Recent Posts

476

Living Room / Re: Wireless mice are hackable up to a city block away

« Last post by Stoic Joker on April 02, 2016, 08:14 AM »

Two left arm swipes down, then one right arm swipe to the left then three Seig Heils and your password is accepted.

-MilesAhead (March 29, 2016, 08:55 AM)

Honestly, I've found the gesture based passwords to be so insanely easy to (shoulder surf at virtually any angle) hack that there is no way in hell I'd ever use one.

Watch the wrist, look at the picture ...(and at least 80% of the time)... Duh!

477

Living Room / Re: What Killed the Middle Class?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on April 02, 2016, 08:07 AM »

Someone who openly mentions/mentioned 'socialism' winning the US presidency? Pigs will fly before that.

-rgdot (April 01, 2016, 07:37 PM)

I wonder how many pigs flew before someone black won US presidency? Or will fly before 2017 when someone without a penis will be elected if people don't get over their 'socialism' obsession? Times change.

-eleman (April 02, 2016, 12:15 AM)

I think the American people were primed -by dissatisfaction - for a grand social experiment back then...and the other options just really sucked.

But when BO took office, he got sat down for the official (one way) Facts-of-Life discussion and told that he was to smile for the cameras, stick his hands in his pockets, and don't touch nothing...because these "nice" folk behind the curtain over there were actually going to be running things.

And somehow, I can't help but think that people know that. Maybe not consciously...maybe not even well enough to articulate ... It's just not looking like a good time for yet another "grand" social experiment.

I've always thought of Trump as the poster child for the opulent level of corporate greed - and distain for the common men - in this country. But if he got into office he is just arrogant and crazy enough to blow the lid off of whatever shadow organization that tries to stifle him.


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

Getting closer to the actual topic, I thing the middle class has been systematically destroyed under the insane guise of the "Global Economy". Which has been siphoning off the skilled labor jobs and turning the American people into nothing more that lazy, fat, stupid, cash generating eyeballs groomed for consumption.

Made in America used to really mean (Quality!) something back in the early 20th century. Now...it's damn near flat out irrelevant. Because now we're all to busy sitting in front of Japanese televisions masturbating our sense of adventure because it's too scary to actually have one ... That would require going outside...which is dangerous. At least that's what the nice guy on TV keeps telling us..

478

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Diskovery

« Last post by Stoic Joker on April 02, 2016, 07:33 AM »

Improved SSD detection, added vendor detection for Samsung, Transcend, Crucial, Liteon and few others, added descriptions of several SSD-specific SMART attributes.

-apankrat (March 31, 2016, 07:41 AM)

Drive shows as an SSD, but Vendor, Health, Temperature, and SMART Data are all blank, and serial number is all zeros.

The RAID5 storage array information looks great though.

Using v9.0.9 - Scan log sent.

479

Living Room / Re: Against TED talks

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 31, 2016, 06:48 AM »

Mouser - That was by far the coolest presentation I've ever seen.

480

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Diskovery

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 31, 2016, 06:31 AM »

Sent log from within the program...I hope it went where it was supposed to..

-Stoic Joker (March 30, 2016, 03:04 PM)

Got it, thanks. Very useful. I was unaware that there's a separate bus type for NVMe drives. Added now, so your Samsung should show up as SSD.

-apankrat (March 30, 2016, 05:50 PM)

Yeah, it's a pretty weird duck ... It plugs into a PCIe slot on the motherboard.



I'll checkout the updated version when I get home tonight.

Thank you.

481

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Diskovery

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 30, 2016, 03:04 PM »

Can I get a copy of a scan log, please? There's a menu item in the app for that.

-apankrat (March 30, 2016, 02:14 PM)

Sent log from within the program...I hope it went where it was supposed to..

482

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Diskovery

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 30, 2016, 01:54 PM »

Nice, but it identifies my Samsung MZVPV256 SDD as a HDD. I don't know if that can be helped...but it's quite informative otherwise.

Thanks for sharing it.

