Messages

26

Living Room / Re: Anyone else using Ramdisk in Windows 7?

« on: September 04, 2011, 10:19 AM »

With systems these days having so much memory any user will struggle to find a way to actually take advantage of it, I don't see the point in having Microsoft wasting their time improving the "tweakability" of the swap file, frankly. And Windows does an excellent job managing the swap with the default settings, or at least that's my experience.

I guess having the perfect swap setup is quickly approaching the snake oil status, pretty much like all the optimization tricks that no longer bring quantifiable benefits today. Unless you're OCD about it *ahem*

27

General Software Discussion / Re: Linux kernel.org hacked

« on: September 04, 2011, 10:03 AM »

Nope. They want nothing to do with us nixers.

-40hz (September 02, 2011, 01:20 PM)

Yet it's amazing the amount of open source supporters who run a Mac, though sometimes out of spite

28

Living Room / Re: People just don't understand...

« on: September 04, 2011, 09:56 AM »

The RDF is strong on this one...

29

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... backup program identification

« on: September 04, 2011, 09:27 AM »

Try feeding the files to TrID.

30

Living Room / Re: GOD IS DEAD~! =P

« on: September 01, 2011, 03:26 PM »

^Such an heretic

31

Living Room / Re: Building a home server. Please help, DC!

« on: September 01, 2011, 02:19 PM »

First, hard drives are super cheap: 10 TB of hard drives is like $500, so what?  Is that really that expensive and crazy?

-superboyac (September 01, 2011, 12:02 PM)

Of course. When you can buy a complete computer for that money, most people are going to flip over at the prospect of blowing away $500 in a bunch of hard drives for personal use. Not everyone can afford that luxury.

32

Developer's Corner / Re: File Renaming: Renumbering by Calculation (e.g. even, odd)?

« on: September 01, 2011, 07:18 AM »

ReNamer can do it without using PascalScript:



You might want to strip the numbers first, though:



If you want to make it even more simpler, i.e. without using ReNamer or any other additional program (it's even easier with xplorer² mass rename), beats me.

33

Living Room / Re: "The Fourth Reich: Facebook's Like button banned in Germany"

« on: September 01, 2011, 06:51 AM »

Adblock Plus has at least two subscriptions that block pretty much everything: Facebook "Like" buttons, tweet counts, Reddit rank... The main list is the appropriately named Antisocial, which works with any other list, and if you're using Fanboy's adblocking list, he also provides a supplement called Fanboy's Annoyances, that strips anything deemed annoying from webpages, including social buttons. They probably work with Chrome's Adblock Plus as well.

That said, Antisocial, which is the one I use, is a list of recent creation and as such, it is not well tested, so you might encounter many false positives around the web. If some page appears broken, well, Antisocial might be the main suspect.

34

General Software Discussion / Re: Explorer with Ribbon

« on: August 30, 2011, 08:04 PM »

Well, that would make sense, though it would mean that Microsoft really doesn't get how tablets should operate. The 'ghetto', as some people now affectionately call the Windows desktop metaphor shouldn't really be available for tablet users. If we want the computer to be an appliance, some restrictions should be in place, and this is one of them. Having traditional Windows available at a flick spells all kind of trouble, and tablets should be free of maintenance and system murking as much as possible. Mind you, this is all with the average user in mind, it doesn't hurt to provide some kind of official "jailbreaking" to power users. Plus it's a mishmash of things that feels completely out of place.

Then again, during the tablet UI demo Sinofsky said the tablets should at least use an antivirus, so...

35

Living Room / Re: "The Fourth Reich: Facebook's Like button banned in Germany"

« on: August 30, 2011, 07:04 PM »

Aren't they tracking you everywhere already? Or so it's suggested by this researcher. No wonder you can block all the social media crap hanging around websites. And the loading speed improvements are nice.

36

General Software Discussion / Re: Explorer with Ribbon

« on: August 30, 2011, 06:37 PM »

Wow, couldn't they make it more cluttered? Look at the two versions shown side by side in Deozaan's post, Windows 8 shot is really scary. It's like they tried to compensate the size reduction in the status bar by dumping everything on the toolbar. Maybe app is doing some consulting for them? :D. And what's up with that red "Library Tools" button? Is that intended to be a part of the UI?

Is really worth all this effort to force the user to do things the Microsoft way? Because without more data from them, one gets the impression that the user gets the job done with hotkeys and the context menu, but Microsoft wants everyone to use the toolbar! And if not, is the average user really making such heavy use of Explorer to the point he is going to appreciate the new design? I assume the power user is already using 3rd party alternatives, which are superior.

