Posts by Colin Wilson

Windows 10 shattered Remote Desktop's security defaults – so get patching

Re: Bricked networking ?

By sheer chance I came across a youtube video that went through two stages of checking / fixing the connection, #1 was the "obvious" check the network cable was in (mine was, I was playing a game on it when it decided to hide under the bed and lose connection), and #2 was how to reset the networking with netsh etc...

Of course, I knew #1 was OK because I was using it when it took itself offline, so went to #2, only to find that didn't work either.

Back to the drawing board, and some more searches, and read a random one relating to the use of multiple routers, where Win 10 didn't want to play with one of the routers after the update.

It didn't really apply to me, since I only have one router, and a 5 port switch linking a couple of printers - but for the sheer hell of it having read about sudden "lost" hardware compatibility, I bypassed the switch and took the main incoming network cable direct to the computer.

It worked...

What the merry f*ck is going on if a bog-standard Asus switch now breaks windows 10 - what's next ? - will plugging in a card reader cause downtime ?

Bricked networking ?

I think this is related to KB3124263...

My machine suddenly decided it didn't know how to use network protocols any more, and all attempts to fix it so far have failed. The machine hadn't been booted up for about a week, and decided to drop offline while I was in the middle of a game.

Despite several reboots (in the vain hope it would correct itself), doing a roll-back to the backup it made that day, and checking the installed updates in the hope I could uninstall it (it's not listed, despite several entries saying it either installed successfully or latterly failed).

I've tried a "fixit" util suggested on a Win10 forum without success, so the only options that appear to be available to me are to do a clean install (without being able to get the ISO because I have no net connection on my only hardware capable of snagging and burning it).

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned it on here as it doesn't seem to be a one-off, there are mentions in lots of places :-(

Any and all suggestions welcome, given that my options currently seem to be to "reinstall" but lose all my apps and data / images etc, (I don't have a list of my keys or install discs to hand for some of them) or see if it'll let me revert back to Win 7.

Inside Nvidia's GK110 monster GPU

...but did Nvidia ever fix the self-destructing chips ?

It'd be an expensive mistake to buy one otherwise !

Final Ubuntu 10.10 and first Drizzle beta in release duet

wallpaper...

You do realise you can change it ?

Las Vegas death ray roasts hotel guests

so the trouble spots are known ?

Simple answer, create a shaded area directly in its path, be it a gift shop, bar, seating area etc., and by putting solar cells on the roof you can power air-con or fans to keep visitors cool, power tills, or use it to heat the pool...

Penguin - because it's an open source idea and they like to keep their cool :-p

O2 gets legal on Ofcom

revoke their licence instead ?

if they want to be arsey, just revoke their licence and let them bid for access again from scratch !

Microsoft's web privacy push: 'We're the anti-Google'

All those "phone home" processes ?

If they're all for privacy, perhaps the next round of security updates will terminate all processes that "phone home" - I once saw a figure of 22 *known* processes that "phoned home" in Vista a while ago, I wonder how many more do.

As part of this privacy push, they should ditch WGA too !

Home Office misses Brussels' Phorm deadline

EU arrest warrants

Wonder if we can persuade the EU to issue an arrest warrant for the home sec. ? :-p

That'd focus a few minds !

Italians threaten suit over Windows pre-install

Shame it'll never happen...

If a user already owned a legit copy of an M$ OS and was simply replacing / breaking the old machine for spares, they should be allowed to use the "old" OS for free irrespective of OEM bundling - so should therefore get a refund of the cost of the unwanted "new" one.

Tory peers to protect kids from anuses

we need a goatse icon !

now !

'Whales can't even hear naval sonar' says Navy boffin

I can't hear microwaves

but if I sat inside a large (admittedly industrial sized) microwave oven when it was switched on, it wouldn't matter for too long... I might smell crispy bacon before I expire though :-}

Let's shoot the same scientist in the head, and see if he hears the bullet before it removes him from the gene pool :-}

French woman marries dead fiancé

@ Hollerith

"Of course, it depends on what you can do with paper."

Think bog roll and a free hand... although in her case, the bog roll would be for the tears :-(

Pirate icon, although she won't be getting boarded any time soon...

