Database Users

How does google know that I surfed in from a pda

Hello
The other day i surfed to google from my XDA exec.
mobile internet rocks!!
i was wondering how does google know that i surfed in from a pda, cause i think it sent me to
www.google.co.uk/pda

the web page probably detected your screen size and redirected you to a page that was more friendly to you PDA browser. i wish more sites would do this.
www.google.com/pda for us US residents.

LOL
Not the screen size but the type of your internet browser, in this case Pocket IE.

Correct--it's not the screen size.
Although a LOT of your information is sent over the wire, much more than most of us realize, your resolution information is unknown to most websites, unless you explicitly allow it to be given via some kind of an executable that transmits such information. An example would be an embedded ActiveX object in IE for Windows.
Back on topic, yes, your browser information is known, not only to Google, but to every other website you visit. Not only that, the website also knows where you came from (i.e. the http addy) and where you went when you left it. There's a whole bunch of information deemed to be private that we would rather keep to ourselves (such as our surfing habits) that's known to any website that installs a cookie (a common thing nowadays) on your computer.
This is also how Google knows where you are. For example, when I log on, Google send me to the local Saudi page at http://www.google.com.sa/ It knows this information by doing a reverse lookup on your IP address, and comparing it against known databases of geographically assigned IPs. Since IP addresses are assigned and tied to geographical locations, it's easy enough to do, although it's still very disconcerting to see.
Be careful folks, even your searching habits are being tracked by Google. I have nothing to hide, so I don't care, but many folks do. Witness the recent Federal inquiry into the searching habits of the users of major search engines. Yahoo and MSN gave up that information quickly enough but Google is resisting. I don't think it will be able to hold out for very long though.
Imagine...now the fact that you searched for p0rn on the 'net is well known to anyone in the know. Scary, isn't it?
This Privacy Newsbyte brought to you courtesy of XDA-Dev's online donation campaign. Donate or be left in the dust!

thanks monakh
so google can detect both my mobile ip address (is there such a thing?) and my browser, correct?

monakh said:
the website also knows where you came from (i.e. the http addy)
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Click to collapse
Correct, through the referrer...
monakh said:
and where you went when you left it.
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Click to collapse
Only if you click a link on the site itself, -and- it is handled via a special handler.
No information is sent to a website when you leave it through e.g. a bookmark in your browser, or by typing in a new URL.
Please correct me if I'm wrong

You are correct.

hey i mailed myself (google account) using my adsl modem and using the gprs/3g connection to check the header to see if i could spot an originating ip address
i found one common ip address
Received: by 10.xy.za.b with HTTP; Sat, 18 Feb 2006 05:34:45 -0800 (PST)
i guess this is the google server, correct?
is there any way to prise the originating ip address from an email

That's why there is a registry hack to set Pocket Internet Explorer works like Internet Explorer 6.0.

Tuningszocske said:
That's why there is a registry hack to set Pocket Internet Explorer works like Internet Explorer 6.0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not entirely... I mean, you could - of course. But it also means that many sites will fail to send you PDA-specific content - which, with most plans/top-ups, means heavy costs.
Identifying PIE as IE6 is more used for stupid websites who check whether the browser is IE6 or above, regardless of whether that is actually required by the site.
There's three parts, the compatibility bit ('(Default) = Mozilla/4.0'), the browser string ('Version = MSIE 6.0') and the platform ('Platform = Windows NT 5.0'). If you leave the last bit intact ('Platform = Windows CE'), then you should still be able to get into stupid sites, while having PDA-friendly sites send you the PDA content.

oh i had not thought about the popups
i guess we wont get(suffer) popups with mobile ie5?
i just posted to this bulletin board to check my ip address
from the pc it looks like this 82.1a.bcd.efg
and fro my cda it looks like 193.abc.def.ghi

That's fine because presumably your mobile device and your home PC are on different networks so they sport different IPs.
IPs are a dead giveaway. In many cases, your position can be 'somewhat' and primitively triangulated to within 5 square miles of where you are. This may not be necessarily true for mobile networks, but those networks know where you are at all times anyway. In fact, there is now regulation in the US that mandates all handset makers to manufacture hardware with GPS functionality built-in. Between the two and a half dozen GPS satellites and your cellular network, you can run but you can't hide
This is, of course, so emergency services can reach you in time of need (in case you are unable to make the call to 911/999).
Of course...

monakh said:
This is, of course, so emergency services can reach you in time of need (in case you are unable to make the call to 911/999).
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off-topic...
Technically it's so they can find you if you do call 911/999/112/whathaveyou but are unable (due to injuries, or duress, etc.) to state your location.
Being able to find you at any time is an added perk but it needs court orders even if you have been reported and officially designated a "missing person". Getting such a court order can take many hours, being declared a missing person can take 24 hours up to 48 hours (depends on the country and exactly what reasons you have to believe the person in question is truely missing).

