Recent Posts

3301

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloud-storage - safe & secure? Consider Wuala (it's encrypted as well).

« Last post by IainB on January 03, 2014, 06:53 PM »

@ericalynne and @tomos + 2 others, would you like to join in a trial/experiment?
Just to help things along, I have today set up (for FREE) a new ID and Wuala Business account 30-day trial for experimentation and to see how it all works in practice.
If we experiment with this, then we might be able to discover/understand a solution to Erica's problems with Wuala (rather than experimenting on her existing Business account).

The Business account looks like it should be relatively straightforward, but, as they say, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating"!
The company name I have set up for this trial purpose is NJ.Dawood Enterprises. (It is not a real company name/person. Once set, this name cannot be changed.)
The group name I have set up for this is NJ.Dawood Enterprises-DCF Trial. (Once set, this name cannot be changed.)

Now, I would like to get some members on board. I am allowed a max. of 5 members per group, for the trial.
Members can access the group in two ways:

• 1. As existing personal members/users of Wuala. This could be @ericalynne, for example.
• 2. Via a website at a specified URL address and an associated key. (I haven't managed to get this to work fully, yet.)

I scanned for existing Wuala member's name "Erica Lynne", and got this result, so am unsure which is the "right" Erica:



I could invite someone specific (e.g., @tomos) to become a new member of Wuala (assuming he isn't one already) and join the group.



Or, I could invite anyone to become a new member of Wuala and join the group via a referral link.

Each time a new Wuala member joins this from an invite of mine, I gather that it will add 1Gb of storage to the account (there is a max limit to accumulate to the account of up to 10Gb this way, I gather).
To incentivise referrals, it will also give the new user 6Gb free to start with, rather than the usual 5Gb for new users.

I'm not sure, but I think for us to experiment with Wuala it is probably only of use for the purposes of examining @ericalynne's situation if we have new/existing Wuala users join the group (max limit = 5 members of a group), as this would reflect Erica's business account "model".

3302

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloud-storage - safe & secure? Consider Wuala (it's encrypted as well).

« Last post by IainB on January 03, 2014, 06:48 AM »

A bit of a long shot here, but is it possible that you have inadvertently bought the "Personal" version of Wuala and not the Business version?
According to this comparison chart below, the Business version does offer the collaboration features you would expect, whereas the Personal version does not.
That could/might explain why you are not getting the Business functionality.

3303

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on January 03, 2014, 05:05 AM »

I just found a photo on David Icke's website of what looks like a useful newly-invented HP instrument. Rumour has it that they are currently scale-testing it internally in their own organisation:

3304

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... reasonable backup software

« Last post by IainB on January 03, 2014, 04:09 AM »

...So I bought a new (Toshiba) laptop with Win98 OS and asked them how I could get my data off the failed laptop hard drive. They suggested something relatively new - a portable hard drive case to house the failed laptop's 2½" drive.
Sold. I was back at work on my report about 2 hours later after restoring the necessary proggies (MS Office and some 3rd party stuff) to the new laptop from some MS Office disks and the PHD. ...

-IainB (January 01, 2014, 06:54 PM)

Just to confirm, I used the dead laptop's 2½" drive in the PHD (portable hard drive) case that I bought for that purpose. From memory, the connection was via a PCI card (Peripheral Component Interconnect), then called a "PCMCIA" (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association).
Nowadays, I use PHDs with USB interfaces, including one which also has a Fastwire (or something) interface as well.

Note: "PCMCIA" also apparently stands for "People Can't Memorise Computer Industry Acronyms").   

3305

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloud-storage - safe & secure? Consider Wuala (it's encrypted as well).

« Last post by IainB on January 02, 2014, 06:14 PM »

@ericalynne:
Did you do a Wuala "Business" trial - a "suck-it-and-see" - before paying for the service?
Have you read through the Wuala Business User Manuals section to see if that could help you solve the problem you have? Was it of any use?
Do you have an IT administrator, or is that also a part of your role?

3306

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloud-storage - safe & secure? Consider Wuala (it's encrypted as well).

« Last post by IainB on January 02, 2014, 09:26 AM »

@ericalynne: That doesn't sound so good.
I'd like to help, but I am a single user and have not trialled the group/collaboration functionality.
There may be others on this forum who have made more use of Wuala though.

Just a thought: Have you posted about your problems on one of the Wuala forums?

3307

Living Room / Re: I want to ping back blocked incoming pings - could I use BlackIce Defender?

« Last post by IainB on January 02, 2014, 09:12 AM »

...Check Incoming IP Filtering and ensure there isn't an Allow rule for ICMP protocol...

