emesene is a great WLM/MSN alternative. Fairly lightweight, supports Linux and Windows and best of all, no bloat! This is a vast improvement over 1.5.1 and the new theme is great. For Windows 7 and Vista users, the installer method may cause problems.

The Problem

On Windows 7 and Vista systems, upon completion of installation using the installer, emesene fails to run. Executing the file attempts to run emesene, but nothing happens.

The Fix

The solution is quite simple. It is a permission problem.

Steps to get it to run (You may need to click yes to various UAC dialog boxes):

1. Navigate to the emesene install directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\emesene)
2. Right click on “PortableConfig“, select Properties
3. Go to “Security” tab
4. Click “Edit” button under Group or user names section, a new window appears (Permissions for Portable Config Window)
5. Click “Add” button under Group or user names section, a new window will appear (Select Users or Groups)
6. Click “Advanced” button, a new window appears (Select Users or Groups)
7. Click “Find Now” button, select (highlight) your current user, click “OK” to close this window, click “OK” again (to close the last Select Users or Groups window)
8. You should be at the Permissions for Portable Config window. Find your username and click on it (make sure it’s highlighted)
9. Below, there is a Permissions for <USER>, put a checkbox under “Allow” and “Full Control”, click “OK” to accept these changes. Once again to close the Properties window.
10. Run emesene 1.6!

Notes

This method may or not be safe depending on how strict you are with your security policies. Many choose to just run emesene as an Administrator, but we don’t think that’s such a great idea. It’s better to just run it to a limited user account. Use DeadBandit’s method at your own discretion.

You can also try the Portable version.

Other Information

Emesene 1.6 “mate” was released on Jan 4, 2010.

With loads of bugfixes, gui awesomeness and the new year here comes the new release of your beloved msn client:

• Improved gui usability

• New preference window (arielj, ukblacknight, nicolaide, mehd36)

• Implemented nick and personal message roaming (pablo)

• Fixed tons of bugs all around the code (we’re too lazy to write ‘em all)

More information: emesene forum – Release post.

Download: emesene.org/download.

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• iTunes Switchless, No More Windows Bloat!

Keep reading and we’ll show you how!

There are two ways about this. Quick and easy, or manual.

Quick and Easy

iTunes switchless installer is maintained by auja who keeps an up to date repository of “switchless” apps which have already been altered and is ready for you to download and install. Just get it off his site auja Online.

Be forewarned that DeadBandit is not affiliated with auja. The method he/she uses to create the switchless install is unknown, but most likely identical or very similar to the method outlined further in this article. We don’t know if he is reputable, but he is providing a great tool to the community. Please exercise skepticism and caution before running this altered software. This is why DeadBandit advocates doing it for yourself, manually as you are then able to verify sources and tools to trust. It is also good to note that if he ever stops maintaining his site or for any reason should his site be made unavailable, there is a method for those who need it.

Manual

Prerequisites:

• Apple’s iTunes software (32bit / 64bit) 9.0.2.25 as of writing
• A (de)compression tool such as 7-zip
• An .msi installer editor such as InstEd or Orca (Microsoft software, may require you to install the SDK)
• QT Lite 3.1.0 as of writing

Method for creating Switchless Installer:

1. After downloading iTunes, extract the .exe file using your (de)compression tool
2. You should find the following files in the 64bit install (32bit version filenames will be similar minus “64″):
   • SetupAdmin.exe
   • AppleApplicationSupport.msi
   • AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi
   • AppleSoftwareUpdate.msi
   • Bonjour64.msi
   • iTunes64.msi
   • MobileMe64.msi
   • QuickTime.msi
3. You may decide to install whatever .msi files you wish to get the functionality you require. To get basic functionality out of your iPhone, you only need 3 out of 8 .msi files (delete the rest of the files):
   • AppleApplicationSupport.msi
   • AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi
   • iTunes64.msi
4. You will need to use InstEd to modify the iTunes64.exe since the install will fail if the installer cannot find any part of the “required” components. Open InstEd, drag-n-drop iTunes64.exe into InstEd. Under the “Tables” tab, find “caPackage”, order the list by “Sequence” (just click the word Sequence to get the list in numerical order).
5. You now know the order in which the components are installed based on this list. You will now want to remove the entries to the corresponding .msi which you do not wish to install (right click, remove row OR use the Delete key). If the sequence list is not continuous, you will want to make it so (click until you can edit the field and change the number).
6. Under the “Tables” tab, find “LaunchCondition”, right click and “Drop Table”
7. In InstEd, go to File, Save. You can exit this program.