ZeBoxx said:
monakh said:
This is, of course, so emergency services can reach you in time of need (in case you are unable to make the call to 911/999).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
off-topic...
Technically it's so they can find you if you do call 911/999/112/whathaveyou but are unable (due to injuries, or duress, etc.) to state your location.
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Click to collapse
Ahh yes, I stand corrected.
It's so we CAN make the call and are unable to state the location. That WOULD make sense. However, like you said, there are legal hurdles, although at least in the U.S., they are fewer and far between.

is there any ip address list out there which tells me which ip addresses are allocated to which country?
are ip addresses bunched like telephone numbers
e.g. +1 is north america
+3 and +4 is europe
+96 & +97 middle east

nope, that's not how they work
organisations can get an IP from their service provider, who get blocks from their service providers, who get bigger blocks from places like RIPE, who in turn get huge blocks from ARIN.
But if it's a specific IP you're interested in, try VisualRoute

Push email through wifi

I am wondering whether push email is functioning through wifi on the prophet? I have wifi coverage over my city, and would prefer it then getting billed for GPRS...

Push Email client from Microsoft will not work over WiFi, it is meant to generate business for mobile providers
But Siemens and other mail server solutions companies offer push email over WiFi for WiFi Providers - but I think no one is offering it yet.
Note: Be carefull with push email over GRPS. Depending on individual settings this can generate a lot of traffic without downloading a single email. One engineer told me about 15 megs traffic just for polling the Exchange server, without downloading a single email. Of course you can work out conservative settings, but better get a GPRS or UMTS data flat...25 euros here in Germany (www.base.de)

Are you 100% sure of this?
Microsoft's implimentation of Push e-mail uses HTTP(S) so therefore should not be limited to the transport unless the implimentation is restricted on the device in some way?
All the information I have totally contradicts your statement, can you please justify it can as I fear it is absolutely incorrect.

Dear, I don´t have to "justify" anything. Do your own research, ask Microsoft MSDN like I did, and then write about it. Enjoy.
PS: The original question was - as I understood it: Can MS push email client for Mobile 5 work over WiFi.

Why you do not use POP3/SMTP or IMAP through WiFi ?

Thanks guys
Thanks Lucas, I think that pretty much answers my question.
Cheers.

You can setup a schedule like i did in activesync to poll email over wifi every 5 min and disable push.
If you want to use gprs, then just change schedule to sync as new items arrive and enable push in comm manager

What happens when out of wifi range?
Jamichy, what happens if you go out of wifi range with your settings? Do you get an error message or something you then need to respond to each time you are out of range?

Usually, activesync will try to sync, but does not generate any notifications. If I launch activesync, it shows me the time of last sync with exchange server on top line.
If i leave push settings on, and connect to wlan, Activesync Generates an "Attention Required:To syncronise you need to have a cellular network connection" message...
So when I'm at home or work, i disable push, and on the road i keep push enabled. BTW, Direct push can work using both GPRS web and wap settings

network share on domain controller

I posted this in network forum but I don't think anyone reads that forum so I thought I'd try my luck here....
I'm trying to connect to a network share that is on a domain controller so uses domain level security/authentication instead of regular local computer authentication. When I try to connect to the computer I get an Action Failed message "Cannot connect shared path. The specified network resource or device is no longer available."
I checked through event logs on the server and it looks like the login/authentication went through just fine but the wm device seems to be rejecting it somehow....
Does anyone know what I might be able to do to fix this? Kind of a pain, I would like to be able to connect to my server's shares.
Thanks

and again no one replies
*cry*

How are you attempting to connect to the server shares?
Using what method?
PocketLAN?
I.E.?

Even though you authenticate against AD there should be a local administrative account on that box, try logging on using it. Also what are the permissions on that share, do you have access to it and is your account part of that domain?

