* Posts by get off

27 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Apr 2007

To fix Intel's firmware fiasco, wait for Christmas Eve or 2018

get off

Lenovo update on HP G4

Call me foolhardy but in a moment of madness I did the following

1) Intel 'are you vulnerable' tool.... Answer "Yes" i5 skylake. HP G4 250

2) Nothing on HP site but for HP enterprise servers. Massive list of 'do this, then do that' - these massive throbbing server machines only.

3) I download the Lenovo update for this from the linked page. Run it..

4) Intel 'are you vulnerable' tool.... Answer. "No. Not any more"

I know it says that the drives have to be signed by each manufactuer but this is the same Skylake processer as is in all machines surely? Was I just lucky? Possibly, (main laptop machine too!) Advisable for all? Prob not...............

Just my experience

'Trust it': Results of Signal's first formal crypto analysis are in

get off

Which one should I use!!

Hell, I've got them all on my tablets (Signal, Silence, Telegram and yes LINE).

Not registered with all of them but I no longer have any idea which one to use anymore.

At least LINE (Spin off from Jap Gov+Post Office/Disaster department. Open Source. dont believe so. Encrypted yes. Non EU/US though) I believe is cross device. Txt, vid and voice plus it has insane emoticons.

'Silence' I believe is SMS only but friends are on X I'm on Y. So it's a mind boggle.....

If anybody want to spoon feed me, as to which one I 'should' be using then I'm happy to learn.

Idris Elba thrashes Night Manager Hiddleston for James Bond job vacancy

get off

Islington Elites.....

Not more posh English school boys. Connery perhaps not but run with me on this one..

I've always fancied Jason Statham or even Vinnie Jones for the Bond role. Go on, just picture it!!

Was interested to see the other day. Prisoner article, Patrick McGoohan turned the part of Bond down because he didn't 'agree with all the violence'.. Found that bizarre somehow...

Anyway. Statham/Jones seeing the red mist and just going mental, badass.. No?

Dolphin fans freak, blast browser's bumbling bundles of bloatware

get off

Permissions writ across all the browsers..

It's often a case of horses for courses I find with browsers.

Access to camera/location/mic/accounts etc features across many of the mobile browsers.

- Boat Browser 24mb - used to be very good for flash but has many of the permissions listed above

- Fennec FF 43mb from F-droid has fewer and F-Droid advise against FF for droid. Again though - camera/mic (this was for uploading pics, wasn't that the idea behind the camera permission? and install shortcuts.. Issue with that is what exactly?

- Lightening 6.2mb (again on F-droid) - 5 permissions (location, read bookmarks, modify SD, network access & shortcuts). These are toggleable and it does have a 'Remove headers' option , built in Ad blocker, inbuilt support for Orbot Proxy support and I2P

- mBrowser (super lightweight 1.8mb) Only has SD card and Network access

- Puffin - 43mb Won't play iplayer flash, cos it runs it through their non UK proxy - 7 permissons. Including 'Google play licence check' so that's a phone home you may not like. 'Record Audio'.....!

- Tint browser 1.73mb - 3 permissions

Orfox itself for the Para - 37mb - 6 permissions but part of Orbot (Tor)

And my Desktop and now droid fav. Still very partial to Lightening (tiny and does stuff) but I don't understand the Navigation as well. Good combination of things it will do (flash) and features is..........Palemoon for Android. It's only recent really this one - 30mb. Again 10 permissions including camera but I just 'trust' it and the Dev.

As I say though, some will do one thing and not another so you end up with several. I'm tempted to give Opera another whirl, just 'cos... the little guy. More impressed with their Dev desktop offering of late.

Windows 10 market share growth slows to just ten per cent

get off

Re: Lies, damned lies and statistics

For a laugh I've just given Panopticlick a go too.

Guess what..... ? Result 22.46 . Yes that's only a three person sample from on here but still.

So either the site is absolute bollocks or alarmingly accurate and it doesn't matter what settings/browser you use/try.

Again (I'm no expert) so I'll say a semi-hardened system (at least it's not bog standard)

Win 7 32 home

Palemoon

Every anti tracking add on I've ever heard of;

Priv Badger

Discover

ABL Latitude

Ghost

Location Guard

Random User Agent switcher

Self Destructing Cookies

No I don't have HTTPS everywhere/or noscript on. I constantly switching on/off when I use 'em so tend not to bother anymore

Barclays, Halifax and Tesco still being gnawed by POODLE

get off

Riddle me this people.. 'user a modern browser'

I've just joined The National Bank of Aus...That's Yorkshire Bank ybonline.co.uk and or clydesdalebank.co.uk AND I brought this up to them on the phone. "Errrm! You're a bank" No contact back of course..

