Recent Posts

1501

General Software Discussion / Re: Win7: Anyone else getting excited?

« Last post by Innuendo on October 18, 2009, 12:05 PM »

Hopefully your local price tag will be better than ours.

-40hz (October 18, 2009, 08:19 AM)

Chances are poor Carol, and other UKers, will get the screw. Lots of software companies when setting UK software prices usually just remove the $ off of the US price tag and replace it with a £.

1502

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Innuendo on October 18, 2009, 12:01 PM »

Or perhaps WSE suffering form false positives?

-f0dder (October 18, 2009, 10:22 AM)

Yes, I wish Iain had uploaded the files to VirusTotal before deleting them, but I can totally understand his "get these files off my PC *NOW*!" reaction.

1503

General Software Discussion / Re: Who should judge Win7's success?

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 11:07 PM »

Is UI configuration and function an absolute in terms of productivity? Or is it a preference? I happen to think it is very much a preference. Different people work best in different ways.

-JavaJones (October 17, 2009, 06:22 PM)

I agree with that. People do work best in different ways. I'm sure MS conducted focus groups and research that pointed them to changing things the way they did, but you can't please all the people all of the time and unfortunately, you are in the minority segment this go-around.

(if merging of app windows is disabled as I prefer).

And this is where your problem lies. I really think MS put that mode in almost as an after-thought to keep people happy who weren't going to like the new way of doing things. But like you said, it really doesn't cater to the muscle memory angle of things at all.

This all seems like a step backward in the productivity of the UI to me. But again maybe I'm just using it wrong.

When I want to take a look at what's going on in my programs I either just slide my mouse across the icons on the taskbar and look at the thumbnails or if I am needing a bigger look Windows-Tab brings up Flip3D. My email program throws up a little ticker tape in the lower right hand corner of my screen to show me how many messages I have, who they are from, and what the subject line is so I don't have to worry about that.

I'm not saying you are using it wrong at all. Your work habits just may not be well-suited at all to the new way of doing things & I am sure you are not alone. Once Windows 7 is officially out and hits its stride I'll be very interested to see what third-party solutions come out to address the needs of people like you.

1504

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 10:46 PM »

The weird thing is in FF beta it doesn't even show in the AddOns list.  Creepy.

-MilesAhead (October 17, 2009, 06:43 PM)

That IS creepy. Must have slipped through the cracks as 3.5.3 popped up a dialog and did a "we're going to disable this and you don't have a choice" thing.

1505

General Software Discussion / Re: dell laptop, vista won't activate

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 06:04 PM »

Sadly, Im not. I purchased my laptop before the free upgrade was offered.

-nite_monkey (October 17, 2009, 02:40 PM)

Not that I'd ever, ever advocate such a thing, but historically speaking, in a matter of hours after OEM OS upgrades are delivered to consumers ISO images of said upgrades start appearing all over the internet & people who have BIOSes like yours that will activate the latest OS only have to install these ISOs to enjoy something for free.

But whether or not you do something like that is something you & your moral compass will need to discuss.

1506

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 06:01 PM »

btw anyone getting weird errors about having to restart Firefox because of Microsoft Presentation Foundation? All of a sudden I'm getting this on installs that have been stable for months.  I read the GHacks and MS articles how to remove the Firefox Agent thing that causes the problem, but there's no indication it's there.  The registry setting they tell to look for is not there. The folder in the .NET structure they say to look for is not there. It's not in the AddOns list.  It just pops up whenever it feels like it to make me restart Firefox.

-MilesAhead (October 17, 2009, 03:33 PM)

Don't know if it is related, but this morning when I fired up Firefox I got a dialog box that said that Firefox was disabling the Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant extension because it was a source of stability issues.

More info on that:

https://bugzilla.moz...ow_bug.cgi?id=522777

1507

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 05:58 PM »

I'm guessing it's a tip of the iceburg Cloud Computing thing. ...Which is not IMO a good sign.

-Stoic Joker (October 17, 2009, 02:39 PM)

When someone mentions "Cloud Computing" I always picture a dark cloud. Raining on me.    Cloud computing seems to me like a method to take away control and choice from the end users.

On the Firewall thing I've yet to see an SPI implementation in a residential class device that wasn't more trouble than it was worth (performance under load = dropped connections).

For home use I recommend people seriously look into buying a router that's capable of running one of the community-driven firmware products like DD-WRT, OpenWRT, or Tomato. They're all based on Linux which is a pretty solid foundation to build upon when it comes to firewalls, routing and such.

