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Recent Posts

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476
Living Room / Re: Malware attack hits thousands of Yahoo users
« Last post by mwb1100 on January 08, 2014, 12:55 AM »
Does anyone know of a adblocker that *didn't* prevent the yahoo homepage attack?
477
DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: Clipjump - Clipboard Manager
« Last post by mwb1100 on January 06, 2014, 12:37 AM »
One suggestion I would make is that you enable people to get your software by downloading it from a reliable/reputable download site - one that actually works and that also doesn't try to force you to use their special download software with potential candyware or whatever.

I thought sourceforge was reputable - is there something I don't know? I don't see it trying to force use of a particular downloader, all it does to me is make me wait 5 seconds.  I assume that's so I might spend the time looking at an advertisement or something. And if I don't want to bother with the 5 second wait there's a direct link offered.

Anyway, I had no problem with the download of Clipjump_10.zip.
478
He'll go so long without any kind of communication at all giving you the impression the software is all but dead and buried and....poof! There'll be a new update for download. One might think this software development thing was a second job for him...but I'm thinking it's probably more accurately a third or fourth. :)

I think that Code Sector has changed hands - I can't remember the name of the developer I dealt with a while back when working through some issues, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Oleg Smirnov, the current developer.
479
General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager
« Last post by mwb1100 on January 04, 2014, 04:05 AM »
The Sanwhole Vole Explorer is being offered with a lifetime license...

I find the description of the lifetime license to be difficult to understand. Someone on the BDJ forum asked about this, and the vendor pointed to a few FAQ answers that frankly were just as confusing. It seems like a paid license will revert to a free version with some features disabled after 12 months unless a renewal/subscription fee is paid.  This is in spite of several claims that all licenses are lifetime.  I think the vendor considers a license that reverts to free behavior is still a 'lifetime' license.  But I'm not sure if I have any of this right.

I assume that the same behavior will occur with the free license being offered on BDJ.

Even more confusing to me is the description of the software's functionality.  I haven't tried the software, so maybe it's not as confusing to use as the marketing material is to understand. I think that there may be a language barrier issue contributing to the problem.

Given my overall confusion and the fact that I'm pretty happy with the file managers that I have, I'm skipping this offer.
480
Living Room / Re: Very thin hard disks
« Last post by mwb1100 on January 02, 2014, 02:01 PM »
Glass that is used in Windows of old buildings tends to warp as it has been subject to gravity for all these years it has been in vertical position.

http://engineering.m...ass-change-over-time

and

http://message.snope...owthread.php?t=23899
481
General Software Discussion / Free version of XYplorer is back
« Last post by mwb1100 on January 02, 2014, 01:00 PM »
Beginning with version 13.60, there's a free version of XYplorer being made available again: http://www.xyplorer.com/free.php

The feature list indicates what different between free and not free: http://www.xyplorer.com/features.php

482
General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... reasonable backup software
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 31, 2013, 03:21 AM »
I have become convinced that full system backup/restore utilities are really just a pipe dream.

I've moved to much simpler backup schemes that copies my data files to one or more network locations and/or external drives. If I need to perform some sort of system restore due to a failed system drive or pernicious malware infection, I'll reinstall the system from scratch then reinstall all the programs I want/need from the backed up installation files.  Then restore my data files (which are ultimately just plain-old file copies). I believe this to be more reliable than 'full system backups'.  I haven't yet had to perform a restore under duress, but I have recovered the occasional file that got mistakenly deleted.  Since the backups were just copies of the files, the restore was just a matter of find the location of the backup file and copy it over.  I didn't even bother with the backup utility's 'restore' functionality.

The last couple of times I've reinstalled the OS were not due to a failed drive, so what I did was buy a new hard drive, pull the old one out of the machine, install the OS, then attach the old drive to the secondary SATA connection (or in one case to a USB adapter - which was admittedly slow), then copy the data files over to the new drive.

Then I stashed the old drive on my bookshelf in case there was something I neglected to copy over.

So in those system reinstalls, I technically didn't even use my backups.  But I did make sure to have the backups in case I did something stupid that would have caused the original drive to be erased or something.

I'm using SyncBack Pro which copies files as plain old files.  As long as those copies aren't corrupted, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to recover them.

