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2301

General Software Discussion / Re: trying to combine antiviruses and firewalls

« Last post by 40hz on February 18, 2014, 08:57 AM »

It would be much easier, and less time consuming for everyone, if you just loaded a suite where all the components are coded to work with each other.

Otherwise, even if you find a combination of products that works together now, there's no guarantee they will continue to do so after the next upgrade. I ran into that myself a few years ago with Comodo and Avira. That combination always worked well for me - until one day it suddenly didn't.

Mixing realtime security apps is more trouble than it's worth - unless you're doing it for a school project. Or to satisfy your own curiosity.

Otherwise, install a decent all-in-one suite and be done with it.    

2302

General Software Discussion / Re: What the Heck is Happening to Windows? Article on Windows 8 Disaster

« Last post by 40hz on February 17, 2014, 11:01 AM »

I...My wife and I must stand alone as two people who thoroughly enjoys Windows 8.1...

-Josh (February 17, 2014, 10:36 AM)

You may just be right!

2303

General Software Discussion / Re: What the Heck is Happening to Windows? Article on Windows 8 Disaster

« Last post by 40hz on February 17, 2014, 10:58 AM »

I actually did worry a bit, but didn't hesitate to flatten Win7 and install Win8 on the new workstation I just got here at the office. I'm also not having any trouble using it. There are a few things that aren't where I expect/remember them to be, but search works just fine.

-Stoic Joker (February 17, 2014, 07:56 AM)

Yup! Once I started using <search> and stopped worrying about it, Win8 was fine for day to day use. Same went for W2k12 server. Search was the key to the kingdom. Maybe it's not ideal - from my perspective. But certainly doable.

2304

General Software Discussion / Re: What the Heck is Happening to Windows? Article on Windows 8 Disaster

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2014, 08:07 PM »

That's my path.

-TaoPhoenix (February 16, 2014, 04:04 PM)

@Tao - you could just save time and load Win7 today and be done with it.

Seriously, how much more does anybody really need an OS to do that isn't already being handled (quite well) by Windows 7. Or Linux Mint 16 too for that matter - if you don't need specific Windows apps.

Mint is my goto productivity environment. And I also keep a Win 7 environment for those times when my own needs dictate it must be used. That's my current path. Get something that works today - that will still be supported for the reasonably foreseeable future - and not waste time trying to second guess what Microsoft will eventually do. First, because the thrill is gone. And secondly, because that way madness lies.

And I have dreams to bring into existence ere I sleep!



 

2305

Post New Requests Here / Re: For Serious Research: Cadillac of "ClipBoard Managers" vs. "Info/Data Manager"

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2014, 05:59 PM »

Edit: removed. Link I posted here was mentioned earlier in thread.  

2306

General Software Discussion / Re: What the Heck is Happening to Windows? Article on Windows 8 Disaster

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2014, 01:25 PM »

IMHO the place where Win 8 was a disaster was with its public relations - which could best be summarized as Microsoft (through the lens of Mr. Sinofsky) thinking the time had finally come when Redmond could tell it's customer base that the new law of the land was "our way or the highway."

And that unique variety of hubris came from a belief that Microsoft was well liked - or at least sufficiently feared - that Microsoft (like Apple) could now get away with it.

That would have been bad enough. But then Microsoft doubled down on it with two pieces of technology to ram it home. The first was SecureBoot, their proprietary and totally unnecessary 'fix' to UEFI that served no real purpose other than to hamper alternative OS deployments. The second was Metro, forerunner of a hoped-for 'walled garden' future where Microsoft could control - and collect tariffs - on its entire ecosystem like Apple currently does with their i-Whatever product lines.

Both were mistakes that were quickly seen for the power grabs they were by anyone whose knowledge and uses for a computer extended beyond collecting LOL cats, schmoozing on Facebook, and browsing the web.

Unfortunately, Microsoft then doubled-down again and told their professional IT constituency to get with the program or plan on getting a new job. Because corporate end-users (so Sinofsky said) would DEMAND the Windows 8 "experience." And if IT didn't provide it to them, Windows 8 would make it possible for the end-user to do an end run around IT.

