TwInbox – Tweet Directly From Within Microsoft Outlook

There are a lot of us who still use desktop email clients. If it’s Windows, there’s a high chance that it’s Outlook. Now,

The idea is to keep every communication in a central place as far as possible.A Twitter add-in that allows us to tweet from within Outlook is the need of the day. OutTwit answered that need and then it changed its name to TwInbox. The free TwInbox comes with better features and usability. From the looks of it, TwInbox is a perfect marriage of Twitter and Outlook. But is it harmonious enough? That’s what we aim to find out with a few test tweets.

TwInbox (ver. 2.1.0.115) at just under 1MB is a small enough install for Outlook 2003 and 2007. It takes its place on the Outlook toolbar. Now, you can update your Twitter status directly from Outlook.

Getting to Know TwInbox:

TwInbox has a configuration wizard that helps you take the first steps with this Twitter client for Outlook. You have to give it your Twitter account information of course. Select a folder where your tweets will be kept.

After you have given TwInbox the basic info (TwInbox supports multiple accounts), here’s how the Options box looks:

You might want to personalize the tweet update frequency (Automatic Updates) and a setting like – Preview Shortened URL. The other setting which really helps me is assigning a shortcut key via the UI tab. That allows me to speedily bring up a new tweet window and retweets too.

TwiInbox Calls On the Power of Outlook:

TwInbox creates folders to store the tweets. You can specify how the folders are to be created. For example, you can create separate folders for different types of tweets (direct messages, mentions, etc) or you can put it all in one folder. With TwInbox you can also create individual folders for each sender.

Just like Outlook, you can create Search Folders to filter and display tweets from specific senders, or only tweets that contain a particular word, or match any other criteria using Outlook filters.

The Search/Track/Group feature of TwInbox is a tool to get familiar with if you want to organize all your tweets. The powerful feature can be used to direct incoming tweets to specific folders. Also, if you want to keep a record of your sent or received tweet then the feature can be used thanks to the search operators that are used by Twitter. See the Twitter list of search operators.

Work Your Tweets Just Like Outlook Messages:

Just like Outlook messages, you can click on the column header and rearrange your tweets alphabetically. Just like email messages, you can sort tweets according to various criteria.

You can search through your entire sea of tweets with the same Outlook search or any other Inbox search you use.

You can go in for Outlook’s Mailbox Cleanup and Auto-archive items which are older than a set number of days. (Right click on the TwInbox folder – Properties – Auto Archive).

Just Tweeting:

TwInbox supports all the usual Twitter commands like d username, @username, follow username, and leave username. You can also use Outlook’s Reply or Reply All buttons to send forth your tweets. It’s much faster if you use the shortcut keys.

When it comes to picture attachments, you need to just highlight any email in Outlook and upload the picture that’s attached to the highlighted email. You can also browse your computer and pick up a picture from there. The attached picture is tweeted via TwitPic, Posterous, or Twitgoo.

TinyURL support comes with Twinbox. Paste any URL into a Tweet, click a button, and it’s shortened. You can use your own Bit.ly account by giving the log-in details in the Preferences dialog.

If you are the statistician, or just want to see who the top Tweeter in your inbox is, use the Stats button to display the column graph. You get it for the day and the month.

It nearly makes Outlook a single window console for all net chatter. What’s great is that TwInbox design is in sync with the way we use Outlook, so old habits don’t have to die hard. It might lack some advanced features like scheduling for future tweets or manage Twitter lists, but for day to day uses it just suffices.

How to fix an IP address conflict?

Ever get the following message when turning on your computer or taking it out of sleep mode?

“There is an IP address conflict with another system on the network”

You may also see a different error message for the same problem:

“This IP address is already in use on the network. Please reconfigure a different IP address.”

This occurs when two computers on the same LAN network end up with the same IP address. When this occurs, both computers end up not being able to connect to network resources or perform other network
operations.

This problem, though rare, can occur because of the following reasons:

1.Two computers are assigned the same static IP addresses

2.One computer is assigned a static IP address that falls into the DHCP range for the local network and the same address is assigned to a computer by the DHCP server

3.A laptop is put into sleep mode and then turned on while connected to another network that uses the same IP address

4.If you have multiple network adapters, it is possible for a to have an IP address conflict with itself

How to resolve an IP address conflict:

There are a few ways you can go about fixing this problem. I’ll start with the simplest and move on.

1. Renew IP Address – You can release and renew the IP address for your computer using the command prompt. Read my previous post on how to renew an IP address.

2. Reconfigure Static IP Address – If your computer is using a static IP address, it is best to try and use a different one in the same subnet. One way to check to make sure the one you are picking is not already being used is to simple ping the IP addresss (ping x.x.x.x).

3. Use DHCP – If you don’t need to use a static IP address, it’s best to simply choose DHCP instead of manually configuring the IP address. The server will know which addresses are free and which are taken.