Method for Installation:

1. Install QT Lite
2. Run iTunes64.exe (You may need to install AppleApplicationSuport.msi & AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi depending on what you chose in step 3 of the Method of Creating Switchless Installer)

Conclusion

This concludes the How-To. It seems really complicated and time consuming, but doing the install this way is really worth it in the end if you value minimalism on your systems. Unfortunately you will need to repeat the process each time you wish to update to the newest version. We really hope this article was helpful to those who just can’t stand the bloat but have to install iTunes to get some functionality from their iPhone. Please feel free to comment!

Notes

SetupAdmin.exe – This is the GUI installer portion which you see when you run iTunesSetup.exe.

AppleApplicationSupport.msi – The drag and drop feature to organize your apps within the iTunes interface (as opposed to on the device) for iPhone and iPod Touch.

AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi – email and contact syncing functionality with iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

AppleSoftwareUpdate.msi – Obnoxious updater program which constantly tries to update all the components of Apple. It will try to install other Apple related programs as well.

Bonjour64.msi – The file sharing service used to share your iTunes library across the network and AppleTV.

iTunes64.msi – The actual file which installs everything else including iTunes.

MobileMe64.msi – Apple’s email and contact cloud syncing subscription service.

Quicktime.msi – To playback all the digital media on your PC. This is normally a required install since iTunes is powered by Quicktime.

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Banking institutions take security and privacy very seriously since they are scrutinized by auditors, regulators and government. Information is treated as sensitive and any information regarding a client must be either verbally communicated or if electronically transmitted, encrypted. Although the encryption and email is a closed system within their institution (encryption methods are most likely proprietary and only work on the bank’s computers and software), they still practice a high level of safeguarding information. It really goes to show you really have no idea who is listening on the other end. If the banking institutions are that worried about even their own internal people, maybe we have a greater concern for protecting our own personal business.

Here’s a way for you to communicate with others using encrypted emails. We will be using tools which are multi-platform, so there is no real worry about it not working with certain setups. It is really really simple and you will have a sound mind that the information you intended for your recipient is ready by their eyes only, and no others.

On to the guide!

Though I will be going through this installation on a Windows machine, there is no reason why you can’t follow along in Mac OS X or your favorite distribution of Linux (you’ll have to do your own research for specifics). The only requirement is that both of you must use some implementation GnuPG. It is also not necessary for you to use Gmail, you may choose to use whatever email account you want.