There are many similar backup/sync utilities that use non-proprietary formats.
483
General Software Discussion / Re: IsoBuster 3.3 available
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 30, 2013, 04:33 PM »
I've recently had a couple of SD cards fail on me - to the point where Windows wouldn't even mount them or offer to let me reformat them.

Do you know if IsoBuster has the capability of accessing these devices at a lower level than a Windows mount to be able to try to recover data from them?  By reading the IsoBuster website I suspect that that probably isn't possible; it seems like for flash media the system has to recognize it at least to the point where it'll let you try to format the media.

But if IsoBuster can do this I think I might be interested in trying it out (unfortunately, I've already thrown away the broken media so I can't readily test it).
484
General Software Discussion / Re: Sandboxie lifetime license discontinued
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 28, 2013, 10:18 PM »
A "lifetime" is a long time - usually the "life of the product" is the limiting factor

And if I were a betting man, I'd bet that within a year or two there will no longer be a Sandboxie product - the technology will be used in some other product that Invincea introduces.

Of course, I'm just speculating; I'd like to be proven wrong.
485
General Software Discussion / Re: Sandboxie lifetime license discontinued
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 28, 2013, 02:23 PM »
I don't want to be too negative with this news since I don't know anything about Invincea, but there was this interesting bit on the announcement page:

You’ve been running under the Invincea umbrella for some time now and we  have been working with Sandboxie Founder, Ronen Tzur, to ensure a smooth transition to new ownership

I wonder if this unannounced transition to Invincea was related  in some way to the sudden, without-warning end of the lifetime license offering.

I hope they honor the existing lifetime licenses. I have my guess as to how that will go; only time will tell.
486
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ad Muncher End of 2013 sale
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 20, 2013, 05:16 PM »
All I know is that while there haven't been program updates in a while, the database updates seem to keep coming.  And the couple of times I've sent a problem report about a site not displaying well because of Ad Muncher, the next database update fixed the issue.

The big things that I've heard mentioned as problems are HTTP gzip support, HTTPS filtering and IE11 support. These aren't problems for me, but anyone considering a purchase should be aware of those things in case they might be important to them. The software works very well for me, regardless of the state of the support for those things (when I surf on a machine without it installed, it's painful).

Ad Muncher isn't cheap - in my opinion, the 50% off deal is what makes the price bearable, particularly if you're going for multiple licenses. I also opted for the Basic option, which helps with the price, but only gets weekly list updates instead of daily list updates. I think that's the only notable difference between Basic and Premium.  There may be other software that works as well or better or cheaper (or some combination), but I haven't been driven to look for an alternative so I don't know if that's the case or not.

Finally, I don't think there's any problem with clarity of the lifetime license.  The purchase page says (emphasis added):

How long would you like to receive new program and list updates?

With a popup link explaining the "Unlimited updates" option:

Feature Details: Unlimited Updates

Unlimited updates means you get program and list updates indefinitely. No further purchase will ever be required, and you will be saved the trouble of renewing your license each year.

Ad Muncher has been continually updated since 1999 and isn't going away any time soon, so this is a worthwhile investment to ensure you continue to receive the best browsing experience possible.
487
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: again: lifetime key for Outpost Security Suite Pro
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 20, 2013, 12:57 PM »
Unfortunately it is not crystal clear if this is a seasoned offer or a new, fixed policy.

According to the press release:

Users purchasing the new version before the end of 2013 can get lifetime security for the price of a single year.
488
Found Deals and Discounts / Ad Muncher End of 2013 sale
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 20, 2013, 01:54 AM »
HALF-PRICE AD MUNCHER LICENSES!
We've been getting a lot of requests asking if we would ever repeat last year's big sale.

The answer is yes!  We're now offering 50% off all licenses until the end of the year!

Click here to purchase with the discount, and please share this with your friends.

To purchase for someone else, just enter your own details, then you'll be emailed a link to change the license details after purchase.

To renew an existing license, enter your license code at the purchasing link above.
489
when you register today with them you get 12 more (good old) games, also free!

Note that this is an ongoing thing, not a time-limited special - when you open an account at GOG, there are 12 games that you get for free.


I haven't played most of these - I imagine the quality varies.
490
Found Deals and Discounts / GOG's 2013 DRM-free Winter Sale has started!
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 12, 2013, 10:06 AM »
http://www.gog.com/

Lots of stuff on sale, and it looks like each day will have some 24-hour BIG deals.