Just my $.02 try using z2 PocketLan..
I've used it for quite a while on my Axim, and now on my 6800.. It allows you to connect to a network share, you supply it with your login credentials (Active Directory) and save the connection. It also comes with a bunch of other handy stuff like an IP range scanner, ping, yatta yatta ..
-=<> Aaron <>=-

I use Resco Explorer and it doesn't seem to have any problems at all connecting to network shares on our domain controller at work.

i just tried on my domain, i can connect to shares on other pcs and servers, but not on the DC, maybe theres a setting that doesnt allow connections from non domain members
and just FYI, domain controllers dont have any local accounts

ya no local accounts... local computer accounts work fine but it won't connect using domain accounts to authenticate...
I'm not sure if this is a setting on the DC for authentication or if there is something I need to do on the wm device?

Zenoran: You still haven't told us how you're trying to connect. I can't tell you how to do it unless you tell me what sort of program you're using, or whatever. Capiche?
I use z2 PocketLAN without issue, accepts DC auth no problem. Do you use PocketLAN?

ryanshepherd said:
Zenoran: You still haven't told us how you're trying to connect. I can't tell you how to do it unless you tell me what sort of program you're using, or whatever. Capiche?
I use z2 PocketLAN without issue, accepts DC auth no problem. Do you use PocketLAN?
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Click to collapse
Oh sorry! Using Resco File Explorer... are there others I should try? I bought that program because it seemed to do everything. Will give PocketLAN a shot.

hmmm tried pocketLAN and it only locks up when I try to click on that server... bad bad...
something really fishy here because even non-authenticated user should be able to browse that server and see public shares... no one else have issue? maybe it's a server 2008 thing?

I noticed on DCDs new verision that has windows mobile 6.1 , that it has an icon under Connections called "domain enroll"

bhagwan said:
I noticed on DCDs new verision that has windows mobile 6.1 , that it has an icon under Connections called "domain enroll"
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lol ya... that's a wm6.1 thing.. ive never been able to get that to work either. no posts for it as well that i could see... i guess no one does much domain integration with their titans?

Zenoran said:
lol ya... that's a wm6.1 thing.. ive never been able to get that to work either. no posts for it as well that i could see... i guess no one does much domain integration with their titans?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the domain enroll is a bit of an odd thing, i cant even find much documentation on it from microsoft, but from what i can tell it just integrates with an exchange server, provided the server has mobile device manager installed
im not even sure what features it enables

WM 6.1 ActiveSync Exchange Sync over PPTP VPN WORKING ON FIXED SCHEDULE

I'm an IT guy and I just got into smartphone PPCs for the first time after a long-time hiatus from PDAs when I used to be a Palm owner. After my last palm, a LifeDrive, got stolen I moved to a Moto Q wich was a big dissapointment OS wise, and I never really got into modding it or anything, just set my POP3 e-mail server and used it like that for 2 years (draw back was that I didn't have contact sync nore internal e-mail sync that got handled by my exchange server). My contract with that Q expired and I made the move to a Sprint Mogul with WM 6.1 Pro and I'm NEVER LOOKING BACK!!!
Anyways, enough about me, this is my first contribution so I wanted to do the little intro.
I had searched around a bit about how to get ActiveSync to sync my company's Exchange server through PPTP VPN (we don't have it published with a certificate for an actual push config) but all I found was info on how to setup the VPN itself, being an IT guy that was like pointing out the obvious to me as I had already got that running and connecting but couldn't get anything but the OWA site opening in IE and Opera.
Basically what I figured out was that I had to program a work URL exception in the Connections control panel under the Advanced tab. There I added my exchange server's IP address as a URL and used that IP to program the server under ActiveSync with all the usual credentials. I can't configure it to receive as items arrive, instead I had to let the configuration run on a 10 minute schedule. Every time the schedule is up I see the VPN connecting pop up and it syncs PERFECTLY and disconnects the VPN. (It doesn't turn on my screen each time, it just pops up if I'm using it; but that pop up can be turned off if it gets to annoying).
I don't know if anyone else knew about this but I though I'd share this info as I searched for a few days and found nothing, ended up figuring this out myself. If this is new info I'll post more detailed configuration information for those who desire it.

BTW, this is working over the Data Plan and WiFi as well.

Wow. your a god...
I been trying to figure why it kept disconnecting the vpn when it synced up.
Adding the work url exception works perfect...
(Im using WM6.1 on a Samsung Omnia)
Many Many thanks!

No problem dude! I'm surprised no one else has really found this helpful. Glad I could help!
BTW, those exceptions work very well for internal web sites as well. I use it to log in to web-based management consoles such as Symantec's Mail Security for Exchange, Symantec Endpoint, basically if you got an internal website of some sort you can access it through VPN using a Work URL Exception.

