Messages

201

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Surface RT - I got one.

« on: May 09, 2015, 09:26 PM »

Deozaan, the outlook is pretty bleak for you. Windows RT is officially dead as the word has come down from the mountaintop in Redmond.

This thing would be so amazing if I could just run my usual Windows programs. . .

Why, yes it would and...yes, those things are amazing when running Windows programs. Unfortunately, you have to pay a lot more money to get one of the Surfaces with the 'pro' moniker behind its name in order to do it.

I've never used an RT device and I'm not too familiar with them, but I believe Microsoft's entire philosophy with the RT platform was that anything that an RT device could run would be offered through the Microsoft app store. I don't believe there's any way to 'side-load' apps on those things. I'd love to be told I'm wrong, but I don't believe I am.

202

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Dayu Disk Master Pro giveaway

« on: May 09, 2015, 09:15 PM »

I feel compelled to remark that GOTD didn't used to be this way. Once upon a time, you'd go to their web site, download an executable of the program they were giving away, and it was yours to keep. You could install it right away, a week from then, or two years from then and it would always happily install without incident and would work perfectly.

This behavior, of course, had to stop. 

203

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Dayu Disk Master Pro giveaway

« on: May 08, 2015, 12:51 PM »

Anything from GOTD should not be called anything but an extended one-time trial. You have to install (and activate) the software *that* day and you are usually frozen in time in the sense that you can't ever upgrade it, even to a point-release. Also, heaven help you if you love the software and have to reinstall your OS. Your 'free' software will refuse to reinstall.

As much dislike as I have for GOTD, I have just as much love for Bits du Jour. You get a good price on the full version of the software that behaves exactly like the version you would buy from the software's official site. On the rare occasions there are any strange limitations, they are spelled out in plain English.

204

General Software Discussion / Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files

« on: May 07, 2015, 07:22 PM »

What an odd little program....and I mean that as a compliment.

I don't see me having a use for it, but I can easily imagine that it'd be a highly-precise, custom tool for those who needed what it offered.

205

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AdGuard Premium Lifetime on sale at StackSocial.com

« on: May 05, 2015, 09:05 PM »

Thing about these lifetime licenses is how long the company will be in business and the length of time the product will be updated.  Look at AdMuncher, for instance.

-Midnight Rambler (May 05, 2015, 09:34 AM)

I bought my lifetime license for Ad Muncher with a discount from DonationCoder for $19.96 (after discount) on November 3, 2005. All things considered, I think it was money well-spent. Will this adventure turn out to be as wise an investment? No way of knowing, but I have lifetime licenses to NewsBin Pro and Total Commander (the latter I got through a contest here at DC) and look how long those programs have been around.

I've also got a lifetime license for Outpost Security Suite Pro that I purchased in 2009. If you've seen the prices for security suite software I think you'll agree I've saved way more than I have spent for that license.

It's a gamble, but in the case of AdGuard you're saving money from Day One. The lifetime price on this deal is cheaper than the normal annual subscription price on their web site for the same number of devices. Even if the company disappears after a year, you've saved money.

206

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox data collection and asking for help comparing to Pale Moon

« on: May 04, 2015, 07:38 AM »

Tao, here's what I believe to be the answer to your question addressed in a forum thread by the head developer of PaleMoon, MoonChild:

http://forum.palemoo...p;t=7788&p=50661

Hopefully, this will help.

207

General Software Discussion / Re: Need an Easy fix for annoying problem with sorting in Windows

« on: May 04, 2015, 07:31 AM »

If you know the name of the icon, just start typing the name while on the Desktop. The highlight will jump to the icon's whose name matches what you type in. You don't even have to open a file manager.

208

General Software Discussion / Re: Favorite Windows Desktop Virtualizers?

« on: May 04, 2015, 07:25 AM »

I have an Nvidia GeForce (unless Display Adapter is not what I am supposed to be looking at).

-TaoPhoenix (May 03, 2015, 08:00 PM)

No, that's exactly what you were supposed to be looking at. It was worth a shot, I guess...surprised Nvidia doesn't have something similar.

209

Living Room / Re: PSA - How to watch every Marvel property in the perfect order

« on: May 03, 2015, 06:14 PM »

Thanks for this...we've gotten a bit behind on the MCU releases over here & this saves me a LOT of Google time.

210

General Software Discussion / Re: Favorite Windows Desktop Virtualizers?

« on: May 03, 2015, 06:08 PM »

I cannot speak to how effective or usable it is, but I seem to recall that if you own an AMD Radeon video card you might want to try out their HydraVision software. I seem to recall it having virtual desktop functionality.

211

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AdGuard Premium Lifetime on sale at StackSocial.com

« on: May 03, 2015, 05:16 PM »

Right, but some people are concerned that it does this by replacing certificates so it can be a man-in-the-middle and that can be a security issue.....

...Either way you need to trust the blocking software with access to the https-protected data, so I think the remaining issue is whether or not the technique potentially opens the https-protected data to other entities (be it malware on your computer or something monitoring the network). I have no idea if that's the case with AdGuard.

