GT500

August 29, 2012

I think Windows7 is one of the few that didn't get a bad rap BEFORE the fact..

That depends on where you spend your time on these crazy Internets... Ubuntu fanboys would drive me crazy with their imaginary anti-Windows propaganda, and they hammered Windows 7 pretty bad...

August 29, 2012

I am very worrying about one thing. some body hack my facebook id. but i don't know who is doing it. please anybody suggest me how i get my facebook account back.

You'll have to talk to Facebook about that, and I wouldn't expect it to be a quick process.

August 26, 2012

Not to defend or desparage anyone's point of view, but Valve is far from an unknown software firm. They are the company behind hit games such as Half Life and are also the company behind Steam, something pretty much every PC gamer is familiar with.

Agreed. I recognized Gabe's name immediately, although admittedly it took me a moment to associate it with Valve Software.

Another point to add to your list, Samuel, is that Steam (created, owned, and operated by Valve Software) is the most popular digital distribution network for PC games in the world. Valve Software is most certainly not 'obscure', and in certain circles they are highly respected for their insistence on continuing to support games and add new content to games (for free) even years after their release.

As for Windows 8 bashing, it makes an easy target, so we might as well get used to it. Windows 7 received a lot of negative comments both before and after its release, and most of them were not deserved. Windows 8 will most likely receive more, since Microsoft has begun to abandon even more of the traditional PC operating system interface that their customers are used to.

August 22, 2012

Anyhow I cannot retract what I wrote about Facebook, though of course it is not malware-as-such ... which is why I wrote, "Functioned as 'malware' ".

Perhaps you meant to say that it functioned as a malware delivery mechanism?

Also Facebook has only worked because of rapid growth and always getting more on board, so it is at least akin to Ponzi schemes ... and bear in mind that initial offering shares have collapsed by 50%.

According to Merriam Webster, the definition of "Ponzi scheme" is:

an investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by later ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks

So, are you actually accusing Facebook of this, and if so may I ask for some sort of proof? Falling stock prices are not proof of a "Ponzi scheme", and could simply be due to the rising popularity of Google+ (or the realization by Facebook users that Facebook is not as safe or secure as they thought it was).

As for the rest of your complaints against Facebook, I don't use it, nor do I have an account there, so I really don't have a whole lot to say. I have always refused to use social networking websites (unless you consider YouTube to be a social networking website). I do consider Facebook to be a security and privacy hazard, however my understanding was that it was getting better.

August 16, 2012

I had moved to LibreOffice as well, before I was so graciously given a copy of Microsoft Office 2010 by my employer. It looks and feels almost identical to OpenOffice.org, with a few minor differences that weren't worth remembering, so it is an easy switch for someone who is used to OpenOffice.org.

BTW: Steve, I like the quote in your signature.

August 16, 2012

from the sounds of it it sounds like windows 7 is going to be like windows xp still in use over a decade later

Yes... And assuming that Wine ever gets its act together, some of us might end up entirely on Linux, rather than on Windows... KDE, of course, as GNOME has already embraced the cheesy tablet-style interface for PC desktops...

August 14, 2012

Thanks for the info GT As I write this, I am on Opera 11. So, Opera is still a good browser?

The term 'good' can be a bit subjective when it comes to web browsers. Opera supports most of the same standards that Firefox and Chrome do, it tends to have a better security track record than other browsers (or at least it did before they added extensions), it has a ton of built-in features, and its performance is usually among the best in the industry (although that seems to change every time one of the browsers hits a new version). The biggest issue is that, due to the lower market share, many companies don't care about testing their websites in Opera or fixing issues with their websites in Opera, and unfortunately many web developers are still biased against Opera and they don't care about writing code that is compatible with it (which is pretty sad since Opera will usually properly render standards-complaint code without issues).

The only thing troubling me about Opera is that it'll be kinda hard to find extensions to replace BetterPrivacy and NoScript. I'm sure they are there, I just need to find them.

Check out Opera's Add-Ons Page. Everything should be there. Personally, I find it hard to search for what you want on their Add-Ons page, but it is better than nothing.

As for NoScript, there should be an extension for that, however Opera has built-in functionality that can allow you to disable scripts and plugins globally, and then enable then on a per-site basis. You also have per-site content blocking, and various other settings that can be enabled or disabled on a per-site basis (right-click in a website and select "Edit Site Preferences..."). As for privacy, there's the Ghostery extension, however I'm not seeing anything more than that in the junk that came up in a search for 'privacy' on their Add-Ons page.