-4wd (December 31, 2013, 11:09 PM)

==> I checked. There are no such rules set in the router. (I set up no Allow rules on Incoming IP Filtering.)

I am wondering why your software firewall is seeing a lot of inbound blocking activity if the routers firewall is turned on though, (it does support a SPI^w firewall which should make it reasonably intelligent).

-4wd (December 31, 2013, 11:09 PM)

==> "Enable SPI Firewall" is ON.

Referring to the W7FC image, you've cut it off so does it report what protocol is being used?

-4wd (December 31, 2013, 11:09 PM)

==> See above latest image of log from me. It looks like it's all TCP.

Possibly by using Process Explorer to get the names and trying to correlate with lookups on the blocked IPs.

-4wd (December 31, 2013, 11:09 PM)

==> Playing with this now...nothing obvious so far...

3308

Living Room / Re: I want to ping back blocked incoming pings - could I use BlackIce Defender?

« Last post by IainB on January 02, 2014, 07:25 AM »

...Referring to the W7FC image, you've cut it off so does it report what protocol is being used? ...

-4wd (December 31, 2013, 11:09 PM)

Here's a fuller image sample (taken from SysExporter):

3309

Living Room / Re: Migrating from Google Gmail.com to Microsoft Outlook.com

« Last post by IainB on January 01, 2014, 11:46 PM »

wraith, I knew it was spoofing and that I can't prevent that but I'd been able to get people to blacklist my old address, at least those people wouldn't be seeing that particular spam anymore. Unless the spammer followed me to the new email address, which didn't seem to happen.
______________________

-daddydave (January 01, 2014, 01:42 PM)

From what you wrote, rather than spoofing, it rather sounds as though someone has hacked your email account (i.e., figured out what your password is) and is logging into it and then sending actual email from it, to people in your email contacts list. That is, they are not sending  out email from another account and merely spoofing your email address - the email probably really is (or could be) coming from your email account.

The simplest thing to do, once you realise that this could be happening (and the sign is that spam is going out to your email contacts, addressed from your email account), is to logon to your email account and change the password to something more complex, then logoff, and then test it by logging back in with the new/changed password.

If your email account is in Gmail, then this could be a useful tip:

Following the recent hacking and publishing of Gawker Media customers' (commenters') email IDs and passwords (yes, passwords - how dumb can that be?), I had been checking my Gmail account security - and I had a surprise when I did it (for details, read on).

SUGGEST YOU DO THIS WEEKLY: (if you do not already do it.)
Start up Gmail in your browser.
Near the bottom of the main Gmail page, it says something like:
Last account activity: 57 minutes ago on this computer.  Details

When you click on "Details", you get taken to a page "Activity on this account". A table gives details of the 10 latest accesses, the 1st being your current session..
If you have any open sessions (e.g., if you left sessions open from another PC connected to the account, or if someone has open sessions from unauthorised access to your account), there will be a button that says to close them. Click on that button. The button will go away and you will get something like:
"This account does not seem to be open in any other location."

Now only you are looking at the account.

EDIT 2010-12-29 1112hrs: You have momentarily shut out any other users accessing your account. The objective is to move quickly and prevent any other account users doing anything before signing in again, by which time they will not be able to sign in, because by then you should have changed the account password and security question.

Scan the table for any Browser or POP3 accesses from IP addresses that were not yours from some other location or device.
Take a screen shot of it before doing anything further, because anything you do may scroll the oldest accesses off the table.

You can check the IP addresses here: http://projecthoneypot.org/search_ip.php
It will tell you which country it is in, and whether anything suspect has been reported for that IP address recently (i.e., it is still a "bad" IP address"). If they have the IP address, but no recent reports, then it means that they have had reports in the past, but it's probably OK now.

In any event, if there are any IP addresses that were not yours (either for browser or POP3 access), then:

    * change your password immediately (make it a "strong" one);
    * change the security question;
    * SAVE all changes;
    * whilst you are at it, get a second email address in the event you need to restore access to your account, having been locked out from it.
    * whilst you are at it, set up the SMS alert.

I did all this, because, to my great surprise I had POP3 (reading current inbox messages) accesses from some US-based IP addresses. I have no idea what they were up to, but they can't do any more POP3 accesses now.

EDIT 2010-12-29 1112hrs: Because my IP address is in New Zealand, a U.S. access was categorically something unwanted or potentially malign.

