Recent Posts

1526

Living Room / Re: Conficker - The Facts

« Last post by J-Mac on April 01, 2009, 01:54 AM »

Going to HTTP://ip.number.here often won't work, since the site won't get the "Host: domain.name.com" HTTP header they expect. You'd have to put the IPs in your hosts files, but that file is probably used by DnsQuery() and thus the method is going to fail because Conficker's patching.

-f0dder (April 01, 2009, 12:32 AM)

That is very true, but using a proxy like hidemyass.com would probably work, without the need of even trying the IP and using the actual URL that conficker is blocking. And yes, you can download removal tools through that proxy. I tested it.

-app103 (April 01, 2009, 12:38 AM)

That's a great tip, app. Thank you!

Jim

1527

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by J-Mac on April 01, 2009, 01:50 AM »

OK. I thought that sounded too good to be true. I would love a bookmark program to know which browser I have open and launch URLs there. Probably could be done but wouldn't be easy, I imagine.

Thanks!

Jim

1528

General Software Discussion / Re: When was your last BSOD? I'm betting it was a long time ago

« Last post by J-Mac on April 01, 2009, 01:42 AM »

Grrrrr....

A long time? Surely you jest, Z-Man!! I have a BSOD-making machine here! My box - a custom-built lemon by Falcon Northwest - has an Asus/Nvidia motherboard that has never gotten along with Nvidia's display drivers. I used to have BSOD's at the rate of literally 8 or 10 a week. Less now since I have changed out graphics cards twice. Also, Falcon installed a Hauppauge TV Tuner card that also seems to have conflicts with just about any other audio codecs in use on the box. Then there is the fact that Nvidia arrogantly has their display drivers grab interrupts based on written code, whether or not something else is already using it, and it refuses to allow XP to manage the sharing as XP normally does. This seems to only be a problem with Creative sound cards. Someone here at DC advised me of this: Whenever a new graphics driver is available from Nvidia, I must first uninstall the Creative X-Fi xtreme Music card, install the new Nvidia driver, and then reinstall the Creative card! Creative - not particularly known for the best drivers themselves - at least survey the interrupts and changes its choices based on what's using what, unlike Nvidia's selfish crap.

OK, enough on my box. Now let's talk about the new Dell i530 I got for my wife! Her ATI graphics card crashed at least twice a week for almost a year. Aarrgghhh - graphics card driver hell! I'm in it!!    Actually I just found yet another solution for this a few days ago and she is now on the longest straight run without a BSOD since I bought the darned thing. Dell is clueless, as usual. Lots of Dell users of their HD2400 monitor are experiencing this evidenced by the forum posts at the Dell Community, but Dell has not offered any solution thus far. I just tried a new release of ATI's control center software and driver but only after a long and thorough cleaning out of ALL registry keys related to ATI - and man oh man are there a few of them. Supposedly this has worked for a lot of folks.

Long time ago?? $&&%*(%%!!

Jim

1529

Living Room / Re: Conficker - The Facts

« Last post by J-Mac on March 31, 2009, 10:17 PM »

Wow! What a job, gally!

Thank you very much for that!

Jim

1530

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by J-Mac on March 31, 2009, 10:15 PM »

Yes, this has been mentioned, and yes it is there in Linkman. At least I see it in the Pro version. Tools>Settings>Browser: List all your browsers here; first is "User-Defined".  Then, Tools>Settings>Launch URLs: Top left box entitled, "Launch URLs with:"

-J-Mac (March 31, 2009, 05:39 PM)

Hi, Jim.  I think I probably didn't make myself sufficiently clear.  I know that Linkman will work with a variety of browsers, and I know that I can go into Settings and tell it which browser to use.  But what I'd like is for it to simply use whichever supported browser I happen to have open.  Thus, if I've set it so that it should open bookmarks with Firefox but I happen to have Opera open instead, I'd like to be able to have it work with Opera without my having to go back into Settings and change things.   

-cyberdiva (March 31, 2009, 05:59 PM)

How would it do that? I don't know of any bookmark program that knows what browser you have open. Did Powermarks do that?

