Today I installed CellTrack on my Windows Mobile phone.
CellTrack is free and open source utility for tracking the location of GSM cellular phones. Currently some smartphones running Windows Mobile are supported.
The picture below show the location of my Windows Mobile phone. A internet database collects cell names, so the cell can be identified.
This utility is a good start for GSM-based positioning.
OpenVPN is a full-featured SSL VPN solution which can accomodate a wide range of configurations, including remote access, site-to-site VPNs, WiFi security, and enterprise-scale remote access solutions with load balancing, failover, and fine-grained access-controls.
OpenVPN is normally run in a console window, which can be a little annoying to have lying on the taskbar all the time. OpenVPN GUI lets you run OpenVPN without this console window. Instead you get an icon in the notification area (the area on the right side of the taskbar) from which you can control OpenVPN to start/stop your VPN tunnels, view the log, change your password and other useful things.
The OpenVPN GUI installation also installs a service, which can be started automatically for site-to-site connections. An easy way to build a cheap private network over the internet.
The last one I reviewed for a current project. I needed a low cost VPN solutions for Windows XP Home desktops. All desktops automatically connect to the OpenVPN server at startup (service) and from any connected machine I can control the other machines.
Installation
The installation is a simple ‘next-next-finish’ installer that installs the console applications and GUI on your system. Some manual tasks are neccessary, before you can set up a secure connection.
On a server, you manually have to start the OpenVPN Service and enable the service control from the GUI in the registry.
The client installs with the same installer and requires no additional tasks, except the configuration.
Configuration
The OpenVPN solutions works with SSL/TLS certificates, so you first have to generate these certificates. Luckily the setup also installs some easy to use scripts in \easy-rsa. The README.TXT in this directory informs you how to generate the certificates that you need.
Both installations (server and client) require a configuration file. Samples are supplied, so you can cut & paste your own. The only choice you have to make is bridged or routing mode, because both are supported by OpenVPN.
That’s about it to setup a secure VPN connection. Simply start the server as a service and connect with the client. A nice tray icon informs you about the connection state.
From the tray icon, you can set connection password, edit proxy settings (proto tcp) and view status and log information.
I had the connection up and running for a couple of hours. Large file tranfsers and RDP connections did not kill the connection, so OpenVPN is in my opinion a good free alternative for a solid VPN solutions.
Today I reviewed HotKeys. This Windows keyboard tool allows you to attach shortcuts to any Windows-key combination. Of course many other tools do the same, but HotKeys is different. No macro’s, no config, no java, but… beautifull drag & drop GUI, integrated Control Panel applet and native .NET Framework.
Installation
HotKeys requires .NET Framework 1.1. With the framework installed, you only have to install a 900KB Microsoft Installer package.
Use
When holding the Windows-keys for a second, a keyboard fades in, that allows you to see all assigned hotkeys and at this moment you can also drag & drop shortcuts on any available key.
Another way of configuring the hotkeys is through the Control Panel applet. I personally prefer the drag & drop keyboard.
By default two very nice add in modules are available. One is a transparent analog clock that fades in on Windows-T. The other is volume control that also shows as a transparent image on-screen.
To be refined
There are still some issues that can be refined. Due the the age of HotKeys, I am sure that there will be a lot of improvements in the upcoming releases.
Download at the source.
Recently I spent a week offline on the beach. The photo below shows the view I had every day. Isn’t is wonderfull…