Hope this is useful/helpful to someone.
______________________

-IainB (December 28, 2010, 09:06 AM)

3310

Living Room / Re: Multiple Mini Reviews

« Last post by IainB on January 01, 2014, 09:27 PM »

                         

Thanks one and all. Recognition is always nice.
It's one thing to trial a piece of software or hardware, but the act of articulating a report or mini-review on the exercise reinforces the experience and promotes one's own learning.
I enjoy doing the mini-reviews, and they are often from my own working notes - or subsequently become my de facto working notes!
I habitually make notes about things that have occupied my interest/time in learning or discovery or problem-solving. Useful for when I forget what I learned and need to recall it...   

If my notes or mini-reviews can be helpful/useful to someone, then that would be an ideal outcome.
I have lost count of the number of times that I have silently given thanks for notes left for posterity - detailing comments/thoughts/problem solutions, somewhere on the Internet - e.g., in forums such as DCF.

It seems to me that for a civilised society to remain civilized and free, knowledge and truth need to be communicated and remain free and accessible also.

3311

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: WizNote (a PIM from China) - Mini-Review + Provisional User Forum

« Last post by IainB on January 01, 2014, 07:22 PM »

Much faster now

-paulobrabo (January 01, 2014, 03:37 AM)

Some of the observable speed improvement seems to have come from improved efficiencies in successive updated versions. I haven't messed about with the plugins at all (not trialled them yet) and yet have noticed that WizNote is getting faster - though it didn't seem too slow before. It's subjective. Maybe it's my laptop? I dunno.

3312

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: WizNote (a PIM from China) - Mini-Review + Provisional User Forum

« Last post by IainB on January 01, 2014, 07:16 PM »

When you say "flexible Cloud-based and Client-based PIM"  -- it looks like it is all cloud-based because it requires a login from the Windows client. Was hoping something else, but that's OK, it still may be good.

-daddydave (January 01, 2014, 04:45 PM)

No, it can run from your client and will do so quite happily if no Internet connection. Just no collaboration functionality then, that's all - at least, not until the Internet connection is restored. This is similar to OneNote - in fact, it seems to share several features in common with OneNote. I suspect that is no accident but is by design.

3313

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... reasonable backup software

« Last post by IainB on January 01, 2014, 06:54 PM »

@Shades: Nice one.   
I too share the horror of having to recover from disk partitions and system file structures mandated by Microsoft.
However, since I never build PCs for myself (I have always used laptops), since about 1990 I started to set up my data and third party programs so as to be able to be separate/discrete from and yet coexist within whatever strictures MS imposed on me with their latest prevailing OSes. It was initially DOS, which became DRDOS/4DOS, then successive incarnations of Windows.

The way I worked around the strictures was by working within the partitions mandated by MS.
Then, one day in 1998, whilst working on an urgent report for a client assignment in Thailand, my laptop's ( Win95 OS) keyboard controller failed and I was unable to continue working. In desperation, I shot over to Panthip Plaza (a massive IT emporium in Bangkok), took my laptop to a PC supply/repair shop and asked them to fix it, and said that I needed to be working again that same day. They said it would take at least 1½ days elapsed time to diagnose, find a replacement part supply, and fix. So I bought a new (Toshiba) laptop with Win98 OS and asked them how I could get my data off the failed laptop hard drive. They suggested something relatively new - a portable hard drive case to house the failed laptop's 2½" drive.
Sold. I was back at work on my report about 2 hours later after restoring the necessary proggies (MS Office and some 3rd party stuff) to the new laptop from some MS Office disks and the PHD.

Since then, my objective has been to be always in the position where I am able - if necessary - to set up a basic minimum working environment peculiar to my needs, on a new laptop, at the drop of a hat. Data accessibility is fundamental to such a strategy.
To better enable that, I then became rigorous about setting up specific main directories on the C: drive - directories with names that I have consistently continued to use, and have added to, over the years since. Certain types of data go into each directory, whose names are never changed, though their contents do change. Backup to and restore from portable hard drives is thus a breeze.

I have a single directory called "UTIL" for all third-party applications installed on the laptop. With the advent of Win7-64, I have tended to relax that rule, as some third-party applications are designed to install in different program directories (e.g., x86 and 64-bit) and make use of "Application Data" directories drives. Where there are some benefits to allowing that rule to be broken, and they override the obvious disadvantages, I let them through, though I too prefer the "portable" versions wherever feasible.

My recent experience with successfully cloning a failing hard drive to a new drive - refer AOMEI Backupper FREE + AOMEI Partition Assistant FREE - Mini-Review - has given me pause for thought though. I have no interest in creating backup images and then getting stuck into maintaining/recreating them in up-to-date state, so the path I took seems to have been the simplest and most effective in my situation. Thank goodness for Hard Drive Sentinel giving me so much early warning!

