One thing I must make clear is there is no such thing as a completely secure networked computer. The suggestions listed below are simply extra precautions that must be taken to minimize the chance of your computer being compromised.

* - Applies to World of Warcraft only.

Get an Authenticator*
Having an Authenticator will virtually eliminate the chance of your account being compromised. The Blizzard Authenticator costs $6.50 from the Blizzard Store. If you are an iPhone/iTouch user, you can download the Mobile Authenticator for free. Having an Authenticator is no excuse not to do the remaining suggestions.

Web Browser
Use a secure browser. For the sake of speaking, that pretty much means anything besides Internet Explorer. My personal recommendation is Google Chrome or Firefox. For each, I highly recommend the WOT plugin.

WOT’s safe browsing tool warns you about risky sites that can’t be trusted: Online shops that cheat customers; download sites that deliver malware; sites that send spam; and those with inappropriate content for kids.

Web of Trust provides an additional layer of security when visiting websites. WOT is community managed, meaning if someone spots a phishing website, they can report it. The report is upload to WOT servers, if you try to access the website that has received a poor rating, WOT will block you from going to the website without your express permission. If you use Firefox, in addition to WOT, I also highly suggest NoScript. Currently, Google Chrome does not have a  NoScript extension available.

Passwords
Your World of Warcraft password should be entirely different from any other service you use. Generally speaking, a password should be at least 8 characters long with upper/lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Your World of Warcraft password (along with other sensitive passwords) should be changed at least once a month. It takes 2 minutes to do, don't be lazy. An example of a good password would be 'I3n&$VW49*'.

Anti-Virus, etc.
Windows users - Having AV software is not full proof. Consider it just another way to decrease the chances of having malicious software installed on your computer (for a long period of time). I personally recommend Avira or NOD32. Along with AV software, I also recommend Spybot and Malwarebytes (Free Edition is fine). Malwarebytes is specifically targeted to Malware, harmful software that is generally not picked up by AV software. AV software should be set to automatically update and run daily (Both NOD32 and Avira provide this option, as do many other AV's such as AVG and Avast).  I would recommend running anti-malware software at minimum once a week.

For Mac(OSX)/Linux users, The options for security software is rather slim. I can recommend ClamXav(Mac) and Clamav(Linux) for virus scanning. I also recommend rkhunter for OSX/Linux systems. Generally speaking, there is not much more that can be done for OSX systems in terms of AV software. Sadly, Apple has spread false information on commercials by suggesting OSX is immune to viruses, until OSX suffers a mass attack, it is unlikely much further production of AV software will occur. As for Linux systems, there are other precautions that can be taken, but I will assume if you use Linux, you should know how to properly secure your system.

Note: Debian based distrobutions can run the follow command to download rkhunter and clamav:

sudo apt-get install clamav rkhunter
#rkhunter -c to run
#clamscan -r in '/' directory to run

Updates
Windows users - Automatic Updates should be turned on. Keep your system updated at all times. Microsoft is constantly releasing security patches to fix potential vulnerabilities in your system. If you are still using XP (or anything older) update to Windows 7 as soon as possible. When updates for your system become available, do not postpone restarting your computer to take effect, do it immediately when it asks.

OSX users - By Default, OSX will check for System Updates once a week (This setting can be changed in System Preferences -> Software Update). Install updates whenever they are available.

Linux users - If you are using a Debian based system, the following commands can be executed from a Terminal:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Other non-Debian based Distributions should consult the proper documentation.

Common Sense
Be smart when you use your computer.

Conclusion
Everything above may seem like a lot to take in at first, especially if you have little to no protection on your computer to begin with. The hour or two it will take to setup will be well worth it if your World of Warcraft account becomes compromised. Not only will following my suggestions increase the overall security of your system, it will also save you from possible embarrassment if your account becomes compromised. Once you get everything setup, it should not take more then a half hour of manual work per week to keep your system up to date and secure. I will repeat again, having this security software in place will not make your computer full proof against attack. The above software will only minimize the chances of your system becoming compromised.

genderId:
0 - Male
1 - Female

raceId:
1 - Human
2 - Orc
3 - Dwarf
4 - Night Elf
5 - Undead
6 - Tauren
7 - Gnome
8 - Troll
10 - Blood Elf
11 - Draenei

classId:
1 - Warrior
2 - Paladin
3 - Hunter
4 - Rogue
5 - Priest
6 - Death Knight
7 - Shaman
8 - Mage
9 - Warlock
11 - Druid

For easy converting from numerical to actual values I would recommend using a PHP array(). Below is an example of the Sorted Guild list from Part 2 with the addition of the class of each character included.

< ?php
function sortedList($x) {
    $classArray = array(1 => "Warrior", 2 => "Paladin", 3 => "Hunter", 4 => "Rogue", 5 => 
          "Priest", 6 => "Death Knight", 7 => "Shaman", 8 => "Mage", 9 => "Warlock", 11 => "Druid");
 
    $array = array();
    foreach($x as $char) {
        $array[] = getName($char)." - ".getLevel($char)." - ".$classArray[(int)getClassId($char)]."<br />";
    }
    sort($array);
 
    return $array;
}
 
?>

Some neat things can be calculated by using the available resources. I provided three examples in the code below: Average achievement points, average level, and a sorted list of all characters in the guild (also provided in Part 1).

