Recent Posts

301

Living Room / Re: I need help coming up with a plan to fix my NTFS security permissions problems

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 07, 2015, 08:41 AM »

Unfortunately, the developer of the software raid explicitly has said he will NOT spend a second helping people with NTFS security problems.  So I'm stuck on advice.  I've scoured the web and tried everything.

-superboyac (August 06, 2015, 04:51 PM)

This is a pity, because back in my old fashioned business school, this was what they were talking about with "value added". Even if he's busy himself, he just has to get someone else (part time?) who knows this stuff, and then it's "value kept in house".

But a lot of Open Source and apparently other small devs take a narrow view of what they want to work on, so if SuperboyAC's of the world rip out a drive wrong, too bad!

302

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 08:56 PM »

As for me, now that I have conquered the problems I've encountered during my install, Windows 10 is settling into being a very solid OS for me. The only thing that nags at me now is clicking icons on the taskbar offers no visual feedback one has clicked them as previous versions of Windows have done. It's a minor nit, but still a little weird to see.

-Innuendo (August 06, 2015, 08:32 PM)

To me even that doesn't matter! It's nits!

I am dying to get some time + solid reporting on their new push mechanism. All else pales before that in my eyes.

Oh, the first one will be either glorious or harmless.

But someone at MS learned to bring on a team to play the Long Games again.

THAT's what I'm nervous about!

303

Living Room / Re: Getting Things Done revisited

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 03:55 PM »

Quick Update:

My "Paper Spreadsheets on Calendars" really work best with certain classes of info. Quick breakdown:

1. Smash ultra fast notes onto paper stickies.
2. Review stickies for ones that are worth keeping more than about a week
3. Then decide which ones should go into my note program (now covering 75% of my data) and which work better being cute little long term info that should be really fast to access. Notice: "Long term but silly" notes belong in my note program. It's the mid line really useful stuff with no more than about 4 notes per set that is a candidate for the calendars.

It's the overlap in part 3 that I keep wavering on.

But the very raw process of sweeping up the yellow stickies SOMEWHERE is valuable. I am grateful that I type decently fast, so the "duplication overhead" for me really isn't that big of a deal per se.

304

Living Room / Re: Want to backup your music collection? Tough...It's illegal.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 02:31 PM »

...copying any copyright protected media, whether from a CD to a PC, one device to another, or even backing up to a remote cloud is entirely illegal.

But wait! In order to watch a video or listen to a song online, my browser (or app) has to download a local copy onto my device so that I can hear/see it!

But wait! If I buy a digital album from iTunes (on my trendy Macbook) and then put it onto my iPod/iPhone, I've just made a copy of copyright protected media! It's on my Mac and my iDevice!

But wait! If I use a service like Subsonic or Plex to have a little media box somewhere that allows me to stream to my TV, Phone, Tablet, PC, or other connected devices, it's copying those files to all those other devices!

Doesn't this ruling basically make the entire proliferation of copyright protected media illegal?

-Deozaan (August 06, 2015, 01:43 PM)

In some senses it already was ... leaving for other posts the US/UK/"3rd world countries" differences in law aside, the whole "web 2.0 *share* thing is a scam! Because anything other than the ("the not yet wholly illegal") posting of a link ... becomes ... wait for it ... copying a copyrighted item!

But no, Facebook is paying millions to let people gleefully "share" ... um ... copy ... copyrighted pics ... ahem ... "3rd class digital files" (or something!) every day in billions of posts.

"But it's okay, it doesn't move ... except if it's a moving gif... but then it's not a movie! And none of those are songs!" (see my thing elsewhere about embedding music into pics!)

So what does the ruling mean? "Copying ... uh ... to a folder location easily findable ... uh by anyone who only uses their computer to go on facebook, or iTunes... yeah that's it ... is illegal. All copies that go to temp files while you "stream" are fine ... so then if you tell people where to find the streamed "temp files" and make them non-temp, yeah, that's what we mean!"

<--- Facedesks and cries.

305

Living Room / Re: Want to backup your music collection? Tough...It's illegal.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 01:07 PM »

Plus with Microsoft's new "Slipstream capability" they can one day push an update that just happens to do nasty things. Like "You're over a barrel now. Pray we don't push an update you don't like!"