I was looking for this info too, i would like more detailed configuration information about this.
Thanx in advance...
Roland hendriks

What part of the configuration are you having trouble with? Configuring the VPN, the Exchange Server or the URL Exception?

Thanks
I personally am thankful for your information. Even if none of the other 1000s of readers out there say anything...
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Tim

Glad I could help! I know I broke my head over this one during the first week of me having a WM phone. I figured it out thanks to the Fdc Soft Task Manager using the Netstat utility. It let me know exactly what the network stack of the phone was trying to do and the URL exclussion I just stumbled upon and reading what the page said it lead me to believe that it might be a routing table for configured "WORK" connections. And it worked.
During the past month or two of using my exchange like this and switching around ROMs and cooking my own ones now I've noticed that having TCP Data Reconnect and Transmission Retry settings in your registry set to high will cause Active Sync to take a long ass time for it to actually route communications through the VPN connection. I noticed this after using custom ROMs wich some have these settings increased to ensure communications go through but they raise connection timeouts way to much. On my own custom ROM I've set these to defaults (2 and 4 respectively) and Active Sync only takes about 1 minute to start syncing onces you hit sync while you wait for it to dial the cellular line and the VPN.

you talk about the vpn..
i think you are in the very small percentage of ppl who can get that to work.
i have the activesync set to manual and have tried the vpn type to both IPSec/L2TP and PPTP
w/o success..i always get a UN PW error which i know cant be so..
i set the host ip to what was shown from "whatsmyip"..
searching for quite awhile, i see thousands of ppl who cant get it to work and have
never found a reliable method that works for anyone but the person who posted it.
if you could back track a little and post how to do it, there are probly
thousands of ppl who would find it very useful and really appreciate it.
thanx

Well one thing is how to setup a WM device's VPN client to connect to your VPN server and another is actually configuring your VPN server. Do you have a working VPN setup in your corporate network already? This usually is setup by having a static IP assigned to your corporate internet connection and a firewall configured to allow VPN access with all the necessary traffic and authentication routes.
If you don't have a static IP in your office and use a lower cost DSL or Cable connection you aren't SOL, for these types of connections you can use a service like dyndns.org to dynamically upadate your dynamic IP into a static dns name like: mycompany.dyndns.org for example. This requires you to setup your firewall or ISP modem to communicate with dyndns.org to report the changes. Most firewalls come with this funcionality already built-in, but most of them also call them by different names so you'd have to look up your equipment's documentation on how to report a dynamic dns service.
I would be happy to help you setup your VPN correctly but its more practicall for me to help you setup a checklist on which type of VPN you want to setup (IPSec or PPTP) and what your corporate network's infrastructure looks like and let you know what to look for in google; there is PLENTY of very helpful information on the web on how to setup VPN but first you have to know what you need and how you are going to achieve it and then you'll know what to look for.
Each setup is very particular to the customer's needs and the network infrastructure that is setup and how much security you want to use (IPSec is a naturally secured VPN tunnel protocol while PPTP is not secured by nature but can be secured with a Radius server in your DMZ validating authentication in an encruypted manner to your Active Directory service).
What I posted above will work for an already existing and working PPTP VPN connection wich I already had running for years in my office and I regularly use with my laptop to connect to my exchange server while on the road or at home. What I posted above is what is need to get your WM device to connect to an already functioning PPTP VPN server.
Hope this helps. And if I'm to help you make a checklist I need a lot of information:
Type of ISP (static IP or dynamic IP)
Type/Brand of firewall device
How the devices are connected together (dumb modem or internet router from your ISP to your firewall's WAN port or a full blown router provided by your ISP wich is patched into your firewall's WAN port)
Internal network configuration (both AD and Exchange on same server (SBS) or separated)
What amount of security you are looking for.
Send me some PMs and maybe I could at least point you in the right direction.

nttdemented: I'm doing the PPTP shuffle at the moment, and wanted to pick your brains..
The basic connection is running fine - e.g. when I add 192.168.0.1 as an Exception and go to http://192.168.0.1 in Pocket IE the VPN fires up and I see the page just fine.
I've also added '10.6.1.8' as an exception, but if I go to that address in PIE, I don't see any network activity (using ethereal/tcpdump) on the 'ppp0' server interface (I use Ubuntu server's pptpd) ...
Can I assume that your Exchange server is hosted on the same machine as your PPTP server? Some MS SBS or similar?
Even if I configure an http proxy (on the 192.168.0.1 IP) I see no activity when I try the 10.6.1.8 address. :/

thanks so much!!
that i didn't find/read about the "exceptions" option in WM before...
Somehow, when i got my phone, i got it to work without this workaround, it just worked, out of the box, no exception setting required. (VPN settings + exchange server location were enough)
But yesterday, from the one moment to the next, it suddenly stopped working.
In my efforts to get it to work again i deleted the exchange settings, but doing that, I deleted all my contacts and my agenda! I was in big trouble because I really needed those , but after reading your post, i got it working again! my phone is synching "as we speak" and i'm very happy!
don't know how it worked before, don't know why it stopped working, all I know is, it's working now!
you made my day

