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3326

Living Room / Re: NSFW: To all website developers who feel the need to have popup ad's on websites

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 06, 2011, 10:37 PM »

Mine wasn't much better. We had a $4,000 multifunction printer smashed to smithereens in a loading accident. Last one we had in stock of that model/series/configuration ... and the customer was waiting on it (read down).

There's going to be some loading protocol policy changes.

3327

Living Room / Re: Why aren't we using public-key cryptography instead of passwords on the net?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 06, 2011, 10:28 PM »

Seriously, why even bother (joining the race) ... The computer can spit out x thousand attempts per second, which becomes completely and instantly irrelevant when a lockout policy is enabled. 5 attempts in a minute = locked out for x minutes. How successful is brute forcing against that scheme?? ...My guess is not very.

-Stoic Joker (December 06, 2011, 06:48 PM)

Brute forcing isn't the only way to get someone's password. There's also phishing and other social engineering.

-Deozaan (December 06, 2011, 09:05 PM)

Which could also net the attacker the key ... No door is secure enough if "Knock Knock" works. But I leave that part up to Charles Darwin...

If all you relied on was a lockout policy and had something simple like "password3" as your password on every site you visited, that's still not very secure. Even if your password wasn't so stupid, a single breach on one site means all your accounts on all other sites are breached.

-Deozaan (December 06, 2011, 09:05 PM)

Agreed, no single layer is absolute ... I just get tired of all the stress being put on encryption. It does have its place but t's not a magic bullet, and sometimes simple really is best. Solutions that is, not passwords. The pass phrase idea I've always liked ... 25 character random strings is just begging for trouble.

You'd still want a nice strong password that makes it hard to guess. Part of being a "nice, strong password" is that it isn't the same one for multiple sites/places. The hard part about having nice, strong passwords that aren't the same one on multiple sites is remembering them all. Hence public-key cryptography where you have a single nice, strong password the protects your private key which (if I understood it correctly) is then used to make a (bunch of) public keys which are each like nice, strong passwords that are hard to guess even with the lockout policy.

-Deozaan (December 06, 2011, 09:05 PM)

A single point is a single point, the key can get accessed ... Especially if it a high value item. And if one needs to make it portable. Well... It either going to be memorable, or written down. Which take us right back to the getting hacked by the cleaning lady (I love that one).

3328

Living Room / Re: Why aren't we using public-key cryptography instead of passwords on the net?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 06, 2011, 06:48 PM »

I realize that encryption has its place in the scheme of security, But... I really thing it's overused as a magic bullet solution to the wrong problem. Computers today have the capability of spitting out thousands of password attempts per second ... And this is assumed as a complete justification for concocting passwords that are complex enough that (nobody can remember them) they will take "reasonably" close to a million years to guess. And the race begins...

Why...

Seriously, why even bother (joining the race) ... The computer can spit out x thousand attempts per second, which becomes completely and instantly irrelevant when a lockout policy is enabled. 5 attempts in a minute = locked out for x minutes. How successful is brute forcing against that scheme?? ...My guess is not very.

3329

General Software Discussion / Re: List of freeware and other releases from The Windows Club

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 04, 2011, 08:37 AM »

I grabbed the shortcuts book to see if I was missing any (I love keyboard shortcuts). Thanks guys!

3330

Living Room / Re: Rootkits on mobile devices ...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 04, 2011, 08:31 AM »

The other question that arises is - if the information isn't being transmitted to someone what is the point of collecting and storing it?

-Carol Haynes (December 03, 2011, 06:17 PM)

Why just in case the empire need to checkup on and verify your activities, proclivities, & whereabouts of course.

3331

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Pre-Release: Printer PaperSource Explorer 1.1.0.0-beta

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 03, 2011, 09:30 AM »

The WinXP display seems quite accurate, doesn't it?

-Ath (December 03, 2011, 03:30 AM)

The more I think about it, after rereading the thread a few times, I'm actually not sure. But I'm beginning to suspect that I may be reading the programs output incorrectly. You mentioned earlier that in the original version you were primarily interested in the "Bin Numbers". By that do you mean the Tray X column, or the BinNr: X string at the end? I'm actually rather curious what the last one would be used for.

My initial assumption was that the program was to list the trays available, and have a media description (size/type) of the contents of each tray for each print device ... So the user would know how to pick what from where. Am I incorrect in this assumption? Here's a screen shot (from the latest 1.1.2 build) of what I'm thinking the output should be (PPSE is on the left, LJ2100 driver on the right):



I just want to make sure I'm on the right page, because my intention really is to help, not be a PITA.