 

306

Living Room / Re: Want to backup your music collection? Tough...It's illegal.

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 01:06 PM »

I'm disturbed by the phrase "They didn't like the law so they made it illegal" ?!!

So any law made never matters ever again if the High Court over there can overturn it?!! Like (Vader) "We modified the deal. Pray we don't modify it further!" (/Vader)

307

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 12:07 PM »

I find it weird how people just learned to accept "we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders)". It feels like vaccination to me. Yes, with Windows 10 you can turn it off (at least that's what we think). But once this becomes the norm, it maybe won't feel so wrong when you can't turn it off any more.

I don't think we're stuck. There are plenty of options, at least for us tech-savvy folks. Often, they are a lot of work to implement though and by far not as well integrated. I understand how convenient it is if you just enter a single user name and password on your new phone or machine and you have all you addresses, calendar, emails, photos, files, etc. back. But the price we pay is enormous imho.

I'm sure most DCers have read 1984. The direction we're heading seems so obvious. Nevertheless, we just don't want to see it, don't want to accept it. After all, you can just turn it off.

-phitsc (August 06, 2015, 11:13 AM)

I think we're almost stuck, by their design!


I'm well aware of the web mail and phone side slurps, but the price to pay of not integrating all your stuff in one place is *also* enormous!

But Desktop PC OS'es used to be "our own little land". "Make it local" and all that. But now that's starting to slip because MS has recovered (?) some momentum somewhere and now they have their new stomping ground called Win10 and I still think a "new cultural shift" that somehow "this is now" that we were able to put off while we all ignored Windows 8. (Not the least that by making this the "second OS", they took the first step to making Win7 semi obsolete.)

This whole culture though still feels like they're successfully doing that Halogen-Light-on-SUV on us. We're all wrapped up still in "silly" little install glitches. Yay Vista 2.0 style griping.

But Sauron over there has (with more time on their hands aka 3 further years) has built untold number of surprises into this one, and it's gonna take us damn near all of our "free year" to ferret out 60% of them.

I don't KNOW when I have been this bothered by an OS!


PS. Ads in Solitaire.

308

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 09:25 AM »

... With whatever privacy concerns (or others!) comes with Software-as-a-service.

-TaoPhoenix (August 06, 2015, 07:58 AM)

I loathe SaaS. Most often it's just implemented to milk customers. However, I'm still beholden to clients, and Windows is the only option. And my development work now requires Win10.

-Renegade (August 06, 2015, 09:20 AM)

Renny! I didn't know you were so restrained! Or should I check the basement for the unrestrained version?
 

309

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 09:18 AM »

Sounds almost like, next thing you know, like WalMart, Microsoft will be bogusly referring to us as 'Associates'.

-bit (August 06, 2015, 08:56 AM)

Actually they can't do that because we're not even getting paid!

But *in that spirit*, they'll find another phrase. "Our paying partners" or something!
 

310

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 08:18 AM »

It's not just us guys.

Starting from the Win10 Wiki, Ars Tecnica says that "it was buggier than previous versions of Windows were on-launch.".

http://arstechnica.c...-the-bugs-get-fixed/

A couple of snips:

"I'm more conflicted about Windows 10 than I have been about any previous version of Windows. In some ways, the operating system is extremely ambitious; in others, it represents a great loss of ambition. The new release tries to walk an unsteady path between being Microsoft's most progressive, forward-looking release and simultaneously appealing to Windows' most conservative users."

311

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 07:58 AM »

This could go in a couple of threads, but it works here too.

Removing any doubt - From the Win10 Wiki:

"Unlike previous versions of Windows, Microsoft described Windows 10 as "service" that would receive ongoing updates to its features and functionality. augmented with the ability for enterprise environments to receive non-critical updates at a slower pace, or use long-term support milestones that will only receive critical updates, such as security patches, over their five-year lifespan of mainstream support."

"Criticism of Windows 10 was directed towards a belief that the operating system was more limiting in how users could control its operation; in particular, Windows Update installs all updates automatically, no longer allows users to selectively install updates, and only the Pro edition of Windows 10 can "defer" the installation of "upgrades" for the operating system. Privacy concerns were also voiced by critics and advocates, as the operating system's default settings and certain features require the transmission of user data to Microsoft or its trusted partners."

... With whatever privacy concerns (or others!) comes with Software-as-a-service.

