Recent Posts

8626

Living Room / Re: PREY trailer - looks funky

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 01:29 PM »

Portals have been here for *quite* a while, even before serious sam. But because ID Software used BSP, that's where all the rage was

But I haven't seen portals used at quite this level before.

8627

General Software Discussion / Re: Is there an AV App that Doesn't Eventually Become Bloatware?

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 12:33 PM »

IMHO firefox/mozilla is bloated... code bloat, though, not feature bloat. It's still the browser I use, though, because of IE security holes and the few (but important, for me) rendering/compatibility issues that Opera has

8628

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Encryption software

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 12:31 PM »

If you need just .txt encryption, don't forget http://fSekrit.donationcoder.com :-)

8629

General Software Discussion / Re: Is there an AV App that Doesn't Eventually Become Bloatware?

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 11:35 AM »

I do think some packages are getting too big and want to combine too many features. I prefer to have one antivirus (or rather, anti-malware) package, another for firewall. And I don't want any of the solutions to be a complete sandboxing system with hooks in every aspect of the OS. Do one job (or a few) and do them relatively well, and keep the bloat down. Thanks

-f0dder (May 21, 2006, 11:02 AM)

Agreed. I guess I should rethink that analysis I made. I guess anti-malware (spyware) is good to incorporate, but only if it can be done properly. Most antivirus vendors only half-ass their implimentation which is the primary reason I had my stance at the a/v and a/s should be separate entities.

-Josh (May 21, 2006, 11:32 AM)

Yeah. I use separate anti-spyware as well (rootkit revealer, kernel hook detection, and spybot S&D). I tend to use those as scan-tools on infected PCs though - having *protection* (integrated in AV) would be nice. But agreed, only if done properly.

8630

General Software Discussion / Re: Is there an AV App that Doesn't Eventually Become Bloatware?

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 11:02 AM »

Funny enough, at least last time I checked, the corporate edition of Symantec AV was one of the few pieces of software that they had NOT messed up majorly. But take a look at the non-corporate version - eek.

but I think spyware is an entirely different type of detection and should be left to specialized apps

I used to think that too, but then I sat down and thought a bit about it, and I actually find it quite advantagous if AV handles spyware as well. It will benefit from the always-on scanning engines in the AV (ie, the spyware will be detected before you can run it), it will benefit from the decompression engines in the AV (so a kiddie can't just unpack a piece of malware and use another packer to defeat static file hash), and it will benefit from heuristic analysis engines.

Also, I'd say users are much more likely to get infected with spyware than a "real" virus...

I do think some packages are getting too big and want to combine too many features. I prefer to have one antivirus (or rather, anti-malware) package, another for firewall. And I don't want any of the solutions to be a complete sandboxing system with hooks in every aspect of the OS. Do one job (or a few) and do them relatively well, and keep the bloat down. Thanks

8631

General Software Discussion / Re: Is there an AV App that Doesn't Eventually Become Bloatware?

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 10:16 AM »

LavaSoft ad-aware isn't all it's hyped up to be - they lie about the number of malware they detect (iirc ad-aware multiplies the number of database by 1.2), it's file-scanning algorithm is pretty slow and easy to defeat, etc.

IMHO a better choice is Spybot Search & Destroy which is also free, and doesn't have a big-brother version that costs money.

I personally use NOD32 antivirus because it's a no-nonsense and pretty lean_and_mean program, which also has one of the best heuristic detection engines. Kaspersky is nice as well, but has become a bit bloated, and the way it uses NTFS streams and rootkit-like method for hiding those streams is a bit icky (see sysinternals' rootkit revealer forums).

Big problem with NOD32: it doesn't cache file status, so every time you boot your system, files have to be re-scanned, which makes first-launch of apps pretty slow (AMD64x2 4400+ here, and it *is* noticable >_<). Also, I haven't found a way to disable the background/instant file scanning that persists through reboots.

8632

Living Room / Re: PREY trailer - looks funky

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 05:03 AM »

Hehe, probably not very interesting at a gameplay level.

I like the pretty graphics, and the thing that intrigues me a bit about it is the appearantly heavy use of "portals" (both as a gameplay element and as an technical engine thing).

8633

Living Room / PREY trailer - looks funky

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 04:32 AM »

Check this out: http://video.google....-1820878665676086235

pretty nice graphics, really weird world (portals! PORTALS!), etc.

8634

Living Room / Re: Overcoming email checking addiction

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 02:50 AM »

Not me! Nah uh. Don't have a problem. Mmh.

My email accounts are auto-checked every 5mins, so I don't check manually. Website Watcher watches a few sites on auto too, and I do a manual check-for-changes on the non-auto sites a couple of times a day. EMail notify keeps me on tabs with the threads I'm watching (DC, asmcommunity, flat assembler board), and I do a manual "view new posts since last visit" a couple of times a day too.

But even if a lot of this is on auto and I don't do the manual checks too often, it's still a lot of time spent in front of the computer. When I get home from work, I usually spend a couple of hours reading up on forums, newsgroups and emails... eek.

8635

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite computer game from when you were young?

« Last post by f0dder on May 21, 2006, 02:41 AM »

jgpaiva: Doh, referer-checking

8636

Developer's Corner / Re: What happens to the code when the programmer dies?

