SmashTech

Well, Im finally getting a widespread infection of SDBot under control here at work. Spreading via various DCOM and RPC exploits, SDBot caught us completely off guard, as we were used to email viruses instead (we still get ILOVEYOU.vbs opened every now and then).

Partly, it was our fault for not keeping our Win2K/XP machines up to date. We figured they are all behind the firewall, so nothing on port 445, 5000, or whatever it uses can get in. This overlooked the fact that someone might (against company policy) bring in a home PC and plug it into the network (which is probably how this got in).

To clean each system takes about 2 hours, which consists of installing SP2 (SP4 + an RPC patch on Win2K), resetting all Internet Explorer settings, and running SpyBot and AdAware on the system (because this variant drops about 6 different spyware programs). It is a royal pain in the ass. The person who wrote such a beast must be subjected to horrendous pain and torture by my hand.

Updated! 9/26/04

A few years ago, I tried putting together an arcade machine. The results were sub-par, but worked for the most part. The unit itself suffered from being wobbly and unpleasant to look at.

Now, as some of you may already know, I have been building a new machine, with the help of Chris and his garage. Read on for more details and pictures.

This new one is a hybrid standing/sitting model. The controls are at about 36″ high, low enough to be played with a chair, and high enough to play standing up. The monitor is a 21″ CRT. I will need to make some adjustments in the back of the cabinet frame to get it to fit properly though.

Each players controls include a 4-way joystick, 6 fire buttons, and a start button. There is also a coin and a reset button. Stereo sound is provided from the top of the unit.

Pictures here (updated 9/26/04)

• Width: 29″
• Height: 59″
• Depth: 24″ (36″ at controls)
• Material: MDF