4. Update firmware – In some rare instances, the actual DHCP server can malfunction and assign more than one computer the same IP. In this case, it is best to try and update the firmware on your router.

How To Find Out What My DNS Servers Address Is?

How do I find out my DNS Server Addresses under Linux / UNIX / Windows operating system? What is my dns server IP address under Windows operating systems? Can you specify a list of public DNS server for personal use or game consoles?

DNS is key to many network services. Internet browsing, mail server, web server etc all depends upon DNS server. Most ISP (Internet service provider) have their own caching dns server to reduce network load. But how do you find out DNS server IP address? How do you find out current DNS server IP address? Under Linux, FreeBSD and all UNIX like oses you have file called /etc/resolv.conf file. It is often know as resolver configuration file. If you are using MS-Windows version Vista / 7 / NT / 2000 / XP /98 etc then see below for how to find out DNS server address under MS-Windows operating systems.

Linux / UNIX / Apple OS X Find Out Dns Server Addresses:

The resolver is a set of routines in the C library that provide access to the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). The resolver configuration file contains information that is read by the resolver routines the first time they are invoked by a process.

Commend to find out your dns servers ip address under Linux/BSD/Unixish system

To see your DNS server address type following command as shell prompt:

$ cat /etc/resolv.conf

OR

$ less /etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 203.54.1.20
nameserver 203.54.1.21

Where,

nameserver 203.54.1.20 : It is Name server IP address (in dot notation) of a name server that the resolver should query. All your application will use this IP address for DNS purpose.Where,

Find Out DNS Server IP Address Under MS-Windows Version 7/Vista/XP/NT/2003

Click on Start button > Run > and Type command cmd > Press [enter] key

At DOS prompt type the command:

C:\>ipconfig /all

You should DNS server IP address, and other information related to Windows networking:

OR
You can Click on Start button > Settings > Network connections
Double click on Local Area Connection
Click on Properties button
Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
Click on Properties button and Look for Preferred DNS Server:

You Can Use The Public DNS Servers:

You can use the following Google public DNS (IP Addresses) servers for XBOX 360 / Sony PS3 & PS2 / Nintendo Wii game consoles or any other purpose:

8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
They are free to all, pretty fast too and works with all sort of computers and game consoles.You Can Use The Public DNS Servers

Free DNS Server:

OpenDNS Free DNS Server IP address

=> 208.67.222.222
=> 208.67.220.220

ScrubIT Free DNS Server IP address

=> 67.138.54.100
=> 207.225.209.66

How do I setup DNS Server IP address?

Under Linux / UNIX / Solaris / BSD operating systems, just open your /etc/resolv.conf file and add above IP address:

nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220

Do Virtual Private Networks Run Over Satellite Internet? & VPN Tunneling:

VPN and satellite Internet technologies were not designed to work together. These two technical limitations of satellite Internet greatly affect the performance of a VPN:

* Virtual private networks require a high-bandwidth, low-latency network to function efficiently. Satellite Internet services, on the other hand, normally suffer very high latencies due to the long distance satellite signals must travel.
* Satellite Internet also tends to support low upstream bandwidth. Specifically, satellite bandwidth for uploads is comparable to that of dial-up Internet services. VPNs demand high bandwidth for both uploads and downloads.

Despite these limitations, it is technically possible to use most VPN solutions with most satellite Internet services. The following caveats apply:

1. Overall performance of a VPN connection over satellite will be poor. VPN over satellite often performs at the speed of a dial-up Internet connection.

2. Satellite providers generally do not offer technical support or service guarantees to VPN users.

3. Satellite providers commonly deploy a performance boosting technique called “IP spoofing” as part of their service. This IP spoofing interferes with the ability to establish VPN connections. For VPNs to work with satellite Internet, the provider must have some provision to bypass IP spoofing for VPN connections.

4. The same compatiblity issues between VPNs and personal firewalls, and VPNs and Internet connection sharing software, apply for satellite as with other types of Internet service.

To determine if a given VPN client or protocol will work with a given satellite service, consult the satellite provider. While they may not offer technical support, providers usually list general compatibility information about VPNs on their Web sites. Note that limitations can vary depending on the package subscribed to. “Business” or “telecommuter” services, for example, tend to offer more VPN support than “residential” services.

VPN Tunneling:

Virtual private network technology is based on the idea of tunneling. VPN tunneling involves establishing and maintaining a logical network connection (that may contain intermediate hops). On this connection, packets constructed in a specific VPN protocol format are encapsulated within some other base or carrier protocol, then transmitted between VPN client and server, and finally de-encapsulated on the receiving side.

For Internet-based VPNs, packets in one of several VPN protocols are encapsulated within Internet Protocol (IP) packets. VPN protocols also support authentication and encryption to keep the tunnels secure.

