Recent Posts

301

Living Room / Re: The entitled generation....Are they right?

« Last post by Lashiec on May 07, 2009, 06:05 PM »

Possibly true, hence my post just above yours.

-40hz (May 06, 2009, 10:42 PM)

D'oh!

302

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Game Review: Defense Grid: The Awakening

« Last post by Lashiec on May 07, 2009, 06:03 PM »

Someone went crazy and now they're practically giving away the game in Steam. 75% off until May 13th. I think I'll grab the demo first...

303

Living Room / Re: The Geek's "100 things to do before you die" list

« Last post by Lashiec on May 07, 2009, 05:43 PM »

nope.. he met her in a computer chat room.

-mouser (May 07, 2009, 02:49 AM)

Hahahaha, the Linus way

Anyway, it's just a general observation that the bar for what is considered geeky is getting lower and lower. Now yuppies that throw money against a bunch of gadgets are geeks too... 

-Gothi[c] (May 07, 2009, 12:36 PM)

When even newspapers proclaim it's cool to be a geek (or even worse, a nerd), you know it has permeated the mainstream. Ah, modern societies, they always end up assimilating even the most obscure countercultures.

But seriously, shortening an URL? Are you kidding?

304

General Software Discussion / Re: Best Firefox security addons?

« Last post by Lashiec on May 06, 2009, 06:46 PM »

The outcome of all this is actually pretty nice: Mozilla proposed a change in the policy to prevent future problems. No more Fast Dial shenanigans!

305

Living Room / Re: The entitled generation....Are they right?

« Last post by Lashiec on May 06, 2009, 06:34 PM »

I'm beginning to think this entire debate is a "generation thing."

-40hz (May 03, 2009, 04:03 PM)

Don't. It does not have anything to do with new vs. old generations, and more with what each person considers the 'right thing to do'. My oldest brother is probably part of your generation, and he would agree with your friend's daughter (regarding the part of getting culture without paying for it at least, never had a discussion with him over the ethical issues and everything else). So does many people of his generation, heck, even much older people, like sgtevmckay said.

Your friend's daughter sounds to be in the "I'm fighting the system" school of thought, which is just another way to justify something that can't be justified. Most people I know fall in the "They have enough money" camp and, of course, "If it's free, why not?". I'm not saying the current system is cool and nice, quite the opposite, but citing fair use to share a song with a friend when you mean downloading entire discographies (effectively redefining "fair use") is not helping anyone.

That said, there's probably some fairness depending on what you're getting for free. I never considered to be a crime or even something questionable from an ethical point of view to grab an album of certain group to know them, or to grab movies or TV content because they're unavailable in your region. Many people do that (including myself) and would gladly pay for it if there was some other way to get it. It's simply a way of taking advantage of technology to overcome old hurdles that content distributors (and creators sometimes) continue to have in place. In a world like ours nowadays, things like regional restrictions do not make sense at all. As I said before, everyone is getting it (with music, the issue is practically settled thanks to Amazon, iTunes or Spotify), so good for them and for us.

But trying to downplay artists relevance compared with the rest of us is quite unfair, even more considering that it's not always their fault all these things are happening, although judging by comments here and there this is where the majority is trying to make us believe. I wonder how we reached this point, that is, it's perfectly acceptable not to pay for something you like and want. I assume these people do like or would like to be paid for their jobs, it's the logical thing in our society. How is it any different with culture? You have to pay for all those hours in the studio working on your new songs, and film crews do have a salary. Probably no one part of the entitled generation cares to think about it (age-wise, I'm supposed to be part of it as well :-D)

Seeing as everyone is probably about to jump all over me, I should point out that we (myself, and the people I know) still DO buy software. Lots of kids play World of Warcraft, and buy the expansions + paying for the monthly subscription. Last Friday I overheard two Mac kids in my English class talking about the girl's new "copy of iLife '09 in a bundle with Leopard." In regard to myself, a good example is that I have purchased every copy of Need for Speed I have in my possession (Undercover was not worth it though ).

-wreckedcarzz (May 04, 2009, 10:30 PM)

Bad examples, really . While you can play WoW in private servers thus not paying for the subscription, you're missing all the fun on public ones. And I ignore how the girl got his copy of Leopard + iLife, but IIRC it comes bundled with Apple computers, so those two cases show how people will pay for something if there is no other way to get it (WoW and an Apple computer, respectively). Actually, every Mac user I know has iLife but no one paid for it.

Also, I wish I didn't click on your link >_<

306

DC Gamer Club / Re: 30 PC Games to Play Before You Die

« Last post by Lashiec on May 06, 2009, 05:06 PM »

Now that you mention it, it's very surprising not to see Beyond Good & Evil in the list, considering the author of the article is a HUGE fan of it, and I lost count of how many times he has mentioned it. And it really deserves a place there.

