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Messages - mwb1100 [ switch to compact view ]

Pages: prev1 ... 60 61 62 63 64 [65]
1601
the stuff above about how it was released without any support or documentation etc. does sound like ms is asking for a tech support nightmare and it doesn't make any sense to me why ms would release such a thing
I agree - I was underwhelmed by the lack of any explanation of how it worked - it was unclear to me exactly what was encrypted and how - or even if encryption was used.  The description sounded like it might have merely 'hidden' the files from explorer.  A privacy-protection program should be pretty transparent about how it works so that at the very least you can be sure you're using it effectlvely.

It appears that the files are actually encrypted, but I think MS should still have been more informative about how the program worked.  It looks like that point may be moot now that they've pulled it.

As far as admins being up in arms about users encrypting things they aren't supposed to or losing/forgetting passwords...  there are plenty of ways users can already do those types of things - many zip programs perform encryption (even beyond the original insecure variant). So, I don't see what's so scary about this.

1602
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: MS Virtual PC is now free
« on: July 12, 2006, 08:05 PM »
Note that Virtual PC Express is different from Virtual PC - it's a cut down version of VPC that MS announced (but have not yet released) as an add-on for Vista.  I suspect that now that Virtual PC is free (and VPC 2007) that Virtual PC Express will probably disappear as a Vista add-on feature.

I hope VMware can continue to make a go of it - they have some great technology.  Whether MS is doing anything illegal or wrong, I have my own not-so-strong opinons. It's clear that they certainly have the capacity to make life very, very difficult for anyone they'd like to see out of the way, and there are times I wish the field were a bit more level.  But, I do like the free software (until MS decides there's no more competition, so stops development themselves, as was the case for many years with IE 6 until Firefox came along and lit a fire under them).

Anyway, here's a catalog of free virtual machine software:

     - MS Virtual Server Enterprise: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/software/privacy.mspx
     - MS Virtual PC: http://www.microsoft...1&displaylang=en


     - VMware Player (this is really not equivalent to VMware Workstation, but nice for deploying pre-configured VMs): http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
     - VMware Server (basically the next version of GSX Server): http://www.vmware.com/products/server/

     - Xen (open source).  I think this is currently for Linux only (as host and VM guest), but with new CPU virtualization support they will be able to host Windows (or any OS) as a guest: http://www.xensource.com/
     - QEMU (mostly open source):  http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/

I think that most users will find MS Virtual PC to be the most straightforward to install and use.

I happen to use VMware Workstation because I already have it (bought it quite a while ago).  It has some very nice features above VPC (for me, snapshots and 'teams') which are very usedful for development and testing, but unless you know you need those features VPC is pretty much just as good.

Interestingly, while digging up the URLs for this post, I noticed that VMware Server just went from Beta to GA Release acouple days ago...  Now I'm off for another download.

1603
And if you're going to be using VS6 much, you might want to consider this autosave add-in:

     http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/V-S/devstudio_macros/add-ins/article.php/c3123/

I'm no a user so I can't vouch for it, but you get the source so it can't be all bad...

1604
Found Deals and Discounts / MS Virtual PC is now free
« on: July 12, 2006, 12:28 PM »
Microsoft continues its ’Netscaping’ of VMware.  I’m surprised this step took so long, since Virtual Server has been free for a while now. I wonder how many (few?) copies of VPC have been sold since that happened.  In any case, this virtualization stuff (VMware, VPC, etc.) is fantastic - even better when it's free.

I'm in the process of moving my main system from one computer to another.  I migrated the machine to a VMware virtual machine to help keep things usable during the transition. 

So far, I've been in 'transition' for months now - I've had no reason to actually set up the system on the new hardware, I'm just running the VM on it.  I'm not a gamer, so in general things are going great.

“Virtual PC 2004 SP1 is available immediately for free download. In addition, Virtual PC 2007, which supports Microsoft Windows Vista, will be available for free in 2007”

     http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jul06/07-12PartnerDay2UmbrellaPR.mspx

Here’s the download site:

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6d58729d-dfa8-40bf-afaf-20bcb7f01cd1&displaylang=en

Too bad there are not more details on VPC 2007.



1605
Here's something that looks pretty close to identical, and is available today:

http://www.dealsonic.com/maadcoidtous.html

1606
Living Room / Re: SanDisk accused of "Shades of Sony Rootkit"
« on: June 23, 2006, 10:25 PM »
Autorun and Autoplay are very much related - Autoplay also uses autorun.inf to control how it acts.  Microsoft seems to now call the older autorun behavior "Autoplay V1" and the new autoplay behavior "Autoplay V2".

However, it is true that removable media other than CD-ROM or DVD-ROM does act differently from CD/DVDs.  CD-ROM type devices will automatically launch the program specified in autorun.inf (at least with Autoplay V1), while other media and Autoplay V2 autorun.inf files will prompt for and get user consent before performing an action.