(150 quid + 2% on a current acc if anybody is interested).

Here's the thing though. Their internet banking won't load at all in either FF or Palemoon and I'm forced to use OLD browsers. Either Opera 12 or IE...Just for them mind.. HSBC, Lloyds, HBOS all happy to load..

So when you say 'use a modern browser' I just don't get it. Aren't FF and Palemoon actually saying 'this site is so insecure I'm not even prepared to load it' (Poodle and a SHA1 Intermed cert).

They both throw me this

"Cannot communicate securely with peer: no common encryption algorithm(s). (Error code: ssl_error_no_cypher_overlap)"

So what gives with the old vs modern browser thing. Any of you clever pepol (sic) able to shed light on my puzzlement?

Steely wonder? It's blind to 4G and needs armour: Samsung Galaxy S6

get off

"LIKE OMG Yes, to those themes....!

God forgive me but that Hello Kitty theme looks fun. Imagine pulling that out in a meeting... I wantz...

As for the Lego theme. Quite how The Reg can pull its nose up to a LEGO theme, of all things I'll never know. Come on people you know you want them .All this slick stainless, where's the fun gone in you all?

Opera rewrite comes to Android

get off

Latest FF ain't too bad, for older devices. Esp the beta version. Doesn't FC as often as it used to.

Tried Dolphin, seems put things all over the place. Slide this, slide the other.

Opera. Yes, I don't like the zillions of permissions it wants either. Granted some are for html5 and you can turn em off but still it's a mighty long list.

I'm currently fiddling with 'Boat'. Seems to have fewer permissions than most and it's reasonably small and fast. I did like Ninjinksy put it seems to have gone by the wayside. It hardly wanted to know anything about you.

they all seem to 'require' access to your whole device history these days though.

T-Mobile UK punters break for freedom in inflation-busting bill row

get off

PAYG Sim options

Made this mistake myself. Tempted by any new better deal. Network neutral. Stupidly obvious but difficult to find out, unless you try the SIM itself.

- Three mobile - PAYG not bad in my house. Data usable - 15 quid a month 300, 3000, all you can eat

- Giffgaff (O2) PAY - Best signal in my house, including data- 12 quid 250 mins, unlimited, unlimited

- Virgin Mobile 30 day rolling (Tmobile/Orange) - Hopeless blackspot. Signal for calls, in and out, data snail like - 15 quid a month, Unlimited, Unlimited, Unlimited............12 quid a month 1200, unlimited, 1gb... !

Mate is paying high massively more than that on a Tmobile contract.

they've got to be worth experimenting with and if you're getting cheaper than any of that lot then. Nuff rezpek.. as the kids undoubtedly no longer say....

DNS/site uptime monitoring

get off

DNS/site uptime monitoring

Not sure if this is the right place but anybody got any recommendations for an uptime monitoring service.

- 24/7

- alerts

- Zone records i.e not just A but MX 30x etc

- Interface

- Client accounts/login etc

- Multiple domains

- ?

Pay monthly, free, pay per use, freenium?

Yes, I've looked round but they all look so similar and or cheap there must be a catch, a stand out operator.

Anybody got any ideas, experience?

Cheers in advance peeps...

Review: Samsung Series 9 super slim notebook

get off

Re: I got myself the 13" version a couple of weeks back

Might be worth you having a double check of the T&C's on the Samsung page. You too may be eligible for a free Galaxy Tab.. Got to be worth a couple of clicks and a ransack, for the hell of it. Surely? 15-60 days after purchase and god knows what else "not if you.........." etc but who knows...

http://www.samsung-promotions.co.uk/series9/

http://www.samsung.com/uk/series9offer/?pid=uk_promotion_home_banner2_series9offer_20121102

New deals for Virgin Sim punters

get off

FUP? It's as clear as mud to me. I haven't found the one you found, as above buy two different ones.

This is back to 'ye olde days' when phones simply weren't capable of consuming 'stuff', like they are now.

Don't advertise it as one thing, when it's simply the same as a 'honest' limited tariff, as advertised by another company.

One 'definition' of 'unlimited' is dated for customer who signed up before June 12th

http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=our.service.footer.sm068

Definition 1) 3GB per month

http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=our.service.footer.sm068#Terms%20and%20Conditions%20for%20Mobile%20Broadband

'Terms and Conditions for Mobile Broadband' (or is this not mobile 'broadband' but mobile 'web', in which case see below)

Definition 2) 1GB per month

'Our Fair Use Policies'

http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=our.service.footer.sm068#Our%20Fair%20Use%20Policies

Chinese student's smut obsession lands 2,000 in JAIL

get off
Paris Hilton

Let me get this straight,.