< ?php
 
ini_set("user_agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; pl-PL; rv:1.9.0.2) Gecko/20121223 Ubuntu/9.25 (jaunty) Firefox/3.8"); 
 
//Average guild achievement score. 
function achAverage($x) {
    $counter = 0;
    $total = 0;
 
    foreach ($x as $p) {
        $total += getAchPoints($p);
        $counter++;
    }
    return ($total/$counter);
}
 
//Sorted Guild Characters Names/Levels in ABC Order. 
function sortedList($x) {
    $array = array();
    foreach($x as $char) {
        $array[] = getName($char)." - ".getLevel($char)."<br>";
    }
    sort($array);
 
    return $array;
}
 
//Returns the average level of the entire guild. 
function avgLevel($x) {
    $counter = 0;
    $total = 0;
 
    foreach ($x as $p) {
        $total += getLevel($p);
        $counter++;
    }
    return ($total/$counter);
}
 
/**
 * Other functions that can be used to pull information
 * from the XML sheet. Use these functions to expand
 * and create other functions. 
 **/
function getAchPoints($x) { return $x['achPoints']; }
function getClassId($x) { return $x['classId']; }
function getGenderId($x) { return $x['genderId']; }
function getLevel($x) { return $x['level']; }
function getName($x) { return $x['name']; }
function getRaceId($x) { return $x['raceId']; }
function getRank($x) { return $x['rank']; }
function getURL($x) { return $x['url']; }
 
?>

New functions can be created by using the get functions at the bottom of the file. Using the get functions and sample functions, it should be easy enough to expand on what I have.

The below code is an example of how to use the function code from above.

< ?php
//Functions file. 
include ('guild.php');
 
//Set Server/Guild Here. 
$server = "Eitrigg";
$guild = "We+Know";
 
$url='http://www.wowarmory.com/guild-info.xml?r='.$server.'&gn='.$guild;
$xml = simplexml_load_file($url);
$xml = $xml->guildInfo->guild->members->character;
 
//-------ABOVE THIS LINE IS REQUIRED----------
 
 
//Below are some possible ways to use the functions. 
 
/** Prints Without Array Numbers **/
for($i=0, $array = sortedList($xml);$array[$i] != null; $i++) {
    echo $array[$i];
}
 
/** Alternative Implementation, Prints with Array Numbers
print_r(sortedList($xml));
**/
 
//Displays the average number of guild achievements. 
echo achAverage($xml)."<br />";
 
//Displays the average level of the guild. 
echo avgLevel($xml);
 
?>

• Will my old AddOns work?
  Short Answer: Yes.
  
  Long Answer: Yes. Wine runs World of Warcraft. Essentially AddOns add to the existing functionality of WoW. WoW AddOns cannot communicate outside of World of Warcraft. Therefore there should be no compatibility issues. The people over at WoWMatrix even have a native Linux client available. The WoWMatrix client makes updating AddOns as easy as clicking a button. Windows based WoW AddOn clients such as the Curse Client may also work using Wine, I have not tested though.

• Should I install WoW using CD, Installer, or Copy?
  If you have an existing WoW install on another partition, hard drive, or computer I would highly recommend directly copying the entire WoW folder over to your Linux partition. It is by far the fastest way. My second recommendation would be to use the WoW universal installer. The universal installer downloaded the entire game over the internet, eliminating the need for CDs. Depending on your internet connection speed, expect this to take at least several hours. Installing from the CDs should be a final resort. WoW installation over CDs can sometimes be very tricky and time consuming. The extra effort is not worth the extra time the universal installer will take. If you must go this route, and if you have issues with installing from the disks, try copying all data from each disk to one folder on your hard drive and run the installer from that folder. This is a work around for a common problem while installing via the CD.

• Hardware
  Hardware selection is very important, especially while using Linux to play WoW. Generally speaking 4GB of RAM and a dual core processor is a minimum. The graphics card is especially important. Currently a NVidia card will perform better then a comparable ATI card under Linux. This is because ATIs Linux drivers just aren't that good. There has certainly been improvements in the past year, though they have not quite caught up to NVidias Linux drivers quite yet. Do not be scared away if you have an ATI card though. I personally use an ATI Radeon 4870 1GB card. I play on ultra settings and I get 60+FPS while questing/doing dailies. ~40FPS doing BGs other then WG. The biggest downfall of this card is when raiding in >15 groups. Often in large groups I will get between 20-30FPS, sometimes lower. I usually lower my Video settings to medium while doing these activities. Often it is not noticeable, in such a large group it is difficult to determine FPS.

  My Hardware: 4GB RAM, AMD Phenom II x4 940(4 x 3.0GHz), ATI Radeon 4870.

  Something else worth mentioning is the lack of a hardware cursor with OpenGL. This means that the mouse will become sluggish if FPS drop below 30FPS. There is a patch for Wine available that will use the systems hardware cursor. Some functionality is lost though, such as hovering over tooltips. My primary character is a Warlock. I have most my keys bound, making the mouse issue trivial at best. The mouse issue should not be an issue for anyone besides healers or anyone who is a clicker.

