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2751

General Software Discussion / Re: Fake Reviews: Amazon's Rotten Core

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2012, 01:24 PM »

I don't see why every stage of the journey would need to be different to now - you could leave the certificate verification to the last leg of the journey...

-Carol Haynes (August 29, 2012, 11:56 AM)

Because the only time you can verify the sender is when something is sent. Otherwise you're just getting the MITM's version of who the sender is/was/should have been. Which would most likely make it easier to spoof because the servers would be tied up focusing on a cert instead of the rest of the message header.

The SPF (Sender Policy Framework) was supposed to be a cure for server validation ... it just never got off the ground. Because as simple as it is ... It's still too friggin complicated for fried admins to get setup right ... So they just declaw the thing and move on.

2752

General Software Discussion / Re: Fake Reviews: Amazon's Rotten Core

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2012, 11:42 AM »

if ISPs only actually accept email from certified users then spam would be seriously reduced and prosecutions more effective.

-Carol Haynes (August 29, 2012, 11:18 AM)

That's only one leg of the journey. Much of the mail flow is server-2-server making the user (and their cert) slightly irrelevant. All email spoofing is done at the S2S level/leg of the journey. So to have the entire trip certified end-to-end via encryption would put a hell of a lot of extra load on the servers.

2753

Living Room / Re: I want a Sony Xperia SX, but I think it's stupid to buy one.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2012, 11:28 AM »

You could always hold out for a Windows 8 Phone...I am ... Assuming they have one that will fit in my pocket.

2754

Living Room / Re: Apple v Samsung Verdict is in

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2012, 11:23 AM »

It appears obvious to me that the USPTO is the answer to the question: What do you get when you cross a Vogon with a Ferengi.

2755

General Software Discussion / Re: Boot Disk Failure: after replacing hard drive

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2012, 06:57 AM »

First thing...and you are all going to kill me...the sata cable to the os drive got unplugged.  yup.

-superboyac (August 28, 2012, 07:15 PM)

Look at the bright side...at least it "protected" the OS from corruption during multiple startup repair attempts. 

Well, if it's any comfort, I've often had really really stupid things like that when dealing with hardware, programming or debugging. Spend ages trying more and more esoteric stuff, only to realize that you should be smacking your head against the wall for not seeing the obvious =)

-f0dder (August 29, 2012, 02:16 AM)

+1 - Like troubleshooting a device that is plugged in...to a powerstrip with a bad socket. That one cost me about two hours before a demo in the lobby last year.

2756

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: BitsduJour Malware bytes Deal

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 29, 2012, 06:44 AM »

I'm with them^

2757

General Software Discussion / Re: Boot Disk Failure: after replacing hard drive

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 28, 2012, 05:43 PM »

Let us know how it goes. My vote is BIOS boot priority issue also.

(posting from Windows 8 RTM)

2758

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: "Load a new browser instance with X tabs from previously located sites"

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 28, 2012, 11:30 AM »

I just know I'll get shot for bringing this up but IE already does (basically) that natively.

Add current tabs to favorites puts a link to each tabs page in a folder of your choosing in favorites.

(manually start new session - I know ick - Then...) Right click a favorites folder and select open in tab group to open all links in said folder in the current session.


Then links can be added/subtracted from their "Session folder" via drag-n-drop in the favorites menu.

2759

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: BitsduJour Malware bytes Deal

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 27, 2012, 05:48 PM »

I'll second that. But I never use the RTP, I leave that up to MSE.

-Stoic Joker (August 27, 2012, 03:34 PM)

I run both - they don't conflict

-Carol Haynes (August 27, 2012, 04:42 PM)

Understood, I'm just a bit gun-shy about that sort of thing (not to mention cheap... )

2760

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: BitsduJour Malware bytes Deal

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 27, 2012, 03:34 PM »

+1 for Malwarebytes. Already use it on all my computers and recommend it to customers.

Best cleaning tool I have found by far.

