normal safeguards and security practices may not be sufficient.

Children present additional challenges because of their natural characteristics: innocence, curiosity, desire for independence,  and  fear  of  punishment.  You  need to consider these characteristics when determining how to protect your data and the child.

You may think that because the child is only playing a game, or researching a term paper, or typing a homework assignment, he or she can’t cause any harm.

But what if, when saving her paper, the child deletes a necessary program file? Or what if she unintentionally visits a malicious web page that  infects  your computer with a virus?

These are just two possible scenarios.

Mistakes happen, but the child may not realize what she’s done ormay not tell you what happened because she’s afraid of getting punished.

Online  predators  present another significant threat, particularly tochildren. Because the nature of the internet is so anonymous, it is easy forpeople to misrepresent themselves and manipulate or trick other users (see Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for some examples).

Adults often fall victim to these ploys, and children, who are usually much more open and trusting, are even easier targets. Another growing problem is cyberbullying. These threats are even greater if a child has access to email or instant  messaging programs, visits chat rooms, and/or uses social networking sites.

What can you do?

* Be involved – Consider activities you can work on together, whether it be playing a game, researching a topic you had been talking about (e.g., family vacation spots, a particular hobby, a historical figure), or putting together a family newsletter.

This will allow you to supervise your child’s online activities while teaching her good computer habits.

* Keep  your  computer  in  an  open area – If your computer is in a high-traffic area, you will be able to easily monitor the computer activity. Not only does this accessibility deter a child from doing something she knows she’s not allowed to do, it also gives you the opportunity  to intervene if you notice a behaviour that could have negative consequences.

* Set  rules and warn about dangers – Make sure your child knows the boundaries  of  what  she  is allowed to do on the computer.

These boundaries should be appropriate for the child’s age, knowledge, and maturity, but they may include rules about how long she is allowed to be on the computer, what sites she is allowed to visit, what software programs she can use, and what tasks or activities she is allowed to do.

You should also talk to children about the dangers of the internet so that they recognize suspicious behavior or activity.

Discuss the risks of sharing certain types of information (e.g., that they’re home alone) and the benefits to only communicating and sharing information with people they know (see Using Instant Messaging and Chat Rooms Safely, Staying Safe on Social Network Sites, and the document Socializing Securely: Using Social Networking Services for more information).

The goal isn’t to scare them, it’s to make them more aware. Make sure to include the topic of cyberbullying in these discussions (see Dealing with Cyberbullies for more information).

* Monitor computer activity – Be aware of what your child is doing on the computer, including which websites she is visiting. If she is using email, instant messaging, or chat rooms, try to get a sense of who she is corresponding with and whether she actually knows them.

* Keep lines of communication open – Let your child know that she can approach you with any questions or concerns about behaviors or problems she may have encountered on the computer.

* Consider  partitioning your computer into separate accounts - Most operating systems give you the option of creating a different user account  for  each  user.  If  you’re  worried that your child may accidentally access, modify, and/or delete your files, you can give her a separate account and decrease the amount of access and number of privileges she has.

If you don’t have separate accounts, you need to be especially careful about your security settings. In addition to limiting functionality within your browser (see Evaluating Your Web Browser’s Security Settings for more information), avoid letting your browser remember passwords and other personal information (see Browsing Safely: Understanding Active Content and Cookies).

Also, it is always important to keep your virus definitions up to date (see Understanding Anti-Virus Software).

* Consider implementing parental controls – You may be able to set some parental controls within your browser. For example, Internet Explorer allows you to restrict or allow certain websites to be viewed on your computer, and you can protect these settings with a password.

To find those options, click Tools on your menu bar, select Internet Options, choose the Content tab, and click the Enable… button under Content Advisor.

There are other resources you can use to control and/or monitor your child’s online activity. Some ISPs offer services designed to protect children online. Contact your ISP to see if any of these services are available.

There are also special software programs you can install on your  computer.  Different  programs  offer different features and capabilities, so you can find one that best suits your needs.