Good to know!
Cheers!
I've since stopped using this method as we got around to publishing our Exchange server with an SSL certificate so I'm actually using SSL enabled ActiveSync push on my phone now.

Excuse me but perhaps you can help me too.
My problem is that I can get/sync my mails using WIFI.
If I connect thru GPRS, y go to send/receive and I get all the mails. If I'm on my office and connect thru WIFI to the work net I also get all the mails from the exchange server.
The problem is when I'm outside my office and connect to other wifi net and try to sync my mails. I have an HTC TOUCH CRUISE with WM 6.1 original from HTC without any flash.
Thanks in advance.

VPN connection doesn't always connect for ActiveSync synchronization?
I have had ActiveSync working with an Exchange server over a PPTP VPN connection for years now, but there has been one nagging issue I can't figure out. For the most part it works, but sometimes when ActiveSync tries to sync it will not make the VPN connection. There is only one connection listed when I tap on the icon on the notification bar - the phone's data connection. So in activesync, the icon with the arrows spins for a while but nothing synchronizes. I think it ends up saying "waiting for network" or something like that. It seems to always work when I manually hit "sync", but sometimes it fails on scheduled synchronizations.
Any idea why this happens sometimes?

oh...cheers...got my brain back...
The exceptions rule has almost fixed mine now. I'm getting mail but not through Activesync (just sits waiting for network).

Push email and Telstra HD2

Can anyone confirm that they receive their push email through Exchange server (via Activesync) instantly on their Tesltra HD2 (stock ROM) whilst using Tesltra's Mobile Email plan? I am only getting my email every 8 minutes (which appears to be a result of the server not allowing the connection to remain open for the duration of each exchange heartbeat). Tesltra says there is no fault on their side, HTC and my IT deptartment likewise deny responsibility!

Anybody? My last resort is to flash the ROM with a generic ROM and remove the Dedicated settings for Activesync that Telstra imposes.

tangiers said:
Anybody? My last resort is to flash the ROM with a generic ROM and remove the Dedicated settings for Activesync that Telstra imposes.
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Click to collapse
If your organization's front firewall is configured to kill HTTP connections after they've been idle for a certain amount of time, that can cause a problem like this.
I know ISA 2006 (which I used to publish my personal Exchange) has a wizard for publishing Exchange, which allows the appropriate length of HTTP connection for ActiveSync.
Other firewalls may require more configuration...

Thanks Spike. That is my diagnosis too but the Exchange adminstrator keeps saying its Telstra's fault not theirs. I was hoping to see if anyone could tell me that Tesltra works fine on theirs to prove that it must be these settings that are wrong.

tangiers said:
Thanks Spike. That is my diagnosis too but the Exchange adminstrator keeps saying its Telstra's fault not theirs. I was hoping to see if anyone could tell me that Tesltra works fine on theirs to prove that it must be these settings that are wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does your organization have any other [external] devices that use ActiveSync?

Don't know. I'm told that iPhone users aren't complaining but that doesn't mean they are using push email rather than pop.

tangiers said:
Don't know. I'm told that iPhone users aren't complaining but that doesn't mean they are using push email rather than pop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does your organization support POP3 or IMAP4 against Exchange?
Most organizations do not.

I fixed the problem. I was using an owa.{domain}.com address for the server in Outlook on the phone. This address worked fine except for the emails only coming through every eight minutes. I changed the address by adding "/exchange" to the address and emails started coming through instantly, as push mail should. But it was shortlived. The phone kept chopping the "/exchange" part of the address and going back to the old problem. I then deleted the Outlook account and established the Excahnge partnership through the Mobile Device Centre with the phone connect via USB to a computer ON THE WORK DOMAIN. Before I set up the phone OTA / through a pc at home. This doesn't work. I think it has something to do with Exchange trusting a device that connects with USB to a PC in the work network rather than outside through the internet. All is working. No thanks to TELSTRA, HTC or the IT Department!!!!!