483

Living Room / Re: Raspberry Pi's $35 Linux PC

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 30, 2016, 06:26 AM »

I'd be surprised if anybody is going to let you drop a device into their internal LAN.

-CWuestefeld (March 29, 2016, 02:16 PM)

Back when I had the tolerance for stress to work on these, the client just wanted to be up, now.  I think it just depends on the type of client we're discussing.  If they're clients that outsource their IT, they won't know nor care- and I know this from personal experience.

-wraith808 (March 29, 2016, 02:38 PM)

That would be more the type we're discussing. Also these are MSP contract customers that want/need us to monitor various pieces of equipment on their network. We already have a strictly software based solution that we're using, but it needs to be on a machine that is always on so it can do its data collection and reporting. However (SOHO/SMB) users being users, they're continually shutting down, crashing, or infecting the machine in question - not to mention the software in question is a bit finicky - causing us to have to chase down why network X isn't reporting anymore. Because a data set that's more than 8 hours old...is useless.

So I'm looking to create a small, clean, stable environment that it can run from to keep both sides happy and trouble free.

The level of interaction with the client network is actually very low -(SNMP only - at my insistence)- but it needs to be for us to effectively maintain the level of service that we're offering.

484

Living Room / Re: Wireless mice are hackable up to a city block away

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 29, 2016, 08:11 AM »

What kind of battery is generally used in these wireless keyboards/mice?  I am just curious.  I use USB keyboards and mice just because they draw power directly from the port.  No heavy battery to add to the weight of my suitcase.  If it is a "coin" size battery then I guess the weight is negligible.  But I may have lucked into doing the right thing via being misinformed. 

-MilesAhead (March 29, 2016, 07:14 AM)

I hate having to worry about batteries - Wired = powered = trouble free 

485

Living Room / Re: Raspberry Pi's $35 Linux PC

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 29, 2016, 07:59 AM »

I'm thinking of proposing a project based on one of these - or something like it - assuming what I'm after actually exists.

What I'm after is a Pi type mini device that is capable of running the Win10 IoT edition, that has 2 RJ45 Ethernet ports, and (preferably) some type of case that allows it to be discreetly plugged into the wall like a wall-wart power supply.

The purpose for this device is - or rather will be - to allow our Techno-Tarded sales staff to just pop this thing into the wall at a client location, plug a cable into it, and give us remote access to the network to monitor various pieces of equipment that are under contract.

The software part I'll most likely end up writing from scratch (I really hate me when I do this to myself), so I'm really just looking for hardware options at this point that will give us something that is small, cheap, and id10t simple for anyone to deploy. Because our IT staff - me included - is currently wasting far too much time running all over the %&$^ countryside trying to keep our current -(big name, fancy, basically shit)- "solution" running and reporting properly.

486

Living Room / Re: Wireless mice are hackable up to a city block away

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 29, 2016, 06:31 AM »

Does any of this apply to wireless keyboards?

-mwb1100 (March 28, 2016, 06:44 PM)

According to the article, once you get a toe in the door...a foot follows..

A hacker uses an antenna, a wireless chip called a dongle, both available for the less $20 (USD), and a simple line of code to trick the wireless chip connected to the target computer into accepting it as a mouse.

"So the attacker can send data to the dongle, pretend it's a mouse but say 'actually I am a keyboard and please type these letters'," added Newlin. 
 
"If we sent unencrypted keyboard strokes as if we were a mouse it started typing on the computer, typing at a 1000 words per minute," said Chris Rouland, the CTO and Founder of Bastille. 

At a thousand words a minute, the hacker can take over the computer or gain access to a network within seconds. 

-The Article

So their must be a good bit of flex in the HID APIs

487

General Software Discussion / Re: Picasa to be 'phased out'

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 28, 2016, 06:36 AM »

Adding 4 advertising/promotion links in your, otherwise useful, first-post is about 99.9% sure to assign you a spam-ban 

Please explain or remove those non-relevant links.

-Ath (March 28, 2016, 04:21 AM)

??? I see no ad links in FP, and there is no edit listed for it either ... Bugg on your end perhaps?