One of today's big deals is: Fallout, Fallout 2 , and Fallout Tactics are all FREE!  - https://secure.gog.c...ay_winter_promo_2013

Note that there's a strong rumor that these titles will no longer be on sale on GOG after the new year due to changes in ownership of rights to the games. So get 'em while you can, and get 'em while they're free. (If you've purchased a title, the download remains in your account even after GOG no longer sells it - at least that's been true so far)

Understandably, the site is getting hammered.

Update:

It looks like the link to the free Fallout offers has been taken off of the GOG home page.  It also looks like the direct link above still works.  The site seems to be a bit better but is still pretty flaky, so I'm not sure how easy it'll be to get through the checkout process - or even if the offer might be cancelled (it looks like it was planned to be for today and tomorrow).
491
Living Room / Re: Anti-Tracking Smartphone Pouch
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 10, 2013, 01:59 AM »
Besides, any phone that regularly drops off the grid and can't be reached by a backchannel ping - and then pops back for no apparent reason - becomes a dead giveaway that the owner is employing some shielding mechanism.

This technique has been used by Hezbollah to uncover American spies. Using off-the-shelf technology available to anyone. 

The analysis identified cellphones that, for instance, were used rarely or always from specific locations and only for a short period of time.

Of course, they had suspicions already and had ideas of where to perform the data captures effectively so it's not like they were mining data from the entire cell network.  But it's a good indication of how easy this kind of thing can be and how this behavior can be a 'tell'.
492
Living Room / Re: I have been pwned
« Last post by mwb1100 on December 09, 2013, 12:06 PM »
Second, while the steps you outlined are a good start, they are unfortunately just the start of the battle. You are going to want to contact the three credit card reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and EquiFax) to flag your credit reports.

Did the Adobe breach disclose credit card information, too?  I hadn't heard that.
493
General Software Discussion / Re: CryptoLocker and CryptoPrevent
« Last post by mwb1100 on November 22, 2013, 03:57 PM »
I think it may be helpful to see what has or has not detected at least one variant of Cryptolocker:

  - https://www.virustot...cdad993bb9/analysis/

It looks like most of the well known anti-malware detect it.  However, I'm sure the slime creating this work constantly to have variants that slip past detection.
494
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Surfulater at BdJ today ($39.50)
« Last post by mwb1100 on November 22, 2013, 01:03 PM »
You should read the recent blog post about tagging in SNG:

Tags can be nested, letting you use a neatly structured tags hierarchy or tags tree. And you can use as many levels as you want.

It appears that SNG's tags will give the best of both worlds from hierarchical folder organization to free-form tagging.

Neville is also taking very seriously customers thoughts on SNG's reliance on the cloud, and seems committed to making it something that people can tailor to how *they* want their data stored:

  - http://blog.surfulat.../22/to-cloud-or-not/

I think that SNG will likely be an awesome product (I really want the ability to reliably sync SUL databases).  The drawback is that it may take a while to get here. I can't wait.
495
Living Room / Re: The most disturbing news story I've read all year
« Last post by mwb1100 on November 19, 2013, 09:06 PM »
Keep in mind that archive.org sees itself mainly as a librarian, not as an "information watchdog".

archive.org follows the "Oakland Archive Policy":

Online archives and digital libraries collect and preserve publicly available Internet documents for the future use of historians, researchers, scholars, and the general public. These archives and digital libraries strive to operate as trusted repositories for these materials, and work to make their collections as comprehensive as possible.

At times, however, authors and publishers may request that their documents not be included in publicly available archives or web collections.  To comply with such requests, archivists may restrict access to or remove that portion of their collections with or without notice as outlined below.

Because issues of integrity and removal are complex, and archivists generally wish to respond in a transparent manner, these policy recommendations have been developed with help and advice of representatives of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Chilling Effects, The Council on Library and Information Resources, the Berkeley Boalt School of Law, and various other commercial and non-commercial organizations through a meeting held by the Archive Policy Special Interest Group (SIG), an ad hoc, informal group of persons interested the practice of digital archiving.

In addition, these guidelines have been informed by the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights http://www.ala.org/work/freedom/lbr.html, the Society of American Archivists Code of Ethics http://www.archivist...dbook/app_ethics.asp, the International Federation of Library Association's Internet Manifesto http://www.unesco.or...2/ifla_manifesto.rtf, as well as applicable law.

