Online tech tip guides, help, how to, reviews, and resources.

Saving and backing up your smileys are important. Especially when you want to transfer smileys from one computer to another.  It is also important to back up when you  get a new computer, accidentally delete emoticons, reinstall MSN Messenger, or anything else for easy restoration.

With the new MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, to be exact, you cannot just go to C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\Microsoft\MSN Messenger\Random ID\ and copy the DAT file. It simply will not work because the DAT file is specifically encrypted for that user.

So what’s the better solution and alternative?

[Read more →]

So you have probably read my posts on watching TV shows online for free, and watching more TV online. Now here is part 3 with another website to watch your favorite movies and TV shows for free.

Watch X Online is a good site for never scheduled programming, and free movies/TV shows online. When you enter full screen mode to watch a video, not many pixels are lost which is good. They have ads that are somewhat annoying so use an ad blocker.

Watch X Online can be visited here

So there you have it! Another addition to watching TV Shows and Movies for free online.

Part 1: Watch TV Shows Free Online
Part 2: More Websites to Watch TV Online for Free

Note: I may not be held responsible in any ways to your actions of using these websites. I am simply here to inform you of the possible uses of the Internet. You take the full responsibility for what you do to “Watch TV Shows Free Online”.

HotSpot Shield is a free VPN service for Windows and Macintosh users alike. But one thing they did not allow was for linux users like Ubuntu. And so today, I attempt to follow the guide that Markus Thielman has made and published on the web.

VPN’s are useful especially when your geographic location may affect what content you can view on a website. So for those of you who would like to view sites like Hulu, this is a service you should consider.

From: Markus Thielman

The service uses L2TP (without IPSEC). Funny enough, this seems to be the worst supported protocol on Ubuntu, when it comes to easy configuration. Neither Network-Manager, nor KVpnc do support a simple setup.

If you’re willing to use the terminal and a text editor, here’s how you do it:

Before you configure your local computer, visit the Hotspot Shield for iPhone Website. Click on “Get Account ID” and save the information you’re getting. In fact, you’ll only need you username/password and the server IP. Don’t forget to replace these credentials while editing the xl2tpd config as follows:

1) Install xl2tpd
sudo apt-get install xl2tpd

2) Edit /etc/xl2tpd/xl2tpd.conf and add
[lac hotspotshield]
lns = HotSpotShieldServerIP
require chap = yes
refuse pap = yes
require authentication = yes
; Name should be the same as the username in the PPP authentication!
name = YourHotSpotShieldUsername
ppp debug = yes
pppoptfile = /etc/ppp/options.l2tpd.client
length bit = yes

3) Create /etc/ppp/options.l2tpd.client with the following content
ipcp-accept-local
ipcp-accept-remote
refuse-eap
noccp
noauth
crtscts
idle 1800
mtu 1410
mru 1410
nodefaultroute
debug
lock
connect-delay 5000

4) Edit /etc/xl2tpd/l2tp-secrets, /etc/ppp/chap-secrets and /etc/ppp/pap-secrets, add
"YourHotSpotShieldUsername" HotSpotShieldServerIP "YourHotSpotShieldUsername"

5) Start the deamon
sudo /etc/init.d/xl2tpd start

6) Connect to HotSpot Shield
sudo su
echo "c hotspotshield" > /var/run/xl2tpd/l2tp-control
route add -net 0.0.0.0 dev ppp0

7) Disconnect from HotSpot Shield
sudo su
echo "c hotspotshield" > /var/run/xl2tpd/l2tp-control

If you’re running AdBlock Plus, you might notice some empty space on top of every page you’re visiting. That’s the HotSpot Shield advertising bar, which shows random commercial to finance their service. So either disable Firefox to allow AnchorFree to continue the service, or add “http://box.anchorfree.net/*” to your rule set.

Okay so after following that guide here are my results, it unfortunately did not work (I could not connect).

root@kalvster:/home/kalvster# xl2tpd -D
xl2tpd[13446]: setsockopt recvref: Protocol not available
xl2tpd[13446]: L2TP kernel support not detected.
xl2tpd[13446]: xl2tpd version xl2tpd-1.2.0 started on kalvster PID:13446
xl2tpd[13446]: Written by Mark Spencer, Copyright (C) 1998, Adtran, Inc.
xl2tpd[13446]: Forked by Scott Balmos and David Stipp, (C) 2001
xl2tpd[13446]: Inherited by Jeff McAdams, (C) 2002
xl2tpd[13446]: Forked again by Xelerance (www.xelerance.com) (C) 2006
xl2tpd[13446]: Listening on IP address 0.0.0.0, port 1701

So it appears they are filtering non-iPhone connections and so using this method is not possible.

My other options now are:

• Using virtualization software
• Connecting through a server that has HotSpot Shield already set up.

Any of you who have any other suggestions, please comment. I am sure the comments are working!