Don't Back Down

Some of you may have noticed a problem with your online RSS feed aggregator, such as Bloglines or Google Reader. This had to do with the formatting of the Browser Friendly feed from FeedBurner (not their fault, I was trying something new, and I'll explain it soon so you can learn from my mistake).

Anyway, the problem was that some web-based aggregators weren't able to see the feed as a valid one. If you read the feed in your own browser, or via email, you should have been okay. I'm not sure about desktop aggregators, but they probably would have had the same problems as the online ones. The end result is you may get a bunch of updates, but things should be flowing normally again. Sorry for the disruption.

One of the reasons I like pair Networks is the shell account. I don't always need shell access, but it's really useful to have it when I do need it. Much better than the alternative - needing it and not having it. One question that comes up when you start talking about shell accounts is accessing the thing. For users who are used to Windows, it's a legitimate question - it's just not something that you're typically exposed to.

What you'll need is PuTTY - a great little application that allows you to connect to an SSH server. SSH stands for "secure shell", and that's how you login to most shell accounts. There are some that will allow you to do so with a standard telnet client, but that's less than secure, so don't do that. The only problem with PuTTY is that you have to type your password every time you need to connect. That's not a bad thing if you don't do it often, but if you disconnect and reconnect a lot, it can be a royal pain. Enter Pageant (available at the same page as PuTTY).

Read "Using Pageant with PuTTY at pair Networks" »