Topics

26

Living Room / Anyone know how to look up .tv domain names ?

« on: March 27, 2013, 11:44 AM »

I have a client who has a TV domain name. The person responsible for the website has gone missing without leaving any details of where it is registered etc.

How do you look up .tv names?

I have tried the usual WHOIS sites but they either come up with nothing at all or just that the name is registered and no details!

The domain is thegeorge.tv

Anyone got and ideas?

27

Living Room / Amazon creepy ...

« on: March 09, 2013, 06:10 AM »

OK I have a customer that needs Office 2003 SBE reinstalling but the disk has gone missing (I extracted the license key from the system that died).

Searched to see if I can find a legitimate ISO to download in Google.

Went Amazon to check on an order - first item on the home page Office 2003 SBE

How did they do that? And how do I stop it.

I know it is something to do with cookies but I didn't think all websites could access all your cookies or Google Search - but does Amazon actually have instant access to my Google seeach history!

28

Living Room / Here is an odd windows service problem

« on: March 07, 2013, 12:13 PM »

How do you remove a service that isn't listed in the registry?

I have been trying to get rid of a bunch of logged errors for a service that won't start because a SYS file is missing.

I thought OK : SC DELETE xxxxx

No go  - it reappears on every boot.

Looked int he registry and deleted xxxxx under Services for all users and Legacy stuff with the same name. Scan the registry now for xxxxx and it is not listed anywhere.

Restart the computer - and service is still trying to load!!! It isn't listed in the registry anywhere and it isn't listed under devices or the services applet???

Seems to be a common problem on this particular ancient Dell - it was installed by Dell but not removed when a device driver was updated. It is now redundant.

Anyone any idea how a service not listed anywhere in the registry, devices or services can still be trying to start and logging errors (and slowing down boot in the process)?

The only work around I have found it to put the registry stuff back and mark the service as Start=4 for each user. That stops the problem but I am mystified why I can't just delete the beggar?

29

Living Room / Microsoft and Windows 8 get two fingers from Stardock

« on: March 06, 2013, 01:54 PM »

Brilliant Stardock. First there was Start8 to bring back the start menu to Windows 8 and NOW

<trumpet fanfares loudly>

ModernMix ...

Briliiant name for a brilliant idea to get Windows 8 under complete control!!!

http://www.stardock..../products/modernmix/

Run all the metro apps in windows on the desktop - and start them from the dekstop.

I love the idea of ModernMix - really it should be called RetroMix but an even better name could have been F**KMS

Next question: how long before MS either sues them or offers to buy them out?

30

Living Room / Yahoo email servers hacked

« on: March 04, 2013, 02:28 PM »

Had a deluge of calls from customers today panicking about spam sent from their email account to everyone in their address book.

The common factor was that the email service was provided by the UK telecom BT, which in turn uses Yahoo mail for its none business customers. All of them had their accounts accessed from Yahoo! Mobile in various parts of the world (S. Korea, Vietnam, Netherlands, El Salavdor and more) over the weekend so it looks like either Yahoo's account, email or mobile services have been compromised.

In their usual style BT are claiming it is customers not providing good passwords or leaving them lying around (though how someone in Korea could guess both an email address and the corresponding password in the UK beats me) and Yahoo are conspicuous by their silence on the subject.

Hunting round the internet I found this article:

http://resources.avg...ail-accounts-hacked/

seems it has now spread to other areas.

If you have a Yahoo email account (or a Yahoo powered account from a partner) check you login history via this link:

https://api.login.ya...oo.com/login/history

using your normal email account details.

As a precaution you might want to change your password as a matter of urgency !!!

Ramble

I have always found Yahoo's mail servers to be particularly irksome, only rivalled by the amount of crap and irritation delivered by Hotmail.

I use BT myself and gave up with the email address years ago as I had spam in it before I even logged in on day 1.

Yahoo's spam filter is total rubbish letting loads of spam through and blocking loads of genuine mail. If sensibly you use POP to access you account the default setting block all perceived spam so you don't even see you mis-classified genuine mail - and most customers don't know how to fix that.