-Carol Haynes (August 27, 2012, 01:40 PM)

I'll second that. But I never use the RTP, I leave that up to MSE.

2761

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Create dll file to change title bar of a software forever

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 27, 2012, 06:49 AM »

I tried with hex editor doing it, but with no success.

-festi19 (August 26, 2012, 06:25 PM)

When you searched for the string in the hex editor were you looking for [string] or [s t r i n g]? Because if you don't add the extra spaces it'll never show up.

Just a thought,

Stoic Joker

2762

Living Room / Re: Apple v Samsung Verdict is in

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 25, 2012, 08:53 AM »

Isn't there some way I/we/people could make known to Apple what I/we/people think of them ? No ...?

-joiwind (August 25, 2012, 07:22 AM)

What makes you think for one minute Apple could possibly care what anybody who doesn't completely agree with them really thinks? They never have before. They had a ideological walled garden long before they built their technical one. They've always had an "Us vs Them" mindset.

-40hz (August 25, 2012, 07:28 AM)

If enough people "vote" with their wallets, and Apple's sales tank or at least dip noticeably ... They might just go Um...

It's worth a shot anyway.

Apple was built in the image of a man who never got over the fact his parents put him up for adoption

-40hz (August 25, 2012, 07:28 AM)

Seriously?? Christ I was adopted; I even spent some time in a orphanage. It's not that big a deal. I'll agree that on a certain level the "world" does owe one an answer regarding their origins ... But you're not owed the world.

2763

Developer's Corner / Re: This reads like my life...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 25, 2012, 08:33 AM »

Urban legend has it some big movie back in the late sixties inadvertently used a number that turned out to be somebody's real home phone, and they supposedly sued and won for "megabucks." Sounds like bunk to me, but there's probably a small grain of truth in there somewhere.

-40hz (August 25, 2012, 07:38 AM)

I was under the impression that it hit the fan with 8. 6. 7.  5. 3. 0. 9... Jenny's number on the wall. because the 555 thing showed up in movies shortly (~yearish) after that song's release.

2764

General Software Discussion / Re: Newest malware now able to target virtual machines?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2012, 02:08 PM »

I was thinking this was the first exploit to be found in-the-wild that breaks the host guest barrier. It is a rather clever end-run around the sandbox.

2765

General Software Discussion / Re: Steps to Flash the HP ENVY 14 laptop's Matshita DVD RAM - to make it Region-free

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2012, 01:44 PM »

if you play back a DVD from the drive it's only read at 1x

-4wd (August 24, 2012, 12:48 PM)

Strangely, I never thought of that. But then again I never really think of the computer's optical drive as a place to stick movies. Disk ripping OTOH I do frequently. Thanks.

2766

General Software Discussion / Re: Newest malware now able to target virtual machines?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2012, 01:05 PM »

Wow. That was to me? Okey-doke.

-daddydave (August 24, 2012, 12:47 PM)

OMFG I cannot stop laughing ... I'm almost in tears!

Oh, oh. Thanks rgdot, I was confused there. Don't know why I thought it was to me. I'm definitely not that ^m(.*)f(.*) smart.

-daddydave (August 24, 2012, 12:53 PM)

That should be pinned as the best miscommunication ever. However you handled it brilliantly I must say. 

2767

General Software Discussion / Re: Newest malware now able to target virtual machines?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2012, 12:58 PM »

Crisis is distributed via social engineering and tricks a user into running a Java applet Flash installer.

-Article

Well that shouldn't be so bad, (set off Jar-chive attachment) hell only about 98% of the people on the internet will be dumb enough to fall for that...

2768

Living Room / Re: Tech support — why bother?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2012, 11:35 AM »

I just spent 2 hours on the phone with MS's tech support regarding a flakey server issue I'd been fighting with for the last 3 weeks. It's fixed now. While it had appeared to be a .NET issue... Apparently one of their Security Updates has an odd habit of toasting about half of the MMCs.