Dirty, dirty PCs: The X-rated picture guide

That keyboard reminds me...

...why I got myself an IBM Model M keyboard...

To clean this behemoth up, you simply pop the keycaps off and give 'em a good rinsing off :-)

Which reminds me, I need to arrange a birthday party for it - it was "born" on the 19th November 1989 and still works as nicely as the day it thudded (it weighs more that most laptops) off the production line.

Anyone else got 20 year old computer hardware that's genuinely still in daily use ?

El Reg launches 'Comment of the Week'

The inaugral competition should be called...

(going by the prize)

Camel of The Week !

It's gotta be Paris, she's milked more liquid out of balls than most...

Former FBI agent slams defence tactics in McKinnon case

@ Mighty Spang

"ok so he's got asbergers. but he's intelligent. did he not know that breaking into other people's computer systems was a crime?"

You could liken it to walking down a street at night - some shop windows are left clear so you can still look at the goods. Others have shutters to hide the goods completely, and some have shutters with holes so you can still see the goods.

Although what Gary did was seemingly "wrong", all he did was look through the open holes in the shutters.

"to let him off sets an awful precident. there are plenty of people saying that a lot of criminality is to do genes and upbringing."

That's like saying someone with tourettes should be prosecuted for profanity, a catholic priest should be done for offending muslims, or a blind person should be done for falling down an "obviously open" manhole. It could be genes, upbringing, or sheer bad luck that put them in that situation, without any hint of malice in their actions.

Designer draws up digital camera-cum-punchcard printer

This might have a practical use

(my wife's first comment when I told her about it, laughing)

"It'd be good for the blind - they could 'see' views"

Good point...

Pint - for the beer goggles :-}

Microsoft Security Essentials shakes up consumer antivirus

WGA

Even with a legit machine, i'm not letting that sh*te anywhere near my machine.

I'd rather use "potentially unsafe" updates for Autopatcher !

UK, France mull Photoshop fakery laws

"Vocalists' song stylings are pitch-corrected"

Sounds like a good excuse to create a law requiring any such recording to be reduced in price by 50%

Mozilla plans to tie Firefox 3.7 pigtails in pretty Ribbon

How about...

I realised many years ago that many users are clueless, and most menus showed far more things than they were ever likely to use (yet alone understand).

I've been arguing that there should be a simple toggle available between "expert" and "simple" modes in most applications for some time, perhaps this would help address the issue.

Paris, because i'm sure you can guess which mode she'd use.

Linus calls Linux 'bloated and huge'

Can anyone with a fresh install of windows...

...tell me what the memory footprint is before you load any apps...

Linux boots for me into about 230Mb of memory tops, whereas my current install of Win XP runs at about 450Mb after a fresh boot with about 42 processes (it's fairly lean by most standards).

Database containing 1.8m UK postcode locations leaks online

Result !

Our postcode book in work has just gone walkabout, the post office having discontinued them about 4 years ago - about time this became available freely !

(legitimately would be even better, after all, we paid for the sodding thing in the first place)

Asus' Eee keyboard out next month - official

Looks like a mig to me too...

Pity it won't have the same leap in technology and graphics compared to a PC of the time - the number of times I watched PC owners drool over TetrisPro at trade shows...

OK, who nicked the 68020 icon ?

We'll make do with a Fat Agnus though :-}

Armless getaway driver leads police a merry dance

politically correct b*llocks yet again

"his disability and the fact he did not take part in the raid itself enabled him to suspend the custodial sentence"

Hang on, this scrote was the getaway driver for "armed" robbers - throw the book at him. Anyone else driving like him even without the robbery aspect would be in jail. Conspiracy to commit theft should be an additional tariff on top of any other sentence.

ESC - because that's what he appears to have done !

Twitter sued for patent infringement

Lets see...

You can update what is essentially a web page (twitter), which people can visit.

This somehow breaches someone elses "emergency notification" patent since it can be delivered to someone else automatically ?!?

How about server notices being broadcast to users across a network ?

In the olde worlde days of BBS systems you could chat "live" to a user using a messaging system, which is in essence prior art for this patent - one user entered a message, and it was delivered to a third party via an interface.