3314

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« Last post by IainB on January 01, 2014, 07:47 AM »

Sorry @Sarkand, I had a complete confused brainf#rt on this (probably due to lack of sleep - been up coughing all night) and mixed up the URL-related add-ons. It's also difficult to remember which add-ons do what sometimes, as I have so many!

To clarify:
Please note that the tool that offers the menu option "Copy page title and location as" is CoLT and not QuoteURLText.
Refer: Born Geek » Copy Link Text (CoLT)
Also see: Firefox Add-Ons to Copy WebPage Title and URL to the Clipboard

I first came across CoLT here:

CoLT 2.5.5[/url]

• http://www.borngeek.com/firefox/colt/
  
• Makes it easy to copy link text and locations.

-Curt (March 22, 2012, 09:52 AM)

CoLT and QuoteURLText have been mentioned in several DCF discussions.

This is where I first came across QuoteURLText - it does a lot more than you might think:

Quote URL Text_1.0.9b (title, url, quote, date)
multicopy_1.1 (list of Ctrl-c clips)
Scrapbook_1.5.6
Web Of Trust
firefox_18.0.1 in live linux puppy-precise_5.4.3 from DVD-RW in amd64 box

-sword (March 05, 2013, 02:15 PM)

I have been using this add-on for some time now and am keeping it. It really is useful and a real timesaver.
The great thing is that the selected text and all the associated URL metadata is saved as text into CHS (Clipboard Help & Spell) - which is a feature in CHS that I have wanted for quite a while.
Developer's website: http://qoelabs.com/quoteurl.php
Mozilla addon site: https://addons.mozil.../addon/quoteurltext/

I went to the latter website, highlighted some text, pressed Ctrl+Shift+C, and pasted the text in the Clipboard below, in the quote. Note that the emboldened text in the quote was the selected text, to differentiate it from the rest of the text - which is related metadata collected by the add-on.

QuoteURLText :: Add-ons for Firefox
https://addons.mozil.../addon/quoteurltext/
Sun Jun 16 2013 00:08:19 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
QuoteURLText 1.0.9b
by Jay Palat

Quote URL text will copy selected text to the clipboard including Page Title, Location and copy date.

Pretty nifty.

-IainB (June 15, 2013, 07:34 AM)

3315

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox - new window - can you remember the google search you opened with

« Last post by IainB on January 01, 2014, 07:23 AM »

I googled "history of previous searches" and one of the items it brought up was this useful article: How to Find Your Previous Google Search Queries [Quicktip]

3316

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« Last post by IainB on December 31, 2013, 10:35 PM »

...The link should look like  "Dressed" links - DonationCoder.com with the URL completely hidden.  A look at the extention  QuoteURLText leads me to believe that it will not give me this, and I can find no FFx or Tbird extentions that will do this. ...
____________________

-Sarkand (December 31, 2013, 09:39 PM)

No, the QuoteURLText add-on is quite smart and senses any links - it can do this "dressed link" - it's the menu option Rich Text HTML.
I know it works as I frequently use it to past linked web page headings into OnrNote. (It's cumbersome to get linked web page headings otherwise - too many steps.)

If one right-clicks on a link, it comes up with this alternative menu option:



Otherwise, if you just right-click on the page heading or a blank area of the page, it comes up with the first menu option as per the image I copied above. Do you see the difference?

3317

Living Room / Re: I want to ping back blocked incoming pings - could I use BlackIce Defender?

« Last post by IainB on December 31, 2013, 10:04 PM »

@4wd: Many thanks for that. Yes, I had read the manual and found the notes at the bit you point to in the image above. However, not knowing anything much about these things, I took it to mean simply that the syslog server would need to be a separate, remote physical device with it's own remote IP address - which I couldn't see myself as doing. I couldn't see why they made it so hard to do.

You give me some hope if the syslog can be output to the client Windows Event Log though! That could be ideal, if feasible.
I shall follow up on Kiwi and PRTG.

As for:

... do you have incoming ICMP messages blocked in the router ...

-4wd (December 31, 2013, 09:20 PM)

I don't know, I never kept a record, and I wouldn't know the difference anyway. As far as I recall, they all look similar in format to the ones in the image.
There is some other stuff - e.g., Windows 7 Firewall Control reports a lot of this kind of thing, which is what originally started me examining the router log to see what it was stopping.


For all I know, the source of a lot of this could be US NSA or NZ GCSB pings, or other similar criminal activity...