Jim

1531

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by J-Mac on March 31, 2009, 05:39 PM »

Since this thread started with reference to replacing Powermarks, I'd like to ask a question about Linkman related to that.  I have this vague memory of a setting in Powermarks that enabled it to use whatever supported browser was open.  I'd love to have a similar feature in Linkman.  I know that Linkman permits me to specify that a given bookmark should open with a specific computer (for example, if I say that Linkman should open bookmarks in Firefox, I can nonetheless specify in the properties that a certain bookmark should always open in, say, Internet Explorer).  That's quite useful, but what I'd really like is a setting that says Linkman should open bookmarks in whatever browser is open.  (If more than one browser is open, Linkman could handle it in one of two ways: either 1) ask the user to select the browser to use, or 2) use the browser specified in the Settings in "user defined.")  Am I right in thinking that such a feature doesn't currently exist?  Could it be implemented?

-cyberdiva (March 31, 2009, 02:11 PM)

Yes, this has been mentioned, and yes it is there in Linkman. At least I see it in the Pro version. Tools>Settings>Browser: List all your browsers here; first is "User-Defined".  Then, Tools>Settings>Launch URLs: Top left box entitled, "Launch URLs with:"

Jim

1532

General Software Discussion / Re: Best password manager?

« Last post by J-Mac on March 31, 2009, 01:05 AM »

Though I own four licenses for Roboform, 2 Pro, 1 PPC, and 1 Robo2Go Flash Drive, it started failing badly on Firefox for the last couple months. The RF toolbar would continually close and re-open, each time showing a different passcard different than the web site I was visiting. All were cards in my database but it was like RF couldn't decide which to use. I wrote their support several times and got no good answers from them. Their support was really good way back when I first purchased RF, in 2003 I think. But it has gone downhill as they have grown. Most do, I guess.

So I decided to try others to see how they worked. I used Sxipper for a few weeks - not entirely bad but not that great either. At least it wasn't acting crazy like RF was. More recently I have been using LastPass, and I immediately decided that I would stick with it. It is equal to Roboform in all the features that match up with RF, and it performs some things that RF does not. For example, RoboForm cannot accurately handle frames containing data from a different site than the main page. One case in point is on my Gmail page I have a Twitter gadget that requires me to login to Twitter. RoboForm had asked if I wanted to save the Twitter login info and I did so, worried that RF wouldn't know what to do with it. I was right. Sometimes it filled the Gmail login with Twitter data; other times it filled the Gmail data correctly; on occasion it filled the Twitter gadget with my Gmail login. But it never once filled the Twitter gadget with my Twitter login data. LastPass, on the other hand, fills both correctly every time. It knows much better what to fill where on pages with multiple logins.

I'll keep it for now!

Jim

1533

Living Room / Re: Conficker - The Facts

« Last post by J-Mac on March 31, 2009, 12:50 AM »

The Windows Secrets article that Phil lined to above mentions that most A-V sites and the MS Update site will not be reachable if a machine is infected with Conficker, but you can still get there via the IP addresses for htose same sites. So it would be a good idea to get ahold of those IP addresses sometime ahead of 4/1.

Jim

-J-Mac (March 30, 2009, 10:52 PM)

I'm happy to resolve the entire and post it, but I can't find a complete list of what gets blocked. Anyone have one?

Ehtyar.

-Ehtyar (March 30, 2009, 11:18 PM)

Actually it blocks access to any URLs containing certain strings. Here is the list of strings that it blocks:

In its attempt to prevent access to security-related sites for information, help or software updates, the worm attempts to block running applications from accessing URLs containing any of the following strings:

avg.
avp.
bit9.
ca.
cert.
gmer.
kav.
llnw.
llnwd.
msdn.
msft.
nai.
sans.
vet.
agnitum
ahnlab
anti-
antivir
arcabit
avast
avgate
avira
bothunter
castlecops
ccollomb
centralcommand
clamav
comodo
computerassociates
conficker
cpsecure
cyber-ta
db networkassociates
defender
drweb
dslreports
emsisoft
esafe
eset
etrust
ewido
f-prot
f-secure
fortinet
free-av
freeav
gdata
grisoft
hackerwatch
hacksoft
hauri
ikarus
jotti
k7computing
kaspersky
malware
mcafee
microsoft
mirage
mitre
msftncsi
msmvps
mtc.sri
nod32
norman
norton
onecare
panda
pctools
prevx
ptsecurity
quickheal
removal
rising
rootkit
safety.live
securecomputing
secureworks
sophos
spamhaus
spyware
sunbelt
symantec
technet
threat
threatexpert
trendmicro
trojan
virscan
virus
wilderssecurity
windowsupdate

The above list is from CA's page on Conficker, located here.

Hope this helps.

Jim

1534

Screenshot Captor / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - ScreenshotCaptor - 2.53.01 - March 18, 2009

« Last post by J-Mac on March 30, 2009, 11:46 PM »

mouser,

I just downloaded and installed 2.53.01. I didn't get any notification this time though. I just saw that a new version was available. Same with Process Tamer. How can I get DCUpdater to update these? Or can't I?