Downloads

1. GnuPG (Download section)
2. Enigmail (Direct)
3. Thunderbird 3.0
4. Optional: Gmail email account

Method

1. Install GnuPG
2. Install Thunderbird if you have not already. Set up your email to be able to send and receive mails (Thunderbird 3 users should have no problem with their updated wizard for Gmail. Setup for Gmail and Thunderbird 2.x users. Use IMAP)
3. In Thunderbird 3, in the menu bar, TOOLS, ADD-ONS. Then GET ADD-ONS. Type “enigmail”, in the results below, select Enigmail, ADD TO THUNDERBIRD. Restart Thunderbird
4. A GnuPG wizard should appear (If not, you’ll notice a new OpenPGP entry in the menu bar thanks to Enigmail, click OPENPGP, SETUP WIZARD)
5. Choose “Yes, I would like the wizard to get me started“. Please READ through these next prompts to improve your own understanding.
6. “No, I want to create per-recipient rules for emails that need to be signed” (So not every email you send will be tacked with PGP signatures, only those you specify)
7. “No, I will create per-recipient rules for those that send me their public key” (So that not every email you send will be encrypted, thus unreadable by those who do not have OpenPG)
8. “Yes” to change default settings (Mostly composing emails in plain text as opposed to HTML)
9. CHOOSE A STRONG PASSWORD and keep it safe! (Depends if you care that someone may be able to crack your password through bruteforce dictionary attacks) Read the following to help with choosing a strong password. DO NOT LOSE THIS PASSWORD.
10. It will now create your keys (which you must take steps to safeguard the private key)
11. Optional: creation of a Revocation Certificate. This is in case you forget your password, or your key gets compromised, you can revoke the key so others will not believe that future mails are from you
12. Optional: to be listed in the keyserver. This will allow you to be listed under a public directory.
13. IMPORTANT for Gmail users using IMAP, you have one more step which you must safeguard against. Since the emails you compose are in plain text and not encrypted, Drafts get sent and stored on Google’s servers IN PLAIN TEXT. You MUST store drafts locally. To do this go to: TOOLS menu, ACCOUNT SETTINGS. Under COPIES & FOLDERS, under Drafts, Archives, and Templates section, select OTHER option and DRAFTS from the drop down.
14. Optional: backup your keys (Windows 7: C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\gnupg) and consider encrypting these with a program like Truecrypt. Keep these safe!
15. Check that you can still send emails properly: send a test unencrypted email.
16. Test it out: Compose a new email, click on the key icon in the bottom right (should illuminate to green in Thunderbird 2.x  or yellow in 3.x. You can also do this by keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+E, or by going to the OpenPG menu and selecting “Encrypt Message“)

Notes

If you are interested in cryptography in general and Pretty Good Privacy specifically (PGP which GnuPG is based on), a good book is “The Code Book” by Simon Singh (particularly the chapters ‘Alice and Bob Go Public’ which leads to ‘Pretty Good Privacy’). Although there is a long and controversial debate about privacy, which I have left out of this post, there is a paper for the cause of secrecy and privacy. If you wish to further your knowledge: “I’ve Got Nothing to Hide” and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy” by Daniel J. Solove (a professor at the George Washington University Law School) is a very interesting read for anyone concerned about privacy.

That’s all folks!

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Here’s how.

Windows 7 / Vista

This is the manual way. You can use your favorite backup software in lieu of this method.

1. Navigate to: C:\Users\[YOUR_USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Thunderbird\ (Assuming “C” is the drive where you installed Windows)
2. Using the right mouse button, drag a box around the two folders (“Mozilla Thunderbird” and “Profiles”), release.
3. Select Send To, then Compressed (zipped) Folder
4. Copy this newly created .zip file to a safe location.
5. Optional. You may want to back up your actual install directory as it contains your extensions (add-ons) as well. This is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird. Zip and copy it to a safe location.

Note: Other versions of Windows may have these files in steps 3 and 5 at C:\Documents and Settings\[YOUR_USERNAME]\Application Data\Thunderbird\ and C:\Program Files\Thunderbird respectively.

In case something gets messed up after Thunderbird 3, and you want to get everything back to the way it was:

1. Uninstall Thunderbird 3
2. Reinstall Thunderbird 2
3. Copy the contents of the zip file (from step 3) which contains “Mozilla Thunderbird” and “Profiles” into the C:\Users\[YOUR_USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Thunderbird\ directory. Overwrite any existing files.
4. Copy the contents of the zip file (from step 5) to C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird overwriting any existing files.
5. Fire up Thunderbird. Everything should be as it was!

For Ubuntu

(or whatever variant distro you use)

Using the GUI:

1. Go to your home directory. (From the bar at the top, Places then Home)
2. With the File Browser window focused, hit Ctrl+H, or at the menu, File, Show Hidden Files.
3. Right click “.mozilla thunderbird” folder, Compress…
4. In the Compress window, click Create (this will create a .mozilla-thunderbird.tar.gz file in your Home directory. It will be hidden as it has a “.” as the first character in its filename)

Using Command Line:

Open up a command line window and type the following:

tar czvf thunderbird-backup.tar.gz ~/.mozilla-thunderbird

Mac OS X

For Mac users I’m guessing you use Time Machine, but if you want to do it manually the folder to back up is ~/Library/Thunderbird

This should get you on your way with Thunderbird 3.0 without fear of losing your profiles/settings.

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