-mwb1100 (May 03, 2015, 11:51 AM)

AdGuard accomplishes this by working within the system by adding its own certificate to the certificate stores rather than engage in any tomfoolery. Basically, to reference your first sentence, it is technically a man-in-the-middle attack but you are the man who is in the middle. Rather clever and ingenious, I think.

212

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AdGuard Premium Lifetime on sale at StackSocial.com

« on: May 03, 2015, 04:59 PM »

Pale Moon users who wish to use https filtering may need to follow this knowledgebase article:

https://kb.adguard.c...ot-trusted---firefox

The last step indicates you will need to restart your browser in order for the changes to take effect, but I did not have to when I performed the steps.

213

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AdGuard Premium Lifetime on sale at StackSocial.com

« on: May 03, 2015, 04:54 PM »

I pulled the trigger as well. Uninstalled AdMuncher, installed AdGuard and my first few youtube tests were ad free.  My browser feels a bit snappier, too, but I'm thinking that might just be my imagination.

-mwb1100 (May 03, 2015, 03:54 PM)

It's probably not your imagination. Ad Muncher *still* has not implemented support for gzip compression, but AdGuard has had it for quite some time. That could explain the snappiness you are experiencing.

214

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AdGuard Premium Lifetime on sale at StackSocial.com

« on: May 03, 2015, 01:30 PM »

I just bit and bought in. It's legit. The StackSocial gives you a license code & it plugs right into either the AdGuard program or the web site itself. I can verify that the web site confirms 2 PCs + 2 mobile devices.

Sign up for the newsletter when prompted as you first visit the StackSocial web site and you'll get a 5% off coupon code that will knock the purchase price down to $37.05.

Big thanks to mwb1100 (and Curt who also posted about this deal 2 minutes before mwb1100 did!) for posting this deal. $100 is an outrageous price for an ad blocker, but $37 for four devices lifetime is much easier to swallow.

215

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AdGuard Premium Lifetime on sale at StackSocial.com

« on: May 03, 2015, 11:52 AM »

This feature is particularly interesting as neither of my other two ad blockers (AdMuncher and AdBlock+) do this.  Youtube ads have become really annoying.

-Midnight Rambler (May 03, 2015, 11:36 AM)

My free beta period with AdGuard is running out soon so I've been trying to wean myself off of their product & now I'm seeing all these YouTube ads and ads before videos on news sites. It's brutal....I think it's almost worth $40 for YouTube ad-blocking alone.

(Ad Muncher used to block YouTube ads....back in the glory days of regular updates).

216

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AdGuard Premium Lifetime on sale at StackSocial.com

« on: May 03, 2015, 11:50 AM »

This license normally sells for $90 on the AdGuard site (the StackSocial page claims it normally sells for $120).

-mwb1100 (May 03, 2015, 03:10 AM)

Looks like they have re-done their licensing structure. They have changed things up a little and offer mobile-only and desktop-only solutions as well as a mix-and-match option. According to their new pricing, a lifetime premium license good on one mobile & one PC is $59.95...so they are just doubling that than using their figure for if you bought a 2+2 license from them for $89.90.

It looks like if you use the mix-and-match option of both PCs and Android devices, they give you the the same amount of Android licenses for PC licenses you are buying (or vice versa). That works out much cheaper than their old prices.

And this deal is still a good one. I have been pondering buying their product for a while now & I doubt it will ever be cheaper than it is with this offer.

217

General Software Discussion / Re: Comodo Internet Security -- a cautionary tale?

« on: April 20, 2015, 09:05 PM »

Did you try the Wayback Machine? Despite its flaws, it seems to be the secret weapon a lot of "slightly lazy" companies trying to cover their tracks forget about!

-TaoPhoenix (April 19, 2015, 10:39 AM)

Did you read the sentence I wrote after the one you quoted?

218

Living Room / Re: Kingston USB 3.0 for ISO usage

« on: April 19, 2015, 10:06 AM »

fodder: that's usually the first response, that it's a problem with controllers and firmware.  But I wish I could find it...this one guy tested this idea using different controllers, different computers, different firmware, and always had the same result.  it's a USB problem, and for some reason, it is not talked about.

-superboyac (April 18, 2015, 07:35 PM)

I do not doubt you read this & I don't doubt that this guy achieved the results he did. However, there needs to be more tests. There may have been a flaw in his testing methods of which he was not aware.

I have a Patriot Rage flash drive that just screams on reads and writes. I had an old Kensington USB 2.0 drive that was very fast for its time as well. The problem is that some manufacturers lie about their read/write times. Others just slap the words USB 3.0 on their packaging & while it's technically true it's a USB 3.0 drive, their product actually performs much worse than a lot of USB 2.0 drives.

Price isn't always an indicator, either. There are some truly crappy drives that are being sold at really high prices. The only thing we can do is research, research, research before we make our purchase.

219

General Software Discussion / Re: Ad blocking add-ons in Pale Moon 25

« on: April 19, 2015, 09:59 AM »

Yes, still uses the same old Adblock engine. I have my eyes on ublock, but I'm waiting for full functionality to be available in Pale Moon before trying it out. Also would be nice for some of that ublock drama to die down as well.

