Cannot Get into Farmville

 

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I went to Farmville.com and could not play the game but at least got an error message. This was due to a hacker using what is called "DNS Cache Poisoning". I notices that the Adobe Shockwave player crashed. I use Firefox, which is great for checking for updates on Add-Ons and Extensions. I clicked on "Tools" and then selected "Add Ons" in the Firefox Menu at the top. I clicked on the "Add Ons" icon and then selected the "Find Updates" button in the lower right-hand corner (see below). (Click to enlarge)

 

This is important to do weekly since hackers often take advantage of exploits in Adobe to execute their malicious strategies. Did you ever wonder why McAfee is also downloaded any time you update Adobe Flash, Shockwave, or Acrobat??? Apparently they must have a lot of vulnerabilities in their programs' code.

Once I did this, Farmville loaded perfectly.

Dangerous Black Stallion Scam!

There is a dangerous scam going around regarding the unreleased black stallion. People unknowingly post these links on their Facebook page. Well, I ALMOST fell for this one but I saw some clues that it was fake.

I clicked on the link and the first thing it asked me was to select that I “liked” the page, which I did.

Then it said to send the page to 40 friends.  I began to get skeptical but my desire for the black stallion overran my doubt. I clicked on the link so I could select my friends to send it to and it brought me back to the SAME page I was on.  That was a RED FLAG.

Then they had a link “click here to send it to your friends faster”. I clicked the link and it came up with Javascript code.  It told me to copy and paste this code into my browser’s address window (where www.facebook.com is). I did not understand the Javascript code but knew that the “get” statements were referring to an entire address book.  BUT there were other variables (e.g. “y”) that could have been defined as passwords.

Any time code is pasted into an area on a website that will receive information that is typed, it is called an “Injection”. In this case, that code is called “Javascript Injection”.  This make it very dangerous to use because it will extract information from Facebook’s cache servers.

If you have any doubts about a site, send me the link and I will evaluate it for you.

Happy Harvesting!

Firefox Browser and Farmville Problems

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People are telling me that Firefox is very slow when accepting Farmville gifts or rewards from their Wall. Here is my response:

I think its Zynga's fault. They release too many items onto the Production (Live Game) servers before adequately testing them on the QA Servers AND on multiple browsers! I get messages every so often that Farmville is updating. I love the game but really hate the bugs. Firefox works ok with other games so that rules them out for me.

If Firefox is slowed down in all of the games then I would update Firefox, make sure you have the updates for add ons. To do this, click Tools (on the Firefox menu), then click Add Ons, then make sure the PlugIns Tab is selected. At the bottom of the popup box, is a button that says "Find Updates".

If this fails, run a Sypware Detector program such as Windows Defender. Spyware will slow down Internet browsing. If you have any questions on using spyware detection prorams, you can post to this message. I check this every day or two for responses so I can be timely in my response. Other Spyware Detection Programs I like are Ad Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Malware Bytes. But you have to remove any programs that may be causing the spyware issues (if applicable) first before quarantining any malware with the Spyware Detection program. You will see a path showing where each file is which will allow you to determine if the spyware detected is part of a program.  It will look similar to C:\Program Files\[Name of Program} or C:\Users\...with the program files foler selected. Write down all of the offending programs. Close the Spyware Detection program WIHOUT removing/quarantining the files it found. Uninstall the programs through the Windows Control Panel THEN rerun the Spyware Detection program, You can then quarantine all of the offending items. Once completed restart your computer. This will make a big difference if spyware is the cause of the slow response in Firefox.

If you need to update the Firefox browser, which I recommend (usually Firefox does this automatically but if you are having issues, this may help). To do this, click "Help" then click on "Check for Updates" and follow the prompts.

Happy Harvesting!

Farmville Crop Calculator

I like this website. It's clean and fresh looking. But the best part is that you can calculate your profitability on various crops. Farmville Statistics

Cool Farmville Links

Send ANY Type of Building Material

Cool Stuff for Your Farm in Farmville from 7-11!

Farmville Scams

Co-op Farming in Farmville

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I was the last to finish the job and got the Gold Ribbon as well as the prize. This star comes up to let you know you earned it.

There are some things you should know about co-op farming when playing Farmville:

1. You should plant when there are seeds left to plant.  

 

2. To join a job after all the seeds have been planted is called "Mooching". I have seen my fellow Farmvillers complain about that and actually delete the offender as a friend (nevermind neighbor).  

3. If you really want the prize offered, post when the co-op box asks you if you want to invite others. Write in the box that you are looking for people who want the gold prize. You will get them. I also learned the hard way not to keep emailing the same group of people to ask if they want to join your next job.  

4. Pick a crop that you know you can plant and harvest in time.                   and  

5. Do not plant twice. I found that I ran out of time and ruined it for getting the gold for my team. This is especially true for the Morning Glories.

The Secret of Collectibles

I found that for the most part, when you click on a Farmville Collectible link like the one above, you get either the common or uncommon collectibles. To get the rare ones, you need to see the picture displayed (e.g. banded quill) before clicking on it. (Click to enlarge)

Rhode Island Red Eggs are Here!

By the way, if you want to friend me in Farmville, my name is Ari Red. It stands for "A Rhode Island Red". (I grew up in RI and MA.)

The new eggs you can get on Farmville pay 64 coins each but give you many types of new prizes. You can find a list of prizes at FarmvilleFreak.com.

But many people do not know how to breed the chickens. I took all the white, golden, brown, and black chickens out of my chicken coop and put all of the Cornish Hen, Scots Grey, and Rhode Island Red eggs in my coop. NOTE: You will see white chickens when you look at your chicken coop from the outside even though there are no white chickens inside. That was a week ago and I have hatched the eggs from all three of the new chickens.

Another benefit is that people want to become your neighbor so they can fertilize your crops and feed your chickens to get one of these eggs. So you get more XP points since your Farmville crops are being fertilized more often!

If you have any questions, please feel free to post.

Happy Harvesting!

Introduction

I am a novice developer. I test different types of computer programs, write test scripts,work with file permissions, etc. My background includes reverse engineering SQL reports, writing technical specifications, documenting before/after web changes, performing quality analysis on code on quality servers and migrating the new code to production (live) servers. I have set up Internet Information Services and Virtual Directories on Windows servers. Programming is my main interest and am a novice programmer with C++, ASP.Net 3.5 with C#, VB.Net, Java, Python, HTML, CSS, and C# (currently learning a smart phone app. in C#).

I find programming to be fun and love the "high" I get when I finally get a program to run...especially when I am writing code in C++, which has been the hardest program for me to learn. I can see where C++ is really powerful since you can use Polymorphism. For example, a polymorphic virus is one where it changes it's code in order to avoid detection of its signatures by antivirus programs.

I have spotted quite a few dangerous scams being posted on Facebook to attract the Farmville Fanatics on there (yes, I am one of them). Their schemes are very clever and they use social engineering tactics to entice us to click on their imaginary treasures.

Another reason I started this blog is that I want to also help address any issues/technical if I can. Although, I am not affiliated with Farmville, Facebook or Zynga in any way, being a computer programmer allows me to see things from a different perspective and find "workarounds". If you like this blog would you please share it on Facebook and/or Twitter (see the upper right corner for the link). I would love to make this a successful viral marketing case study.

Lastly, I want to help any of my fellow Farmville Fanatics/Freaks (as we are called...lol). Please post your questions and/or feedback as a comment. I configured posting so you can post anonymously also. Of course, I will have to approve all comments before I allow posting.

Happy Harvesting and Fun Farming!