3318

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... reasonable backup software

« Last post by IainB on December 31, 2013, 09:30 PM »

FreeFileSync is an excellent backup tool: FreeFileSync - automated backup - Mini-Review.

AOMEI Backupper might be as good/better (backup functionality not yet fully tested) AOMEI Backupper FREE + AOMEI Partition Assistant FREE - Mini-Review.

3319

General Software Discussion / Re: IsoBuster 3.3 available

« Last post by IainB on December 31, 2013, 09:24 PM »

Also refer IsoBuster Pro - Mini-Review of this version.

3320

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« Last post by IainB on December 31, 2013, 09:14 PM »

Most times, a straight copy/paste of the link should/will probably be just fine, and it will present to the recipient as a fully working link, with no editing required on your part.
Not sure whether this would be of use, but there is a handy Firefox add-on called QuoteURLText that also does a good job of collecting a URL in other forms (e.g., for DC Forum, which requires URLs to be in BB Code). Here's an example screenshot of the menu for it:

3321

General Software Discussion / I just set up a WizNote Mini-Review + Provisional User Forum

« Last post by IainB on December 31, 2013, 08:48 PM »

Just did something about this to help us move it along - those who are or may be interested, that is.
WizNote (a PIM from China) - Mini-Review + Provisional User Forum

3322

Mini-Reviews by Members / WizNote (a PIM from China) - Mini-Review + Provisional User Forum

« Last post by IainB on December 31, 2013, 08:42 PM »

Originally posted:	2013-12-31
Last updated	2013-12-31

Basic Info

App/Service Name	WizNote
Thumbs-Up Rating	(still testing)
App URL	http://www.wiz.cn/index.html (Browse using Google Chrome, to auto-translate.)
App Version Reviewed	v4.1 (2013-12-26)
Test System Specs	MS Win7-64 Home Premium
Supported OSes	PC Windows (various)
Support Methods	Support at main website. (Browse using Google Chrome, to auto-translate.)
Upgrade Policy	Free upgrades.
Trial Version Available?	N/A (free)
Pricing Scheme	FREE including basic Cloud service, but 100 yuan pa or 10 yuan pm for full cloud service.

Intro and Overview:
This Mini-Review follows on from a discussion thread:
Note: Browse the Chinese website/links using Google Chrome, to auto-translate.

...I've found a killer notetaker: wiznote. Chinesse-only website, but chrome does a decent work translating it. ...
________________________

-urlwolf (May 16, 2013, 02:45 AM)

After reading @urlwolf's post, I took a look at WizNote.
This is just a heads-up re WizNote:
I could not find this referenced otherwise in the DC forum,  or the OutlinerSoftware forum, or their EditGrid list of Outliners.
So I posted details to them both, and here's the post to the DC forum.
It might be going under a different name elsewhere, but I do not know.
WizNote is new to me anyway, and because @urlwolf said it was a killer notetaking app, I tried it out. He was not far wrong. It seems to be very good.

Features include: (not an exhaustive list by any means)

• a FREE version (there’s a limit on Cloud storage and Cloud function, I think, though am not sure what).
• a VIP version which has a monthly bill of 600 10 yuan or something.
• a simple-and-easy-to-use desktop application (this is mandatory to use the system and to set up your database and Cloud account).
• a web-based application (so you and selected collaborators can access it from a web browser).
• AES encryption for specified folders/notes.
• a mobile application (*app*) - (I think, but I have not looked at this aspect, yet).
• 3-pane Outliner format.
• internal/external hyperlinking.
• hierarchical Tags.
• Standard word searches and SQL searches.
• saved searches (so you can use the searches as a view across segments of your database).
• an email address (to receive email, but not sure whether it can send any directly).
• plugins including web-clipping tools - “send-toWizNote” - add-ons for Firefox, Chrome and IE (and other browsers).
• capture of selected parts or entire web pages (as HTML, with all rich text and images separately editable in the Outlines.
• in the desktop version, images can be edited instantly via seamless integration with MS Paint, and saved back seamlessly into the Outliner, replacing the image you started with.
• smooth and fast auto-syncing to the Cloud (you have to open up a FREE account to use this), and easy access by collaborators.
• collaborators can be set up as “groups” and can be sent emailed notices of certain events (I don’t understand what exactly, as the emails are in Chinese).
• built-in Import/Export (e.g., even to output CHM help file formats). Some of this seems ro be via plugins, of which there look to me many. I tried a plugin for importing a OneNote notebook, but it was for OneNote 2007 or 2010, not my version 2013, I think. It partially worked, and rather well, at that.
• quite a few more very nifty features, too many to list here and several I have not fully explored yet.