Every iteration of their awful webmail system just seems to get worse and worse, even to the point of needing ActiveX controls in IE to attach files.

If you use Yahoo I would thoroughly recommend setting up your own email address and give yourself control over it. The advantages are portability, not having to use bug ridden and security flawed systems and control. OK you will probably have to pay for a domain name and some hosting but it doesn't cost a lot and is a hell of a lot more predictable and flexible!

31

Living Room / Website under attack ... help needed

« on: February 11, 2013, 04:10 PM »

A website I set up and host has been compromised but I am not sure what to do.

I can restore a backup before the attack but I really want to avoid it happening again.

The sits is based on Joomla. All frontend (public) pages redirect to random websites after about 15 seconds. In the backend this does not happen.

Anyone got any idea where to look for how this is happening?

I have looked at index.php and .htaccess and can't see any obvious changes in the code. Only two of us have admin rights on the website and the forum is not available without logging in. Even then normal uses are restricted to BBCODE and can't use any scripts or HTML. None of the site is open for comments.

The site is hosted under a CPanel account on a Linux server.

All passwords are long and random and the backend of the website uses a non-standard URL to get access with a 20+ character pin code just get to the login form.

Panicking a bit as I am a bit out of my depth with this sort of stuff.

32

Living Room / Legitimate app breaks popular encryption - EFS, BitLocker, TrueCrypt ...

« on: February 06, 2013, 07:37 PM »

In the current Windows Secrets newsletter EFDD can crack popular encryption, even with tough random passwords:

Conventional wisdom has been that files protected with good encryption can’t be cracked.

But a new, $300, wizard-driven app can unlock BitLocker-, PGP-, and TrueCrypt-encrypted files, folders, and drives — no matter how strong a password you’re using.

It’s the sort of story that could keep you up at night. Last month, Elcomsoft released the Elcomsoft Forensic Disk Decryptor (EFDD; more info), a program that opens encrypted files without trying to guess your password or attack it with brute force (Wikipedia info). In fact, the actual password is effectively irrelevant. A long, random string such as bS2f#[voIT+?@=Uq3a,.B provides no better protection against EFDD than would "password" or "12345."

See http://windowssecret...tion-systems/#story1 for the full story.

33

Living Room / Lego goes Linux !

« on: January 09, 2013, 05:15 AM »

(Click to enlarge)

See http://www.internetn...lego-goes-linux.html for full article.

Also see http://mindstorms.le...zone/Movies/EV3.aspx

and http://www.wired.com...o-mindstorms-coming/

34

DC Gamer Club / Desura - any one able to get to the website or login?

« on: December 28, 2012, 05:26 AM »

Can't login to Desura and there website seems to be down.

Anyone else having problems?

35

Living Room / Big Brother UK plc - out to get you? Or am I paranoid

« on: December 11, 2012, 09:28 AM »

New legislation planned by our 'democratic' government:

The plans in the draft bill include:

• Internet service providers having to store for a year all details of online communication in the UK - such as the time, duration, originator and recipient of a communication and the location of the device from which it was made.
• They would also be having to store for the first time all Britons' web browsing history and details of messages sent on social media, webmail, voice calls over the internet and gaming, in addition to emails and phone calls
• Police not having to seek permission to access details of these communications, if investigating a crime
• Police having to get a warrant from the home secretary to be able to see the actual content of any messages
• Four bodies having access to data: the police, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, the intelligence agencies and HM Revenue and Customs

I don't think the government (Tory or Labour, take your pick) will be happy until everyone in this country has a GPS implant with wifi connectivity to all the devices you use in daily life!

See http://www.bbc.co.uk...uk-politics-20676284 for full details.

Anyone know any good secure, quick anonymizer-type services that act by proxy?

By the way we already have the Digital Economy Act (passed in 2010) so this is anew level of snooping!

36

DC Gamer Club / Saints Row 3rd - Titan Quest ... first come first served

« on: December 06, 2012, 07:59 PM »

If anyone want a free copy of either Saints Row Third or Titan Quest I have spare Steam keys.