*Joy*

The tech's English wasn't that great, but he was ok. Can't say I've ever had a bad experience with MS tech.


Edit: The patch number in question was KB2686833, and after pulling it and then manually reinstalling it (reboot both ways) the server is doing just fine. The MS guy did a follow up call to see if I'd done it and how it went. Yep, that's good service.

2769

Developer's Corner / Re: This reads like my life...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2012, 07:13 AM »

On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

-40hz (August 24, 2012, 06:14 AM)

I like that.

2770

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me understand Virtual Machine [VMWare]

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2012, 07:06 AM »

Anyone know about printers?
Can a printer be added? (I tried yesterday unsuccessfully -not looking for solutions here- just wondering if it *should* be possible).

-tomos (August 24, 2012, 06:19 AM)

Not that familiar with VMWare (I use MS's Virtual PC) but IIRC it does support USB, so yes it should be. Or if the printer used a parallel port it should be fine also. Network printers you can do anything you want with.

If a printer is enabled in the virtual OS, is it then disabled in the main machine?

-tomos (August 24, 2012, 06:19 AM)

No.

2771

General Software Discussion / Re: Steps to Flash the HP ENVY 14 laptop's Matshita DVD RAM - to make it Region-free

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 24, 2012, 06:52 AM »

Wouldn't the drop in read/write speed be cause for concern?

-Stoic Joker (August 23, 2012, 11:12 AM)

A lower write speed will generally mean a better quality write, I don't write at anything above 6x - not unless I don't want a disc to be read on the majority of playback devices.

-4wd (August 23, 2012, 07:49 PM)

Right, knew that part. Back when, I spent a lot of time SlipStreaming Service Packs and burning OS disks so 6x is a bit fast for (that type of) a solid burn. My concern was not so much that it had capped the write speed (however shouldn't vs. can't is a factor), but that it had capped the read speed also.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a DVD Region tab on the properties dialog of the drive I have here at the office that says I can use it to change the region 4 times (I'd always thought it was only 2). So assuming that it won't just let me set it to R0 ... Is there a country I can select that would be the equivalent of R0?? (Yeah, I know, dumb question ... But I gotta ask. )

2772

General Software Discussion / Re: Steps to Flash the HP ENVY 14 laptop's Matshita DVD RAM - to make it Region-free

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 23, 2012, 06:50 PM »

My Plextor is region free and it's no where near that old.

...Or am I thinking of the wrong thing??

@IainB - What DiskInfo utility are you using in the above screen shots?

2773

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 23, 2012, 06:13 PM »

I have original Windows discs sitting right here but for the purpose format/reinstall is there legal *up to date* Windows image available somewhere or is there some mystery method I am clueless about? (there have been 100s of MB updates since SP3 alone)

-rgdot (August 23, 2012, 03:51 PM)

home/professional OEM/Retail ... What would you be looking for?

Addendum: if you do decide to do a clean reinstall, don't forget to backup all your current hardware drivers first. Hunting down drivers - especially XP drivers - is a real PITA. So if you already have a working machine, take advantage of that and get copies of the drivers prior to flat-lining your current system disk.

-40hz (August 23, 2012, 04:07 PM)

In a pinch I'll boot to WinPE, strip the attributes and permissions and toss the old install in a folder, and then just drop the new OS next to the old one (variation on a parallel install). Then I can pick out the driver bits from the old install and feed them to device manager (it's actually a lot faster than it sounds).

2774

Developer's Corner / Re: This reads like my life...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 23, 2012, 03:56 PM »

I've often said the only difference between a hacker and an admin is a paycheck and a pair of handcuffs.

2775

General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 23, 2012, 11:25 AM »

I haven't flattened my primary machine since I built it in (iirc) 07 ... I upgraded it from Vista to 7 when 7 came out, but haven't done anything since (I do enough of that at work). I might take it on up to 8 ... ... But I gotta make peace with 8 on my laptop first.

Cleanup = deleting whatever test VM I'm done with, and grabbing a fresh copy from the archives.