your new one-stop shop for Classic Rock news, tour dates and daily dollops of wit and, er, wisdom from the Classic Rock team - as it happens.
Be the first to know what female-fronted rock combo Geoff Barton is stalking this week! Get recommendations on new bands and re-releases just seconds after we open the post! Pretend not to notice as Sian Llewellyn slips a Billy Joel CD into her hard drive! Nod sagely as Paul 'Hendo' Henderson talks up some jazz fusion band that he hasn't listened to since 1973!
In short - welcome to our hell, I mean, lives.
Bookmark it, pester us with your comments, vote in this year's Classic Rock Awards (the Classic Rock Roll Of Honour) and rest your hand on the thigh of the international rock community.
I've just got our system guys to check it out, and it should all be working OK now - I've just cast my vote successfully. There *were* a couple of teething problems, but I they're fixed now. Sorry about that. Please try voting again, and if you're still having problems, lemme know.
i agree with jon...cheers for the link guys! the site looks great...uve certainly been busy posting! do you really all sit round in the same office working on the mag? altho this is what comes to mind i would guess a lot of it is done remotely vis the net these days (?) one thing tho...why are some of the messages posted by geoff barton written about himself in the 3rd person? i though only american wrestlers did that...
Greg asked if we really do sit around in the office making the mag, and well, yes, some of us do. Just to give you a little bit of insight, the office-based team is made up of Scott, me, Geoff Barton, production editor Paul Henderson and our art team - deputy art editor Ed and our brand new, shortly to arrive art editor Brad (who starts on Monday). We're here every day and then Ian, our reviews editor, deigns to join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The mighty Dave Ling, Malcolm Dome, Mick Wall and other names that are synonymous with the mag are all externally based freelancers, which means they don't have to suffer the terrible machine tea here at CR HQ... Oh, and Geoff and the third person thing? Well, he posts all the blog stuff, but he didn't necessarily write it. It all depends on who's got something to say and/or the time to say it!
Bear with me, as this is all a bit technical for me (and I dont really understand what I am talking about)... but my husband who works in IT was concerned when we were reading the comments section that follows on from your daily postings. He pointed out that after each persons name comes a "numerical address" that links direct to their computer and that putting this info online leaves people's systems "vulnerable to attack". This was how he explained it to me and I know its probably much more complicated and technical than that...but I wondered if you were aware of this and if there are any plans to stop this information being shown to the public. Until this time I am banned from replying to your posts!!
The numbers after the posts seem to be the same for everyone, so maybe it's the id of the CR machine? Or doesn't it work like that? Advice from techno-experts required.
Kat/Mutley, Well I cant see what you are talking about. What numerical address ? I am not aware of any such problem with this site or any other group site that I have participated on. Your hubby knows more than me so I look forward to seeing any response from the CR Technical Dept.
The numerical address is what's known as an IP (interenet protocol) address and is derived from the TCP/IP (transmission control protocol / internet protocol) system that most Microsoft Windows based networks use.
I'll try and keep this simple, so please bear with me - in a nutshell, every computer using TCP/IP needs to have an IP address which is essentially just it's address on the network. These addresses can be set up manually, but more commonly are assigned to your computer by a DHCP (dynamic host configuration protocol) server that controls the network addressing.
In layman's terms, everytime your PC / laptop boots up on a network, it sends a request to the nearest DHCP server on that network for an address and is duly assigned one from the server's defined range of addresses for the duration of it's lease. With internet communications, your ISP's DHCP server will assign your PC an address everytime you connect. If you are using Windows XP, click on the Start button then select "Run" from the menu. In the run box, type "cmd" click OK, and a black window will appear. This is the command box which you can use to type in DOS commands. Type the command "ipconfig /all" and press enter and the computer will generate a list of pertinent information relating to your network and internet connections, like IP addresses, DHCP servers, DNS servers, internet gateways. If, like me, you connect to your ISP through a wireless ADSL router, then your internet connection is permanently switched on and is managed by the router. The IP address obtained by your computer is assigned by that router and is specific to your home network.
When you are connected to the web, your PC is never connected directly to a website, as all your internet comms are routed through your ISP's servers and round various other nodes on the internet depending on the physical location of the websites you are visiting. The IP address that appears on the CR site is probably the address of the node / router that you have connected to their site through. A lot of sites use IP address tracking as a security measure and this is generally nothing to worry about.
The simplest and most effective way to ensure that your PC can't be attacked is to make sure you have installed anti virus and firewall software. If you don't want to spend a fortune, there are some excellent free ones available on the internet - I use AVG anti virus and Zone Alarm firewall and they both do a great job. Routers also have a hardware firewall built in for additional security.
Hope all this helps, if anyone has any concerns or queries about all this, please feel free to email me privately and I will happy to discuss further.
Thanks Guys. This apears to be a case of Steve (my hubby) jumping to conclusions without knowing the full facts (he's a man.....) If the numbers are all the same this can't be connected to individuals. Sorry to get anybody alarmed and thanks griz for the full and very educational explanation
It's my pleasure. The post was just number 1 in my new series of "Great IT Mysteries Explained" - next week "Why Can't Microsoft Release An Operating System That Works First Time?"
Grizzlybaz Resident geek doesn't even come close if you understand all that Techno Bol*%cks. I am suitably impressed. If you are free to explain how all the programmes on my computer work and how to use them I'll sort you out with a king's ransom. Many thanks for your reassurance of our Internet safety. Now if I could only find that delete button before my boss reads my reply to the last request for voluntary overtime. Cheers
> In layman's terms, everytime your PC / laptop boots up on a network, it > sends a request to the nearest DHCP server on that network for an > address and is duly assigned one from the server's defined range of > addresses for the duration of it's lease. With internet > communications, your ISP's DHCP server will assign your PC an address > everytime you connect. If you are using Windows XP, click on the Start > button then select "Run" from the menu. In the run box, type "cmd" > click OK, and a black window will appear. This is the command box > which you can use to type in DOS commands. Type the command "ipconfig > /all" and press enter and the computer will generate a list of > pertinent information relating to your network and internet > connections, like IP addresses, DHCP servers, DNS servers, internet > gateways.
Phew - I'm glad you put that in layman's terms - I'd hate the techie explanation ;o)
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