Recent Posts

726

Living Room / Re: Internet Lynch Mobs

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 23, 2015, 12:38 PM »

This is the "all meets all" middlegame result of social media.

Semi-related: somewhere there is another story about Facebook working on auto-tagging people's names in photos based on photo recognition. So this same kind of thing then gets a new spin because you and your friend "just post a pic" and your friend is doing something silly, and then because it is auto-tagged, it starts winding up in searches which can harm people's job searches etc.

It also has a chilling effect - you become afraid to post certain kinds of otherwise harmless photos because of the viral effect - when it goes in your favor it's great, and when it goes the wrong way you end up in big trouble.

And of course there's the "effect of a certain singer" after some initial incident I think with a photo of her house.

 

727

Living Room / Re: Preloaded spyware, courtesy Lenovo

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 21, 2015, 07:32 PM »

I've almost always had custom built computers, but the "stock" ones that I've had have really sucked by comparison.

-Renegade (February 20, 2015, 09:26 AM)

I think I stand by this. I am making my own problems with upgrade woes but my current comp is custom built that we did as a project and when it's your buddy building it you know generally there's no weird stuff (initially!) on there.

You don't have to de-construct it in labor-hours what you saved in build dollars.

 

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General Software Discussion / Re: The return of Clippy! Microsoft says more about their digital assistant Cortana

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 12, 2015, 03:10 PM »

Isn't FlightSim not only a technical achievement... but an investment?  Which is why it boggles me that they abandon the investment already made... not just from a technical perspective, but the sheer amount of data processed for the detail of the landscapes and such.

-wraith808 (February 12, 2015, 02:34 PM)

Something went down, that's for sure! I never once heard an explanation from anybody (including the "mothership" herself) why they axed that gem. And not just axed it either. They completely buried it as well. Inventory completely pulled from retail channels. No legacy copy for "download sale only." No tombstone freebie release to the public like they did with Money. Dunno...it just makes no sense based on anything they officially told us. And the rumors about "what really happened" haven't made much sense either.

And that's too bad. FlightSim would have been all they needed to keep me (and a lot of other people) customers of Microsoft forever.

-40hz (February 12, 2015, 02:47 PM)

Sometimes, with all of the cop shows going on, you'd want somehow for questions you always wanted answered to be crucial to some kind of terrorist sting bust. "We TRIED To keep the secret, but then it was found out that evil guys used it!"

MS does some strange things sometimes. Or a lot of times, in the music businesses.

Clippy was annoying, but to my knowledge it at least was "innocently annoying". Now everything that companies do has an ominous tone of collecting and doing things with info.

 

729

General Software Discussion / Re: Browser Hijackers

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 09, 2015, 07:55 AM »

One thing you may try to get more details is to use MozBackup or some other means of backing up a Firefox, then approve the AddOn install.  That should at least give some kind of name to search on.  I'm not sure how much damage a malicious FF AddOn can do so take suggestion with a grain of salt. 

-MilesAhead (February 09, 2015, 07:32 AM)

Well I blocked the addon, some of that comes native to new FF's, so just the start page was left, which I put back, and several articles mention you have to fix the shortcuts. But I couldn't easily find what might be hiding as a real program that some people hint can re-install itself, so I just threw it all into a "cupboard marked beware of the leopard".

730

Non-Windows Software / Re: LINUX: #! CrunchBang Linux is no more. RIP

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 09, 2015, 07:52 AM »

Yeah, I remarked on this a bit on another thread.

I was saying that it's as if the fertile period when people made new projects in the late 90's / early 2000's is starting to fade as stuff gets consolidated into big players.

https://www.donation....msg375260#msg375260

I have an ancient laptop which is "nearly unusable" that theoretically could have been a crunch-bang candidate, but I really lack any motivation to experiment in that direction with what would be a *fourth tier* machine.