312

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 06, 2015, 07:47 AM »

I haven't checked into it extensively yet, but I imagine our smart phones are passing along more information to The Man than any desktop OS ever will. Unless you're walking around with the battery pulled and only put it back in for as long as you need to use the phone & not a second longer, your phone is capable of telling somebody where you are every second of every day its with you. Where you drive, where you shop, where you spend most of your time....and The Man can monitor this (and more) even if the phone is turned off.

Most of this privacy stuff is all over MS needing collect information to customize the OS to you (and the ads, too). I half-suspect that all the legal jargon in the EULA that has people up in the arms is just CYA boilerplate in case a government agency drops a subpeona on a Microsoft executive's desk.

Just my theory...could totally be wrong, though, as I haven't had time to dig deep into it yet.

-Innuendo (August 06, 2015, 07:42 AM)

They are, and that's a little bit of all this, we're all uneasy with what mobile phones do, but we're kinda stuck. Desktop OS's were supposed to be "ours".

313

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder Major Upgrades - Progress Report Thread

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 05, 2015, 11:20 AM »

will youtube videos be back? it seems we have none at the moment

-Curt (August 05, 2015, 11:02 AM)

Because of the scare with Flash lately, some browsers were disabling the plugin.
Flash is becoming more and more problematic. Videos from YT embedded here work with Flash - even though HTML5 is becoming the default in YT itself.

So, yeah - curious about the future there mouser?


EDIT// missed your post mouser - YT is working here - with PaleMoon at any rate.

-tomos (August 05, 2015, 11:10 AM)

It wasn't for me. I did fix it though with both a PaleMoon upgrade and then a full Flash upgrade and a browser restart.

314

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 05, 2015, 09:35 AM »

It's an entertaining story of wonk, but... isn't most (if not all) of this due to A: old hardware/software, and/or B: semi-unusual configuration changes (e.g. moving the Desktop folder)? Don't get me wrong, I get that this stuff worked in your previous setup (also a Microsoft Windows OS) so you have reason to believe it should still work (though you did seem aware that moving the user data folders has some risk/wonk to it). But as far as a general warning goes, it seems more like "If you're a power user who likes to heavily customize your OS, be gentle with Win 10 for now". Honestly I'm not even clear on what problems were unique to the clean install vs. the upgrade...

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (August 04, 2015, 07:19 PM)

Heh well part of the computing experience is supposed to be "doing something to get something done!" Whether it's moving a desktop folder, or older hardware, or older software, or something ... we're not here to get Teh Latezt Windowz just to go on Facebook!
 

So in some senses "go gentle" means that MS didn't do their job. For example, paraphrasing a phrase I like to use, "Microsoft spent three years and a developer channel and no one moved their desktop?! Why does DC have to be first to do stuff?!"

I can see if someone tries an *EPIC* hack, maybe. But these issues cropping up feel like MS pawning off their Gamma level testing on users. And they're even saying so! (Snooty voice) "Eau. For you VALUED Enterprise customers, you get to wait four months while the peons do our work for us."

 

315

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder Major Upgrades - Progress Report Thread

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 05, 2015, 09:27 AM »

Will both DC and DC2 be online at same time ?

If I am unable to find something on DC2 but remember it was there, I may search in DC. I use DC forum a lot for googling, if I am allowed to say that, when I am stuck and it had helped me.

Regards,

Anand

-anandcoral (August 05, 2015, 06:49 AM)

Interesting question Anand because as I knew it, the results should be the same, except looking different via layout and themes and stuff. So if they are *not* the same, then that sounds like a bug we should test before we flip.

Do we want to do some test studies of this for a day before we flip? Anand, do you have a good example of something you recently had to look for?

Mouser I don't hear anyone talking about search yet, I think it's worth a test or two. You found the love in the rounded corners, you never know what other bug might be behind the scenes!

316

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox: I got stuck on 'search as you type'. Any way to get back?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 05, 2015, 09:11 AM »

Btw: cyberfox with the same tabs uses less CPU, but more memory So I may move there permanently.

-urlwolf (August 05, 2015, 05:27 AM)

I kept forgetting to check out Cyberfox, so I'm trying to do that now!

Edit: It says it doesn't support my version of Windows. (XP). Oh well.