First to post a request I will PM them the key!

37

Living Room / Apple Apologise to Samsung - yeah right!

« on: November 09, 2012, 11:15 AM »

This is a great public apology (a direct response to a court order):

On www.apple.com/uk :

On 25 October 2012, Apple Inc. published a statement on its UK website in relation to Samsung's Galaxy tablet computers. That statement was inaccurate and did not comply with the order of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The correct statement is at Samsung/Apple UK judgement.

and here is their heartfelt apology (see http://www.apple.com/uk/legal-judgement/):

Samsung / Apple UK judgment

On 9 July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computers, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s Community registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of
the High Court is available from www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.

That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available from www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the Community registered design in force anywhere in Europe.

And the judges response to the apology:

http://www.v3.co.uk/...amsung-apology-farce

In a unique twist, the judge overseeing the case ordered Apple to display a note on its website and publish adverts in magazines and newspapers explaining to the public that Samsung had been found not guilty, in order to clear up any confusion.
However, Apple’s initial apology was challenged by Samsung over its wording and references to other cases in the US and Germany where Apple had won against Samsung.
UK judge Robin Jacob agreed it has failed to comply with the order and was angered by Apple’s stance, especially when it claimed it would need 14 days to amend the text page on its website containing the notice, in an court ruling on 1 November.

38

DC Gamer Club / Build a Bundle 3 from Groupees

« on: September 13, 2012, 06:34 PM »

Just a heads up - new Build a Bundle out from Groupees:

http://groupees.com/bab3

The promotion runs for two weeks.

Games include:

• Artery Studios Secret of the Magic Crystals
• Sandswept Studios Detour
• North of Earth Omegalodon
• DQ Team War in a Box: Paper Tanks
• Blue Giant Interactive APOX
• Muse Games CreaVures
• Meridian4 Chrome + SpecForce
• Layernet Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World
• Zaxis Games 99 Levels to Hell

Same approach applies - choose 2 to 9 games and pay what you like (minimum $1.50).

Some games have Steam keys (most), some Desura keys and some have DRM free downloads too.

If progressive targets are met more games will be added to the bundle.

Enjoy.

39

DC Gamer Club / Free Humble Bundle 3 for Android for the first to PM

« on: August 19, 2012, 03:55 PM »

Free "Humble Bundle for Android 3" to the first person to reply here and ask ;-)

Full gift license - includes all keys and versions of all the games (Windows, Mac, Linux and Android).

40

Living Room / Windows 8 Metro has gone ...

« on: August 03, 2012, 07:17 AM »

Not really - but the name has!

http://www.bbc.co.uk.../technology-19108952

41

Living Room / Windows 7 boot time woes ... anyone any ideas?

« on: July 29, 2012, 12:45 PM »

I have just added an SSD to my system and plan to move my Windows 7 installation to that drive (using a clean reinstall).

The system has multiple hard disks plus the new SSD and up until today I have had no issues with the boot process.

I bunged in the Windows 7 DVD, rebooted and installed to the new SSD drive naively assuming that Windows Setup would simply add a dual boot entry to the exist BCD database used by my old system.

That's when the boot issues started!

It reboot straight into the new version of Windows but there was no dual boot menu to boot into my old version of Windows on a hard disk.

I used BCDEDIT to rebuild the multiboot menu  and I can now access both installations.

The trouble is my BIOS points to the original harddisk as the boot device (which is what I wanted) but the new install has built a new boot setup on another irrelevant drive.

I want to keep the original drive as the boot device and ultimately make Windows on my SSD the default boot from that partition. The reason for this is that hiberfil.sys has to remain on the drive with the boot sector (according to MS) and I use a UPS that requires hibernation to be enabled. The system has 32Gb of memory so I definitely do not want hiberfil.sys on the SSD as it would eat 25% of the drive on it own.

A number of questions:

1) How can I make my original drive the source for the boot process again? It has a hidden MS 100Mb partition specifically for this but the installation process of the new version of windows ignored it and has put the Boot stuff on a Green drive which makes start up slow - also I don't want multiple bootable partitions.