Paris because she has to be involved in this story somehow.

So this is China, we all know it's hideously oppressive, you can't do anything online at all and yet....

Am I reading this bit right?

"Investigators complained that the several-months long crackdown could have been made easier if operators were forced to retain internet logs for longer than the current 60 days"

God forbid they employ Theresa May as a consultant on 'nothing to fear, nothing to hide' legislation.

Thumbs up to a bit of Chinese style, freedom to surf...rather than a social dossier, May style 'time line'

Security firm in Tor Project 'mass surveillance' row responds

get off
Windows

Idiot at back of class, raises hand with a Q

For I obviously don't know what I'm talking about and don't really get this

Hang on guys. Let me get this straight. Are we saying that all a network needs is a piece of soft/hardware on it's network and all SSL, VPN browsing is pointless? What is it, some kind of skeleton key that can read any and all forms of SSL/Secure browsing. This irrespective of either the algorithm being used, nor the bit length of the key!

Is this what May has in mind. So all the protestations of people that it will only catch the stupid and the innocent is spurious.

What does it actually do, pretends to be a valid cert for any https, intercepting or overwriting the real one, thus letting you log in to your banking and then, as spyware sit there allowing real time, live streamed DPI?

So me at home on BTSKYGIN. I'm on their network, as per your analogies of a work intranet/subnet/ They install this or similar and it's game over isn't it,. Stream is on to GCHQ. Fait accompli. Private browsing is a complete myth.

Treat the idiot gently now......

Brits get to fondle Google Nexus 7 slab in just a fortnight

get off
Thumb Up

Tell me you bought this too with your Astro-tablet. Please?

the Wifi pillow. ! No I'm not quite sure what it does yet, but I sooooooooooo want one....

"Yea, I've got a wifi connected pillow, right"

http://www.ebuyer.com/337259-imusic-pillow-wireless-wikiimuspilwless

!

Microsoft details latest Windows Phone update

get off

I'm not trying to be funny right, but........

Forgive me if it's my version of CM7 GM 2.3.4 (and prior ones) but I'm not sure I can import AND export to SIM either. To a file yes, but not like I could with a very old Nokia.

Equally and I don't have one of these but I remember a friend who bought her new iPhone 4 but I seem to recall she had to seek tech advice to get 'stuff' off her old iPhone, wouldn't do a BT transfer or anything. It may not been purely SIM data were' talking about here.

I too thought "Wow! that's some advance MS" and then had a think.

I swear one could do that on WM6.x though....

Perhaps we're all rather more back to the future than we believe we are...

Ten... freeware gems for new PCs

get off

MS own back up - accross network - Free too

Just discovered this, for anybody who wants a free MS version of a back up utility. Don't laugh at me, somebody might like it. It has big buttons and can be scheduled. Karen's Backup runs all the time, remember, in the sys tray.

32 and 64. Runs very happily on win7 too, although it's from the XP download 'toy' page. At least that's where I originally found it.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155

get off

Backup - Karen's Replicator

No mention of 'Karen's Replicator.' It used to be mentioned a lot.

Backup across network, schedule, autostart...... It runs. I don't even notice it (exactly how it should be) and my backups are on my other machine.

Free. Bigger than Bvbackup but worth a look...

More functionality? I dunno....

Nokia outs budget phone pair

get off

Dual SIM HTC HD2?

There's a dual sim version of the ye olde faithful general that is the HD2, knocking about.

Bang android on it and there's your budget Smartphone....

Not sure it's 'official' but it (the phone) seems to be reasonably well supported

Gemini outs trio of budget Android 4 tablets

get off

Ainol Novo range.....

I'd never heard of the Anusol 7" tablet, but by the looks of things they're 3G capable as well. 7" is as many inches as I think I can take before you're lugging something big about.

Heaven knows where one can get one from though. The Elf seems to be about for around 115, but this lot are under 100 dollars!

Front and rear cam on the top of the range 'Basic' model. Haven't they got their naming the wrong way round with these things..

Link.........

http://androidadvices.com/ainol-novo-7-paladin-basic-swordman-legend-comparison/

get off

I'd never heard of the Anusol 7" tablet, but by the looks of things they're 3G capable as well. 7" is as many inches as I think I can take before you're lugging something big about.

Heaven knows where one can get one from though. The Elf seems to be about for around 115, but this lot are under 100 dollars!

Front and rear cam on the top of the range 'Basic' model. Haven't they got their naming the wrong way round with these things..