That was the threat heard 'round the world. And it put Sinofsky, Microsoft, and Win 8 on virtually ever IT manager's shit list.

Now Microsoft is starting to realize a few key things:

• Microsoft is not Apple and therefore can't behave like Apple
• Microsoft's customers don't love Microsoft itself or Microsoft products
• Microsoft's customers don't like, see the need for, or want Metro
• Microsoft can forget about setting up a walled-garden or lock-in app store
• Computer manufacturers don't like being threatened or dictated to
• Corporate customers (and their IT managers) don't like being threatened or dictated to
• The BSD/Linux/FOSS community is not going to sit quietly by while Microsoft attempts to make installation of anybody else's software difficult or impossible for the average end-user
• Like it or not - the START menu is here to stay - and is not negotiable

Notice something funny? None of the above realizations really revolve around the technology. And that's because the Windows 8 OS - stripped of all the nonsense - is a perfectly fine OS. Yup! It is. It's extremely stable and smooth. Once you scrub all the cruft off it.

So I think Thurrott completely missed the boat in his analysis. (But he wouldn't be Paul Thurrott if he didn't would he?)

No...there's no disaster looming for Microsoft. Windows 8 is fine. It's just the additional crap they've loaded it up with that's the problem. All they'd need to do is:

• Back off on SecureBoot
• Go back to a traditional desktop metaphor and ditch Metro once and for all
• Stop thinking they can dictate at will

And they will...eventually. But it's gonna take some time. Because admitting you're wrong has never been one of Microsoft's strong suits.
 

2307

General Software Discussion / Re: trying to combine antiviruses and firewalls

« Last post by 40hz on February 16, 2014, 07:26 AM »

you are asking for trouble if you combine multiple resident firewalls and antiviruses.

-mouser (February 16, 2014, 06:55 AM)

@Contro - +1 w/mouser! You can give yourself some major headaches doing that.  Most good antimalware utilities will check to see if another realtime scanner is active - and warn you about it. Pay close attention to any warnings, messages, or dialog boxes whenever setting up an AV or similar utility. This is not the sort of app you want to just "click-through" when installing. Especially since a screwed up installation of a security product can be difficult to disable or easily uninstall.

 

2308

General Software Discussion / Re: The Best Security Suites (2013/2014)

« Last post by 40hz on February 15, 2014, 03:00 PM »

A, being a fan of Small and Light, that was nice! But see the note about behavior vs signatures. What if you got that to behave with a second AV program without them fighting each other? Could the combined power of the two approaches synergistically become "more than the sum of the parts"?

-TaoPhoenix (February 15, 2014, 11:14 AM)

Hard to say, but the AV players are aware of it. As a result, many of the big AV products (that are signature based) also include a heuristic/suspicious behavior scanning feature. Many people leave it off. And it's not necessarily turned on by default.

2309

Living Room / Re: What Google Plus is all about

« Last post by 40hz on February 15, 2014, 02:47 PM »

Their bat, their ball, their ballpark - therefore their rules.

Don't [like/want/need] it?

Don't play. Go elsewhere.

2310

Living Room / Re: WARNING! Linksys routers infected with self-replicating worm/malware.

« Last post by 40hz on February 15, 2014, 02:36 PM »

PCs use a lot more electricity than those little router boxes)

-Innuendo (February 15, 2014, 11:48 AM)

A very real consideration.. You need to balance the hardware savings (if any) against the additional power consumption. And if you use air conditioning, the extra heat generated.

For scratch building, there's  a number of reasonably priced fanless mini-ITX motherboards that can work as excellent starting points for router/firewall projects. Some even come with dual gigabit ethernet ports, which make them ideal for network appliances and mini-servers. But that's a lot of work for most people and may require more technical knowledge than the average person has time to acquire. And it definitely won't be less expensive than repurposing a commercial home router with DD-WRT or Tomato firmware, as Innuendo suggests, even if it won't be (technically) 'as secure' or configurable as a pfSense box would be.

That said, it's very gratifying to do up an inexpensive or 'free' homebrew project that blows the doors off most commercial offerings.