2) Once I get it booting from where I want how do I ensure that the only hiberfil.sys file is on the system boot disk and not on the SSD - I read a number of articles from MS suggesting that hiberfil.sys has to be on the boo drive but even so windows has created one on the SSD anyway - wasting over 27Gb of space.

Any ideas appreciated.

42

Living Room / Strange Windows Explorer problem - anyone know how to fix this?

« on: July 20, 2012, 04:26 AM »

When Windows Explorer opens the Documents library (on Win 7 x64) everything appears normal but there are some files that when you double click to open them they cause Windows Explorer to freeze and you have to use task manager to restart Explorer.

Oddly it doesn't seem to be file type specific and there don't seem to be any problems if you are working in subfolders of Documents.

Never come across this before.

Initially I ran CHKDSK on the drives where the Documents library folders are located and it made no difference.

It could be a Shell Extension issue but why are only some non typ-specific files affected and only in the Documents folder root? I would expect a shell extension problem to affect all specific file types.

43

General Software Discussion / Windows 8 prices seem to have been announced during period to 31st January

« on: July 03, 2012, 07:08 PM »

They are desperate to get this thing out there:

http://www.v3.co.uk/...pgrade-windows-gbp25
http://www.windowsit...ial-promotion-143592

This seems to be any version of XP, Vista or 7 to 8 Pro and they are even throwing in Windows Media Center for free during the promotion (well whoopdidoo).

Seems you are going to be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99 (US) or £25 (UK) until the end of January from the day of release.

That is for a download version. You can get a DVD but it will be $70 - (yep that's $30 for a DVD that costs 15 cents) (see articles)

Either they are trying to compete with MacOSX prices or they are desperate to tempt people to adopt early so they can say what a success it has been!

They are either being clever marketing it like this or the bad press rumbling over this release has them scared! Can't quite decide which. I suspect it is the first because they see Joe public adopting Metro wholesale and buying everything they need from the store - maybe that will happen - or maybe pigs will fly.

44

Living Room / Odd cookie problem

« on: June 25, 2012, 08:48 PM »

I am trying to stay logged in to a website (www.nectar.com).

It works fine on two computers with any browser but on my laptop (Win 7 x86) no browser can stay logged in to the website after the browser closes.

The only security running are Windows Firewall (which I have reset to default) and MSE (which is pretty much at default settings).

All other sites are fine - I have tried using IE9, Firefox and Chrome and that one site can not retain the session when the browser closes.

I have cleared browsing history for each browser (including cookies) to reset the cache but it makes no difference.

Driving me nuts - anyone got any idea what is going on?

45

Living Room / Annoying error/issues at shutdown/restart and startup

« on: June 07, 2012, 05:11 PM »

Windows 7 problem.

1) Everytime I shutdown the computer an error flashes up just before the system logs off. It seems to be an access violation or similar but it only appears for a split second and nothing appears in the error logs. Any idea how to track this down.

2) I am regularly getting warnings about registry handles being left open and the User Profile unloading when I log off (doesn't seem o be related to 1). In particular it seems to berelated to lsass.exe anyone any ideas? I have run SFC /SCANNOW to check integrity and also a CHKDSK but there are no errors showing up. Here is a typical message:

Windows detected your registry file is still in use by other applications or services. The file will be unloaded now. The applications or services that hold your registry file may not function properly afterwards. 

 DETAIL -
 5 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S-1-5-21-2490178771-1396779573-3448706779-1001:
Process 664 (\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\lsass.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-2490178771-1396779573-3448706779-1001
Process 664 (\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\lsass.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-2490178771-1396779573-3448706779-1001
Process 664 (\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\lsass.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-2490178771-1396779573-3448706779-1001\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\My
Process 664 (\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\lsass.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-2490178771-1396779573-3448706779-1001\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\Disallowed
Process 664 (\Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\lsass.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-2490178771-1396779573-3448706779-1001\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\CA

The user profile is my profile.