Thanks!

Jim

1535

Living Room / Re: Conficker - The Facts

« Last post by J-Mac on March 30, 2009, 10:52 PM »

The Windows Secrets article that Phil lined to above mentions that most A-V sites and the MS Update site will not be reachable if a machine is infected with Conficker, but you can still get there via the IP addresses for htose same sites. So it would be a good idea to get ahold of those IP addresses sometime ahead of 4/1.

Jim

1536

Site/Forum Features / Re: March 2009 Survey Discussion

« Last post by J-Mac on March 30, 2009, 02:59 AM »

Hmm..  I should have added this to my last post. Sorry.

One thing I would love to see here at DC is tutorials for recommended software. For some of the software written by members here as well as for some of the more popular/recommended applications we read about here. I use FARR, but not many of its features at all - mostly just for program launching. I've read the Help pages over and over but mostly I don't get it. A tutorial by someone who really knows the in's and outs of FARR along with examples would be super IMO. Likewise with some of the popular apps. E.g., I would almost be willing to pay to read an extensive tutorial with step-by-step examples for SQLNotes/InfoQube or whatever its latest moniker is!! I use it very minimally now, mostly because I haven't the time to keep doing the trial and error workouts that I have done with it.

Thanks!

Jim

1537

Site/Forum Features / Re: March 2009 Survey Discussion

« Last post by J-Mac on March 30, 2009, 02:53 AM »

Done!  Whew - long one.

Tranglos, your point #3 is so true. All the polished, glowing reviews in the world mean nothing to me if the users here at DC indicate that a program is not worth using, and vice versa. That is one of the best features of DC IMO.

Jim

1538

Living Room / Re: The Greatest Graphic Novel of All Time: Watchmen

« Last post by J-Mac on March 30, 2009, 01:48 AM »

I never read any comic books, but now that I think of it, there was one I kind of did read. It's an interactive graphic novel done in Flash with music and sound effects.

It even came out on DVD with voice acting by some famous voice actors (I recognized 2 of the voices from Inuyasha).

It's called Broken Saints. Unfortunately their website has fallen into disrepair since the apex of their popularity. None of the links work, except the blog.

But when the site was up and running, they allowed you to download the chapters, and I still have them in my downloads folder. It's an 12-hour epic, broken into chapters (some of which are broken into acts) and in my opinion it's a very powerful story. It's definitely an adult novel (language, violence, nudity) not meant for kids or the workplace, but I think if you enjoy graphic novels (or even if you don't know you do) you ought to watch it.

I have never been into comic books/graphic novels but I thoroughly enjoyed Broken Saints. I'll even admit that near the end this one had me in tears. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

Link: Broken Saints.rar (186 MB)
MD5: bd2d5ce0151034456db99c7522206a0b

Just click the chapter HTM files from the root directory, they will attempt to popup a new browser window fit to the optimum viewing dimensions and you can start enjoying an awesome graphic novel!

-Deozaan (March 05, 2009, 01:41 AM)

Not quite working as expected here. I clicked the Chapter 1 file - Introitus.htm - and it opened a fresh tab full-size in Firefox. But it didn't open the .swf file or do anything else. Nice graphics but I was hoping to see the Flash file play upon opening the htm file. Probably something weird in my setup here, but I can't see what. Any advice is appreciated!

Thank you.

Jim

1539

Living Room / Re: Tech News Weekly: Edition 13-09

« Last post by J-Mac on March 30, 2009, 01:30 AM »

It occurs to me that Google trying to make your results more relevant based on what you've searched for in the past would require cookies. I block cookies. Do either of you (Goth Man and J Man) block them also? If so, perhaps our bad experiences with Google are related to Google not being able to "improve" our results based on our past searches (not that those circumstances would give me even the slightest pause in eventually moving to another primary search engine).

Ehtyar.

-Ehtyar (March 29, 2009, 11:43 PM)

No, I don't block cookies - I do delete them with the rest of my private info daily, however. Also I installed that Firefox extension - Advertising Cookie Opt-Out - that Google released so that people who block or regularly delete cookies do not get penalized for it. Found out about it via an alert from EFF. The extension can be downloaded here.

Jim

1540

General Software Discussion / Re: Noah is almost fantastic, but what is it?

« Last post by J-Mac on March 30, 2009, 12:26 AM »

Hi Curt.

