Smart Ad Blocking using CSS · 521 days ago

I’ve been using Joe Francis’ userContent.css technique for Ad Blocking using CSS for years and have enjoyed nearly ad-free web surfing for years.

Combine this with ClickToFlash, a WebKit plug-in that prevents automatic loading of Adobe Flash content, and the web is once again a pleasant browsing experience.

I’ve been fortunate to encounter only a few false positives with the stock userContent.css, but wanted to share them here for others:


a:link[href*="/admin"] img,
a:link[href*=".a"] img {
	display: inline !important;
	}

The first line is an override for Shopify’s assets editor and the following line is a broad rule to show uploaded images on Typepad sites.

If you’re also a NetNewsWire user, take special note since it can be configured to use Safari’s style sheet selection, so if you’re having problems viewing images in feeds you should temporarily disable userContent.css or switch your theme to determine the actual cause of the problem.

I added this block of code at the end of my userContent.css file so that my customizations would remain separate from the core file, allowing painless future updates. Enjoy!

— Ryan J. Bonnell

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How-To: Clear DNS Resolver Cache · 894 days ago

On Windows 2000/XP/Vista, run this command from a DOS prompt:

ipconfig /flushdns

On Mac OS X 10.1 – 10.4 open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and execute this command:

sudo lookupd -flushcache

On Mac OS X “Leopard” 10.5+ open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and execute this command:

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache

Reboot your computer, and your operating system’s DNS cache should be cleared.

— Ryan J. Bonnell

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How-To: Add Additional FTP Users to Domain in Plesk · 913 days ago

Assuming you already have an existing domain setup (example.com) with the primary FTP user (john) and password (doe) with home directory (/var/www/vhosts/domain.com), and you wish to create additional FTP users (jack and jill) with the same access privileges as john:

# Login to the server as root
ssh root@domain.com

# Execute the following shell command for the user’s account you wish to mimic
cat /etc/passwd | grep 'john'

This will show you a line similar to the following:

john:x:10041:2523::/var/www/vhosts/example.com:/usr/local/psa/bin/chrootsh

The first number (after the second colon) is 10041, so this is the UID of user “john”. You will need this in the useradd lines since useradd wants a number for the UID.

# Create an additional FTP user with a “jailed” home directory in /httpdocs directory
/usr/sbin useradd -u 10041 -o -d /var/www/vhosts/example.com -g psacln -s /usr/local/psa/bin/chrootsh jack

# Create an additional FTP user with a “jailed” home directory in /web_users directory
/usr/sbin useradd -u 10041 -o -d /var/www/vhosts/example.com/web_users -g psaserv -s /usr/local/psa/bin/chrootsh jack

# Give the user a password
passwd jack

Even without stopping/restarting the FTPd daemon, you should now be able login as with the new FTP user (jack) and access the same directories and with the same permissions as the primary domain user (john).

All new FTP accounts created using this method should have the same “shared” access to files since they all belong to the same group — no matter which of the users created or edited the file(s), all should be able to access/edit/whatever the same files.

As an additional benefit, the new user account is “jailed” to his/her home directory and cannot view the contents of other directories outside their home directory.

The only caveat to this aproach is that these users defined at the Operating System level, so their accounts or passwords cannot be changed through Plesk — but it’s a trade-off most people will glady accept for the improved functionality.

# To delete a user account
userdel jack

For a discussion on this topic, see http://forum.swsoft.com/pda/index.php/t-37495.html

— Ryan J. Bonnell

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Fix Airport Self-Assigned IP Address Leopard · 940 days ago

I spent many hours researching, troubleshooting, and trying to find a solution to my Apple PowerBook getting an Airport self-assigned IP address.

This problem seemed to originate after I installed the Login and Keychain Update 1.0 (30 October 2007) for Mac OS X “Leopard” 10.5.

The steps that worked for me was to:

  1. Delete the Airport preference file /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
  2. Verify/Repair my Login Keychain using Utilities > Keychain Access
  3. Reboot into Safe Mode (by holding down the Shift key during startup)
  4. Turn my computer off, then boot up normally.

I have read other user reports that had success by disabling the “Back to My Mac” .Mac feature, creating a new Network Location, or by disabling and re-enabling Airport access whereby triggering a “Renewing DHCP Lease”.

— Ryan J. Bonnell

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Install Nano RPM on Plesk 8.2.1 · 941 days ago

These instructions are mainly for my internal reference, but for the sake of you — oh glorious reader — I’ve decided to share my recipe.

To install nano (clone of the Pico text editor) on a Linux-based SWSoft Plesk server, run the following commands — assuming you have root access:

  1. ssh root@domain.com
  2. cd /usr/local/src
  3. wget http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.0/nano-2.0.3.tar.gz
  4. tar zxvf nano-2.0.3.tar.gz
  5. cd nano-2.0.3
  6. ./configure
  7. make
  8. make install

To test the installation, simply run the executable from the command line: nano

— Ryan J. Bonnell

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