3332

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Pre-Release: Printer PaperSource Explorer 1.1.0.0-beta

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 02, 2011, 06:10 PM »

Okay... Probably not the result we were looking for, but I did find something interesting. My main machine is Win7 Pro x64, and is using the in box (early UPD) driver for the LaserJet 2100. It now is giving this output:



Which I'm guessing is not what you expected. However, my wife's WinXP pro machine, which is running the old straight PCL driver (also an in box for XP) gives considerably different results for the exact same printer.



Printer Properties for the LJ2100 on XP (some things are grayed because she's not an admin)




So it's looking like HP's UPD is (a truly chronic PITA...) part of the problem, as unfortunately I've never seen it detect a printer's configuration right yet.

3333

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Pre-Release: Printer PaperSource Explorer 1.1.0.0-beta

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 02, 2011, 05:17 PM »

The "Visit program web page to download update" button on the update checker sent me to a 404 here:
http://ath.dcmembers...ersourceexplorer.php

Did I show up to early? 

3334

Living Room / Re: Building XP SP4 !

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 02, 2011, 11:59 AM »

Consider something like a 320G WD Passport drive. (I own a 500G and I love it!) Newegg has one for $60.

You can store the updates and service packs for multiple versions of Windows, along with your collection of necessary software tools, utilities, scripts, etc. all on a single drive. Yes, the physical size is larger than a thumb drive but not so large to rule it out. It can still fit in most pockets.

-app103 (December 02, 2011, 11:26 AM)

Are cargo pants back in style?? (but seriously...) Having something like that in ones pocket tends to hamper mobility. Getting under a desk or behind something ... It'll make you want to set it down somewhere and lose it. Shirt pocket, hell no. I'm forever having to pickup my cigarettes because they fell out of my shirt pocket (clients hate it when you roll them in your sleeve), I'm not about to risk it with a drive. That thing would be wrecked in a week.

Maybe 40hz wears a sport coat (I don't), he could probably get away with having one in a coat pocket. But I'd rather the descreet size of a ThumbDrive.

And if you buy 2 of them, the spare one can come in handy if you have to copy a user's data for backup/restore purposes, when a system is so botched that a format + rebuild is a better option than repairing.

-app103 (December 02, 2011, 11:26 AM)

I usually just do a parallel install, it saves the copy time and ensures I won't get stuck trying to DL a NIC driver...Without a NIC driver (I hate when that happens).

3335

Living Room / Re: Rootkits on mobile devices ...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 02, 2011, 07:34 AM »

apparently 1% of people are completely retarded

-Renegade (December 02, 2011, 12:11 AM)

Only 1%? That's either a vast improvement for society in general, or an obvious flaw in the test. The missing 1% is probably just the rage clickers that suffer from premature submission...before a choice is made.

3336

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Pre-Release: Printer PaperSource Explorer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 02, 2011, 07:25 AM »

I was actually wondering why PPSE thought I had custom paper in trays 1 & 2.

-Stoic Joker (December 01, 2011, 10:15 PM)

That info is straight from the driver. Originally I never thought about getting current configuration from the printer, as I was just interested in the  binnumbers .

-Ath (December 02, 2011, 01:47 AM)

Trust me, That one is a nightmare as there really isn't a prevailing standard on how to put what where, so you spend the entire time MIB walking the plank trying to find a crumb of valid info.. But I was going the SNMP route for network printers ... You should have better luck with the locally attached/driver query route.

I've been experimenting/investigating with reading current info from the PrintServer, but that has the disadvantage of using different names for the inputbins but I'm trying to match them. Not sure yet if the bin-type has anything to do with the paper type setting, I'll compare those too to see if there are differences or more accurate data.

-Ath (December 02, 2011, 01:47 AM)

As I understand it no.
Bin types are standard tray, envelope feeder, etc.
Paper types are plain, letterhead, glossy... (media descriptions)
Paper size is letter, legal, custom, 11x17, etc.

...But that's from the print device side of the driver. Hard to say what happens on the other side for the user (I try to stay away from them).

Maybe I should add a disclaimer like:
Any discrepancies caused by drivers are the manufacturers' responsibility

-Ath (December 02, 2011, 01:47 AM)

 

3337

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Pre-Release: Printer PaperSource Explorer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 10:15 PM »

I'll warn you ahead of time, the Universal Print Driver that HP (and many others) have switched to for Win 7 tends to fail when trying to read that info from the printer. That's why trays 3 - 9 aren't grayed out (like they should be) in the shots above.

I was actually wondering why PPSE thought I had custom paper in trays 1 & 2.

3338

Living Room / Re: Building XP SP4 !

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 07:45 PM »

So far everything fits on a 16Gb which I caught on sale for $25. I'll be moving to a 32/64Gb flash drive when/if the prices get a bit more affordable.

-40hz (December 01, 2011, 09:06 AM)

Damn, looks like they're out of these Lexar 32GB ThumbDrives now. I just grabbed one last week for $35.


