Recent Posts

1201

General Software Discussion / Re: Mini-HowTo: Handling Cookie Privacy the Right Way

« Last post by Lashiec on January 20, 2008, 02:25 PM »

One of the things I like about Opera is site preferences. I have configured the browser to accept all cookies, but delete everything on exit, except for those sites that I visit often, and keeps settings in them, which are configured to not being deleted.

The ideal way would be to only accept cookies originated from the site, but it seems this is no longer an option, as I had problems in the past with Hotmail Windows Live Mail, GMail and PhotoBucket, complaining about deactivated cookies or terminating my session unexpectedly. I guess an external server is handling some cookies essential for the sites, or they are somehow reading my cookie policy and forcing me to accept tracking cookies or something, who knows... Maybe this is why Firefox 2.0 no longer has three options in the cookie policy, it's either accept or reject everything.

Talking about Firefox, CookieCuller is a very good extension for managing cookies. CCleaner is a good option, BUT after a while, the number of cookies can be overwhelming, and the provided information is zero. Either way, it's a better option than not using anything, especially if you use IE (no cookie management thingie)

Also, I want mouser's CPU and amount of installed RAM.

1202

Living Room / Re: Vista : included backup and security software

« Last post by Lashiec on January 20, 2008, 01:54 PM »

Well, in terms of security, Vista includes Internet Explorer 7 with a protected mode, which means the entire browser runs in a sandbox, and it has no access to the rest of the system unless you specify it (by means of a dialog), here it's the friendly explanation, and here the technical details. Of course, you're better with a properly configured browser like Opera or Firefox, with ad blocking and everything, but you can add SpyBot's download blocker, which also serves as an ad blocker (yeah, it's strange, but I prefer doing that than adding 80,000 URLs to the registry <_<)

What else? The firewall now has outbound protection, together with some improvements outlined here, to me it looks quite better than the one included with XP, and, as we discussed in other threads, it complements the protection of a properly configured router.

It also includes the lovely UAC. Remember that by using TweakUAC, you can rid of the pesky dialogs, while retaining the rest of the security advantages (IE protected mode, etc.)

Finally, it has Windows Defender, while not being SpySweeper or AVG Anti-Spyware, it's a good product, and monitors the usual hijacking locations, while protecting from spyware. A bad point of it is its lack of updates, which are not even daily, sometimes weekly, and mostly you have to rely on its heuristics from new threats protection. It's also lightweight, which I like, but personally I would choose another app if you can AND if you feel like your parents have enough expertise for handling a more advanced app. Otherwise it's adequate, I've been testing it for a month or now, and no infection problems, even after navigating to some questionable sites, but I think I'll settle for another free alternative, maybe ThreatFire.

I don't know about backups

1203

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 20, 2008, 01:27 PM »

And another 300% for the components. I can't believe they charge you that much for a simple RAM stick as they do, you're better buying one on your own and getting the Mac with a minimum amount of memory.

1204

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 18, 2008, 08:34 PM »

I have a printout of the latest Radeon HD model (can't remember the model atm, too lazy to search through my growing pile(s) of crap to find it) from NewEgg, and I plan on getting whatever is the top-of-the-line when my bday rolls around again. As for driver bugs...what driver bugs? O_o? And my fan is whisper quiet. :tellme:

-wreckedcarzz (January 18, 2008, 04:30 PM)

f0dder had bad experiences with previous Radeon models ;D. Time ago Catalyst drivers gave a lot of problems, things are much better n... *Lashiec computer gets a BSOD*, nah really, it's rock solid :). And one of the highlights of the 38xx line of cards is that they give a beating to nVidia alternatives regarding fan noise (it depends on the assembler implementation, though), and in power consumption, they're fantastic in that department.

Besides, you can always get a third-party cooler for the card, or buy one with one already built-in. My Radeon came with a Zalman cooler out of the box, that's one of the reasons I bought it. That, and the game that came in the package, better than the other alternatives :D

1205

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Lashiec on January 18, 2008, 08:14 PM »

It's highly unlikely that a text file could be used to infect a computer, I would go as far as to say that it's impossible, considering what a text file is. If you want to be sure, ask about it in the Living Room.

How's avast? Fine, it's free . I mean, it does its work, does not get in the way, and is pretty decent for the price. Not NOD32, but a fine antivirus. Very lightweight as well, and did you know that INI operations are not affected by it?

mouser is using ESET Smart Security, BTW. I suppose the version of NOD32 used in the suite it's the same as the standalone one, but who knows. He used Comodo during a brief time, though, until not too long ago. Bad timing, I guess.

1206

General Software Discussion / Re: starting a revolt against Opera. Worth it?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 18, 2008, 01:15 PM »

A-W-E-S-O-M-E, that's one less thing to complain about Opera. And I actually like that I have to press the button for spell checking, that forces me to do some proof reading and (hopefully) avoid eating words in any language ;D. Too bad it seems there's no support for Galician :( (it does not even recognize the word, d'oh!)

1207

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 18, 2008, 12:45 PM »

Oh, gosh, a lot of people would kill you for spending so many money and having such components in the PC

I'd get a Core 2 Duo (get rid of that Pentium D!), but not the E8200, not yet, it's not even available on Newegg, and AFAIK the Wolfdale family of new Core 2 are not out yet (the Duo will be out first, the Quad is delayed), and if you can, a Radeon 3850, which has a good balance between power and cost (oh, man, you have a 2600 >_<). I don't have an idea of what to use for the front panels, but Zalman has good things in the controller area.

1208

Developer's Corner / Re: Free icons for developers

« Last post by Lashiec on January 18, 2008, 12:23 PM »

I think it's safe to use them, Opera and other proprietary apps have skins based on those icons, and they are used without problems. After all, loading external icons is kind of using an external DLL

app, you're a packrat

1209

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Lashiec on January 18, 2008, 12:13 PM »

And be sure to report what it seems like a bug to ESET, so they can code a fix or give some insight about what's going on.