Types of VPN Tunneling:

VPN supports two types of tunneling – voluntary and compulsory. Both types of tunneling are commonly used.

In voluntary tunneling, the VPN client manages connection setup. The client first makes a connection to the carrier network provider (an ISP in the case of Internet VPNs). Then, the VPN client application creates the tunnel to a VPN server over this live connection.

In compulsory tunneling, the carrier network provider manages VPN connection setup. When the client first makes an ordinary connection to the carrier, the carrier in turn immediately brokers a VPN connection between that client and a VPN server. From the client point of view, VPN connections are set up in just one step compared to the two-step procedure required for voluntary tunnels.

Compulsory VPN tunneling authenticates clients and associates them with specific VPN servers using logic built into the broker device. This network device is sometimes called the VPN Front End Processor (FEP), Network Access Server (NAS) or Point of Presence Server (POS). Compulsory tunneling hides the details of VPN server connectivity from the VPN clients and effectively transfers management control over the tunnels from clients to the ISP. In return, service providers must take on the additional burden of installing and maintaining FEP devices.

VPN Tunneling Protocols:

Several computer network protocols have been implemented specifically for use with VPN tunnels. The three most popular VPN tunneling protocols listed below continue to compete with each other for acceptance in the industry. These protocols are generally incompatible with each other.

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP):

Several corporations worked together to create the PPTP specification. People generally associate PPTP with Microsoft because nearly all flavors of Windows include built-in client support for this protocol. The initial releases of PPTP for Windows by Microsoft contained security features that some experts claimed were too weak for serious use. Microsoft continues to improve its PPTP support, though.

Definition: PPTP is a network protocol used in the implementation of Virtual Private Networks (VPN). RFC 2637 is the PPTP technical specification.

PPTP works on a client server model. PPTP clients are included by default in Microsoft Windows and also available for both Linux and Mac OS X. Newer VPN technologies like L2TP and IPsec may replace PPTP someday, but PPTP remains a popular network protocol especially on Windows computers.

PPTP technology extends the Point to Point Protocol (PPP) standard for traditional dial-up networking. PPTP operates at Layer 2 of the OSI model. As a network protocol, PPTP is best suited for the remote access applications of VPNs, but it also supports LAN internetworking.

Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP):

The original competitor to PPTP for VPN tunneling was L2F, a protocol implemented primarily in Cisco products. In an attempt to improve on L2F, the best features of it and PPTP were combined to create a new standard called L2TP. Like PPTP, L2TP exists at the data link layer (Layer Two) in the OSI model — thus the origin of its name.

Internet Protocol Security (IPsec):

IPsec is actually a collection of multiple related protocols. It can be used as a complete VPN protocol solution or simply as the encryption scheme within L2TP or PPTP. IPsec exists at the network layer (Layer Three) of the OSI model.

What Are the Key VPN Security Technologies?

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are generally considered to have very strong protection for data communications.

So-called secure VPNs provide both network authentication and encryption. Secure VPNs are most commonly implemented using IPsec or SSL.

IPsec:

Definition: IPsec is a technology standard for implementing security features in Internet Protocol (IP) networking. IPsec network protocols support encryption and authentication. IPsec is most commonly used in so-called “tunnel mode” with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). However, IPsec also supports a “transport mode” for direct connection between two computers.

Technically, IPsec functions at the network layer (Layer 3) of the OSI model. IPsec is supported in Microsoft Windows (Win2000 and newer versions) as well as most forms of Linux / Unix.

SSL – Secure Sockets Layer:

Definition: SSL security technology helps to improve the safety of Internet communications. SSL is a standard for encrypted client/server communication between network devices.

A network protocol, SSL runs on top of TCP/IP. SSL utilizes several standard network security techniques including public keys, symmetric keys, and certificates. Web sites commonly use SSL to guard private information such as credit card numbers.

Using IPsec for VPN Security:

IPsec has been the traditional choice for implementing VPN security on corporate networks. Enterprise-class network appliances from companies like Cisco and Juniper implement the essential VPN server functions in hardware. Corresponding VPN client software is then used to log on to the network. IPsec operates at the layer 3 (the Network layer) of the OSI model.

Using SSL for VPN Security:

SSL VPNs are an alternative to IPsec that rely on a Web browser instead of custom VPN clients to log on to the private network. By utilizing the SSL network protocols built into standard Web browsers and Web servers, SSL VPNs are intended to be cheaper to set up and maintain than IPsec VPNs. Additionally, SSL operates at a higher level than IPsec, giving administrators more options to control access to network resources. However, configuring SSL VPNs to interface with resources not normally accessed from a Web browser can be difficult.

Wi-Fi vs VPN Security:

Some organizations use an IPsec (or sometimes SSL) VPN to protect a Wi-Fi local area network. In fact, Wi-Fi security protocols like WPA2 and WPA-AES are designed to support the necessary authentication and encryption without the need for any VPN support.