Jan
23
2012

Configuring anti-spam (SpamAssassin) in ISPConfig 3

As you may have noticed, I’ve recently moved GEEK! to a brand new VPS – which, hopefully, will massively improve the uptime and performance of the site in the long run. It’s a little too early to tell, but now most of the trial bugs are ironed out, improvements should start to be seen soon.

However, by moving my site (and all other sites I run) to a VPS, I have had to make some sacrifices. The key sacrifice on my end has been cPanel – which I’ve used ever since I started working with web servers. I love cPanel – it’s generally very reliable and controls most of the functions I would ever want. But now, as I’m slowly getting more experienced with the way web servers work, I thought it would be a good time to move on to something a little more advanced (and, as a result, cheaper). I was recommended to ISPConfig – a free and open source control panel for web servers running on Linux. And after a slow start, I seem to be getting the hang of it.

The one thing that really did get to me for a while was the poor performance of the spam filter built into ISPConfig. ISPConfig relies on SpamAssassin – which is, when configured correctly, a very powerful spam filter. But for some reason, it just wasn’t working on my installation of ISPConfig. Spam would get through and it can get seriously frustrating!

Thankfully I now have it cracked – and wanted to share the configuration I chose for ISPConfig and SpamAssassin. I think the correct settings vary from person to person – but if you want general spam filtering, this should show you how to get it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Permanent link to this article: http://www.geekonthepc.com/2012/01/23/configuring-anti-spam-spamassassin-in-ispconfig-3/

Jan
18
2012

Rewind: A look back at GEEK! so far

Well, GEEK! is just over three years old now; and during that time I’ve written over 400 posts. So, while I don’t really want to add anything too new to GEEK! while I get my backup system finalised, I thought now would be a good time to run over some of the posts have brought the most traffic to GEEK!.

By far and away, the most popular post on GEEK! is the “Get the old Windows Live Essentials back“. So many of you were fed up with the poor functionality of Essentials 2011 (including me), so I linked you up with a download and instructions to get the old 2009 version back.

Next up, it’s the tool I found that allowed you to find the biggest files on your hard drive. The tiny tool quickly locates the files that are occupying the most space on your drive, allowing you to delete anything you see as unnecessary.

My review of the Samsung N145P netbook brought the next largest amount of attention to GEEK!. A fully comprehensive review that details everything you needed to know.

Not too far behind, my finding of TVCatchup back in mid 2009 provided Freeview TV access over the internet (in the UK). I still use the site regularly when I’m on the go, as it provides live TV without a bombardment of adverts.

Last in the top five, it’s my iPod touch 4G review. Simple and sweet – it explains all the new features that were (and still are) great additions to the iPod range.

And that’s it – a round-up of the top five biggest posts on GEEK!. Normal service on GEEK! will resume soon, but I’m just optimising the backup process on my new VPS!

Permanent link to this article: http://www.geekonthepc.com/2012/01/18/rewind-a-look-back-at-geek-so-far/

Jan
07
2012

PEAK 100417AGPK USB Dual TV Tuner Windows XP/Vista/7 32/64Bit Driver (download in post)

Right – I literally just upgraded the motherboard on my computer and then reinstalled Windows. Rather stupidly, I didn’t think to check I had all the driver disks for my USB devices – and nonetheless I since haven’t been able to get a driver for my USB TV Tuner.

It’s a PEAK USB Dual Tuner DVB-T, and I had it running perfectly on my original 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. However, I’ve now moved over to 64-bit Windows – which is great, but I can’t for the life of me find the stupid mini-CD that came with the device to install the driver.

Even more annoyingly – the company’s website (PEAK) is no longer working (www.peakhardware.com), and there aren’t any drivers on any public driver site – so I was absolutely stuck there.

Thankfully, I had a eureka moment and realised that I’d, in the past, also installed the tuner on my netbook. Whilst I couldn’t use the driver on that (because it is 32-bit), I was able to identify the name of the driver used and get a copy online (much more readily available).

Anyway – if you’re having the same problem as me – it uses a driver called the AF9015 BDA Device - and luckily enough, I have a driver for you!

DOWNLOAD NOW (direct from GEEK!) – please read instructions below! (file size: 600KB approx)
Please note: GEEK! accepts NO liability for any damage this driver may do to you or your computer. Every effort is made to make sure the drivers are safe and fully functional – but no guarantees can be made whatsoever. Please use this at your own risk. 

INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL:

  1. Right, take a good look at the files in the ZIP folder. Fully extract it with whatever program you want to use. Navigate to the relevant folder for your Windows installation (either 32-bit or 64-bit). Don’t try and run the EXE files in either folders. They are included for reference, but probably will not work. This is because the applications won’t be able to detect the device and therefore will fail.
  2. Plug in your device. Windows will tell you it’s detected it and try to install it (or prompt you to find the driver if you’re using Windows XP).
  3. If you’re using Windows Vista or 7, the device should be identified as “DVB T-2″ or “DVB-T2″ but will not install because Windows won’t be able to find a driver. Cancel any installations dialogs if you’re using Windows XP, and if you’re on Vista/7 ignore any failure messages.
  4. Copy the driver folders that you’ve downloaded to a place you’ll find them later – I’d suggest a folder on the root of your hard drive. Name the folder something you’ll remember and dump all the files from the download in it.
  5. Now go to Device Manager on your computer. In Vista/7, you’ll find it from Control Panel. In XP, you’ll need to go to System in Control Panel and then click the Hardware tab, followed by Device Manager.
  6. The device should be flagged up immediately with a yellow exclamation mark next to it. Double click the listing. Click the Driver tab and click Update Driver…
  7. You now need to select the options which indicate manually finding a driver (in Windows Vista/7, click the Browse my computer for driver software button). Select the option to manually locate a driver from a disk (Windows Vista/7 – Let me pick from a list of device drivers), click Have Disk…and browse to the folder you dumped the driver files for your type of operating system. Select the only file that Windows flags up – which should be an INF file. Then select the driver that comes up in the list (AF9015 BDA Device).
  8. Windows will warn you that this driver may not be suitable for the device. Ignore this warning, and proceed with installation.
  9. Windows will now attempt installation, and it should then successfully install within a couple of minutes. With any luck, that’s it – you can now use the device.

You now need to find a piece of software for watching TV with. If you have Windows Vista Home Premium (or above) or Windows 7 Home Premium (or above), you can simply use Windows Media Center (which I prefer using anyway). You should also be able to use Windows Media Center if you have XP Media Center Edition 2005. Otherwise, you’ll need to find some third party – can’t help there myself, sorry.

Hopefully, that should solve the problem!

Permanent link to this article: http://www.geekonthepc.com/2012/01/07/peak-100417agpk-usb-dual-tv-tuner-windows-xpvista7-3264bit-driver-download-in-post/

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