Link.........

http://androidadvices.com/ainol-novo-7-paladin-basic-swordman-legend-comparison/

Google befriends Microsoft with WinDroid tablets

get off
Coat

Haven't I got one of these already?

My HTC HD2 running winmo 6.5/winphone 7 and Android GB/ICS. No?

Hell, I get a Galaxy Note to dual boot WinPhone from the SD and I am there, with a dual boot phonletab/tabphone/tablet (phone as well), phone that's also a tablet.. Ok, I give up with that one. You know the device I mean...

New account of Flight 447 disaster published

get off

Hideous and horrible. The whole thing. I went on to read the writer's blog...

'What did the passengers feel'

Plus, the writer does some very wacky things himself.

"Today we fire machine guns"... for a laugh!

http://jeffwise.net/

It's all a bit boy's own and alarmingly close to Top Gear territory, for my own sensibilities (I don't watch it) but interesting all the same.

The Reg guide to Linux, part 3

get off
Unhappy

Newbie with a Dunces cap. Sat at the back

I like a few others are new to the game. Not happy about Dual booting just yet. I can't switch my netbook on, walk away and come back. I have to 'catch' jolicloud before it gets in there first.

Therefore, I'll play in virtualbox first please. Yep, I like some of Distro's Ubuntu NBR, Mint and that Chinese one (YLMK) that looks just like XP and seems to use Mint over the top of Ubuntu.

Theres's acres of stuff written on getting Virtualbox Additions working for starters though, let alone SUDO this that and the other.. Oh you got one character wrong did you and it's done something else entirely, has it.

Works out of the box, does it. I don't think so.. Webcam black screen and wifi have been bugs for three years now. I know it may not be Ubuntu's fault but they know I'm going to try it in a VM first, or am I just 'weak'.. Dual boot to Jolicloud didn't fare much better either..

Oh and Skype from Software Centre.. that was a direct Linux download for me.. Nah, why would I want video conferencing when I'm out and about, that's just a luxury. Sit in a darkened room and type like a twat, till you get it right, boy.. sudo apt gstreamer now.. Shush.. just copy and past more shite you don't care about...

Ubuntu's great only your cam, mic, BT and wifi might not either, no but it's great though... Errr right. I'll plug Windows back in me thinks and get some work done...

The Reg guide to Linux, part 2: Preparing to dual-boot

get off

Until somebody gets a webcam to work - Netbook

I'm exactly the target reader for this. Increasingly interested to the point of trying. Two probs though.

Okay I can go for a dual boot, What if it doesn't work. Haven't a clue how to get rid and get XP back on the whole thing.

Wubi Ubuntu and Jolicloud plus VM options - I've tried MInt ;like the look of that one and I really loke the Chinese version of it (same boot.install as Mint) Ylmf [looks even more like XP, Ubuntu 10 under the hood], Ubuntu netbook remix, Mobilin (wouldn't load), Meego (wouldn't load) and Easypeasy.

All on netbook. Will any of them load basic functionality such as the webcam? No they will not and have you seen the hubble, bubble, toil and trouble, eye of bat etc instructions for the workaround to this "known issue"?

Not for me yet, me thinks.... deinstall drivers, find new hardware, download drivers, XP it is for this newbie, still..........

I do love some of the new layouts though. Ylmf, Easy Peasy and Ubuntu netbook. Not sure I want to be part of the Jolicloud.... cloud

Tumble dryer bites woman in Weston-super-Mare

get off

They'll all be at it, next!

Hang on a min here... Bored housewife, enclosed laundry room, ten hunky firemen turned up...."Ooo luv. It's hot in here in all this gear, we'll have to strip off a bit"....

She did it delib.... Errr how did she get to the phone to call fire brigade..

Sounds like there was a lot of prior preparation and planning behind all that lot....

Tumble drier willing accomplice and voyeur, or poor innocent that had to witness, such carnal cravings...!....

Anteater kills zookeeper

get off

Anybody else notice and wonder?

I had to read this story a couple of times. How horrifying for the poor young womans family, for whom I express my sympathy.

What surprises me somewhat is, why on earth they were chopping one of her legs off, the story indicates that her internal organs were mauled.

She may have died of shock from the fact the doctors were trying to saw one of legs off. Like WTF are you doing down there guys.. Can you, just put everything back in and sew me up please... Errr duh!

The other thing that struck me was. I'm not saying it's easy and I'm sure there are thousands of complications, but do people (esp so young/healthy) usually die from a leg amputation. I mean even the old battlefield/navy operatations, bit of wood between your teeth, stood a resonable chance of success didn't they?