Additional information

The  following  websites offer additional information about
protecting   children online:

* GetNetWise – http://kids.getnetwise.org/

* StaySafeOnline – http://www.staysafeonline.org/     _________________________________________________________________
Authors: Mindi McDowell, Allen Householder     _________________________________________________________________
Produced 2005 by US-CERT, a government organization.
Note: This tip was previously published and is being     re-distributed to increase awareness.
Terms of use

http://www.us-cert.gov/legal.html

This document can also be found at

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST05-002.html

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Planted Tanks – Online Tropical Plants purchase

I buy often from Planted Tanks (http://plantedtanks.co.uk/), the service is good and the plants very cheap, even compared with most online retailers.

Yesterday I ordered some plants:

  • E. Red Diamond 074D
  • C. Thalicroides 005A
  • Alternanthera Reineckii Pink 023
  • E. Rose (HUGE!!!) 072B
  • C. Wendtii Brown 109C

Got the plants this morning, and extremely happy with them.

The Echinodorus are not that big, but they are perfect for my tank, being at just under 20cm.

The Alternanthera Reineckii Pink is something to marvel at, being close to 50cm tall and very bushy. Almost a mother plant. This will be split in two tanks, too big for my main tank.

The C. Thalicroides 005A is another example of what a healthy plant looks like. I may put this emersed, use some cuttings for the main tank and emerse the rest.

The C. Wendtii Brown is surprisingly healthy. Tony told me that it looks poor, as it is a crypt massive changes in environment is not good, but the plant looks fine to me. Tony is too picky I think. :)

Now, got a surprise on the pack, my four Barclaya bulbs. Was not expecting them so soon. And to make it better, they have bright red leaves on them already. :)

Fantastic day, and another good service from Planted Tanks.

 

I strongly recommend Planted Tanks for your aquarium plant purchases, I do not believe that you will find a better shop online, and they will soon have a physical shop as well.

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Amazing Interview with Dave Chow, on Acuariorosa.com

http://acuariorosa.com/2011/04/11/interview-with-dave-chow/

Mr. Chow, first of all, I would like to thank you for lending us part of your time.

How and when did you get into the hobby of setting up and keeping aquaria?

It’s ten years ago, I used to raise fish but the fishes were dead in a few days so I went to the shop to seek suggestions. When I passed by a shop with some water plant creations I was attracted by the shiny green swinging water plants. I was thinking it will be great if I can have one and about 2 months later a 5 feet long aquarium of water plants appeared in my home.

How many aquariums do you keep actually? How much time a day you dedicate to maintain aquariums?

It’s quite difficult to answer; i think about 20~30 tanks(including my client’s tank and my shop’s display tanks)need to maintain. Usually each tank need to change water and triming weekly.

Which is the aquarium you feel more proud?

Ashy Range definitely.

To read more, go to acuariorosa.com

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What I, Khayan, Wendy and Francois walked on Sunday the 10th of April 2011.

Francois and Wenday are staying with us for a few days, as they like to walk and the weather was good we took off Sunday morning for a stroll.

Khayan came with us, she is not three years old yet. :)

 

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Vivarium 2011 – Aquascaped Qube tank

Day 1, March 24

And so it begins.

Up at 0430, plants were packed the night before, and close to 15kg of hardscape such as wood and rocks.

Now onto the  Gatwick Express train, the 0600.

=======================================================

Had to get a second bag, so that I could check in the plants, for sure they would not pass scanning as hand luggage.
Total weight for the trip was 27kg, most of it is rocks, wood and plants.

Also taking some dupla substrate, only 3L, just in case dupla fails on delivering the kit a

I am hopping that the plants do not get confiscated on the airport. I would have to then buy them there but would not be he same.

When I check in will see how it goes.

=======================================================

The plants passed fine through customs, and I am now at the hotel. As they are still moist will leave them on the sealed boxes until tomorrow morning, then they will go into the tank.

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Went for a walk arround and to get some lunch. A couple of things are very diferent here, at least from London.

