This week brought about the fruition of my internet sharing, along with a new gaming diversion.
After being soundly defeated by Windows 2000 Server last week, I decided to try something different and went looking for a proxy program. Just as it sounds, the software takes requests from PC's and routes them through the internet connection. Lot's of packages were available, but most were designed for peer to peer. I set up a Windows 2000 Server at home for two reasons: always on access to my files, and internet connectivity, plus the resource sharing, security and "real world" experience. A quick look at the Microsoft Back Office site revealed two things: it's now called Windows Servers and the next version of Proxy Server was available for beta testing; i.e. a free download.
This new version was called Internet Security and Acceleration Server ( ISA Server ) and did what I was looking for: provided a secure proxy for internet access and had caching abilities. Lots of other features are included like VPN access, monitoring and Active Directory integration, but really I just wanted to share my cable connection. Yes, I know this product is overkill, but it's a free download so why not give it a try?
I downloaded and installed ISA Server without difficulty. Following the wizards was a snap, and I had everything working properly. I went to my Windows NT Workstation PC and installed the Proxy Client, a small utility that directs all internet traffic. After a reboot I tried to access a web site, but was getting nothing.
At this point I considered throwing every computer I had out the window. Why couldn't I get this seemingly simple task of internet sharing to work? I went back online to Microsoft Knowledge Base and searched for all things NAT and PROXY. Reading it through didn't help. After examining all settings, I decided to add my ISP's DNS server to my internal NIC's TCP/IP properties. Jumped back to the NT PC and voila, a web site appeared. I then tried FTP, Microsoft Instant Messenger and Star Trek: Armada: all connected. Finally!
After a few days use I noticed the benefit of the caching, and took a look at the settings. ISA Server was going out and grabbing changes to the sites I accessed, giving me the impression that the pages were loading much faster. All was bliss.
This brings me to my newest title: Microsoft's Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion. Quite a title, and a nice expansion pack to Age of Kings. What you get is five new civilizations, unique technologies to all races and new maps. The bulk of the additions are relaxed to Central and South America with Mayans, Aztecs and Spanish added, with Huns and Koreans tossed it. Every race gets a new unique skill and 11 units are added overall. I played through a few scenarios and some multiplayer: it adds more to an already great game. The Aztecs and Mayans didn't have horses, so they have a fast infantry unit called the Eagle Warrior. Spaniards have a missionary unit and a conquistador on horseback to subjugate the new world. A demo is available at the site, so give it a try.
This week I also downloaded Microsoft's Media Player 7. I enjoy using Music Match as my main digital music player, as the interface is clean, easy to read and customizable. It encodes quickly and hasn't given me any trouble, so it's a win all around. Media Player 7 seems to want to be all things to all people, and for me that is too much. I'm strictly interested in the music aspect of it, and add a few new albums a week to my collection. With Music Match, I delete the library and rescan the PC for new music, as I encode on one machine, store on the server and play on a third machine. I couldn't find the same option with Media Player, and as such turned me off. Don't get me wrong on this product; it is slick and all encompassing, and for free definitely worth the download. It lets you view music my artist, album or song title; you do the same with Music Match by clicking on the column titles. I'm up in the air on this, but will try and encode some music next week.
That's it for my week: look for a few changes next column.
by Scott VanderPloeg
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