Sure on the SMB and up comercial side there are some nice devices...but you'll be looking at $500+ on sale of you're lucky which is a bit steep for most folks.

Yes, $500...plus who knows how much more for a support contract if you want tech support & firmware upgrades. I used to run a Cisco router here at the house, but a few months ago I moved to a Linksys WRT610N w/ DD-WRT firmware and haven't looked back. I've got all the features my old Cisco had, but on a faster platform that's easier to manage and configure.

1508

General Software Discussion / Re: Who should judge Win7's success?

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 05:42 PM »

I'm glad to tell you that I will make use of this right then...

-Tuxman (October 17, 2009, 11:49 AM)

Vive la différence and all that.   I will say I don't buy into everything MS has put into Windows 7. For example, while I welcome all the UI changes in Windows 7 I still don't use Explorer for file management. I still rely on Total Commander for that & you can't get any more 'classic' than that.

1509

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows vs. Mac: I'm starting to change.

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 05:38 PM »

It's not *the* top end- but it's more advanced than most laptop video cards.

-wraith808 (October 17, 2009, 11:35 AM)

And on this point we also agree. It's a darn sight better than the Intel graphics solution you find in most laptops. Blech!

1510

General Software Discussion / Re: Who should judge Win7's success?

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 11:22 AM »

However, if MS REALLY wants a hit on its hands, they should do something about their pricing scheme. From what I've seen, Windows 7 will be very expensive.  If MS took a page from Apple's playbook and released a single DVD with all flavours of Windows 7 on it and one license key for a flat sum of $100-200, it would sell like hot cakes. Instead this is the price point for lower-end version UPGRADE LICENSES, which will still require clean installs. Not smart marketing in my opinion.

-Darwin (October 17, 2009, 08:36 AM)

Darwin, I agree with everything you say in this post in principle, but the reality is that the biggest percentage of Windows users, the great unwashed masses if you will, don't care how much Windows will be selling for on the shelves. They typically buy a machine from Dell, HP, or someone else and use whatever OS is on it till it is time to upgrade the machine. Then they go out and buy a new computer repeating the cycle. They never upgrade the OS on its own, but only when they buy a new computer.

Of the people who do buy OS upgrades, most of them are the techy nerd crowd & they are savvy enough to know that buying an OEM copy is where the smart money is so the on-the-shelf pricing doesn't affect them, either.

In my opinion, the only ones who pay the high prices of retail upgrade copies are those who have more money than sense & like the high prices so they have something to brag about to their friends, i.e. "Yeah, I just bought that new Windows 7. It cost me $499, but I don't care. I just used the money I found in my couch cushions."

1511

General Software Discussion / Re: Who should judge Win7's success?

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 11:14 AM »

According to the recommendations, it takes at least twice as much of resources.

-Tuxman (October 16, 2009, 07:46 PM)

Real world experiences with me and people I know have shown that Windows 7 takes less resources than Vista and in most cases runs on PCs as well or better than XP did.

I performed studies myself. The one I performed them with was I. You see, if you are keen with a certain way to handle your OS (having been using Windows since 1996), it is a huge loss of productivity if you'll have to change your behavior entirely.

No more actual "task" bar, no more classic start menu; two big disadvantages for me. Of course, computer newbies (starting with Vista or sth) won't have these problems.

So this is more about your reluctance to change & adopt new usability and ergonomics than about Microsoft's new OS then? Things change. User interfaces are refined and usability is improved...if you give them a chance. There's a small amount of time with less productivity until you get used to the new way of doing things, but after you've learned the new way your productivity will have increased.

If you don't want to like Windows 7 then do it for a real reason. Don't knock Windows 7 just because Microsoft didn't include the Windows 95 interface which is near 15 years old.

1512

General Software Discussion / Re: Who should judge Win7's success?

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 11:07 AM »

Windows 7 is, basically, Vista with a unusable task bar. So I can't see a sense in "upgrading".

-Tuxman (October 16, 2009, 07:16 PM)

Please reserve all judgement on Windows 7's task bar until you have actually used it. While it looks lame and uninspiring in screenshots I have found it to be spectacular in use & I could never go back to the Vista taskbar.

If you have actually used it and still don't like it then that's your right.

1513

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 10:58 AM »

Some stuff will work with Half Shell that you can download here:
http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html

Just scroll down the page until you see the entry for Half Shell.

-MilesAhead (October 16, 2009, 10:48 PM)

This should be handy information for anyone who should need it, but not I. I bought my PC right before 64-bit CPUs took off so I'm still toddling along with a 32-bit only Pentium 4.

