nDarkness

Tag: Linux

Linux System Update Script

by on Nov.06, 2009, under Linux, Utilities

In my experience with Linux distributions, Slackware and Ubuntu/Kubuntu, there are a couple of different methods used to update the system. Of course we can always use a gui to do the updates but what fun is that?

The two commands used to update a Debian based system are:

safety@nDarkness:~/bin$ sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade

Now while this doesn’t require a great deal of typing, let’s see if we can shorten it to suit our needs.

If you do not already have somewhere to store your personal scripts, the following command will do this for you and allow you to enter the code we will use:

safety@nDarkness:~$ mkdir bin; cd bin; vi apt-auto

Press i for insert and create the following script:

#!/bin/bash

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade

This is all we need to type for our script to produce the results we are looking for. Now let’s save our script by pressing Esc => :wq => .

To run our script we can type:

safety@nDarkness:~/bin$ bash ./apt-auto

You should see the output from the two commands used in the script printed to the screen. Now let’s make our script executable so we don’t have to type bash to make it run.

The following command will accomplish what we are looking for:

safety@nDarkness:~/bin$ chmod +x apt-auto

Now to run our command we simply need to type:

safety@nDarkness:~/bin$ ./apt-auto

We now have a working script to do our update process and it is significantly shorter than the first option we used. As always all comments are welcomed.

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Flash Cookies and What You Don’t Know

by on Oct.10, 2009, under Computer Security, Linux, Mac OS X, Privacy, Windows

Apple Snow LeopardIf you have been browsing the internet for any period of time, I’m sure you have heard of cookies. Even though you may not be entirely sure what they do, you certainly know how to delete them. Right?

Cookies are files websites save on your computer that contain information about you. There are several legitimate purposes for these files such as remembering your login information so you don’t have to sign in every time you visit a site, keeping up with cart information as you shop online and in some cases online security such as banking sites.

With the good also comes the bad. A quick search on Google for tracking cookies will return page after page of articles on this topic. A tracking cookie will monitor your movement around the internet and will phone home to let its authors know what you are doing online. With this information they will taylor their advertising on affiliate sites so that you only get ads for what they believe interests you or they will sale this information to other advertisers.

“So what’s the big deal? My browser is set up to delete cookies at regular intervals and I don’t allow them from third party sites.”

Well here is a little fact that you may not know. The same technology that powers streaming video, online games, and animated movies, has the ability to set these cookies as well. The technology I am referring to is the flash plugin, currently developed by Adobe. These “special” cookies are not created or treated the same way as the cookies that we have all come to know and love. In fact your browser has, on its own, no control over these cookies at all.

To illustrate this point, clear your browser cookies and then take a look in the following location(s):

  • Windows: Under your current user’s Application Data directory, click on Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects and Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys.
  • Mac OS X: ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects/[package ID of your app]/ and ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys/
  • GNU-Linux: ~/.macromedia

Using your browser to clear cookies had no effect whatsoever on the flash cookies. That possibly and probably means that your actions are still being tracked as you surf the net. What’s more, flash cookies have the ability to restore the normal cookies that your browser just deleted.

“So what can I do about these cookies? You said earlier that my browser on its own could not delete these cookies, what does that mean?”

A developer going by the name of NettiCat, has developed an addon for Firefox called Better Privacy that will do the dirty work for you. This addon allows you to clear these cookies when you open or close your browser, at regular intervals and manually.

Now feel free to go trash those stale cookies and be on the lookout for them popping up again.

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