The Siemens Speedstream DSL modems are actually more than just modems, and can cause significant conflict with routers, namely IP conflicts causing the inability of the router to connect to the modem.
The solution is detailed fairly well for a netgear router here and the same general method can be used for dlink routers as well, the options are just in different places. The modem is actually aware of the IP space and creates an internal network with 192.168.0.* space that most routers use by default. It gives itself the IP address 192.168.0.1 which is identical to the default IP of DLink routers, so they will never communicate unless one is changed. If the computer is connected directly to the modem, going to 192.168.0.1 will get the modem configuration page, whereas if you are connected to the router you will get the router config page.
Basically the solution is to configure the modem to set it to always attempt to connect and get the DNS server IP addresses, then set the router to use a different IP space like 192.168.2.* for itself and the internal network. The router must also be set to connect to the internet directly using the static ip address 192.168.1.64, gateway 192.168.0.1 and subnet mask 255.255.0.0. I'm guessing you can use any ip address in the 192.168.1.* space to assign to the modem, but I used 192.168.1.64 and it worked ok.
I like control of my virus protection, and all of this vague "automatic" protection is really annoying, so I generally leave all options and services disabled, and then just run the scans manually and periodically. Unfortunately with Symantec Client Security Solution, as well as the Norton suite, disabling them makes startup of winxp unbearably and unnecessarily slow. Startup just sits at the black screen after login and before the desktop appears for literally minutes.
The solution is uninstalling all Symantec products. Disabling all of the Symantec startup services and executables doesn't even help, the control panel must have some routines that run that cannot be stopped. Needless to say, I'll never be using Symantec "security" solutions again. After uninstallation, winxp startup is fast as ever.
The problem was that I want only secure connections to my sendmail server, using SSL with a single, privately distributed, password protected, certificate signed by my own (made up) signing authority, and allowing no mail to be sent without using the certificate.
The solution was creating the self-signed certificate, configuring sendmail to accept requests to send mail only when the cert is present, and then configuring all MUA's (Mail User Agents) to use the cert.
I'm not going to get into how to create self-signed certs since it is well documented online and the same with configuring sendmail (though maybe I'll document that part later cuz sendmail is a bear :). Once the cert has been created and sendmail configured, the public, password protected, portion of the cert (a PKCS12 file, *.p12) must be distributed to anyone wishing to send mail using the server, and imported into their MUAs. The method for this varies with each MUA, but with Thunderbird, in which the process is similar to most others, you go to Tools->Options->Advanced->Encryption then "View Certificates" and "Import". Import the cert file and enter the certificate password when prompted. Users will then need to "trust" the made up signing authority used to sign the cert, but this can be trusted forever by most systems which also allows you to use other certs signed by the same authority for other purposes (eg web certs).
One caveat is that if you're using an SSL connection, you don't want or need to check "Use Secure Authentication" in any server settings because the whole connection is secure and separately secured authentication is unavailable and superfluous.
The problem was that switching to a public wireless network (fas.harvard.edu or cmu.edu) would change a winXP registry entry preventing my private home network from connecting automatically. Restarting works, but much too annoying.
UPDATE: This can also be fixed by broadcasting/announcing NetBIOS on the router side which my new DLink can now do, much easier.
The registry path is:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters
The key is:
DhcpNodeType
The value is switched to a value other than 8, while I need a value of 8 for my home wireless network. I created a batch file that I run before connecting to my home network, or you can run regedit and manually change the value of the key to 8 but that becomes cumbersome quickly.
The contents of the batch file is this single line:
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters" /v DhcpNodeType /t reg_dword /d 8 /f
This blog is intended to keep a record of the various hacks, fixes, and other things I've had to do to make things work. Hopefully this will succeed in consolidating the info, assist my memory, and help others.