488

Living Room / Re: PC WILL NOT BOOT TO WIN 7 PRO WITH USB PLUGGED IN

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 22, 2016, 06:40 AM »

Where this kind of USB options are located in the BIOS/UEFI differs (a bit) with each make and model of motherboard, so you will likely have to consult your manual. Or identify which motherboard model is inside your computer and see if the manufacturer still provides a downloadable manual for it.

-Shades (March 21, 2016, 07:43 AM)

I'm with Shades on the BIOS angle. I ran into much the same issue awhile back with a headless Dell server that wouldn't boot with the (internal RDX) USB backup drive enabled. IIRC I ended up having to disable the legacy USB BIOS support - or something to that effect that sounded completely unrelated - to get the thing to finally behave.

489

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 18, 2016, 11:38 AM »

^^Having had the opportunity - notice I didn't say pleasure... - to work with some of the older Positive Ground British (motorcycle) electrical systems years ago. I am quite familiar with why the term 'Lucas: Master of Darkness' was coined.

So I can well appreciate the humor on this one.

490

Post New Requests Here / Re: Click a Datacard to Open a Directory (or more!)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 10, 2016, 06:40 AM »

The tool I envision is rather simple-- (1) a graphic image (200x200 px) and (2) a short text area form a "datacard" (I'm not stuck on the name of course). These are assembled in a scrollable list (3), although I've only shown one here. Clicking the picture with the mouse (4) opens a specified directory (4). I have shown an example here using a datatype familiar to computer musicians.

-cci8j (March 04, 2016, 04:53 PM)

While I haven't time to try coding anything at the moment, it does occur to me that much of what you're looking for can be done with the already existing Windows Libraries.

Create a new Library and add desired folder (or folders) target(s) to it. Then just give it the icon (picture) that you want it to have. The folder contents views in Explorer can be adjusted independently, so if you set the main Libraries folder to 'Extra Large Icons' is should be close enough to your desired 200px target.

Just a thought.

491

General Software Discussion / Re: Need help with a Win 10 security/permission issue affecting apps

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2016, 02:51 PM »

Create a second user on the machine, log in as that user, and see if the behavior continues or disappears. Then you know if it's a system level or user (profile) level issue.

I've seen corrupt profiles do all kinds of silly shit.

492

General Software Discussion / Re: server-side configuration Open to View PDFs in browser not download them

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 04, 2016, 07:03 AM »

As this is a temporary committee formed for only this one purpose, they are most likely using laptops drawn from a company "equipment pool" While they "could" just be told be told to make new rules about completely cleaning all files and folders from each laptop after every meeting anyway (something I would have advised doing anyway as a matter of course)  It isn't how things have been done before.

-questorfla (March 03, 2016, 09:20 PM)

Ding! Ding! Ding!!! We have a Winner!!!

Seriously, this should be a totally carved in stone policy for any company controlled equipment/data. Part of what we do as an MPS (Managed Print Services) provider is to lease printers to clients that need high-end printing equipment for variable periods of time. Most of the devices have Send-2-X networking features that require usernames, passwords, address books, etc... to do said task. So there is potential for much sensitive info to be gleaned from the device if one knows how to extract it. This is why we have a carved in stone policy of enabling the security encryption on these devices and wiping them when they're returned. From anywhere, for any reason. Data should never be left on a machine...ever.


One other thing that comes to mind, is that your issue of auto downloaded files sounds much like a - completely client side - browser configuration issue. The type of issue that would never have existed in the first place if you had a proper domain...that allowed you to enforce configuration restriction policies on company (should be) controlled equipment. You may want to consider looking into a - Cloud Based - Intune/Azure AD solution that affords you the ability to control what happens to your companies information on both company controlled and BYOD equipment. That would show management some value because you could flatten a device remotely as they were using it to demonstrate the advantage of having truly and properly centralized administration available.

493

Living Room / Re: Bluetooth Power Monitor

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 03, 2016, 06:51 AM »

Code: C# [Select]

1. if (!ble.isConnected())
2.   {
3.     printBoth(F("True"));
4.   }
5.   else
6.   {
7.     printBoth(F("False"));
8.   }

...Okay, am I completely off my nut...or does this really read as:

If it's true, that connection is false, print true?? ...I don't think the '!' is helping the output's clarity any.