731

General Software Discussion / Re: Url Pack 1.7.0.0

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 09, 2015, 07:51 AM »

The funny thing is I didn't try it out for the features.  But because it was another 32 bit FF derivative.  I wanted to see if I could get a fast FF that would scroll easily with HW accel. enabled.  So far it's working fine except for sites giving the "we don't support FF 11 anymore so upgrade" msg. 

Maybe I'll try Cyberfox 32 bit.

-MilesAhead (February 09, 2015, 07:26 AM)

I haven't heard of Cyberfox.

I'll try to look into it.

732

General Software Discussion / Re: Url Pack 1.7.0.0

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 07, 2015, 05:48 PM »

I use Cometbird

-TaoPhoenix (April 12, 2012, 02:51 PM)

Funny.  I just ran across it today.  So far the only "bad" thing is it won't accept some of the Firefox AddOns.  But it seems to run fine.   

Edit:  It figures.  I start using it just as the developers decide to dump it.   


http://www.cometforu...scontinued-jan-2015/

-MilesAhead (February 07, 2015, 01:39 PM)

See this note:
"For those still using it we recommend switching to Firefox Browser"

Trying to draw a broader thread together, maybe we're seeing the end of "one of" the golden ages of free wheeling project making. Elsewhere the CrunchBang Linux developer said almost the same thing to the effect of "what once made it unique is no longer relevant so I'm ceasing development".

That's a subtle disturbing favor "sort of" in favor of the Big Guns who can afford to release certain things forever (but then look at Google's rate of introducing and dropping stuff!)

As time is marching on around me, in my slow computer learning, I really hadn't planned on end-of-life of projects. You/We picked "our solutions" to ... do things. Because Reasons. So then when our thing drops off into a dead end, we're stuck with things we *didn't* choose Because Other Reasons.

Computing gets hard! 

733

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 07, 2015, 04:49 AM »

lol at the pope

-tomos (February 07, 2015, 03:54 AM)

Doesn't he get his email from God?
 
(Basement Warning!)  : )

734

General Software Discussion / Re: Browser Hijackers

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 06, 2015, 04:24 PM »

I

I'll just have to chip away at this,

-TaoPhoenix (February 05, 2015, 02:57 PM)

btw what OS version and bitness are you running?

-MilesAhead (February 06, 2015, 01:40 PM)

32 Bit XP ... slightly weakened over time by age and stuff. : )

But a clue is that these attacked my "main Firefox" series of browsers, that for a long while I used for almost nothing, and just that day I went to look at something and "poof - attacked". All my heavy duty is on Pale Moon, and it's just fine.

I see conflicting reports on the web about it. One thought it could even collect user data like logins and passwords to sites. So I have currently just dumped the links in a folder marked "beware".

I tried downloading one "tool to remove it" but I stopped it before it was finished, after I wasn't sure if it was hung up.

The steps I saw varied, with one of the more complex involving downloading something like five anti-malware programs.

735

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 05, 2015, 03:01 PM »

Have you ever pranked someone by turning their wireless mouse 180 degrees around.

-Arizona Hot (February 05, 2015, 02:58 PM)

 

736

General Software Discussion / Re: Browser Hijackers

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 05, 2015, 02:57 PM »

Another possibility in culprit-hunting is to look for the date of the install of the browser hijacker and see what was installed that day.  The last time I ran into that type of situation, I used Everything and sorted the files on disk by creation date, a flat-view.

-Steven Avery (February 04, 2015, 05:27 AM)

I'll use this note to reply to.

I poked at this today. But I can't find it in Add/Remove Programs. "Date Last Used" doesn't seem to help and nothing labeled "start" seems to be there by name per se, though I began reading a couple articles on this and it seems to be one of the nastier hijackers with a few re-install tricks.

I'll just have to chip away at this, though I'm more inclined again just to keep using FF-spinoffs since my PaleMoon is still clean. (For now! I still haven't upgraded.)