• Stablilty
  Stability is the same as would be expected using Windows. I rarely ever have WoW/Wine freeze while playing. If you have issues, I would recommend looking for other possibilities such as bad ram, or AddOns conflicting. I would also recommend running a repair on WoW. I have not run into a Wine specific bug for several months.

• Tips?
  I have a few tips that hopefully will ease the tension of switching from Windows to Linux for World of Warcraft. Most importantly, make sure you have the latest GPU driver available for your card. Drivers are always improving, often fixing issues, and increasing performance. Also make sure all desktop effects are off while running WoW. If you are using Ubuntu/Gnome - Goto: System > Preferences > Appearance ---> Click on Visual Effects, and select None to turn off all effects. This is important, more times then not, WoW/Wine will not run at all with any desktop effects enabled, if it does - expect less then desirable performance.

  I would also suggest using another desktop manager other then GNOME or KDE. Both of these are heavy on resources, when playing WoW every resource is vital. My personal recommendation would either be to use just a Window Manager (OpenBox, FluxBox, etc) or a lightweight desktop environment such as XFCE.
  

The journey to World of Warcraft on Linux will most likely be difficult in the beginning. Don't expect everything to work flawlessly the first time around. Don't give up, the effort will be well worth it. I hope the answered questions above will help to determine if WoW/Linux is right for your system. There are already many great installation guides floating around the internet, I would recommend the installation guide on WoWWiki.

Mangler is an open source VOIP client capable of connecting to Ventrilo 3.x servers. It is capable of performing almost all standard user functionality found in a Windows Ventrilo client. Mangler is developed and maintained by Eric Kilfoil and Daniel Sloof. -mangler.org

In my experience, using Ventrilo on Linux (using Wine) has always been troublesome at best. Often I would have to resort to using hacked patches, or giving up some functionality just so I could use Ventrilo while raiding. Some newer versions would completely break functionality on Wine. This problem has all come to an end with the release of a fantastic new software called Mangler. It was released a month ago. It is a native Ventrilo client for Linux systems. I have used this software flawlessly for a few weeks now. I personally use this software while playing World of Warcraft on Wine. The interface is clean, and supports PTT functionality (both keyboard and mouse options). Mangler also claims to support both GSM and Speex codecs, thought I have only tested it with Speex. Mangler also supports individual user volume control. This is quite a list of functionality for a version 1.0. I consider this a must have piece of software if you need Ventrilo on a Linux system.

For those who don't know: Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? -Twitter.

Twitters limit of 140 characters gives the perfect amount of space to get the important details across while not giving too much room to stray off topic. One of the highlights of this project is that a Twitter account is NOT required to utilize this feature. The messages can be viewed by RSS feed, Sidebar on the guilds website, and of course on Twitter.

All "tweets" posted on the guild forums are under the account @WKto - The format of all posts are in the format of [Username] - Message. This seems to be working out great so far. Usernames are pulled the current Session the user is logged into on the forums. I chose to do it that way because usually forum names tend to match up with in game names.

The feature has been released less then 36 hours ago, but already seems to be catching on. I believe in the coming weeks it will become a great addition to the website!

Stuff started to go down hill from there starting with Eitrigg not coming up until over an hour after the first servers coming up. This isn't a big surprise though, Eitrigg is always at the tail end of servers being brought back up. The next bit of bad news comes shortly after when I tried updating my addons. Everyone of my addons with the exception of Auctioneer are Ace addons. All needed updating. My WowAce Updater wasn't showing that I had any updates available. Interesting right? On a patch day you would expect there to be multiple updates for Addons. I decided to go over to WowAce and see if maybe there was an updated version of the updater needing downloading. I got quite a shocking surprise. WowAce is now part of the curse network. WAU is no longer supported! Quite a shock.

Thanks to the suggestion of guildies, I was able to find WoWMatrix. It is nothing compared to the speed or simplicity of WAU, but it will do for now. One thing I noticed about WoWMatrix is its speed, it is stupidly slow, now that could just be because a few million WoW geeks are trying to update their addons at the same time. It looks like time will tell on that one.

And finally, to top it all off, the hamsters who power the auth server for Blizzard seemed to have died. :\

Deja Vu of Patch 2.0 eh?

With one month until the expansion is released, I decided it is time to blow the dust off my WoW account. It is nice getting reacquainted with old friends and the alternative world. I am getting back into the familiar groove of dailies, farming, and questing. There are some new dailies from after I left which are exciting along with new quests. Possibly the best time of all is reworking my lovely UI. Yes, I am one of those guys who redo their UI weekly in attempt to make it perfect, which never quite happens.

Turns out Patch 3.0 is dropping tomorrow, so it looks like I came back right in time for the good stuff. Before WoLK drops, I want to get my Druid to 70 and get her her epic flight form. Still debating weather or not to buy another account and move my Druid over to it and dual box my way to 80. I think it would be worth it in the long run due to lack of time with college.