1514

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows vs. Mac: I'm starting to change.

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 10:56 AM »

Today, the "typical user's" interaction with their computer is the browser, not the OS. Since all browsers are cross-platform -- oh wait, not Microsoft's IE -- you should use the OS you're willing to tolerate.

-zridling (October 16, 2009, 09:29 PM)

All the people I know with computers, ranging from 13 to 67, gauge their user interaction by the apps and games they use. The only use they have for the browser usually is to obtain more data to use with their games and apps, i.e. information for book reports, downloadable content for games, music for their mp3 players, etc.

When these people go to upgrade their computers, or to buy a new one, the choice of browser never enters into it. They base their decisions on needing to run Micrsoft Word or Final Cut or Garage Band or Half Life 2.

Now if the days of cloud computing finally arrive then I agree it will be all about the web browser, but every single one of these 13 to 70 year olds I know do not like the concept of cloud computing at all.

1515

General Software Discussion / Re: dell laptop, vista won't activate

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 10:49 AM »

So that I don't have to go through all this mess again, I made an image of my drive with acronis after it was all set up and activated.

-nite_monkey (October 16, 2009, 07:52 PM)

That, my friend, was a wise decision. Activation works for most people in most situations. You, unfortunately, were one of the individuals who did not fall into that group. Glad you got it sorted & hopefully you won't have to revisit this topic when they send you your OEM Windows 7 disc (if you're entitled to one).

1516

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 10:46 AM »

This just in.....Paul Thurrot and Leo LaPorte are idiots. Cliff Evans, Microsoft UK's security chief, has stated that MSE does indeed have heuristic detection abilities. However, the way I read the article, all things are not rosy as Microsoft has implemented a procedure where MSE will study the behavior of suspicious programs, but it has to contact Microsoft's servers to check against known malware signatures. This, in my mind, seems like a design flaw as laptop users are obtaining new files all the time & they are not always in a position where they have access to the internet.

First the quote from Cliff Evans:

"MSE uses a higher amount of heuristic detection techniques than OneCare, Evans said. The software studies the behaviour of suspicious applications, then reports back to a central server to check the behaviour against that of known malware.

The Dynamic Signature Service technology uses the most recent virus definitions to check applications for risks, rather than relying on the last batch of definitions downloaded, Microsoft said.

The suite also emulates programs before they complete their execution, and looks for behaviour such as carrying out operations without user permission, Owen said. If a program is behaving suspiciously, MSE will ping the Dynamic Signature Service to see whether the program should be submitted for analysis or terminated."

And the article link:

http://news.zdnet.co...0189,39778759,00.htm

It's unknown if MSE will fall back to the current definitions downloaded to analyze if the Dynamic Signature Service server is unavailable. Personally, I'm wondering why if MSE is checking the server for "the most recent virus definitions...rather than relying on the last batch of definitions downloaded" why it doesn't just download the most recent virus definitions, do the analysis locally, and be done with it.

1517

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Innuendo on October 17, 2009, 10:37 AM »

Can you expand on this?  My understanding is that unless you configure a 'open host' or some specific port forwarding(s), incoming connections to a NAT router don't even have anywhere to go so there's nothing to do but drop them.  What is a firewall going to do above that, at least for your typical home environment where there's no reason for an incoming connection?

-mwb1100 (October 16, 2009, 11:14 PM)

The most obvious distinction between a firewall and NAT is that a firewall can be configured to control outgoing as well as incoming connections. The other most important distinction is that firewalls (the ones that do stateful inspection) analyzes incoming packets to make sure they are what they say they are before passing them on to the destination. Most NAT implementations, however, are considerably dumber and usually just blindly send through a packet to where it's supposed to go without any analysis.

It's been some time ago, but I recall reading some tests on dumb NAT routers where a carefully crafted spoofed packet could make it through NAT allowing an attacker access to the computer behind the NAT.

For those who are really security-conscious and have data on their PCs that definitely should be protected from getting out into the real world (corporations, high profile people, etc.), these people should settle for nothing less than an ICSA-certified firewall.

1518

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by Innuendo on October 16, 2009, 06:19 PM »

I did a few 32 bit windows shell extensions but the design wasn't the best.  I reworked some of them, but just as I get them perfected, 32 bit shell is going obsolete.  So all that work is pretty much unusable on my primary machine.

