Apologies… I just updated my master blacklist and ran a sweep of my entire blog to get rid of 6,000+ MORE new spam comments.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how it happened, but many of your existing comments/URLs were marked as spam deleted and added to the blacklist.

I think I got most of them, but if anyone tries to post a comment and gets ‘denied’, please let me know.

Management apologizes for the sheer annoyance of it all. Those responsible have been sacked.

So, it only took me about 50 million trial-and-errors, but finally I got Remote Assistance via email to work successfully between two WinXP users who are both behind routers/firewalls.

Just in case anyone needs it (because once you can get it working, it’s REALLY neat, mind-bogglingly useful, and surprisingly fast), here are the required steps.

1. Fat-fingering of some sort occurs.*

*: Now, this isn’t *totally* required, of course. You may be the type of person that just enjoys having people come and play with your computer, but for the most part, usually some sort of breakage happens before someone else feels the need to come in and fix it for you.

2. The end-user MUST make sure the following two buttons have check marks next to them:
Right-click My Computer and scroll to Properties.
Click the Remote tab.
Make sure “Allow Remote Assistance Invitations to be sent from this computer” is checked.
Click Advanced.
Make sure “Allow this computer to be controlled remotely” is checked.

3. The end user, if using a router, must set up port forwarding.
The end user must log into their router’s web-based administration panel* and enable Port forwarding for the Remote Assistance request:

Port 3389 should be routed to the internal IP address of the end users system, ie. 192.168.x.x.
The end user can perform the following steps to find out what their internal IP address is if they don’t know:
Go to Start->Run
At the command prompt, type cmd.
Type ipconfig and hit enter.
Write down what is written on the IP Address line.

*: most router models have online instructions on their respective manufacturer’s website as how to login via browser and find the Port Fowarding section. I mean, who keeps instruction manuals after the initial setup? Okay, guilty as charged. But it’s still quicker to go online and get it anyway.

4. The end-user must send a Remote Assistance invitation via email.
Go to Start->Help and Support.
Click on Remote Assistance.
Click Invite someone to help you.
Type the Invitee’s email address, and click Invite this person.
Send a message if necessary* and click Continue.
Enter a password if necessary, and communicate that password with the invitee.
Click Send Invitation.
The email will pop open in the default email program (such as Lotus Notes), and the end user still needs to hit the Send button.

*: Since you are, in fact, asking someone to help you, it might be nice to take this time to ask them how they are? If they’ve read any good books lately? Have they done anything fun lately? If they are the geek type like I am, the answer will most likely still be no, but hey, it was nice that someone thought to ask anyway.

5. The Invitee gets the external IP address/hostname from the end-user.
The end user can visit the following sites and easily tell you that information:
http://www.whatsmyipaddress.com
http://www.whatismyhostname.com

6. The Invitee receives the email invitation, and tweaks the contents.
Once the invitee gets the email, save the attachment to the desktop.
Open it with Notepad.
There will be two entries one after another of the end user’s internal IP address followed by the port, ie:

&LTUPLOADDATA USERNAME=”Jess” RCTICKET=”65538,1,192.168.10.3:3389;192.168.10.3:3389;D40S4F21:3389,*,etc.

The first entry needs to be changed to the external IP address, and the second entry needs to be changed to the hostname of the end user, leaving you with this:

%LTUPLOADDATA USERNAME=”Jess” RCTICKET=”65538,1,209.67.3.105:3389;my.hostname.isp.com:3389;D40S4F21:3389,*,etc.

7. Save the invitation, and NOW you are ready to click it*.

*If it hasn’t expired already from all this preparation.

After that, the Port Forwarding can be disabled/re-enabled as fat-fingering occurs. Or unless you like that sort of thing (see 1).

PS. That site does not belong to me. Don’t know what I’m talking about? You’ll figure it out eventually.

Just because I haven’t posted a picture of her in awhile!

I walked into my bedroom the other day to find this:
Maybe if I sprayed HER pillow with my Lavender Vanilla, she’d go there instead?

But then again, ever since she was a pup she’s always preferred some sort of pillow to lie on:

She’s vegged on the couch right now. On top of my blanket. D’oh…

So, I’m not usually quite so fresh. Actually, I’m NEVER fresh, but this one just happened to slip out. Bill was telling a story, and it went nowhere, and, well, I wisecracked. Luckily, everyone started roaring with laughter (most likely because I never say stuff like that). Coincidentally, Bill’s wife April has her own web comic site, and does a comic about some of the more, brain-cell challenged things he/we say. Coy Comics/My Life With Scott #8.

So, she decided it was perfect, so now I can say I am part of a comic. Thanks April!

Oh, and be sure to read My Life With Scott # 5, in which we are introduced to “Scrabizzle”. I had completely forgotten about that. We decided that to make Scrabble a bit more enjoyable, why not add a rule that if you can use it in a sentence, you can play it on the board?

It’s only Tuesday, and it’s already been an eventful week.

Let’s see, in the great news department, finally Stan Rogers and Nathan T. Freeman have started blogging. Yay!

I registered for my first Lotusphere yesterday, and can’t wait. It was hard hearing all the great things from LS2004 and not being there (I was still only a few months into my new solo career), so I decided I absolutely cannot miss this one.

Matt and I made a trip to the new Ikea near us. Can we say I was a kid in a candy store? I was so frustrated with our office that I had temporarily moved into the kitchen table for the summer, knowing that soon Ikea would open. It’s been open for two months now, and we finally went. I bought an entire new office set complete with new storage and lighting, and just got it all (well, mostly) set up last night.

My dilemma now is the server… no matter what I do, I seem to run out of outlets and cord lengths.

I’ll have to post some before and after shots. Maybe I’ll wait until Halloween to post the ‘before’ shots, they’re quite scary.