I hope for the sanity of Explorer users this is a preliminary version, because Microsoft can show me all the telemetry data they want, but between this and the pointless additions to the copy dialog, looks like they're stumbling again in the UI front, when many of their recent products suggested they finally 'got it', including Windows 8 own tablet UI, and the statements done by a certain retired religious figure no longer applied ;)

One more thing: http://i.imgur.com/Cp9jx.png. Yeah <_<

P.S.: I use xplorer² and don't have any intention to abandon it. So much for the tantrum :P

37

Living Room / Re: Donation gamer: Games to give

« on: August 30, 2011, 06:36 PM »

And... nobody wants Portal? There's cake!

-iphigenie (August 30, 2011, 04:37 PM)

But...! You know

38

General Software Discussion / Cnet's Download.com and the installer scam

« on: August 22, 2011, 02:23 PM »

Years and years of hosting software and letting everyone on the net download them for free has apparently taken its toll on CNET's finances, which are now offering software packages wrapped in their own custom installer, complete with the omnipresent toolbar offer. Not only that, but developers subscribed to the Premium Service have the option to provide the original, unmodified installer for its own software, presumably for a meager monthly fee.

Not only this move is completely unacceptable from an user point of view, but also breaks the TOS included with many software installers, which disallow modification of the original installer, or re-distribution of the software under different terms. As you can see in the picture above, even VLC, which is distributed under the GPL, doesn't escape CNET's clutches.

NINJA EDIT: According to the FAQ linked above, registered users still can get the original installer. The rest can go... grab the installer from the developer site themselves.
via Slashdot

39

Living Room / Re: Steam: Savior or Slayer of PC Gaming?

« on: August 17, 2011, 09:42 PM »

Well, yes, you can, but the Steam backup function just copies game files, not any configuration files, savegame files or game modifications the game might have on computer A.

There are a few solutions to this. The fastest one would be replacing your savegame on computer B by the one on computer A, but this requires you to locate the savegame files, which it's not always an easy task. Another option would be replacing the game installation on computer B with the one on computer A. This is done by copying the game subfolder "steamapps\common\<name of game>" within Windows from computer A and dropping it on the Steam installation on computer B. This must be done when Steam is not running.

To make sure you get the game you are playing in computer A, it would be a good idea to move the game installation on computer B elsewhere on the filesystem outside the Steam main directory and delete it was once you have moved the game from one computer to another successfully. This way you ensure there's no unnecessary files lying around from the former installation, plus you have a backup copy to go back in case things go awry.

40

Living Room / Re: xkcd - password truth

« on: August 11, 2011, 08:17 AM »

Anyone have any thoughts on how safe Roboform is (or other password managers too).

I mean, if they are really, REALLY, safe then I'll stop being too concerned. Of course, I understand it's their business so they are SURE to be safe - aren't they. Aren't they? 

-nudone (August 11, 2011, 07:24 AM)

There's no such thing as really safe, only safe for the time being . So, for the time being, you'll have to trust their claims, even if the source code is available, which without proper code auditing means nothing.

So, anyway, passphrases and password managers for the win. And hope the services you use don't store the password in clear text or use weak cryptographic schemes.

41

Living Room / Re: Intelligence and Internet browsers

« on: August 03, 2011, 09:55 AM »

Breaking news: Media organizations trolled hard, browser users as dumb as a bag of hammers

Serves us right for paying attention to non-news.

42

Living Room / Re: How to deal with syncing multiple versions of a file from multiple sources?

« on: August 02, 2011, 05:21 PM »

The short and implementable-in-real-life answer: cover your eyes, and run away screaming, arms flailing.

-f0dder (August 01, 2011, 09:55 AM)

The shorter answer: use Google Docs or SpiderOak

43

General Software Discussion / Re: How necessary is the UAC in Windows 7?

« on: August 02, 2011, 05:12 PM »

Doing that renders UAC pretty much useless. And while the flicker-to-black is a bit annoying, it's a sign that UAC really is kicking in and you aren't being faked

-f0dder (August 02, 2011, 03:44 PM)

I wonder, is Windows 7 default UAC setting secure enough or is still advisable to kick the slider up a notch?

44

General Software Discussion / Re: Mac OS Lion opinions

« on: July 24, 2011, 07:54 PM »

As John Siracusa has already published his massive review on Ars Technica, I'd say no other review is necessary.