3) On startup I used to be able to type as soon as windows desktop appeared but now there seems to be a long delay before I can type anything. Then it types e..x...c...e...e...d...i...n...g...l...y slowly for a while before resuming normal speeds. Using an MS wireless mouse and keyboard set (Wireless Comfort Keyboard 5000 and mouse). Doesn't seem to be batteries and drivers are up to date. Works fine once it has settled down and on other machines.

These are slowly driving me nuts but I really haven't got time to do a complete clean install at the moment. Any ideas would be really appreciated!

46

Living Room / Raspberry Pi - more woes!

« on: June 02, 2012, 10:54 AM »

Finally got the thing working - had to buy another USB keyboard and a USB powered hub. Very limited power ability for the USB ports. Don't know about cheap computing all the accessories you need really work out quite expensive!

Anyway I setup the preferred Debian Linux on an SDHC card and it boots. I login and type StartX and get to a desktop.

All good except:

1) There is no RTC on the board so the time and date are wrong - how the heck do you set the time and date?

2) Can't find anywhere to setup connection details and consequently I can't connect to the internet. How do I specify my DHCP server/DNS server in Debian? I did notice it aquired and IP address during the LInux boot (192.168.1.24) but when I run a browser it can't resolve the addresses of websites so I presume I need to manually specify a DNS server.

Not exactly lacking frustration - though it does look pretty with its flashing lights!

47

Living Room / Does OpenDNS or GoogleDNS slow down your access? Private DNS server???

« on: June 01, 2012, 10:50 PM »

I have been using OpenDNS for some time now but just started experimenting with setting up my own DNS server.

I can't say I noticed any performance issues with OpenDNS but I just read this article: http://apcmag.com/wh...ns-is-a-bad-idea.htm

Being in the UK on of the advantages of using OpenDNS (and OpenDNScrypt) is to avoid UK ISP DNS filtering but I thought the article made some interesting points for those of us outside the US.

Anyone got any thoughts?

One further question - if I am running my own DNS server (on Windows SBS2011) where does the DNS database come from? In setting things up I don't seem to have been asked for any reference DNS site? DOes it generate its own list - if so where does it get the translations from (excuse my ignorance if I am being totally dim). 

48

Living Room / Raspberry Pi ...

« on: May 26, 2012, 04:28 PM »

Got my Raspberry Pi this morning. Not sure what I am going to do with it but it looks like a bit of fun.

I was a bit surprised to see it arrive with absolutely no documentation - not even a single side of A5 with a diagram explaining the ports. Most are obvious but there are a couple of ribbon headers on the board which look interesting - off to the forums to see if anyone can enlighten me further.

49

Living Room / Request for help - potential website security issue

« on: May 21, 2012, 04:56 PM »

I have set up a website for my local running club. A member has informed me that the private members' forum can be access just by browsing the website without entering a username and password and is therefore not private.

The website is www.swaledaleroadrunners.co.uk and I can't find any way to read forum messages without logging in.

Unfortunately the member is being unhelpful and refusing to tell me how they can achieve this.

Personally I suspect that it is them either being difficult or else just that they never log out so when they visit the site the stored cookie allows them to access the website again but the challenge is can anyone here read the forum without logging in and if so how?

Cheers

Carol

50

DC Gamer Club / Portal 2 gets a new level maker! Woohoo - thousands of new levels

« on: May 09, 2012, 04:20 PM »

Portal 2 has been updated to include the new test chamber maker.

Lots of Brilliant new games to play plus you can make your own.

Portal fans give my first attempt a quick try and see what you think:

http://steamcommunit...details/?id=68641863
(updated to version 2 and added a few extra tasks and gotchas)

(Note there doesn't seem to be an easy way to search on Steam Workshop but that link will open the page in a browser - if you log in to your steam account in the browser you can subscribe to my new level which will then appear in your game!!!).

Please rate it and leave a comment - especially if you think it is OK!!

By the way this one (not mine) drove me to distraction and the solution is satisfyingly easy when you stop thinking:

http://steamcommunit...details/?id=68458711