It feels like a cross between InfoSelect v8 and MS OneNote 2013, and has some surprisingly intuitive responses. Quite nice to use.
There are some pros and cons, but this is NOT an evaluation report - I am still exploring/discovering the app.
The biggest difficulty I have found so far was ploughing my way through Google Translate versions of the Chinese websites I had to visit for the main application and its plugins.

Collected links to download as at 2013-05-18: (so you don’t have to spend the time I did in finding the latest/current versions).

• Download the desktop application from: http://download.wiz....s-x86-2013-04-25.exe
  Download via: http://www.wiz.cn/index.html
                http://download.wiz.cn/download?product=wiznote&client=windows-x86
  
  
• Download Chrome web clipper extension from: https://chrome.googl...emdiiebjljddhgojhfab
  
  
• Download Firefox web clipper add-on from: https://addons.mozil...wiznote-web-clipper/

If anyone was interested, I could set up my trial WizNote Cloud database for others to access - it is mostly full of English translations of the Chinese documentation about WizNote, so we could collaborate on that and experiment with it as we learn together.
________________________

-IainB (May 17, 2013, 12:36 PM)

FWIW, I think it's a killer app.
A pity the forums, and the rest of the site, is not in EN.
There seem to be many plugins.
I could run the android app on my 2.3 phone, but on my 4.2 tablet it doesn't seem to even be listed on the app store.
How this flew under the radar, I have no idea. It does many things right.

-urlwolf (May 17, 2013, 03:13 PM)

Yes, It's quite an amazingly good package.
By the way:

• There is an informative "Wiz Knowledge" (Windows mobile app) documentation link - see here.
  
• The details of the VIP account pricing/costs are in a blog - see here.
  It says about costs:
  (Copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images.)
  

  VIP restore the original price notification
  Posted on May 6, 2013 by admin
  Dear know:
  Hello! To know the notes VIP service will be held on May 9, 2013, formally restored to the original (100 yuan / year, 10 yuan / month), 40% discount promotion is no longer carried out. May 9, you can still enjoy a 40% discount on purchase of VIP services, known to the new and old customers! Thank you for your continued support!
  VIP service purchase Address: http://item.taobao.c...m.htm?id=24859296691
  Meanwhile, in May, we will carry out more promotions to give back to the new and old customers, so stay tuned official microblogging @ know notes Events!
  From known notes (Wiz)
  

-IainB (May 17, 2013, 09:00 PM)

Here is the opening/startup UI page:




Checking for updated version:




WizNote toolbar: (can be floating or fixed drop-down)




Who this software is designed for:
Any PC user who requires a modern, flexible Cloud-based and Client-based PIM, designed for group collaboration (if you want it), and thus with built-in group collaboration tools included.
So far, the only real alternative would seem to be OneNote + SkyDrive (though I am unsure of the group collaboration tools), with Evernote not quite getting there as the Client component is deliberately crippled (not as fully-functional as the Cloud component) and thus is not a Client-based equivalent alternative.

Interestingly, WizNote includes the functionality (as plugins) to import from OneNote and Evernote.

The Good:
Relatively simple to use, though quite a sophisticated tool. Need to read the documentation to fully utilise the tool properly.

It does many things right:

• Security. Notes encrypted locally before sending it to server-
• Multiplatform
• Very flexible interface (2/3 columns)
• Plugins
• Android app that beats even onenote
• Tables
• good paste from web, with url included next to the paste (like onenote)
• Can publish to blog straight (!)
• Very clean Html. Beats word, gdocs. No inline css.
• Word count. Press 'i' icon, then details
• Tagging
• Very flexible tree, you can disable showing notes in subfolders (Apple-styple only one level deep)
• Export is not an afterthought.
• Live search, highlights matches, shows small window of context (like rightnote, evernote). Beats onenote
• Web access (www.wiz.cn), in chinesse
• Autolink urls
• Beats any local wiki, no silly formatting, all wysiwyg
• Can add a note without opening main app (like cintanotes)
• Saves version history, for free (only in paid evernote)
• Can set paragraph line height (1.5x improves readability)
• Multi-search match highlights

________________________

-urlwolf (May 16, 2013, 02:45 AM)

Needs Improvement:

And many things wrong:

• No autocapitalization of sentences
• Fonts kind of suck; no cleartype, no smoothing whatsoever. As horrible as office 2013.
• Have to get out of edit mode to search
• Changing from one note to another is slow (subsecond, but slow)
• Not easy to move with kb on the right side tree
• No spellcheck

________________________

-urlwolf (May 16, 2013, 02:45 AM)

Why I think you should use this product/service:
If you are a PC user who requires a modern, flexible Cloud-based and Client-based PIM, designed for group collaboration (if you want it), and thus with built-in group collaboration tools included, then this could be the tool for you.
For example, urlwolf says "It is a killer app.".