I know nothing about the BT controller you're working with, but that code just strikes me as painfully confusing to work with.

494

General Software Discussion / Re: server-side configuration Open to View PDFs in browser not download them

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 03, 2016, 06:31 AM »

The Intent is for a User to be able to Open and view the files as much as necessary but other than making a screenshot, they should not be able to download and save the original PDF from the site.

-questorfla (March 03, 2016, 12:59 AM)

I honestly can't fathom how that would be possible, as all web content is downloaded before being displayed. DRM (ick) can try to prevent print/save/etc. but for the truly creative there are always options for circumventing it.

495

Living Room / Re: feline ear mites

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 02, 2016, 11:29 AM »

What if I steam the brushes in a double boiler?

-holt (March 02, 2016, 08:27 AM)

Chances are it will damage the brush during boiling, and the left over moisture will cause other problems to grow in/on the brush.

Go with the metal comb App suggested above..

496

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Method for bypassing LBC security problem

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 01, 2016, 08:15 AM »

^True, not to mention that the elevated session also won't have access to any drives mapped in the current user session which can be a really nasty gotcha during all sorts of things.

497

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Tips

« Last post by Stoic Joker on March 01, 2016, 08:08 AM »

The default NetBIOS note type is H (has been for awhile).

In addition, Windows uses Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), b-node broadcasts and the LMHOSTS file for NetBIOS name resolution. If all of these name resolution methods are used, an h-node host computer implements them in the following order:
1.NetBIOS name cache
2.WINS server
3.B-node broadcast
4.LMHOSTS file
5.HOSTS file
6.DNS server

-MS TechNet

1-4 time out once, the host file lookup gets cached, and things zip along fine then after.

NetBIOS isn't dead by a long shot. NetBEUI - last seen in XP - is dead because it was a -(9x era)- huge security risk. Workgroups rely on NetBIOS by default. And while NetBIOS can be a tad fragile adding an entry to the Host file will get you over "the hump" more often than not.

I frequently deal with SOHO workgroups, and hate them, because inevitably there will be some 3rd party babysitter security software making normal - and yes by that I mean NetBIOS - name resolution impossible. So to save time we now just go with statically addressing the target device and accessing it by IP automatically if it doesn't behave on the first try. Otherwise it just ends up being a total time vampire ... Not because it will perform slowly, but because it wont work period. Workgroup name resolution can't use DNS, because workgroups don't have DNS servers available to register with.

498

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 29, 2016, 06:49 AM »

Interesting "stuff"3 other hacks FBI could use on killer's iPhone besides an Apple key

-Arizona Hot (February 25, 2016, 11:37 PM)

Apparently the feds had a forth option of not screwing up the phone in the first place..

499

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone using Blackbird?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 18, 2016, 03:05 PM »

All I can think of is google is providing hosting to these guys?

-MilesAhead (February 18, 2016, 02:45 PM)

Their domain name is registered with Realtime Register in the Netherlands, and their IP is on a block owned by (RIPE Network Coordination Centre) a provider in Amsterdam ... That don't sound like Google to me. Also the code in the error message page is nowhere near fancy/nosey enough to be Googles, it looks kinda mom & pop-ish to me.

500

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone using Blackbird?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on February 18, 2016, 11:22 AM »

I don't know what is going on if Google has the power to blacklist individual files.  Seems peculiar.

-MilesAhead (February 18, 2016, 07:31 AM)

BlackBird's site does not appear to be hosted by Google.
I do not (read never) use Google's DNS.
Google was not used to search for the program.
Google was not a referrer for the page request.
Google did not have Jack Shit to do with anything even vaguely tangentially related to the electronic communication between me an BB's website ... So if Google managed to block that download we have some epically Orwellian Big Brother class serious shit hitting the fan.

(That was fun) But seriously, I don't think Google is involved in the errors we're getting.