So ok...time for a reality check:

It all comes down to what you need, are able to afford - and have the time to learn about and mess with. I'm in the 'biz' so to speak. So I can more easily justify time spent acquiring technical skills and knowledge. But for people with real jobs (and lives) it doesn't always make sense to build from scratch - unless you value your personal time at less than minimum wage - and have a closet full of junk parts to play with.

At least so it seems to me.

2311

Living Room / Re: WARNING! Linksys routers infected with self-replicating worm/malware.

« Last post by 40hz on February 15, 2014, 08:37 AM »

^^ Yeah. It gets really funny when you have a router you're completely locked out of, and the first thing the support tech wants to do is have you allow them to "remote in."

Almost as funny as only providing home router tech support via chat or e-mail.

Did somebody watch Despicable Me and find gospel or something? Sheesh!

2312

Living Room / Re: WARNING! Linksys routers infected with self-replicating worm/malware.

« Last post by 40hz on February 15, 2014, 07:16 AM »

So, Linksys/Cisco apparently deliberately sold a product that was known to be inferior to the deliberately implied superiority, and used technical obfuscation to conceal that fact and thus deliberately mislead the consumer.

How d'you like them apples? :tellme

-IainB (February 15, 2014, 01:38 AM)

I didn't. And haven't for some time. So I eventually made my own.

My network - my way!



There's plenty of info up on the web on how to build a router inexpensively using FOSS or freebie software. You can get a small low-power mini PC to run it on - or repurpose some 'closet queen' you have lying around waiting to be brought in for recycling (when you get around to it.) The Home Server Show published an article a while back that can get the techno-creative juices flowing...

2313

Living Room / Re: WARNING! Linksys routers infected with self-replicating worm/malware.

« Last post by 40hz on February 14, 2014, 09:13 PM »

^There are those who would say (but you know the sort of things THEY say) that the NSA is behind it all.

In this case, I think it really is Cisco just trying to make their life easy when it comes to products sold to a largely unsophisticated consumer demographic. Sort of like addressing a complaint that your password requirements are too stringent by switching to a 3-digit PIN scheme. If the NSA, or any of the other tri-letter pantheon benefited from any of this, I think it was purely serendipitous for them. Not that they'd complain.

HNAP made it in because Cisco implied that it was far more secure than it actually was to the people most likely to buy it. They were a little more forthright in their whitepaper. (But what average home user is ever going to read let alone understand that?) And you still needed to read between the lines to see their semi-acknowledgement it was dangerously dumbed down when it came to security.

So it goes...

2314

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on February 14, 2014, 07:44 PM »

The place was Fairfield University's Quick Center for the Arts. I was one of those fortunate enough to have been there when Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, along with some guest artists from all over the world, put on one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen.

Here's A Moment So Close:

The audio and video quality of this rip aren't that great. See it on an original DVD to get the full effect.

2315

General Software Discussion / Re: CMS lite with fine RTF editor

« Last post by 40hz on February 14, 2014, 12:15 PM »

Hey Steve! Good to see you back around. It has been quite awhile.

I hear you about the complexity of most of those platforms. Almost like learning a new OS with some of them.

Being but dumb (or maybe just too impatient at this stage of life) I went searching for a simple, clean platform for blogging. Something that would let me put a post together and present it with some tasteful graphics and text. And pretty much little else - although an easy way to administer and customize it would be nice. And....as of right now....I think I may have found it.

Although it doesn't quite meet your specifications, you may want to take a look. I'm experimenting with something called Ghost that seems to be what I'll eventually end up using. It's clean and simple. Emphasis is on writing and content presentation rather that additional features. And, as they describe it, it's specifically designed to be "just a blog." it uses Markdown (which is about as easy as it gets) for formatting - and has an editor that gives you a side by side live preview of what your page will look like when posted. Image loading is a "drag & drop" deal.

Hosted plans start at a reasonable $5/mo with no contract or lock-in. If you want to host it yourself, the software is available free for download and has been released under the MIT License, which is about as 'open' as it comes.