If this "wins" in court, then no damages should be paid until all senders of spam on instant messenger services are done first.

Windows 7 Ultimate product activation hacked?

One small edit gives...

"Downloading Windows exposes users to increased risks - such as viruses, Trojans and other malware and malicious code"

Ministry of Justice issues digital preservation code

Digital preservation

It has to be stored in a format that will still be accessible long after the physical media it was originally stored on is no longer available.

Essentially, it all needs to be in unrestricted DRM free format, and the file formats need to be fully documented.

Plain text and ascii graphs anyone ? :-}

Sony Cybershot DSC-HX1

I won't buy Sony on principle

...the rootkits they included on CDs a while ago... the DRM restricted crap they peddle...

Becta snuggles up to MS on UK schools licensing shake-up

Simple requirement ?

Write into the specs for anyone tendering to supply software that it should conform to open source standards (i.e. OpenOffice.org) or that the complete data structures of the files produced should be fully documented and available without the possibility of retrospective lawsuits, and that any reverse engineering of the code is explicity permitted.

Video game sales hit three-year low in US

Pre-orders ?

I wonder how far up the rank Natural Selection 2 would be based on pre-orders...

Something like 97% of all purchasers went for the more expensive "Special Edition" variant at $40 rather than $20 for the standard release.

That's some going for an as-yet unreleased successor to the original free Half-Life mod, which holds the title of "my most played game" - far outstripping my time with Elite (I got to "Deadly") and Frontier (yes, i'm an old-b'stard !)

http://www.naturalselection2.com

"I liked the original so much, I bought the Special Edition"

Windows 7 to ship October 22

Take your pick;

a) Broken compatibility with the software you want to use $200 for the "ultimate" variant

b) Broken compatibility and a move to linux $free

c) Stick with XP

Difficult one this, i've been playing with linux for a while now !

Microsoft rebrands WGA nagware for Windows 7

"new code" ?

"Microsoft claimed the change reflected the use of "fundamentally" different technologies - new code and "latest methods""

Weren't they recently fined $Millions for stealing someone elses' intellectual property for software activation systems ? Perhaps this is the workaround...

Open source needs to license, other than the one that tells you to use it however you want :-)

Ballmer email kicks off second round of Microsoft layoffs

"continue to "provide support" to people laid off"

For a moment there, I read that as provide support for people who are pi$$ed off (aka pretty much anyone who uses Windows) - yeah, like that support train ever rolled into town :-p

Which desktop Linux distribution?

Ubuntu

...on 3 of my 4 machines

Romanian phisher gets 50 month prison term

Re: McKinnon

There's a difference between idle misguided curiousity and mooching through an already insecure system, and deliberately targetting and emptying bank accounts on purpose.

If you can't see the difference, feel free to publish your bank account details - remember to include the CVV just so we know you're still in possession of the card.

The other disparity is that McKinnon is accused of "costing" the US Gov hundreds of thousands of pounds to fix their *already* broken security - he isn't responsible for breaking it, he just used it while it was already broken.

The guy "phishing" meanwhile has caused real, and possibly irreparable damage to his marks' finances.

What are the odds...

That this guys' sentence will be more harsh than those given to bankers for fraud, such as Madeoff...

Paris, because you've seen the goods she has to offer !

Bootleggers jump on 'complete' Windows 7

Sounds like...

The Asian bootleggers have found the correct price point !

MS puts up $250K bounty for Conficker author

FAO: Tim

Linux isn't actually that hard nowadays - try booting from a live linux CD (I use Ubuntu) and see if all your hardware works first of all (if it doesn't you'll know where you might need to investigate further before installing to enable a smooth transition).

It might "sound" hard for a new user to get to grips with, but if you install it alongside windows using the wubi installer (the middle option in Ubuntu if you put the CD in while windows is running) and dip into it regularly, you'll soon get the hang of it - I often go a couple of weeks without loading windows on the laptop i'm currently typing this on.

There can be some "tricky" issues with some hardware - for instance I can't get this laptop to suspend and resume when I shut the lid - but it boots quicker than Windows anyway, so I can live with shutting it down (takes ~10 seconds) and booting up again as needed. For many people everything just works as you'd expect without any hassle at all.