Also, what are the "Elements" that Opera counts before loading a web-page. They appear right on the web address bar and then disappear as soon as they complete. For ex. "2/20". Then when it reaches "20/20" it disappears. Does this have something to do with the fact that web-pages sometimes don't load correctly with Opera? I don't know if this is true but it could be since Opera provides sync with Firefox so that if a web page doesn't load, it'll load it like Firefox does (whatever that means...). Thanks a lot!

It is counting HTML elements, which are the code that makes up a webpage.

August 13, 2012

Opera isn't widely used because back in the days before Firefox, Opera wasn't free. Opera then moved over to offering an ad-supported free version, however once Firefox released Opera's reputation for not being 'free' grew even worse. Once Opera went completely free, the issues narrowed down to the differences between Opera and Firefox. Basically, Opera wasn't Firefox, and Opera Software saw no need to make Opera become Firefox in order to grow their user base, so Opera kept its bad reputation.

Slowly, over the years, Opera Software capitulated to the "it's not Firefox" crowd, and Opera has slowly moved in the direction of mimicking Firefox (and other browsers) in order to grow its market share. After Jon von Tetzchner stepped down as the CEO of Opera Software on January 5, 2010, and Lars Boilesen replaced him, the trend grew even worse as the decision to add extensions was finally made. Opera's reputation has gotten better, however to the zealous Firefox fanboys it is still blasphemous for anyone to use a web browser other than Firefox, and Opera is still one of their favorite targets. In fact, before the death of OperaWatch, it was still common for Firefox fanboys such as Asa Dotzler (a bigger liar I have never seen) to post comments on OperaWatch praising Firefox for having the best security track record (even though it is a blatant lie, and anyone who checks the vulnerability report history for Firefox can see that for themselves).

As for Opera today, it does have its issues (such as performance issues caused when the preferences file has been through multiple upgrades from older versions of Opera), however I still consider it the lesser of the evils (the 'evils' I refer to are browsers with extensions API's, which I consider a security vulnerability).

As for listing 'facts', most of the reasons why someone likes one browser over another is personal preference.

As for security vulnerabilities, there are currently no known unpatched security vulnerabilities listed on Secunia for Opera 12, Firefox 14, and Google Chrome 21. Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 is listed as having 1 Secunia advisory listed as 'unpatched', and since Secunia advisories often cover multiple vulnerabilities that means we need to look up the advisory to see what all it covers, and it appears to be two security vulnerabilities that are rated as "Not critical" (which is the minimum rating). Now, out of all of those browsers, we see that Opera 12 has had two advisories which are listed as patched (one advisory was rated as moderately critical and the other was highly critical), Firefox 14 is listed as having had no advisories (which is not surprising since that version was released for desktops on July 17, 2012), Google Chrome 21 is listed as having had 1 advisory which is patched (advisory is rated as highly critical) which is pretty bad considering version 21 of Google Chrome was released on July 31st (two weeks ago), and Internet Explorer 9 is listed as having had 10 advisories of which 9 have been patched (advisory ratings range between not critical and extremely critical).

Looking back at the last version of the three more secure browsers (Opera 11, Firefox 13, and Google Chrome 20) is even more enlightening. Essentially, anyone using Firefox 13 or Google Chrome 20 should update to the latest version immediately. Opera 11 does have an advisory listed as unpatched, but it is rated as "less critical", and the vulnerabilities that it lists are far more difficult (although not impossible) to exploit. Updating is still recommended, of course, and even more so for your Java and Flash plugins.

August 9, 2012

I just heard a bit about this Dorifel malware, which is a form of ransomware, and is apparently hitting Dutch companies pretty hard. Fabian Wosar wrote a nice article about it, and includes a tool that can aid in cleaning up the infection (including decrypting Word documents that have been infected).

August 7, 2012

You could always try David H. Lipman's Multi-AV Scanning Tool. He has permission from several AV vendors to bundle their command-line scanners into a single tool that automates the process of running the scans. I'm not sure if you will find it as functional as MBAM, however it will give you a few second opinions, and you can't argue with the price.

August 7, 2012

I don't remember the last time I experienced anxiety about being too high quite as badly as I did while watching that video. Thank you Ron... Now I think I may need some sodium bicarbonate...

July 9, 2012

Could be Fructose Malabsorption, and unfortunately there is some controversy as to whether or not the typical hydrogen breath test actually works in diagnosing the issue. Of course, a research article published in 2009 showed that it was not a disease or a disorder, but the body's natural reaction when you ingest more fructose than glucose. Sorbitol and Xylitol tend to do the same thing to you as well, so avoid anything that is high in fructose, and avoid all "sugar free" gum.

There is also a possibility of a vitamin deficiency. B vitamins and magnesium are critical in the conversion of amino acids into neurotransmitters, and into the various chemicals in your body that give you energy.