307

Living Room / Re: Errors installing XP Home Edition.

« Last post by Lashiec on May 06, 2009, 04:55 PM »

Download MemTest86+, create a bootable disk, put one of the failing sticks back in and let the test run. Usually, if the stick is really damaged, it will warn you of errors after a while, otherwise let it complete a couple of runs. Repeat that for all the remaining sticks.

Kingston (as prolly most memory manufacturers) has a lifetime guarantee on their RAM, so send them back the damaged sticks in exchange for new ones.

308

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by Lashiec on May 06, 2009, 04:48 PM »

Note that not all Intel and AMD CPUs include virtualization extensions. Intel is the most troublesome case, as many of their current models have Intel-VT removed arbitrarily. They used to do that with the first Core 2 family, and, despite the confusion, they have not learned anything since then.

So much for the Wintel duo, first the "Vista Capable" lawsuit, now this... Intel likes to cause trouble for Microsoft.

309

Official Announcements / Re: Mobysaurus Thesaurus Now Officially Hosted on DonationCoder.com

« Last post by Lashiec on May 03, 2009, 01:45 PM »

Wasnt there also an online version of Mobysaurus Thesaurus - as opposed to a download?
I couldnt find it via google ... anyone know about that?

-tomos (May 03, 2009, 12:36 PM)

You mean FreeThesaurus?

310

DC Gamer Club / Re: 30 PC Games to Play Before You Die

« Last post by Lashiec on May 02, 2009, 02:54 PM »

I thought the premise of Mirror's Edge looked cool... why didn't you like it if you don't mind me asking...

-wraith808 (May 01, 2009, 08:18 AM)

It's a fine game and all that, but frankly it pales in comparison with some of the masterpieces they list on the article, and it's not exactly one of the first games that would come to my mind in a list (book, actually :D) of recommendations (quite the contrary, actually).

Just to clarify, I have played a good chunk of the PS3 version, but not finished it yet

311

Living Room / Re: ToyVoyagers: Stuffed Animals Travel the Globe with the Help of Strangers

« Last post by Lashiec on April 30, 2009, 06:08 PM »

The idea was a culmination of admiring some snaps we'd taken of our son's toys on holiday, loving the travelling gnome in the film, 'Amelie', as well as the way a tin of treasures that she finds in her flat finds its way back to its original owner.

Hehe, surprising no one decided to carry on with the idea before. Very sweet

312

General Software Discussion / Re: Any freeware alternatives to Faststone MaxView?

« Last post by Lashiec on April 30, 2009, 05:55 PM »

MaxView is shareware but its bigger brother is still freeware... how weird.

Oh well, I recommend ArtSee as tomos suggests. Another option could be Universal Viewer, even if it's far more than a picture viewer.

313

General Software Discussion / Re: Appnews.net - A new collaboration between some of our favorite software bloggers

« Last post by Lashiec on April 30, 2009, 05:36 PM »

Nice. A site such this is always welcomed considering how the big sites are reviewing software nowadays.

314

General Software Discussion / Re: The mess that MS-OOXML has created for ISO and Microsoft

« Last post by Lashiec on April 30, 2009, 05:31 PM »

So, they created a new format, and they don't even follow it to the letter? Impressive. I fear for ODF support in the new SP2. Kinda reminds me of the early days of the web, when Microsoft contributed to the standards, and later decided to write their own incompatible extensions. Very clever.

315

General Software Discussion / Re: Appnews.net - A new collaboration between some of our favorite software bloggers

« Last post by Lashiec on April 30, 2009, 05:26 PM »

So, it is something like FileHippo with companion reviews?

316

General Software Discussion / Re: Dangerous Adobe Reader Vulnerability In the Wild

« Last post by Lashiec on April 30, 2009, 05:23 PM »

Umm, yeah, according to Adobe it would only mitigate it. The new unpatched vulnerability also urges the user to disable JavaScript to mitigate the attack. Mitigation is always a good thing, anyway

317

DC Gamer Club / Re: 30 PC Games to Play Before You Die

« Last post by Lashiec on April 30, 2009, 05:13 PM »

I'm with you!  I've played more than a couple, but they missed several IMO, and some of the ones they put on there are just plain puzzling.

-wraith808 (April 30, 2009, 03:59 PM)

Indeed. Mirror's Edge, Postal 2 (WTH!)... you're not missing anything if you do not play those two.

Bottom line: Top xy lists are great to create controversy and thus drive traffic while everyone discusses their own best lists and name call the author. Perhaps some day they'll stop doing that and accept those kind of lists can never compile all the cool games everyone and their dog should play.