How it compares to similar products:
There do not seem to be any/many similar tools.

From the Intro and Overview, above:

So far, the only real alternative would seem to be OneNote + SkyDrive (though I am unsure of the group collaboration tools), with Evernote not quite getting there as the Client component is deliberately crippled (not as fully-functional as the Cloud component) and thus is not a Client-based equivalent alternative.
______________________

Conclusions:
A flexible and impressively useful PIM - one which seems to be being rapidly developed/updated/improved over the course of the last 12 months.
The ability to categorise things (using Tags) is excellent, but would be better if it could also be automated with "smart tagging" - i.e., tags automatically made depending on rules (conditions-actions) set by the user.
Interesting point: WizNote software is one of several distinct pieces of software from the same developer,  but whereas each of the other pieces has a discrete functionality, WizNote seems to incorporate parts of many of the others - i.e., is designed with overlapping functionality.

3323

Living Room / Re: I want to ping back blocked incoming pings - could I use BlackIce Defender?

« Last post by IainB on December 31, 2013, 05:54 PM »

@Stoic Joker and @4wd: Thanks for the input, and I shall take the advice for not looking like a "live one".   
The router is the one I mentioned in a separate thread in the DC Forum - TP-Link TD-8950ND 150Mbps Wireless N ADSL2+ Modem Router - where I was puzzling over how to get the client to access it up to max 150Mbps, and eventually achieved it (more or less).
The log shows stuff like in the image below:



- but it is a transient in-RAM log and I couldn't see an easy way to automate the collection of the logged data other than what is suggested above by @Stoic Joker

"setup a syslog server at a particular IP address, and then forward the router's logs to it for future study"

- but I don't think have the resources/technology available to do that.

I'm not too well up on current Internet telecomms protocols. The most technical I ever got was years back when I needed to write SALT scripts using a DOS program called Telix, to log and analyse internet traffic through a 56K modem.
When I later used BlackIce Defender on a PC with an ADSL router, there was no real need for me to understand what was going on at the IP level.

By the way, I don't recall previously seeing the critical OAM loopback response error in the log - it's usually just all intrusion alerts, once the router has rebooted. (I periodically reboot the router from within the browser.) Maybe it was a momentary drop in service levels standards by the ISP?

3324

Living Room / I want to ping back blocked incoming pings - could I use BlackIce Defender?

« Last post by IainB on December 30, 2013, 04:28 AM »

Could anyone advise please?
I want to automate a ping back for blocked incoming pings - could I use BlackIce Defender for that? Or something else?
I want to find out more about who is pinging me and where from, rather than just passively block them in my firewall or the NAT.
I still have the BlackIce Defender install in my software archive backup. Not sure if it would run on Win7-64 Home Premium.

3325

Living Room / NSA's "Privacy-Invasion Wishlist" is a product catalogue?

« Last post by IainB on December 29, 2013, 09:56 AM »

From Slashdot:

Have a Privacy-Invasion Wishlist? Peruse NSA's Top Secret Catalog
Posted by timothy on Sunday December 29, 2013 @09:27AM
from the after-christmas-specials dept.

An anonymous reader writes with a link to Der Spiegel, which describes a Top-Secret spy-agency catalog which reveals that the NSA "has been secretly back dooring equipment from US companies including Dell, Cisco, Juniper, IBM, Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and more, risking enormous damage to US tech sector." Der Spiegel also has a wider ranging article about the agency's [/b]940969.html]Tailored Access Operations unit.

The Der Spiegel article referred to is copied below:
(Copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images.)

Catalog Reveals NSA Has Back Doors for Numerous Devices
By Jacob Appelbaum, Judith Horchert and Christian Stöcker
Image: Entering through the back door: A State Trooper truck is seen in front of the Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters of the National Security Agency.

After years of speculation that electronics can be accessed by intelligence agencies through a back door, an internal NSA catalog reveals that such methods already exist for numerous end-user devices.

Editor's note: This article accompanies our main feature story on the NSA's Tailored Access Operations unit. You can read it here.