Now this is an example of "necromancing" threads that is beneficial!! Your latest post would have been pretty darned cryptic without the rest of your Noah thread. Please keep us all updated on Noah 2.0/StratoVista. Sounds very interesting. And the developer is apparently very helpful, too, as seen in his/her reply post to you.

Thank you.

Jim

1541

General Software Discussion / Re: Freeware Image Organizer (Especially Tags/Keywords)?

« Last post by J-Mac on March 30, 2009, 12:05 AM »

If someone already mentioned ExifPro, I apologize - didn't see it after a quick scan of the posts so far.

ExifPro is pretty nice, though IIRC it also makes a copy of all your images in its own catalog. The viewer is great and it has a side-by-side view for comparison of images. It is a commercial product but you can use it free as long as you like. Only downside is you have to wait for the startup splash screen for 45 seconds. (You can remove the splash screen by purchasing.)

Jim

1542

Living Room / Re: Tech News Weekly: Edition 13-09

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 11:36 PM »

IMO this headline is a little sensationalist, but I'm not the first on this forum to say that I'm finding Google's results to be less and less relevant as time goes on. Perhaps they've noticed too...

I've actually already had it happen on numerous occasions that I couldn't find ANY relevant information with google at all, but altavista did. Usually when you're looking for more unpopular/obscure stuff. I'm not a fan of google nor altavista. I find the altavista results in general worse, but for some reason every once and a while it does better with obscure searches.

-Gothi[c] (March 28, 2009, 07:56 PM)

Heck, even popular and non-obscure searches are bringing useless results. And I try several different mixes of search terms trying to get specific results - doesn't seem to work well anymore. I thought I was the only idiot trying out other search engines again.

Jim

1543

Living Room / Re: The Longest Rant Ever

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 11:21 PM »

Sounded like it was for that site - Broken Saints? It was actually a whole lot of separate unsubscribe responses. Somebody there has a warped sense of humor. I like it!

Jim

1544

Living Room / Re: Anti-Necrospamming

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 11:19 PM »

Above post (I think) caused a "Page Exception" error - I couldn't even get this page to render without creating an exception certificate. How come?

-J-Mac (March 29, 2009, 01:01 PM)

I think it may have to do with my using SSL / https to access DC when creating the post -- perhaps uploading the attachment under those conditions caused the link(s) to the image / thumbnail to be made available only via SSL / https.

-ewemoa (March 29, 2009, 05:50 PM)

Could be...  I know I had about a dozen notifications from DC and that one was somewhere in the middle. All before and after were fine - only that one kept throwing the error.

Jim

1545

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 01:50 PM »

I've not tried the free version so I only have that same list to go on. I;ve been using the Pro version for about a year now and I'm happy - I can say that!

Jim

1546

Living Room / Re: The Longest Rant Ever

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 01:33 PM »

Not really sure why though...

Jim

Paul - was that you?!?! 

1547

Living Room / Re: Eset False Positive Fiasco

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 01:26 PM »

Gentlemen,
    To avoid high blood-pressure simply press F5 and and change ALL settings to NO cleaning.  ESET is far and away the best software I've used.
    Also, be sure to change the firewall setting in SmartSecurity to "Interactive" mode so you have control.  Windows search function always tries to phone-home.  Just block it.  You're set. 
    You can add nuisance false detections to "exceptions".  hope this helps people not to be afraid to use the best product there is IMHO.

-gonetomorrow (March 29, 2009, 01:00 PM)

Exactly what I do now. However I agree with barney in that a lot of people wouldn't have a clue as to what they should do with a popup warning. And they feel that the decisions shouldn't all be left to them - they purchased and installed the software so that they wouldn't have to become PC security experts.

Jim

1548

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 01:07 PM »

Steve, Outertech DID offer DonationCoder discount last year on all of their products. Back when the review was published. I think it lasted a couple of months. Initially it was for one month and I missed it, but after receiving some emails about it Outertech extended the discount.

Sorry you missed it - perhaps they will have another discount later this year.

Jim

1549

Living Room / Re: Anti-Necrospamming

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 01:01 PM »

Above post (I think) caused a "Page Exception" error - I couldn't even get this page to render without creating an exception certificate. How come?

Jim

1550

Living Room / Re: Who else is sick of difficult word verifications on the web?

« Last post by J-Mac on March 29, 2009, 12:58 PM »

Here's a good one...... (see attachment in previous post)

-Fred Nerd (March 29, 2009, 03:51 AM)

...And everyone else, too!   

Jim