Added into the mix is "Auto Insert Notification" (AIN), which is the term used to describe the ability for the device hardware to notify the OS that media has been inserted.  AIN can be disabled for devices, but Autorun/Autoplay will still kick in in certain circumstances if you double-click on the drive in Explorer.

All of this terminology, differing behaviors for various devices, and barely documented registry settings for disabling/enabling various AutoRun/AutoPlay/AIN behaviors makes for a situation that easily confuses me.

I'm not sure what the preferable deafult behavior should be for these things, but at the minimum, CD-ROMs should behave the same as other media, and there should be a nice, single, standard control panel applet to turn the behavior on, off, or otherwise configure it.

That's my rant for the day.  If anyone wants to know more details on this stuff, here's some info straight from the horse's mouth:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/01/11/autoplay/default.aspx
    http://msdn.com/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/shell/programmersguide/shell_basics/shell_basics_extending/autorun/autoplay_reg.asp
   

1607
Living Room / Re: SanDisk accused of "Shades of Sony Rootkit"
« on: June 23, 2006, 12:39 PM »
Perhaps MS should issue a patch that stops AutoRun on all devices when you disable it for CDROMs etc.
-Carol Haynes (June 23, 2006, 10:50 AM)
YES!

To do this now requires mucking around with a myriad of settings that sometime affect CD-ROMs, but not other media or vice versa.  You need to get 3rd party tools or unsupported downloads from MS (PowerToys) to deal with it effectively.

Then, something always seems to come along and re-enable autorun.

The best way for a user to limit the vulnerability is to not run as administrator (as f0dder indicates), but that's easier said than done in the Windows world.

1608
Living Room / Re: PDAs - any use?
« on: June 15, 2006, 06:35 PM »
If anyone is looking for a cheap, basic PDA, CompUSA is running a special on the Palm Z22 (refurb) - $65 plus shipping:

     http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?&ref=cj&pfp=cj&product_code=338589

One caveat - it's a refurbished unit, so CompUSA isn't taking returns.

     

1609
Official Announcements / Re: Cody's Haiku Mug
« on: June 15, 2006, 10:08 AM »
Congratulations to Rover (and jdd)!  Learning from your success, the next Haiku contest entry I use (which I hope will be never) will be:

     To win a contest
     Use reverse psychology
     Haiku is boring
:P

1610
General Software Discussion / Re: soft and hard links in ntfs
« on: June 14, 2006, 03:48 PM »
Here is a website that has good information on NTFS support for hard and soft links (Microsoft calls NTFS soft links 'Junctions' or 'reparse points'):

http://www.elsdoerfer.info/ntfslink/

It also has a Windows Explorer shell extension for dealing with these objects (I have not used the extension, so this post is no endorsement, just info).

Another clarification, the NTFS soft links (Junctions) are handled at a lower level than the 'Shortcuts' that the shell provides. A few differences:

  • shell shortcuts are files that contain the link infomration.  The shell and any application that uses shell APIs can handle these links transparently.  Other applications (like the command line) just see them as files.
  • Junctions are handled at the file system level, so every application handles them transparently, unless the application is specifically using file system APIs to identify junctions and handle them specially.  For example, the shell extension mentioned above and some back up applications wil handle junctions specially (to avoid backing up data twice, or endless loops of directory traversal).
  • Junctions support soft links for directories only - regular files are not supported.
  • shell shortcuts work on any file system; Junctions are only for NTFS

1611
Official Announcements / Re: Cody's Haiku Mug
« on: June 13, 2006, 01:34 PM »
And here's one that's really, really not about Cody...

     Contest back in time
     The day, it cannot be right
     Update: tomorrow

1612
Official Announcements / Re: Cody's Haiku Mug
« on: June 13, 2006, 01:27 PM »
Not really about Cody, but...

     A Donation mug
     As Cody has instructed
     Off, to brew java

1613
Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Encryption software
« on: June 09, 2006, 10:55 AM »
f0dder: I see - I thought VirtualLock() might be a help, but your explanation makes good sense.

1614
Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Encryption software
« on: June 09, 2006, 01:10 AM »
Hoever, I think the scenario is ridiculous that they describe - unless you are a member of the secret service are you going to really hide information to the point of violence to get a password?
-Carol Haynes (May 21, 2006, 04:58 PM)

TrueCrypt goes to great effort to make sure that it can be used with 'plausible deniability'.  I think the importance of this can be best stated by some people who may actually require that feature (via Phil Zimmermann):

http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/199603/msg00059.html

Thankfully, I do not require plausible deniability, but it's a feature that I'm glad that the TrueCrypt team places great importance on.

1615
Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Encryption software
« on: June 09, 2006, 01:01 AM »
The fact that fSekrit doesn't write temp files is a definite plus - f0dder, I wonder if you have looked at the VirtualLock() API to see if you can prevent inadvertant writing of the data to the pagefile.  That would be a nice improvement to the paranoia/worry factor - particularly if using it on a machine that's not yours - in which case the paranoia factor of keyloggers, etc., kicks in - nothing fSekrit can do about that).