When it comes to modern firewalls for corporate computer networks, the world's second largest network equipment manufacturer doesn't skimp on praising its own work. According to Juniper Networks' online PR copy, the company's products are "ideal" for protecting large companies and computing centers from unwanted access from outside. They claim the performance of the company's special computers is "unmatched" and their firewalls are the "best-in-class." Despite these assurances, though, there is one attacker none of these products can fend off -- the United States' National Security Agency.

Specialists at the intelligence organization succeeded years ago in penetrating the company's digital firewalls. A document viewed by SPIEGEL resembling a product catalog reveals that an NSA division called ANT has burrowed its way into nearly all the security architecture made by the major players in the industry -- including American global market leader Cisco and its Chinese competitor Huawei, but also producers of mass-market goods, such as US computer-maker Dell.

A 50-Page Catalog
These NSA agents, who specialize in secret back doors, are able to keep an eye on all levels of our digital lives -- from computing centers to individual computers, from laptops to mobile phones. For nearly every lock, ANT seems to have a key in its toolbox. And no matter what walls companies erect, the NSA's specialists seem already to have gotten past them.

This, at least, is the impression gained from flipping through the 50-page document. The list reads like a mail-order catalog, one from which other NSA employees can order technologies from the ANT division for tapping their targets' data. The catalog even lists the prices for these electronic break-in tools, with costs ranging from free to $250,000.

In the case of Juniper, the name of this particular digital lock pick is "FEEDTROUGH." This malware burrows into Juniper firewalls and makes it possible to smuggle other NSA programs into mainframe computers. Thanks to FEEDTROUGH, these implants can, by design, even survive "across reboots and software upgrades." In this way, US government spies can secure themselves a permanent presence in computer networks. The catalog states that FEEDTROUGH "has been deployed on many target platforms."

Master Carpenters
The specialists at ANT, which presumably stands for Advanced or Access Network Technology, could be described as master carpenters for the NSA's department for Tailored Access Operations (TAO). In cases where TAO's usual hacking and data-skimming methods don't suffice, ANT workers step in with their special tools, penetrating networking equipment, monitoring mobile phones and computers and diverting or even modifying data. Such "implants," as they are referred to in NSA parlance, have played a considerable role in the intelligence agency's ability to establish a global covert network that operates alongside the Internet.

Some of the equipment available is quite inexpensive. A rigged monitor cable that allows "TAO personnel to see what is displayed on the targeted monitor," for example, is available for just $30. But an "active GSM base station" -- a tool that makes it possible to mimic a mobile phone tower and thus monitor cell phones -- costs a full $40,000. Computer bugging devices disguised as normal USB plugs, capable of sending and receiving data via radio undetected, are available in packs of 50 for over $1 million.

'Persistence'
The ANT division doesn't just manufacture surveillance hardware. It also develops software for special tasks. The ANT developers have a clear preference for planting their malicious code in so-called BIOS, software located on a computer's motherboard that is the first thing to load when a computer is turned on.

This has a number of valuable advantages: an infected PC or server appears to be functioning normally, so the infection remains invisible to virus protection and other security programs. And even if the hard drive of an infected computer has been completely erased and a new operating system is installed, the ANT malware can continue to function and ensures that new spyware can once again be loaded onto what is presumed to be a clean computer. The ANT developers call this "Persistence" and believe this approach has provided them with the possibility of permanent access.

Another program attacks the firmware in hard drives manufactured by Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung, all of which, with the exception of latter, are American companies. Here, too, it appears the US intelligence agency is compromising the technology and products of American companies.

Other ANT programs target Internet routers meant for professional use or hardware firewalls intended to protect company networks from online attacks. Many digital attack weapons are "remotely installable" -- in other words, over the Internet. Others require a direct attack on an end-user device -- an "interdiction," as it is known in NSA jargon -- in order to install malware or bugging equipment.

There is no information in the documents seen by SPIEGEL to suggest that the companies whose products are mentioned in the catalog provided any support to the NSA or even had any knowledge of the intelligence solutions. "Cisco does not work with any government to modify our equipment, nor to implement any so-called security 'back doors' in our products," the company said in a statement. Contacted by SPIEGEL reporters, officials at Western Digital, Juniper Networks and Huawei also said they had no knowledge of any such modifications. Meanwhile, Dell officials said the company "respects and complies with the laws of all countries in which it operates."

Many of the items in the software solutions catalog date from 2008, and some of the target server systems that are listed are no longer on the market today. At the same time, it's not as if the hackers within the ANT division have been sleeping on the job. They have continued to develop their arsenal. Some pages in the 2008 catalog, for example, list new systems for which no tools yet exist. However, the authors promise they are already hard at work developing new tools and that they will be "pursued for a future release".