« Last post by f0dder on May 20, 2006, 06:17 PM »

 

8637

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite computer game from when you were young?

« Last post by f0dder on May 20, 2006, 04:51 PM »

Hmm, if it also had an "adventure" part, you're probably thinking of Full Throttle. I played the demo, which orcked, but never got around to purchasing the full game

8638

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite computer game from when you were young?

« Last post by f0dder on May 20, 2006, 03:30 PM »

Stunts! How could I forget that? Stunts (aka "4d sports driving") was one of the first games I purchased, for my good old amiga. Love! 

8639

Living Room / Re: Skype users: beware

« Last post by f0dder on May 20, 2006, 10:29 AM »

I don't see a problem with copyrighting software & requiring payment. We live in a capitalistic world, socialism (ufortunately?) never worked out where it was tried implemented. Like it or not, money's what makes the world go round, and without it, many programs wouldn't be written

8640

Living Room / Re: Skype users: beware

« Last post by f0dder on May 20, 2006, 03:53 AM »

just posted:

Skype Technologies has updated its popular Skype Internet telephony software to fix a security bug that could expose sensitive data.

The flaw could let an attacker construct a Skype hyperlink which, when clicked on by the target, sends a file from the victim's computer to another Skype user, the company said in a security alert published Friday.

-mouser (May 19, 2006, 11:02 PM)

Sounds good!
Hope that has fixed all the problems... I guess we can expect an addendum to the PDF exploring whether the fixes are sufficient. I hope they are

8641

General Software Discussion / Re: a backup solution that uses winRAR

« Last post by f0dder on May 19, 2006, 05:55 PM »

Windows backup may be proprietary but it has been included in ever version of Windows ... I would be very surprised if it wasn't included in future versions of Windows and backward compatible.

-Carol Haynes (May 19, 2006, 05:51 PM)

Yes, but can you restore from one windows version to another? That's what I'm worried about considering proprietary.

8642

General Software Discussion / Re: a backup solution that uses winRAR

« Last post by f0dder on May 19, 2006, 05:07 PM »

What are your problems with Genie? I'd be VERY interested in hearing this, as I'm considering a ~15 license purchase for it!

Genie backups are zip files with a few extra entries, windows backups are proprietary.

8643

Living Room / Re: Skype users: beware

« Last post by f0dder on May 19, 2006, 03:56 PM »

Anyway, back to the real point of this forum, enlightening us all ... does anybody know if Skype are doing something about this? Should I stop using Skype (for the time being)?

I hope they're doing something. IMHO disclosures like the above PDF shouldn't be made until the "guilty" company has been contacted and you've verified they're doing something (or until the "guilty" company hasn't responded for some reasonable timeframe). I really don't want the kiddie fringe to get an unfair advantage before there's a solution - especially not with serious problems like this!

PS  This one really bugs me - it's "you're" - it means "you are" - "your" refers to possession as in "your views are questionable" which is different to "you're talking rubbish" - get it?

I'm bugged by errors like that myself, but I make them all the time

8644

Living Room / Re: Skype users: beware

« Last post by f0dder on May 19, 2006, 03:17 PM »

f0dder:

Couldn't you just ignore the ignorant? That would spare all of us an exposure to some seriously childish views.

-ark2 (May 19, 2006, 03:13 PM)

Sorry.

8645

Developer's Corner / Re: SourceForge getting some hate

« Last post by f0dder on May 19, 2006, 01:17 PM »

Well, subversion *does* seem nicer than CVS, but... this sounds eeky. Shows that it's dangerous to depend on one source, even if their intentions seem(ed) good.

8646

General Software Discussion / Re: Fyre, a tool for producing computational artwork from chaotic functions

« Last post by f0dder on May 19, 2006, 01:10 PM »

Mmmh, neat program.

And nice to have you here Eóin, your math background rocks 

(Guinness guy, are you?)

8647

fSekrit / Re: test test

« Last post by f0dder on May 18, 2006, 01:55 PM »

For those who wonder, this topic was about adding borders to each "quote box", to make it possible to see what quote came from where with nested quotes.

Let's leave the thread open so people think there's some fSekrit activity
(there is, but I spend most of my time working, sleeping or being pretty zombified at the moment)

8648

fSekrit / test test

« Last post by f0dder on May 18, 2006, 01:38 PM »

Here's a test:

   quote number 1
   

      quote number 2
      

         quote number 3
      

-hanshansen

      quote3-end
   

-frodo

   quote2-end

-f0dder

quote1-end

yayayay, go mouser!

8649

Living Room / Re: Made out of meat

« Last post by f0dder on May 18, 2006, 01:08 PM »

Haha, weird and nice  

8650

General Software Discussion / Re: Article: Inside the Spyware Scandal -- Part 2

« Last post by f0dder on May 18, 2006, 07:02 AM »

Truth is you can thank those "heroic" hackers and crackers for root kits.
Thanks fOdder.
It don't matter what you think of it copy protection is coming.

-Cpilot (May 17, 2006, 05:36 PM)

Excuse me?

I have had nothing to do with rootkits, so please spare me the "thanks". I've had a fair deal to do with software protection though, and there's a couple of applications out there protected by my code.