220

General Software Discussion / Re: Comodo Internet Security -- a cautionary tale?

« on: April 19, 2015, 09:56 AM »

Some independent sites are very reputable. However, it does all boil down to trust. What one person trusts may not be what another finds to be trust-worthy. I tend to put my faith in what AV Comparitives puts out. They take their time with their testing and while they do make money from selling comprehensive reports of their testing, they always make a basic reporting of their results free. They've been around a long time and if there were any funny business going on I would think someone would have flushed it out by now. Not only that, if they were all about the money, they'd probably be cranking out new reports for purchase monthly rather than just a few times a year.

I went on a search looking for the article I had read way back when & it's nowhere to be found (the original URL now redirects to a web page for a 2015 review of MSE...not helpful!), but thankfully I never give up and the Wayback Machine had what I needed. Here's a Wayback link to an article discussing an interview with Holly Stewart, senior program manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center:

Link

Here are also two articles from trusted web sites analyzing the first article    :

Lifehacker

HowToGeek

Microsoft is basically concentrating on what it considers to be the most serious threats. They still have a team of people working on understanding new threats, but they are passing that information to other vendors. MSE is now considered to be a baseline & Stewart stated that if every other AV solution is better than MSE, then they are doing their jobs right.

221

General Software Discussion / Re: Ad blocking add-ons in Pale Moon 25

« on: April 18, 2015, 11:59 AM »

Just decided to check out Adblock Latitude and it is perfect. The "show acceptable ads" toggle has been removed, but....and I quote..."Can still show acceptable ads if you wish it and wish to support the Internet economy, by enabling the relevant filter (under subscriptions) manually."

Now the user can edit the filter and decide for oneself what is and is not an acceptable ad rather than using an all-or-nothing dummy toggle or having to worry about an unscrupulous company buying their way on to the acceptable ad list.

222

Living Room / Re: Simpler tax forms? Intuit says NO!

« on: April 18, 2015, 11:33 AM »

This makes perfect sense. Tax filing software is a huge money-maker for companies. If the forms were easy to fill out then people wouldn't feel the need to give companies like Intuit and H&R Block $40-50 dollars every year for the software itself and the $10-20 for the privilege to file electronically.

Carol, this has nothing to do with QuickBooks (yet). Fortunately for you, you don't have to be subjected to American tax season every year.

223

Living Room / Re: 5 Insane Devices for Monitoring Your Kids

« on: April 18, 2015, 11:29 AM »

Now a suspicious person with a conspiracy-oriented outlook might wonder how many of these products are sending copies of all that data (and more) back to the manufacturers who can correlate all that juicy data to real people located at real home addresses due to warranty registrations and online ordering.

224

Living Room / Re: Kingston USB 3.0 for ISO usage

« on: April 18, 2015, 11:21 AM »

@4wd thanks for the suggestion.  Cranioscopical suggested a kid's sticker instead of a label.  I'm lazy and it turns out Walmart will send 4 sheets of kid stickers(some stuff with monkeys or something) to the local FedEx Store for less than a buck.  Now I just need to create a legend which monkey signifies which software.

-MilesAhead (April 18, 2015, 06:43 AM)

Waitaminnit....a fistful of flash drives each emblazoned with the image of a monkey? Hmmm....is Miles the origin point of the army of the 12 monkeys? <eyes Miles suspiciously>

Sandisk is a horrible company. I refuse to buy anything from them since when a few years ago they bought out a flash drive OEM (who I can't remember the name of at the moment) who offered drives that were three to four times as fast as what Sandisk was offering at the time. They bought the company, killed their products off, and kept offering their existing products with craptacular speeds.

If you can't beat the competition, buy them out and bury them.

225

General Software Discussion / Re: Comodo Internet Security -- a cautionary tale?

« on: April 18, 2015, 10:52 AM »

First, don't bother with any product that includes a firewall. There's really no good reason to use anything but the built-in Windows stuff... unless you're one of those paranoid enterprisey corporations, and then you'd run fascist outgoing firewalls at your internet edge, not individual machines.

-f0dder (April 15, 2015, 01:19 PM)

Generally this is very good advice *except* for when one has a need to see what outgoing connections are being made with your machine. The built-in Windows firewall can block incoming connections with the best of them, but there's no mechanism to interactively allow and block outgoing connections. Most people don't need or even care about this functionality, though. For someone who is curious to see what programs they have installed are connecting to who-knows-where behind their back, leaving the Windows firewall behind is a must.

Second, I haven't seen any good reasons to use anything but MSE for anti-malware for several years.

Then, my good sir, I must respectfully believe that you have not been looking very hard. MSE has done horribly in independent testing for the last couple years, never scoring more than 60-65%. Most testing sites do not even take MSE seriously as an anti-malware solution and have stated they only include the results as a baseline. Microsoft themselves have stated that MSE has been moved to the back-burner a long time ago.

Running MSE is like driving a car without wearing a seatbelt. You'll feel secure until something bad happens.

There was a time when if anyone ever asked for a light AV solution, everybody chimed in and said Eset NOD32. End of thread. Sadly, those days are far behind us.