I'm playing with it using Softalicious's AMMPS stack running on Windows 7. If you just want to set it up locally for testing, this is the easiest way to take it (or dozens of other hosted web apps) out for a drive. More on AMMPS here. And here's the Ghost info/install page for it.

Ciao for now!

2316

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: vCard organizer with batch operations

« Last post by 40hz on February 14, 2014, 11:10 AM »

 @sb - 3 operating systems + 4 apps + 18 steps? I didn't know you were related to another famous inventor!



Love it! Reminds me of some stuff I used to do during data conversion projects back in the 'old days'...

2317

General Software Discussion / Re: Hidden Files

« Last post by 40hz on February 14, 2014, 09:58 AM »

^The Kapersky rescue scan ISO was available free last I looked.

But any quality rescue scanner should work just fine. If you like one brand more than another, use that.

FWIW I've had the best luck with the Kapersky disk. Possibly because it (optionally) will download its latest definition files to RAM before execution. Not all bootable scanners will do that. They'll only use the definition files that were available when the disk/key was created.

Kapersky isn't my top choice for a resident AV program. But as a bootable scanner I think it's one of the best out there.

2318

Non-Windows Software / Re: The TTY demystified

« Last post by 40hz on February 14, 2014, 09:36 AM »

Excellent journeyman-level article that doesn't get too esoteric. Thanks for posting the link!  

2319

Living Room / Re: WARNING! Linksys routers infected with self-replicating worm/malware.

« Last post by 40hz on February 14, 2014, 09:22 AM »

Sad part is it all comes down to HNAP. And the problems surrounding it go back at least three years. Good old Cisco. We get people to stop trusting UPnP and they throw in this piece of junk as a replacement. Nice of them to do something to reduce their consumer tech support calls by making things significantly less secure in order to do so.

Good article about that here.  

2320

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2014, 08:10 PM »

Interesting kickstarter by none other than avant-guitarist Kaki King for an update to the psychedelic "light show" of the 60s - which in turn was a modern riff on the "color organ" concept which dates back to at least the early 1700s.

I don't know what to think about this one. Is it art - or more a gimmick? I'm leaning towards "less art - more gimmick" at this point. But who am I to say?

Check it out:

2321

General Software Discussion / Re: The Best Security Suites (2013/2014)

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2014, 02:46 PM »

I don't know the validity of these comments, but they might be worth looking at before buying.

-longrun (February 13, 2014, 02:01 PM)

I'm looking at 4 personal (3 laptops + one desktop) machines and well over 100 client PCs that I'm directly responsible for. Haven't run into anything even remotely like that, so I'm not sure what I should be looking at. All is calm - all is bright. Same goes for their server AV products. Have never run into a single problem. But I also knew each of those machines was properly set-up and updated -  and was "squeaky clean" system-wise before I installed BitDefender so somebody else's mileage could well vary.
 

2322

General Software Discussion / Re: Hidden Files

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2014, 12:56 PM »

Have you tried an offline scan of the machine?

-Stoic Joker (February 13, 2014, 10:45 AM)

+1! If Kapersky's offline scanner can't find or fix it, it's either not there - or it's not repairable and you'll need an OS restore to get around it.

2323

Living Room / Re: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone: Choosing between tiny DIY computer kits

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2014, 12:48 PM »

Just found out about this $75 critter called a RioTboard available from Newark Element14.

     

It's running an A9 Cortex processor @ 1Ghz, has 1GB onboard DDR3 RAM and boots Android. It'ss pretty tricked out port and feature-wise (see below). And it has several nice features (i.e. JTAG interface, camera interface, GPIO port) that make it ideally suited for tablet, netbook and appliance applications - which is where my main interests chiefly lie.