737

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 04, 2015, 03:14 PM »

Here's the meme-worthy head-bang:

738

General Software Discussion / Re: Browser Hijackers

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 04, 2015, 01:27 AM »

Good stuff guys, tagged with one of my note programs for one of those days I feel like dealing with that stuff. Meanwhile Miles yes, the start page was changed, but it also tried to install an add-on, which first catches your eye even before your page opens. At least it's good FF put in that thing a while back about "approving add-ons", so that was one step blocked!

739

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 03, 2015, 11:09 AM »

From another thread, posted here so not to drag that one into the mud!

"Adapt or die".

This just feels like it's made for one of those Meme Generators!

740

General Software Discussion / Browser Hijackers

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on February 03, 2015, 11:05 AM »

Bleh.

My copies of Firefox just got hijacked by something. But it's weird because I don't use them that often. Meanwhile Palemoon is my "heavy duty" browser and it's fine.

I could do some snooping and maybe figure it out, but that takes work.   

741

General Software Discussion / Re: Rewriting little memory

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 27, 2015, 08:06 AM »

Okay, we are getting there!

I think a bunch of stuff is involved here!

First, try a little (luv how this word is almost impossible) mnemonics.

"Contro is the worst pupil in the world"
No. Contro is spelled with two o's and nothing else will do.
He spelled pupil right and who does that in their second/third language?

And stuff.

So with a few of those tricks out of the way, "what are you trying to do?"
If you're "just learning a language" we can do that in a couple other threads. We're trying to work out that you don't need more serious tech help.

I'm a funny dumb birdie. My language skills are incredible but my tech makes you want to cry in four languages including two you don't know yet!

 

742

General Software Discussion / Re: Rewriting little memory

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 27, 2015, 07:10 AM »

Dear ol' Contro,
English is certainly not your first language, but this time we need a lot more info to work with!

Try re-posting this again with a bunch of more lines, and we might be able to latch on to something to help with!

743

General Software Discussion / Re: save & playback of Q&A session

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 27, 2015, 07:02 AM »

Yeah, let's get a link, because this is just itching for both the "organized" players here and hacks like me. I get grumpy with these sites that run tests "overkilled with too much scripting". So when a page "decides not to save", that's my cue to go all "hit it with a wrench until it saves".

Plus, in the spirit of helping out dear ol' DC Bit, I wanna know what page & designers are impudent enough to offend *us* : )

I like my low-tek hacks. "Fancy super-controlled javascript security" hmm? Click. Oops. I just killed your javascript, little page-y. And with *ScreenShot Captor* by *Mouser*, from *Donationcoder.com*, you think you are going to hide behind a little error of "page not saved"?! No.

(Insert smiley here. I confused myself which one to use.)      
: )

744

Screenshot Captor / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - ScreenshotCaptor - v4.9.3 - DEC 31, 2014

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 27, 2015, 06:56 AM »

Holy cow, of course I forgot the limitless power of Mouser's settings pages. thanks Ath. You can even watermark all the images automatically.

-justice (January 27, 2015, 05:37 AM)

Yeah, we politely cheer Mouser for the hard work he does in his apps, with a little light humor.

Mouser comes from the old school before Apple's i-stuff "simplified" things.

So somewhere in his apps is probably an analogue of this xkcd comic:
http://xkcd.com/378/

You know, Settings/Other/Recipes/Celery and Peanut Butter/Peanut Butter selection/

745

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TreeDBNotes Pro - Christmas and New Year Discount: 50%

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 26, 2015, 06:11 PM »

I'm wondering whether at heart you'd prefer a single-pane outliner, if you could find one you liked?  Inspiration, perhaps?

-rjbull (January 17, 2015, 03:44 PM)

I myself am having a little trouble even understanding what a single pane outliner *does*.

Sometimes once you have a paradigm in your head, you have trouble "un-learning it".

So, not counting the specifics of TreeDB, how do you not use two panes? (One for the outline and one for the data per node).