As for a nice encryption utility for non-txt files (.doc, .xls, etc.) I use AxCrypt (http://axcrypt.axantum.com/) and open source utility that integrates into the shell. To encrypt, just right click and select encrypt.

When you want to open the file, just double click on it and AxCrypt prompts for the passphrase, decrypts the file to the temp folder in the user profile then launches the application for the original filetype.  When the application closes, the temp file is re-encrypted back to the file you double-clicked on.  It's all very seemless.

However, you do run into the issues that f0dder mentions, so you need to be aware that:

1) the file is decrypted to the temp folder - AxCrypt does wipe and delete delete it when the application is done, but if something goes wrong (machine crash or whatever) the data can be left in the clear;
2) AxCrypt has no control over what the application that's editing the decrypted copy does - most apps will leave traces of the data in various places and Windows can also send the data in memory to the pagefile. there's pretty much nothing that AxCrypt can do about either of these.

You can reduce exposure of the decrypted data by setting up XP's EFS on the user profile's temporary folder - that way the working copy is transparently encrypted.

The author gives clear and comprehensive advice on how AxCrypt works and how to deal with some of inherent limitations such as those given above.  As long as you're aware of these issues and take the proper steps it's a prettty nice little utility.

1616
By the way there was an earlier thread on this at https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=2729.0
-Carol Haynes (June 03, 2006, 06:36 PM)

I missed that - I tried a search, but it looks like searching from the "Deals and Discounts" forum limits the search to that forum, so I didn't get a hit.

Anyway, for anyone who's going to do this, it turns out you can save some time by simply downloading the webcasts - you can watch them later (or never, I suppose).

1617
You can get a free (NFR) copy of Visual Studio 2005 Standard by just watching 3 webcasts:

http://www.learn2asp.net/campaign.aspx

Sorry - this offer is only valid for the US.

1618
if you want to use a nice desktop tool to run another virtual pc in a window and easily test software, virtualpc2005 and vmware workstation are the tools of choice (neither free).

I mostly use VMware workstation - not dirt cheap, but a nice bit of software. However, I think that VMware Player might fit the bill for the above if you're looking for a simple, free desktop VM. Just download (http://www.vmware.com/download/player/) and install it, then to create a custom virtual machine, you can do one of the following:

1) download one of VMware's 'community Virtual machines' (http://www.vmware.co...ppliances/directory/) that have specs (memory, disk size, etc.) how you want, then boot it from a bootable CD, format the virtual disk and install your test OS.  See http://www.virtualiz...al-machine-with.html for details.

2) go to http://www.easyvmx.com/ - this sites hosts a virtual machine creator.  You plug in the parameters you want for a VM (again - memory, disk size, etc.) and it creates a set of VM files for you to download in a .zip.  EasyVMX.com lets you configure nearly all possible VM parameters - for starting out, I suggest using the 'super easy' page which presents only the most important.  Since the virtual disk is empty, the download is very small.  Once again, boot the VM from an install CD, and you're gold!

Note that even though you're asked to select an OS for the VM, that only sets some default parameters - you will still need to install the OS for the VM (and have the proper licensing - it could get expensive with WinXP).

The nice thing about VMs is that they're easy to copy - set up a WinXP (or whatever) VM, copy it to a backup location, then use the VM for your tests.  If and when it gets hosed, just delete it and copy the clean VM from the backup.

Also, even though VMWare player will allow you to run only one VM at a time, you can have as many VMs available to run as you have disk space for.  Using VMs is easily the best way to check out open source operating systems if you don't have the spare hardware to use.

Oh, and thanks everyone for the greetings!

1619
hmm...
i'd be interested in knowing if this is right or wrong:
The Microsoft Virtual Server is a more-refined successor to the "Virtual PC" product I've written about in the past
The core of Virtual PC and Virtual Server are the same.  The major differences (that I recall) are:

1) server does not support virtual sound card in the VM
2) Virtual Server is administered via an IIS website by default.  Virtual server is fully administerable using COM interfaces, so an alternative admin console can be created (and I wish someone would - I find the default website to be a pain to use).
3) to access the screen/keyboard/mouse of the VM on Virtual server you must use a VMRC application (Virtual Machine Remote Control) or access the VMs through Virtual Server's administration website (which loads the VMRC as an ActiveX Control)
4) Virtual Server supports virtual SCSI drives (this has nothing to do with how your actual drives are connected) and multithreading (each VM gets its own thread - I think).

I'm sure there are a some other things, but those are the big ones.

Note that VMWare offer a free 'Player' that can run VM's created with Workstation - there are people who have created utilities to configure/modify VMs so you don't actually need Workstation to create the VMs.

VMWare also have a Server product that they have released for free (it's currently in Beta).

All of these free VM tools (both MS and VMware) should be checked out - they are incredibly useful!

By the way, the MS Virtual Machine software co-exists with VMWare virtualization software just fine.

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