From a Windows users' point of view if the hardware is working ok, the hardest thing is probably getting to grips with the names of different applications so you can install them.

Some "problems" may need what look like messy command line entries, but you can usually find help with the exact command you need to enter via google, but you may well find you don't need to use the command line (aka terminal / shell) at all.

Great...

How about they secure their flawed operating system(s) instead of offering a "reward" for someone who simply manages to show how badly written / insecure it was ?

When it comes to updates, i'd love to see a court rule that Microsoft need to send a free update CD to *every* registered user for each and every security flaw - they'd take a whole different approach to security after that !

Brum laid bare on OpenStreetMap

re: map completeness

"How does anyone know when a map is "complete" - this is required for navigation."

Garmin sell out of date maps - sometimes by several years - as the latest version.

Not sure how TomTom fare on this, but at least their latest models allow user-updated maps to be used as well.

As a free and open resource, it's a fantastic achievement, irrespective of how (in)complete it might be.

US Navy SEALs buy twin-screen laptops, refuse Vista

Hadn't XP been pulled ?

I thought you were only allowed to buy XP on a low end system nowadays ?

UK to rely on mobile operators for universal broadband

And the hardware to use it ?

In essence, it sounds like they're making an empty promise, in that the mobile networks will already be capable of providing internet connectivity anywhere by then, but they're making it out to be a "big thing" that they're doing themselves. Political spin at its' corrupt best.

It's alright promising such a thing, but you need a couple more things for it to be truly available - a computer or other device, and to pay for the connection - at whatever cost the networks decide to come up with.

It's not much different from saying every house can have a Maserati - you might not have a licence or be able to afford it but *technically* you might be able to buy one, so that's ok.

We need a "polital spin" icon :-}

Paris - because everyone on broadband would be able to watch her best movies...

UK's top IT volunteers named

Another unsung hero

There's a bloke on a local freecycle group to me who has fixed / built, and given away over 144 recycled PCs...

Patent troll sues Oprah, Sony over online book viewing

It's time they were referred to the case of...

Arkell versus Pressdram

Windows for Warships™ reaches Royal Navy frigates

what happened to...

only allowing XP to continue shipping (pun?) on slow netbook equivalent hardware ?

BSOD = Blue Sea Of Death

CastleCops shuts up shop

Thanks for the link Norbie

Bookmarked and stumbled :-)

A sad loss

This is a sad loss to the Windows community, as it was often *the* best place to look for solutions to specific malware problems.

If there's any way of keeping the forums available, even as view-only, it would be a great help :-}

It's a crying shame that Microsoft couldn't admit the failings in the security of their products and fund the website themselves - volunteers are free, hosting etc. isn't.

Tabloid girl's jubs freeze at -130°C

Can anyone enlighten me...

Where the hell did the phrase "bulgarian airbags" come from anyway - I think it was a comment on a story, but i'm not sure...

Paris, because you'd love to put your pric^W pin in them too !

Why port your Firefox add-on to Internet Explorer?

It's so hard...

...only keyloggers, remote exploits, and scam advertisers bother. Nice.

Mine's the one with the BHO in my bank account :-/

Windows 7, June 2009 and the technologies of antitrust

Silverlight takeup

I don't know anyone who's ever tried it - including the more technically adept people I know.

Flash FTW ! (oh, and linux :-p )

Ubuntu 8.10 - All Hail new Network Manager

@ Conor / windows networking

I found no issues on mine - it JWAIS (TM) (just worked as it should) - if anything, it was less painful that networking from another windows box !

Per the other comments though, yes, the default keyring message is a minor pain, and I too cannot get it to suspend (yet) on my Toshiba A60 laptop.

The wireless adaptor I use was not enabled by default, and I started trying to use ndiswrapper as i'd had to in Hardy, but without joy - I then noticed a hardware scan option which found the card, fetched the driver, and enabled it for me (I was on a wired connection at the time)

The lack of xorg.conf isn't wonderful - but i'd like to see some common screen modes being offered if it doesn't detect something higher than 800*600 by default.