1210

General Software Discussion / Re: starting a revolt against Opera. Worth it?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 18, 2008, 08:40 AM »

That one looks really neat, I'll give it a shot later. Thanks!

1211

Living Room / Re: Did dual-layer recordable dvd discs ever make it mainstream?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 09:06 PM »

They will take off, sooner or later, and maybe only Blu Ray, taking into account the recent events with HD DVD support. For a second set of backups, they would be invaluable. With 2 or 3 I would had my entire data backed up, and considering that they're more robust than older optical media, they can last 10 years easily (proper manufactured DVDs and CDs can do the same, but they're harder to find). If they go bad after some time, hey pick up two or three more, and burn the data to them, some people do that with DVDs storing critical data, if they found they're starting to fail, they burn a fresh replacement. Remember when buying DVDs was prohibitive (not that long ago)? Now we're buying them in packs containing 50 or 100

1212

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 08:55 PM »

If you feel like investigating everything, turn all of them on . I guess process and file activity would be enough, process don't create much information, but file activity will keep you entertained for a while, filter usage is mandatory

1213

Living Room / Re: Third party system tools for windows XP

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 08:48 PM »

I have XPSysPad but I never used it since it was installed. I don't know why, either I know where it's everything in Windows, or maybe I find as painful as to search for the tools in Windows as to navigate the overcrowded menus. I'll probably uninstall it in a near future.

1214

General Software Discussion / Re: starting a revolt against Opera. Worth it?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 08:45 PM »

I would sign it, but I don't know if it would have any effect at all. As nontroppo clarifies the API is closed tight, so that means the Opera developers would not consider the addition of an extension system ever. To tell you the truth, I don't think an public API would open the floodgates to migration from Firefox (as people always is saying an extension system would bring the gap between the two browsers), maybe for hardcore users, but it would not be that noticeable. Opera wasn't at the place nor at the hour, so they missed the train.

But enough ranting about unrelated things. I'd like the Opera guys to add real spellchecking for Opera, like Firefox, without relying in Aspell. I think it would be a problem to use OSS-licensed dictionaries, but maybe there's a workaround, like commercial and affordable options, or BSD-licensed alternatives :). I'd also like the content blocker to be more powerful and to work better, Kestrel seems to improve it but I don't know at what level. And something like Launchy (the extension), would be great, again Kestrel has native support for adding at least other browsers, but I'd like to add other programs and sets of defined extensions to launch those programs once I instructed it to do so from an page element using the context menu. And IE QuickTabs, I want that!

(Now someone will come and say: With Firefox and extensions you could have that, etc., etc. ;D)

1215

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 08:19 PM »

Be warned: Process Monitor creates HUGE logs, you might need some time to go through to it, and to understand what's happening.

1216

Living Room / Re: Browser Zoom Functionality...

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 08:16 PM »

Don't worry guys, Firefox 3 already fixed the issue and implemented page zooming ala Opera . IE... er, wait for version 8

1217

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 07:53 PM »

No, I mean Process Monitor to see what the system is doing during the process: which programs are working and what are they doing, how is the file being read (for the figures, it seems like the file is being read in 1-byte chunks every second ), etc.

1218

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 07:39 PM »

Perhaps it would be a good idea to run Process Monitor while you run João's program?

1219

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 07:18 PM »

12 f****** minutes to write that file?! Something is really wrong there.

1220

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Lashiec on January 17, 2008, 08:27 AM »

Sure, let me try my hand at it. João, it could be a good idea to post the basic specs of your computer.

23 secons to create the file, 18 to read it. avast! tray icon isn't spinning, except when the program is launched. With Windows Defender deactivated, 18 seconds to create the file, and 22-24 to read it (weird). I deactivated avast! later, but the results are the same. Tip: Use Windows Defender to speed up file copies

Machine specs: AthlonX2 5200, 2 GB RAM @ 667 MHz, Seagate 7200.10 320 GB

1221

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs - "American's Don't Read"

« Last post by Lashiec on January 16, 2008, 07:26 PM »

There's also a world outside the USA ;), although I agree that the Kindle is not the ultimate book reader. Then again none of the services offered by Apple on movies, TV series and music are "ultimate" by my definition of culture freedom :P

I'm sure Apple will be witnessing the experiment with attention to see if it's worthwile to release something. And THEN book readers will be as hip as the iPhone right now (and as expensive, of course ;D)

In addition, Steve Jobs seems to forget that people reads more than it seems, just not books.

1222

Living Room / Re: Help! Any NetGear experts out there?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 16, 2008, 07:13 PM »

Maybe a hardware problem like the Ethernet port is failing? Nah, forget about that, the Internet would be failing as well.

1223

General Software Discussion / Re: Fireday - Blog Reviews New Firefox Extensions Every Friday - Nice Archive

« Last post by Lashiec on January 16, 2008, 07:11 PM »

Anyone know any other firefox extension review blogs/sites?

-mouser (January 16, 2008, 04:43 PM)

Yup, the Firefox Extension Guru

1224

General Software Discussion / Re: ReNamer: The best freeware file renamer? (yes says cybernetnews.com)

« Last post by Lashiec on January 16, 2008, 06:59 PM »

Yeah, yeah, I know the two fellas you're talking about. One shows everything she has with a mouse click, so it appears she does not have anything

1225

Living Room / Re: What should I do with my audio CDs?

« Last post by Lashiec on January 16, 2008, 06:49 PM »

I wish Slimdevices released a Squeezebox that gave you the option to attach a external hard drive, I'd ditch my Hi-Fi system for it