Clearly the people who drew up this policy put a lot of serious thought into the ethical, legal and historical ramifications of the policy. And they appear to have done so in an inclusive and open manner.

They aren't necessarily evil just because their goals aren't quite what you might have thought.
496
If you have UltraEdit it has an option to "allow positioning beyond line end".

I honestly thought that most editors but the most basic had that as a configurable option.
497
General Software Discussion / Re: The Open Source debate
« Last post by mwb1100 on November 13, 2013, 01:49 PM »
If anyone knows how to make a 16-bit netbios stack appear in Win7, they'll get their deus ex machina. But so far...

Does the app run on WinXP?  If so, Win 7's "Win XP Mode" might work for the app - if the machines are running Win 7 Pro or better.
498
General Software Discussion / Re: The Open Source debate
« Last post by mwb1100 on November 12, 2013, 08:56 PM »
Another angle is the 'security' of your business workflow and data.  You say that you're looking into the  replacement software because it won't run on Win 7. If the software were open source, your organization would at least have some opportunity to decide if the effort to fix the software to run on Win 7 was worthwhile. With closed source software that decision is out of your hands if the vendor decides not to do it (or if the vendor no longer exists). In that case you're stuck with running the software on older systems (which may introduce it's own set of security issues) or moving to different software.

If the software were open source there's no guarantee that making it run on Win 7 would be easy or worthwhile, but you'd at least be able to make that decision for yourselves on the technical merits. Businesses should consider being locked out of their data or systems a form of risk similar to security risks.  After all, problems with either cost the business money to address.
499
General Software Discussion / Re: The Open Source debate
« Last post by mwb1100 on November 12, 2013, 08:37 PM »
Clearly, the number of exploits against closed source software is evidence that source code is not required in order for software to be exploited. I believe that the majority of exploits are found not by source code review, but by finding bugs and using various debugging techniques to determine the exploit.

As Dr. Ira Levy, technical director with the CESG - a department of the UK's GCHQ intelligence agency that advises UK government on IT security, is quoted as saying in a ZDNet article:

  • Bad people can look at the source code, so it's less secure

    "Again that's nonsense. If I look at how people break software, they don't use the source code. If you look at all the bugs in closed source products, the people that find the bugs don't have the source, they have IDA Pro, it's out there and it's going to work on open and closed source binaries — get over it."

How insecure a piece of software is isn't generally a function of whether the source is available or not - it's a function of the quality and complexity of the software.  There is insecure closed source software and  there's insecure open source software.  Similarly, there's secure software of both types. Projects and organizations that take security seriously will have secure software, whether or not they release the source. Also, less complex software will generally be more secure than complex software.

An example of a large open source project with complex software that is considered very secure is OpenBSD. See http://en.wikipedia....ty_and_code_auditing for information about how security issues have been dealt with in the past, including bogus claims that the FBI inserted backdoor code into the system. I wonder if MS or Symantec software have any backdoors? If your IT guy asks those companies about that, can he believe the answer? If there are backdoors, I believe that crackers will likely eventually find them as exploits.

The popularity of software will be a factor in how much effort is put into exploiting it.  I'd guess that an open source clinical information system isn't high on exploiters' target lists (though given the sensitivity of health care information, I might be wrong about that. And certainly security should be taken seriously for such an application, regardless of how many people might be looking to exploit it).

And just because an organization is large and trusted, doesn't mean that they will necessarily always take proper care with security. The recent theft of a user database from Adobe is an example.  Not only did Adobe screw up in letting the database get downloaded (I have no idea on what happened to allow that), but it's clear from analysis of the file that Adobe didn't even follow the simplest of standard practices in storing passwords in the database: http://nakedsecurity...yptographic-blunder/  Adobe is a rather large vendor of closed source software - are they as careless with security in those products?

Finally, is your organization so locked down that such software as Firefox, Chrome, Java, Linux, Android devices, or Apple computers aren't found anywhere?  No use of scripting languages like Perl, Python, or Ruby? All of those are open source to at least some degree. Does your organization use ASP.NET?  The source is openly available: http://aspnet.codeplex.com/  
500
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Genie Timeline Professional 2 for 10USD
« Last post by mwb1100 on November 08, 2013, 07:18 PM »
This doesn't include lifetime updates.  The 'fineprint' tab says:

Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free for 3 months. For versions after that, upgrades will require additional payment, which will be discounted.

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