There are 2 words that never occur in the same sentence in Cupertino: backward compatibility.

http://www.pcworld.c...n_mac_os_x_lion.html

-Renegade (July 24, 2011, 05:57 PM)

OMG! A new version of an operating system doesn't have complete support for partially outdated software! I have never saw that issue in any other system.

45

General Software Discussion / Re: Annoying experience with non-pirated software

« on: July 16, 2011, 09:44 AM »

Some ironic coincidence

46

General Software Discussion / Re: BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« on: July 16, 2011, 09:44 AM »

In addition to that, I expect Firefox Sync will backup the file to the cloud, so it will be synchronized across all your computers. And whenever other browsers adopt the system, their sync systems will do the same.

47

General Software Discussion / Re: BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« on: July 16, 2011, 07:41 AM »

What is the advantage of BrowserID over OpenID?

-wraith808 (July 16, 2011, 07:12 AM)

OpenID has been criticized in the past for its failure in solving certain security as well as privacy problems. For example, your OpenID provider tracks your activity every time you use its identity to log in any site. Supposedly, BrowserID solves this, but this is a new standard that has not been subjected to a thorough analysis, so the advantages may be a moot point.

48

General Software Discussion / Re: BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« on: July 16, 2011, 06:21 AM »

Well, what happens if I'm at a friend's house and want to use her computer, or I'm at an Internet cafe?

-cyberdiva (July 15, 2011, 10:02 PM)

Yep, that's another problem without a clear solution. I guess you could grant a temporary authorization to your friend's browser, but it's a bit cumbersome anyway.

And what happens when I move from, say, Firefox 5 to Firefox 6?  Will I have to re-establish all the browsers each time there's a new version in the same way that I've had to upgrade many of my extensions? 

Nothing. The same way Firefox preserves your history, bookmarks or saved passwords, it will also preserve the file that deems the browser as authorized. On a clean installation, you can move that file to the new profile.

49

General Software Discussion / Re: BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« on: July 15, 2011, 07:30 PM »

I'm somewhat confused.  Does BrowserID assume that I always use the same browser?  Or the same computer?  I also use a variety of email addresses.  I'm not eager to have these addresses brought together by BrowserID.  Nor do I want to be identified by my email address rather than by a username I choose.  I realize that BrowserID is in an early stage, but from what I've seen I wouldn't dream of using it.

-cyberdiva (July 15, 2011, 06:41 PM)

Well, no. As I understand, you can use as many browsers and devices as you like, as long as they're linked to any e-mail address you use with any given Internet service, and has been previously authorized by you. BrowserID is just a proof of concept, the functionality outlined by the proposal would be integrated into Firefox and other browsers, so the application is the one handling the e-mail addresses, not an external web service.  As for being identified by an username, one way or another you're also identified by a e-mail address (i.e., when you activate your account), and usernames are probably not going away, since they're a convenient way of differentiating users of the same service.

In addition to the privacy concerns I've raised, I'm also in agreement with Lashiec's point about the security risk of having one's email account as the sole point of failure.

I pondered over this for a while, and I realized the same problem exists with the current identification system, as darkskiez points at lloyd.io. Of course, the attacker would have to find out which Internet services do you use in order to take over your identity, but he would at least take hold off your account in the most popular ones. That's why it's important to have other measures of protection in place, like double factor identification systems and various e-mail accounts with strong passwords to recover any stolen one.

Another potential security problem is the apparent lack of a way to deauthorize a browser or device, which means if someone steals your laptop or phone, you're in deep trouble. Again, that's something it could be alleviated by the use of a secondary identification method.

In any case, this would be an alternative identification method, there's no reason why sites can't keep the good 'ol username + password system. And it's a better privacy proposition than Facebook Connect, that's for sure.

50

General Software Discussion / BrowserID - Mozilla's solution to the password problem

« on: July 15, 2011, 04:52 PM »

The guys at the Mozilla Foundation unveiled today a clever solution to the problem posed by maintaining several different accounts for all the Internet services the average Internet user handles daily. The solution is called BrowserID, and it combines your e-mail address and browser client to identify yourself in the Internet, effectively eliminating the need to juggle several different identities and all the passwords associated to them. This is an idea that Mozilla has been working on for a few years, but only now we're able to see the first results yielded by the research.

While it certainly improves usability, specially for those less technically inclined, there are potential security concerns that Mozilla isn't clearing at the moment. For starters, this method would transform your e-mail account into the sole point of failure, which if compromised, could jeopardize your entire digital identity.

More information, including an interactive demonstration, is available at the link above. Documentation and technical details are on a separate blog post.
via Slashdot