317

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 04, 2015, 06:35 PM »

...hopefully this problem is perpetually in the rear view mirror.

-Innuendo (August 04, 2015, 06:25 PM)

There's a Meatloaf song about that! : )

318

General Software Discussion / Re: Pls recommend 32-bit software for old WinXP machine I'm giving an elderly woman

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 04, 2015, 06:32 PM »

Stephen, a big unclear item is she can't afford a mainline internet service. So a bunch of your ideas fall sideways.

319

Official Announcements / Re: Backup any private posts you want to keep from the "My Personal Area" section

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 04, 2015, 09:20 AM »

In your mind everybody is actually seeing those posts 

-rgdot (August 04, 2015, 07:12 AM)

And once or twice they DO ...

 

Delete Post! Delete Post!

 

320

General Software Discussion / Re: Pls recommend 32-bit software for old WinXP machine I'm giving an elderly woman

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 04, 2015, 09:18 AM »

web browser pre-configured with bookmark toolbar of useful pages?

-mouser (August 01, 2015, 08:46 PM)

It might be a good idea, even if she isn't going to have internet access, to perhaps save some pages for her to view locally, static pages that contain handy reference info.

-app103 (August 01, 2015, 10:04 PM)

Yeah, reference.

I think I remember seeing years ago that you could save local offline copies of Wikipedia. And yes, "only 75-80% of it is true" but to me that's a valuable modern part of the web, just getting a quick glance at something that comes up. Can anyone look into that in general and then see if it applies here too?

321

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 03, 2015, 02:48 PM »

Most of the article comes down to this:

"Other information Microsoft saves includes Bing search queries and conversations with the new digital personal assistant Cortana; contents of private communications such as email; websites and apps visited (including features accessed and length of time used); and contents of private folders. Furthermore, “your typed and handwritten words are collected,” the Privacy Statement says, which many online observers liken to a keylogger. "

322

Official Announcements / Re: Backup any private posts you want to keep from the "My Personal Area" section

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 03, 2015, 11:58 AM »

Not too bad for me - I only had two worth saving.

My quick hack suggestion for the new one until you think of something else is people can maybe just send themselves board messages. For me the main concept of the private posts is just that they're "here" and not yet another of 9000 things to keep track of on your own comp.

It's quite easy for me to just grab something off a message from myself.

323

General Software Discussion / Re: PSA: Woe to Thee Who Performs a Windows 10 Clean Install

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 03, 2015, 09:34 AM »

I think it's unfair to expect Microsoft to support old software.

They're still releasing security updates. But they're not going to be adding new features. I don't find that unreasonable, especially since they consider Windows 7 to be two "generations" old at this point.

-Deozaan (August 03, 2015, 01:05 AM)

What's not clear at all to me is what the "generations" policy becomes with Win10's "Last big generation ever!" philosophy. And then it changes what "old software" means as well. Will it start to look like Apple's "OS X" that has "sorta" been going on for a decade, but "really we only support the last x releases"?

And while we're all still hung up this month on install glitches, I can't begin to fathom the replacement for how we used to do stuff - "what version of the OS do you have". How does that tie into their rolling feature packs?

324

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware: A Dangerous Windows 10 Ransomware Scam Is Spreading Online

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 03, 2015, 09:24 AM »

Anyone want to summarize a "magic bullet" method of separating the fake ones from the real ones?

I could see myself falling for that with a spoofed address because my best main method (besides look and feel) of telling phishing is hovering over the address that says things like "Microsoft" (from werwfdsf.thai) or something.

325

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Privacy Concerns

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on August 03, 2015, 09:16 AM »

Well, Anand's barebones comments do get in there, but it doesn't mean we can't also apply social pressure on the side to reduce some of it.

I just found Slashdot's version of this. Sadly, the thread itself descended quickly into uselessness. (Hey! Another reason DC rules! Except for a little side joking, we tend to stay on topic and *we* make the topics, and split them off if they get all derailed.)

So instead I'll post the article links Slashdot used, and y'all can see if they shed any other light on Win10 privacy. They at least seem to bring up a few items I haven't seen here yet.

Windows 10: Microsoft under attack over privacy
http://www.theguardi...acy-default-settings

The real price of Windows 10 is your privacy
http://betanews.com/...-10-is-your-privacy/