-MilesAhead (October 16, 2009, 05:38 PM)

At the risk of going off-topic....it seems like this area is where shareware authors are really falling behind. If I had a nickel for every shareware program that has a note in the readme that says, "NOTE: Shell extensions don't work on 64-bit Windows"....

1519

Living Room / Re: Snow leopard bug causes erasure of users home directory

« Last post by Innuendo on October 16, 2009, 06:17 PM »

If you think about it, closed devices and appliances also get updated the same way

-Lashiec (October 16, 2009, 05:18 PM)

Yeah, but my DVD player that plays Divx files off of flash drives has never deleted all my Divx files, though.

1520

Living Room / Re: GhostNet - The Facts

« Last post by Innuendo on October 16, 2009, 06:14 PM »

Don't such important people use firewalls, anti-this&that, etcetera?

-Curt (October 16, 2009, 01:20 PM)

Truly important people have minions to take care of all that stuff for them.


Wish I had a minion.... 

1521

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Innuendo on October 16, 2009, 06:11 PM »

Every single Anti-EvilWare solution on the market today is at best (just like birth control) only 98% effective. Why? (lawyers, true) Because (sh)IT happens...and there just isn't (cycle) time to check for every little thing right down to the very last detail so everybody just picks their best rendition of hitting the high-spots and calls it good.

-Stoic Joker (October 16, 2009, 05:16 PM)

This is why I always preach running a layered defense system. Start with your router. Make sure it has a firewall & not just NAT. NAT is not a firewall or a substitute for a firewall. Run a good AV & HIPS solution. Doesn't matter if they are both integrated in one program or not, but it's good to run them. Choosing to run a software firewall isn't a bad idea, either. If something ever does make it through your defenses chances are you'll be alerted when it tries to phone home.

Take the time to run MBAM & A-Squared from time to time as insurance. As crazy as it may sound, I recommend running a good ad-blocker as well. All those banner ads and pop-ups are increasingly an attack vector into the systems of unsuspecting users.

The good ole days of when a person could just not use a resident scanner & just do an AV scan once a month to stay secure are over & it's only going to get worse.

1522

General Software Discussion / Re: Something I don't get about Search Engines...

« Last post by Innuendo on October 16, 2009, 06:02 PM »

I'm going with the people are fickle and lazy explanation. Basically if the new engine doesn't either dazzle with better results, or at least get close enough to not annoy ... folks just tend to go back to (their old habits) what they know.

-Stoic Joker (October 13, 2009, 10:45 PM)

I think this is the number one reason. Google beat Yahoo! because its algorithms were better. Now most people stick with Google because while there have been some good ideas out there from competitors there hasn't been anything that has proven to be significantly better than Google in any area.

Maybe it's just me, I'd like to step off on Google but It's too much effort to remember to use Bing when I have a custom search alias for Google.

Every time I resolve to give Bing a try the results Bing turns up are either the same as Google's or inferior to Google's. Also, any time I haven't been able to find something on Google and try other search engines I have yet to find something on one of the other search engines that Google has failed to find.

1523

General Software Discussion / Re: The quiet disappearance of the top two mp3 cataloging software.

« Last post by Innuendo on October 16, 2009, 11:53 AM »

Update: Everything regarding digital music has changed as compared to just a few years ago. There are a lot more choices today, but that doesn't make it necessarily better. Every program has their own way of doing things and what is regarded to be the standard when it comes to tagging musical files really isn't much of a standard.

As I research all this it seems more and more I'm trapped in a documentary about Rube Goldberg.

1524

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by Innuendo on October 16, 2009, 11:28 AM »

That's just me.  When I find something that works I hate to change it unless the new thing is really snappy and I can depend on it. Now and then I have to drag myself into the next decade with an effort.

-MilesAhead (October 15, 2009, 09:28 PM)

I'm pretty much the opposite. I'm always looking for something new that will do my tasks better than what I have been using before so I'm pretty sure I've already got all the extensions that work best for me.

Compounding the "things that don't say they are 3.6-compatible" is GreaseMonkey. It's one that says it's only 3.5.* compatible and I have a butt-load of scripts that make my life easier. It's killing me to know I'm missing out on all the 3.6 goodness, but yesterday I wrestled with a very frustrating problem with MediaMonkey that I *finally* traced back to AdMuncher. Grrrr...so yesterday pretty much filled my taste for "troubleshooting fun" for awhile.

1525

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by Innuendo on October 16, 2009, 11:23 AM »

Keep us posted, Miles. If nothing else, you throwing yourself on this grenade may prevent the senseless death of other dual-layer DVD-R discs in the future.