There is a lot of bikes, really a lot, and they got right of way. No helmets, everyone has one bike it seems, old looking things, really odd, and cool. :)

There is a lack of pavements, so on side roads the pedestrians have right of way, so this is the pavement:

Also, most of the houses arround the area do not have blinds, just windows, so you can see right through. And oddly enough they seem to keep the doors open, and many people are sitting outside.

I went to have lunch at Jacks, a pub near the hotel, about 15 minutes walk. I walked in, sat at table, and asked for the menu, as it was in dutch, I pointed to a burger and said that I wanted that, and at 14 euros is seemed cheap for a meal at a pub.

Well, when it came I thought that it was the wrong order.

See for yourself, the biggest burger I have ever seen, and I have been to the US, Canada and South Africa, the biggest meat eaters in the world.

That is a normal size fork:

See the coke glass next to the burger:

And it came with chips.. :D

Only one bad thing, people here does not control their dogs, and the dogs do not like me.

I saw 5 dogs, and 4 had a go at me. I know when a dog has a go at me, or it is ready to try it, I was a dog trainer in the air force for 5 years.

Even a little punny french buldog tried its luck, and fat golden retriever chase me down the road, just as well I managed to outrun him, he was fatter than me. The owner just looked on. That was very odd, did not expect the dogs to be so nasty.

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Day 2, March 25th

Got the place and true to their word there were two large boxes waiting for me, next to the tank. :) The crew had to come and see what the hell was on the boxes, that weight more than the tank itself.

Well, it had 20L of substrate, a 500gram CO2 bottle, a temperature controller computer, a cable heater, a Dupla Pro regulator and finaly a Magnaventi. :D

It was christmas. LOL

Got my plants out and laid them all on the floor, and started to drop the substrate on the tank, as it was dupla substrate no need to wash, just drop it in. Time saved.

Got my rocks, the ones that came from the Azores, they look like Manten Stones, and made a island with it. I used a lot of substrate, as I wanted the tank a little bit shorter, it was too tall for what I had in mind.

The riccia pads were drawing a lot of comments, people were amazed of how they looked, the trick of using the plastic pad and let them grow emersed really paid off.

So all was put in the tank and it was nice to see the scape taking shape. Unfortunately there was an issue with my Altheranthera sp. it started to melt, dropping leaves. I was without a tall stem. :(

The Ludwigia Arcuata was as red as it could be, but the two days on a container had taken its toll, it was curled up. But not to worry, it should uncurl when light and CO2 hit’s it, or so I hope. :)

Now, the UKAPS people arrived with their tanks, saw some new faces and old ones. :)

The scape took 3 hours to complete, from 1pm to 4pm, and close to 30 minutes to clean, riccia was everywhere.

I was still looking for a stem, and Marco, the organiser, told me that UKAPS had a box full of plants, I could ask them for a pot of stems. I though, well, good idea, any stem would be good.

I walked to their booth and asked if they had any spare stems, anything that was tall. Well, the answer was no, they had nothing spare, although I could see a large box with brand new plants on. What can be said, no comment.

Had to improvise, so changed some riccia for glosso from a dutch from roterdam, he is also competing on the Qube contest and took some from his tank to give me. Moved some of my plants arround, and the scape was completed. It worked well.

The pictures are being uploaded now, but you can go see them on high res on my flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostsword/

The CO2 was started, and the plants were pearling in less than 30 minutes, so I am sure that tomorrow there will be a good display of bubbles.

Thanks to Tony and Dupla, without you this would could not be possible, your help is mostly appreciated.

The tank:

The rocks layout, seen from both sides:

The only issue with the dupla substrate is that some bits float.

Lots of substrate, got no stems.. :(

From the front, prior to glosso:

All these dupla substrate bits had to be manually picked up:

Now with glosso on, making a wave on the substrate, also some stems were moved from the back into the middle:

Pearling glosso and riccia:


I have choosen the first tank on the left, so that it can be seen from two sides closely:

The tank on location:


 

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Day 3, March 26th

Got to the venue at 0830, needed to check the tank and dose some ferts. The rotalas were up, pearling away, full colours, all was good. Turned the CO2 slightly down. The water was clear, so that was good.