That said, Joe Martin, the article writer, has been discussing at certain length all the games he has, and why he likes them or not. That makes for a more interesting read than a quick mention of a game bullet points IMO.

318

General Software Discussion / Re: Dangerous Adobe Reader Vulnerability In the Wild

« Last post by Lashiec on April 30, 2009, 04:59 PM »

Suggestion to Adobe: Disable JavaScript BY DEFAULT. So far I just encountered a single PDF that requires it (interactive forms) and IIRC it asked me to enable JavaScript just for the document. Peace of mind for the users, and a certain peace of mind for Adobe while they work in a fix. Besides, they already ask if you want to open a mere URL contained in a PDF, why not doing it for something less common like JS in a PDF?

319

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by Lashiec on April 27, 2009, 01:14 PM »

The answer to your question will likely be the same as "does VirtualPC support DirectX hardware acceleration properly".

-f0dder (April 27, 2009, 12:59 PM)

Yeah, I was afraid of that. VirtualPC is really behind the competition regarding graphics acceleration support, and that's even with the leaders in that area offering lackluster performance compared with the real thing. It would be really nice to have it, though.

I assume this is more of a nod to businesses looking to adopt Windows 7 than anything else.

320

General Software Discussion / Wait, what?

« Last post by Lashiec on April 27, 2009, 12:46 PM »

Looks like Microsoft is giving away copies of XP with every copy of Windows 7 you get. If that's how they intend to finally bury the old OS, they're doing it wrong

I wonder if that 100% compatibility figure also includes games...

321

General Software Discussion / Agnitum Outpost Free is alive again

« Last post by Lashiec on April 27, 2009, 12:41 PM »

Talk about unexpected announcements. As you may recall, back when Outpost was a new player in the firewall arena, the app did have a basic free version that garnered critical praise for its features and thorough protection. Unfortunately, Agnitum never updated the software to include the many improvements done in the "Pro" versions, or to improve compatibility with the new Windows versions.

But it looks like the team decided to change this, and they're offering a free version of Outpost 2009, with the usual restrictions applied (you can also get the Pro version for free with TrialPay, but I think there's enough spam in the web nowadays). Still, Agnitum remains as one of the best options for a firewall according to the various tests done around the net, so even a basic version is a good alternative.

I would like to know why Agnitum decided to do this right now, and why they did not update the firewall during almost seven years, though.
via FileHippo

322

DC Gamer Club / Re: $10 Orange Box on Steam

« Last post by Lashiec on April 25, 2009, 04:11 PM »

I bought my copy for about 25-30$ two years ago and I don't see anything special about "this weekend" offer.

-fenixproductions (April 24, 2009, 10:15 PM)

HERESY!

Suffice to say I did take a mere nanosecond to take advantage of the offer. I was curious about Portal and Team Fortress 2, and I finally will be able to put an end to the jokes about my "PC Gamer" status for not having Half-Life 2.

323

General Software Discussion / Re: Which idiot came up with Windows Defender * UAC

« Last post by Lashiec on April 21, 2009, 08:20 PM »

Just in case, do check the options of Defender. There are a few options that come disabled by default, and one of them may be "Notify about software not yet classified" or similar.

324

General Software Discussion / Re: Which idiot came up with Windows Defender * UAC

« Last post by Lashiec on April 21, 2009, 07:10 PM »

During my brief encounters with Vista and Windows 7 I noticed that Windows Defender is more silent than in XP, so the lack of popups is probably a good thing. I assume UAC and other things Vista introduced made some monitoring functions of Defender useless.

325

General Software Discussion / Re: Which idiot came up with Windows Defender * UAC

« Last post by Lashiec on April 21, 2009, 06:53 PM »

Nice point there, f0dder

In theory, if you accept to be part of Microsoft SpyNet, the actions you take towards unknown apps will end up being included in Defender's database. At least that's what the app tells to you, and what the help file says. The problem is that the thing does not work at all. I accepted Wallpaper Master and Total Uninstall petitions in Windows Defender a thousand times over most than one year, and the apps are still not being recognized. I don't know what Microsoft is doing, but clearly it isn't working, maybe we will see it fixed for Windows 7. Also, there seems to be a way to allow items permanently as you mention (heck, there's even a way to list the allowed items in the Tools section), but damned if I know how to add something. The help file mentions a mythical "Always allow" option, but it ranks up there with the tooth fairy in terms of probability of existence.

To be fair, other security apps that detect "safe" and "unsafe" software still do not detect them as well, so it looks like a general problem with these particular applications.

EDIT: No fun, man, you edited everything