July 4, 2012

I just spent my first few hours of July 4th looting a military encampment in DayZ while several snipers with .50 cal rifles covered me from a ridge littered in trees (probably would have made for a good YouTube video had it not been for the disorganized conversation on TeamSpeak). I now intend on sleeping until at least noon, and then spending most of the rest of my day working.

June 25, 2012

(Old man memory) They were talking about the design of a new bullet with a superior shape and not-over-excessive grain weight but faster burning charge in the .40 cal rifle (range of weapon calibre) that had less mass but more velocity and accuracy (less gravity drop due to design) than a .50 cal.. Shows @ 2000 yard a 5 hole set of 10" groupings after barrel stability 2-shot set.. With a suppressor, same grouping only to 1890 yard range because of velocity slowdown. Best cold barrel, non-suppressed shot was 3" off center at 2,000 yards in 10 sets with 20 minute cool-downs of the barrel in between. Of course they used a hand-held computerized setup for windspeed, bullet and barrel calculations..

I was thinking of the CheyTac Intervention rifle which fires the .408 CheyTac round. It was featured in an episode of Future Weapons (Amazon Prime subscribers can watch that episode here, the rifle is featured a littler after 22 minutes into the video). The accuracy is better than the .40 cal you were thinking of, and at that range it actually has more stopping power then .50 BMG does.

June 24, 2012

Buckshot is less expensive than nukes, although you admittedly cannot carry enough buckshot to equal the amount of destructive power even in a small nuclear weapon. Of course, one could always argue that at least the buckshot does not make the area uninhabitable to human life after its use...

No, I hadn't heard about them lightening up the Barret design, however it doesn't surprise me. Personally, I'm more interested in that new .40 cal sniper that they are developing that is supposed to have similar accuracy to .338 Lapua, but without the need to compromise on stopping power. Obviously .50 BMG is still going to have more stopping power, but this new round will be more accurate at longer ranges than .50 BMG and will have more stopping power than .338 Lapua, so it should be a pretty good long range platform.

As for your profile views, that could be any related to the news items you post on the forums. So many of my posts are hidden away that I'm sure that people see more of yours than they do of mine.

June 23, 2012

That's a lot of money wasted on accessories that could have been spent on ammo... What are you going to shoot the zombies with if you don't have any money left to buy the bullets after you are done decking out the rifle?

Besides, if you want the ultimate zombie killing weapon, then get an AA-12.

June 12, 2012

Here's instructions on adding exclusions for MBAM to Online Armor, just in case you need them:

Click on the Start button, go to All Programs, go to Online Armor, and click on the Online Armor icon to open it (you can also open it from the System Tray icon).
Click on Options in the menu on the left.
Go to the Exclusions tab.
Click on the Add button.
Use the little [+] and [-] icons to the left of folder names to open and close them, find the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware directory (normally in C:\Program Files), click on it to highlight it, and then click OK at the bottom.
Close the Online Armor window.

June 11, 2012

Finally got VONAGE with the world-wide calling plan, eh Arthur?? (G, D & R)

Good one Steve.

June 11, 2012

I'll repeat it then and I challenge you to prove me wrong. Mac's don't get viruses!

I'm calling BS, and for reasons that I'm sure are obvious to you. :lol:

June 9, 2012

I hate to say it Steve, but that article appears to be lacking some critical information. A popular method of cracking passwords today is the "dictionary attack", which is where they take a rather large text file full of words, names, etc. (including common misspellings and spellings with numbers and symbols substituted for letters) and they run a program that tries combinations of those 'words' until it figures out your password.

The most secure passwords tend to be random combinations of numbers, letters, and symbols that are at least 20 characters in length. Of course, you are never going to remember passwords like that, so you also have to have a secure place to store them.

June 7, 2012

Steam sells games from PopCap. They have a category that they call Casual where you can find a lot of the less action-oriented games, and they also have an Indie category where you can find games not created or published by one of the major game developers/publishers (except for Minecraft, since it isn't Steam-compatible).

June 6, 2012

I'll second the Steam suggestion. At first I didn't like the idea of Steam, but the convenience of being able to quickly pay for and install games directly from the Steam Store changed my mind. Steam sells games in almost every genera, and they have plenty of free titles (such as Valve Software's Team Fortress 2). The down side is that Steam is also a service that runs on your computer to deliver and manage the games, which means that it does function as a form of DRM, however it allows you to install a game on as many computers as you want and you can play any game that is registered to your Steam account so it isn't horrible like most forms of DRM.

June 1, 2012

Well, it could be worse Steve. You could be so old that you can't figure out how to use your cell phone!

June 1, 2012

:lol:

Now no one is going to be able to tell what those ReCAPTCHA things say, but at least automated registration is going to be prevented...

May 27, 2012

That quote could not be more true (to life in general as well).

I agree completely.

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