Ironically I'm sitting here doing half a gig worth of updates on a Win 7 laptop right now.

3339

Living Room / Re: Rootkits on mobile devices ...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 07:34 PM »

what are the security implications if all your user names and passwords are being captured and sent to god knows who?

-Carol Haynes (December 01, 2011, 07:00 PM)

Funny you should mention banks... I was having big fun with one earlier this week. The accountant paged me because he'd had trouble logging into the banks website, and their support "tech" was wanting him to modify (read butcher) the browser security settings. Now the page came at one of those times where I was dancing on the edge of my interruptions limit, which set the stage nicely for a bit of a perfect storm. You see, while I'm obligated to be "kind" to clients and coworkers ... Brain dead script reading support drones are basically open season. And I was in just the right mood.

So when the drone starts trying to walk me through allowing any & all cookies from the bank, which has absolutely no reason to be using 3rd party cookies ... I snapped, and went after them with a vengeance. I am notoriously soft spoken IRL. But for once the entire office had absolutely no problem what-so-ever hearing me. At all. The customer service manager was laughing so hard she could hardly breath, and the accountant was speechless.

We got kicked up to an engineer, that thankfully didn't ask any stupid questions because he was bright enough to realize that an error message that clearly states that "your account password was correct but invalidated due to over use", meant that the problem was (Captain) Obviously on their end. That and the intermittent system wide outage they'd been dealing with all morning (he admitted to it) helped to make the necessary fix (on their end) much clearer (to a sentient being...).

So apparently the banks don't actually care much about (your) security...unless they happen to be on TV.

3340

General Software Discussion / Re: clock

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 06:36 PM »

Okay, I give ... I spent two days trying to hack the binary, and it's just not going to cooperate for me. I've got too many others projects to keep this up and reversing really isn't (anywhere near) in the center of my skill set... *Shrug* Anybody else want to take a crack (pun intended) at it?

3341

Living Room / Re: Rootkits on mobile devices ...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 06:30 PM »

You're just not going to let me enjoy this are you..?

 

3342

Living Room / Re: Stage Play

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 03:54 PM »

So you're getting back to normal-ish, this is good. I've been thinking about you a bit lately and was trying to find the time to put together an email...

Glad to see you back!

3343

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Shows How Much an Image Has Been Photoshopped

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 03:50 PM »

Wow! People in Hollywood really are that fake.

3344

Living Room / Re: Stage Play

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 03:36 PM »

Hay man, how you been? Ain't seen you in a while.

3345

Living Room / Re: Rootkits on mobile devices ...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 02:59 PM »

No buggz on the Windows phones however... (hehe) ...Yeah us!

3346

Developer's Corner / Re: Ribbon UI - is it really THAT good?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 08:50 AM »

Dmitri, I know you aren't enthusiastic about the idea, but I liked Renegade's suggestion: "you might want to consider adding both in, then letting people select which they want to use."   Greg Kochaniak offers this dual option in version 7 of his screen capture program, HyperSnap.  He might be a useful person to talk to.

-cyberdiva (December 01, 2011, 08:18 AM)

+1 - Especially in the test versions as it would make comparison between them easier. Test users could smoothly gravitate towards the one they were most comfortable with.

3347

General Software Discussion / Re: make USB port disabled or delayed enable on startup - any util do this?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 07:59 AM »

Might try having devcon disable the MIMO on shutdown, and enable it (with a delay) on startup to simplify logon/off incase you need to do a quick session refresh (it happens stuck apps etc..).

Or depending on how gracefully devcon handles it, you could enable it on logon and only disable it on shutdown.

3348

General Software Discussion / Re: make USB port disabled or delayed enable on startup - any util do this?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 07:38 AM »

What if you use the disable USB port program via Task Scheduler on user logoff and enable on user logon?

-4wd (December 01, 2011, 07:08 AM)

I honestly don't know ... But it still sounds like it could end up being a race.

Or use Microsoft' devcon command to disable/enable the specific device using Task Scheduler.

-4wd (December 01, 2011, 07:08 AM)

Hm... Now this has a good sound/feeling to it. Easy to automate and direct drive

3349

Living Room / Re: Building XP SP4 !

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 07:03 AM »

Damn! ...That do look handy.

3350

General Software Discussion / Re: make USB port disabled or delayed enable on startup - any util do this?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on December 01, 2011, 06:46 AM »

The problem is that there really isn't any guarantee that the disable USB app will load fast(er) enough to get  the port shutdown ahead of the MIMO's detection and driver load to prevent it from borking itself. It might be simpler (and more reliable) to try delay loading of whatever controls the MIMO (app/service/?? - I don't know, I never seen one of these things).

Just a Thought,

Stoic Joker