Full spec

he RIoTboard is based on the i.MX 6Solo processor from Freescale Semiconductor integrating all the functionalities of this multimedia application processor with the following features:

    Processor
        ARM Cortex A9 MPCore™ Processor at 1 GHz
        High-performing video processing unit which covers SD-level and HD-levelvideo decoders and SD-level encoders as a multi-standard video codec engine
        An OpenGL® ES 2.0 3D graphics accelerator with a shader and a 2D graphics accelerator for superior 3D, 2D, and user interface acceleration

    Memories
        1GByte of 32-bit wide DDR3 @ 800MHz
        4GB eMMC

   Media Interfaces
        Analog headphone/microphone, 3.5mm audio jack
        LVDS interface
        HDMI interface
        Parallel RGB interface
        Camera interface (Support CCD or CMOS camera)
        MIPI lanes at 1 Gbps

   Data Transfer Interfaces
        Debug Ports: 3 pin TTL level
        Serial Ports:
            UART2, 3 line serial port, RS232 Logic
            UART3,4,5, 3 line serial port, RS232 Logic (Expansion port)

       USB Ports:
            1 x USB2.0 OTG, mini USB, high-speed, 480Mbps
            4 x USB2.0 HOST, Type A, high-speed, 480Mbps

        uSD card interface
        SD card interface
        10M/100M/Gb Ethernet Interface (RJ45 jack)
        2 channel I2C interface (Expansion port)
        2 channel SPI interface (Expansion port)
        3 channel PWM interface (Expansion port)
        GPIO (Expansion port)

   Input Interfaces
        10-pin JTAG interface
        Boot configuration interface

    Others
        1 Power LED
        1 Open SDA LED
        2 User-defined LEDs
        1 DC Jack
        1 Reset button

 Kit Contents

    RIoTboard
    Quick User Guide
    Male 'USB Type A' to 'Male USB Type Mini-B' cable

2324

General Software Discussion / Re: The Best Security Suites (2013/2014)

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2014, 11:50 AM »

The one area I think Neil gave himself (and the tech support of these companies) huge amounts of completely unnecessary pain, and colored his results as well, is how determined he was that these tools should be able to do their initial install on an already virused system.

That's asking too much, and no one should turn to an antivirus/security app after an infection to rescue them from it.  If you are trying to recover from an infection you should use a dedicated self-booting repair tool, or something similar.

-mouser (February 13, 2014, 11:31 AM)

This x 1000!

The real goal is interception and prevention - not scrubbing a system after it's infected.

I'm always more interested in how effective the realtime scanner is. Not how well the cleaner works. Especially since (with some of the root level  and MBR infections running around) disinfecting a system (even with a bootable antimalware disk or key) leaves the system inoperable after the clean-up finishes. At which point you’re now left doing data recovery, and then reinstalling your OS - and all your apps. Not fun. Even with an image available.

 

2325

Non-Windows Software / Aptik - a system backup and migration tool for Ubuntu-based distro users

« Last post by 40hz on February 13, 2014, 11:35 AM »

Aptik is a handy tool that, in keeping with the traditional Unix/Linux philosophy for utilities, does only one thing - but does it extremely well.

I was going to write an article on this very useful tool. But its developer beat me to it with a very nicely done post that goes over all the features - and includes screenshots. So rather than duplicate effort, here's what TeeJee has to say about Aptik:

Introducing Aptik

Aptik is a new tool to simplify re-installation of packages after doing a clean installation of an Ubuntu-based distribution. It can be used while re-installing or upgrading to the next Ubuntu/Linux Mint release.

Upgrading to the next release of an Ubuntu-based distribution can be a painful task.

While most Ubuntu-based distributions provide an option to upgrade your existing installation, it can cause a number of problems.

    It sometimes results in broken packages.
    If proprietary graphic drivers are in use, the system may boot into a black screen after the upgrade.
    The look and feel of the new release is lost since the previous desktop settings are used.

In order to avoid problems most people prefer to do a clean installation. They download the ISO image, format the system partition, and then install the new release.

You get a good feeling when you boot into your shiny new system. Then you realise that you need to re-install all your softwares again and your excitement goes down. Aptik is a new tool that will make your life easier. While it won't eliminate all the work that needs to be done after a fresh installation, it will reduce it greatly.

Read the rest and find installation instructions here.

I've tested it fairly heavily under Linux Mint 16 and I'm happy to report it works like a charm.

Go read about it. Then grab a copy.