The doors opened at 10am, and the place fill up in less than 30 minutes, there was even a queue outside:

The site had items for all tastes:
- a car filled up with water and piranas

- plants and wood for all tastes, emersed, carnivorous plants, air plants, orchids. See more pics on my flick page

They also had some stranger fish:

Expensive snakes:

Amazing looking discus:

Will post some more pictures later, you need to go to my flickr page, I just uploaded 132 photos just for today.

 

=======================================================

The Qube contest entrants:

This one is mine

 

If you do not have a CO2 kit, and are looking from something that will last you almost a lifetime, then what you need to get is the Dupla kit.

The difuser, co2 cable, bottle and regulator are top notch. The difuser especially, it is made of plastic, but it gives really fine bubbles and in 30 minutes all my plants were pearling under a 18W light. :)

 

On my display tank this was the color this afternoon:

One of the best vivarium stands:

A perfect example of how a vivarium can be setup:

Crocodiles for sale, yep, small crocs:

A caravan aquarium, now this is really cool:

Large pleco on the caravan, at least 40cm long:

Who is also housed on the caravan, some red belly piranas:

 

There were a couple of lectures today, from 11am to 1600 and I went to all. They were all amazing.

The lectures were:
11:00 – 12:00 Chris Lukhaup
Now this guy knows about shrimp, he travels a lot and the advice he gave was just precious. I will follow it and may be able to now keep shrimp other than cherries alive.

12:30 – 13:30 Christel Kasselmann
She was just perfect, even that the lecture was in German, the pics, the tidbits of information I gleaned was just good enough to wet my appetite about the new plants.

Imagine a blonde, nice looking with a good figure, talking about plants, then showing pics of her on location with mud up ther knees picking up plants.. :) It was by far the best talk.

I have also bought her new book and got her to authograph it.
Aquarienpflanzen
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aquarienpflanzen-450-Arten-im-Portr%C3%A4t/dp/3800158558/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301172991&sr=1-1

Got it for 40 euros, I am sure that the guys on the ADA shop made a mistake. :p, amazon is selling it for £47.

If you are into plants then this is the book to get. I will scan some pages when I get to london and post, so that you can have a taste of the quality of the book.

Many plants changed name, so this is the ultimate plant encyclopedia.

14:00 – 15:00 Bernd Degen
This was a talk about Discus fish.

15:30 – 16:30 Claus Christensen
Claus was another amazing speaker, he was the discoverer of many plants for Tropica, such as Pogostemon Helferi. He gave an amazing presentation about many of the biotopes he visited, in countries such as Brasil, Burma, Indonesia.

Again, look on my flickr page for more pictures, there are Biotopes, display tanks, plants, snakes and wood pics.

Some good looking Discus:



I am not a Discus fancier, but these were really good looking, bright red.

This is a photo of my tank, taken by a pro:

http://series.peterdehoog.nl/vivarium2011/

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How sponsors can control a forum. Do forums really need them?

I am member of a number of forums, mostly related to planted tanks, and when they have sponsors who takes precedence? The members interests or the sponsors?

For example, UKAPS (www.ukaps.org/forum) has a number of sponsors, most are great, but some others seem odd, especially when they have expensive prices.

I posted a message on ukaps, under the “Aquarium Plant Food UK” sponsor forum, comparing his prices with some of the prices on the internet, although he was cheaper than some other sponsors, it was still double that what one could find on the internet.

The post was promptly deleted, not by the UKAPS moderators, but by the sponsor and the response was this:

AquariumPlantFoodUK wrote:
Luis,
I would like that you stop going into forums that I’m a sponsor of and creating posts telling ebay is cheaper, people know they can use other shops, ebay etc etc, I do not want threads in my PAID FOR area telling people this, people, just like you can and DO use google. I do.
I have set fair prices for the products and sevices I provide as does any other sponsors, we pay a great deal of money to UKAPS for this privilge. Please don’t pot again on my board, if you have an issue with this, please speak to the Founders, I can’t stop you making stuip comparrisons on the rest of the boards, but I’m sure non of the sponsors want or need this.
Don’t forget our sponsorship of UKAPS is vital.

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