746

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

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 22, 2015, 06:21 PM »

Sometimes things with silly humor attached are cousins to "interesting stuff". But I'm putting it here for two funny DC-related topical spins.

Meet Daniel Browning Smith, contortionist.
https://www.youtube..../watch?v=Ck2ZmPl8F9c
(Sorry for those who can't get Youtube videos! I'm amnesiac so I keep forgetting but if someone knows a foolproof alt way to view these, dig me up!)
"If you allow him two inches for him to relax", the man fits himself into a box 18x18x18 inches.

Hilarity Ensuing:
1. Playing awesome jokes on various security agencies. The colleague would need to be near strongman level, but there's enough out there even that aren't actually competing, and "you only need one" for a stunt act.

2. Detective stories, especially the ones with the "gifted" star and the rest of the force is a little slow on the uptake. : )

3. On a good day, general saving on transport costs. Airports would be the toughest, but on trains and buses, you just wait until the conductor is all done, then he comes out.

747

General Software Discussion / Re: RightNote Revisited / Review (in lieu of a RN forum)

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 22, 2015, 04:57 AM »

Question:  I'm really curious why RightNote is free.

One generally thinks, "free", must not be so good.

However, RightNote seems to be a great outlining program.

Yes, there are the two charged-for versions, standard and pro.  But the free version is super as is.

Please explain.

Thanks,
Nicholas Kormanik

-nkormanik (January 22, 2015, 01:28 AM)

Well, I think half of the reason is that if I borrow your own phrasing a little, this is the right way to do "freemium".

If the free version is "super as is", then you can use it, and get comfortable with the basic and even whatever intermediate features are in the free version. You don't feel the pressure of "crippleware" to evaluate-or-die with a clock ticking at 30 days, or "oh look, you can customize a profile but you can't save it".

Then later on a relaxing day you look at the "upsell premium" features, and decide if there are any somewhat obscure but powerful features that are worth the upgrade price. That's how TreeDB became one of the only programs I ever spent money on - because it didn't feel like a pressure sell.

748

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Foreground wallpaper

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 21, 2015, 07:00 PM »

This is actually pretty clever, now that it works!

Not content to leave well enough alone, I fiddled with opening multiple copies of it. A multi layer effect is interesting!

I think the main thing I'd like is an easy way to always do "nosetwall" without having to type a command path somewhere.

749

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 as an Internet service?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 21, 2015, 06:38 PM »

I imagine that many of the 'corporates' sticking with XP and Win7 are small businesses, one-man bands, and then consumers. There must be good reasons probably why they stuck with those OS's (e.g. that they run well on their ageing machines). It would make sense to try to get the maximum return on investment on the licenses and hardware. So they might not be that easily fooled by one year of free subscription, especially if it's then not transferable to replacement hardware. The big question is how much the subscription is going to cost afterwards, and whether your current hardware can handle Win10.

-dr_andus (January 21, 2015, 04:43 PM)

I'll re-iterate the stall power of fear of the computing future. In particular, it seems to take over a year for the "what do we as mid rank tech people think of ____ OS release from MS". MS gets there first with their 10 paid blogs which are then echoed by the 100 news outlets. So for example, we "sorta know" what we think of Win 7, then 8 - and - 8.1

But while a few people on the advanced places (maybe here!) are beginning to scout the Win10 landscape, it still feels really early.

XP isn't running well at all on my DevilComp. And that fan still needs to be replaced. I'm just trying to hold on until we get closer to the real rollout of 10, then the "second line" people will begin posting their news.

I def don't want OS-as-Service. And I don't plan to need to change my hardware more than once. If I have to change my hardware more than once, then I did it wrong. If I do it right, it will sit there until it too decays, just like I am doing now with XP.

750

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 as an Internet service?

« Last post by TaoPhoenix on January 21, 2015, 04:32 PM »

I don't know what I think of this. I'm sure it will be all over the tech news as the months roll on. So I'll have to revisit it when I am not tired!