Posts by Kwac

Vista SP1 downloaders bite back

@Peter Isserlis

"Vista Home Premium, nVidia 8800GTS, nForce motherboard, no problems at all - has speeded up boot & copying etc."

Now *THAT* is what I do call a news story.

So what's the easiest box to hack - Vista, Ubuntu or OS X?

@Tim Spence

"with the world+dog currently hacking Vista, there can't be that many exploits left undiscovered"

As Oscar Wilde said of second marriages "the triumph of optimism over experience".

Are you really suggesting that, after several years, XP has no vulnerabilities left undiscovered?

The advantage the linux hacker has, of course, is that he/she has full access to ALL the coding - which is why its hacked so much more often than Microsoft produts, isn't it?

Surveillance immunity bill for telecoms tries livin’ la vida loca

@ Steven Raith

The 'crazed killer' B.S. again.

How many paranoid (or any other type of) schizophrenic bombers can YOU name?

HINT: about 18 less than were involved in the 2001 attack on the WTC.

& head smack - 2004 elections

voter turnout 59%, of which Bush got 50.73%, i.e. over 70% of voters chose not to vote for Bush.

Gates calls on Feds to plug tech investment gap

@julian

"No one and no company seriosuly values themselves in Euros."

I'm undecided about whether you're an American who doesn't look beyond 'Faux News' or a Brit who doesn't look outside The Daily Mail/Express.

So what do French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Dutch, Austrian, et al companies value themselves in? What are their balance sheets printed in?

Dollar is fallling because there is no faith in it. Oil is rising because people are using their dollars to buy futures contracts. Same reason gold has gone up 30% since December. The euro is going up against the dollar & pound, because of the same lack of faith in the almighty dollar.

US National debt has almost doubled over the past 8 years.

@Good Lad

"Like it or not, the US economy is one of the largest engines of growth in the world and that benefits us here in the UK."

Repeat after me "sub-prime' and 'Northern Rock".

As an ex-pat Brit who has seen their income decrease by 10% in the last few months I can say (income sterling, expenditure euros) I can say that you are talking crap.

The "largest engine of growth" is China - which is why dear Billy (amongst others) has bent over backwards to support their abuse of human rights so that the balance sheet looks prettier.

Amazing that he keeps banging on about "surface computing" and "speech recognition"; although he did come to the internet late as well.

'Protectionism' doesn't look good to the WTO.

Plastic bag campaign falls apart at the seams

other reasons

So we can carry on using them because they may not cause damage to marine life?

Great, now we can cause even more flooding using them to clog sewers.

Software engineer builds straw house for £4k

Nothing new

Bit late with the news; houses have been built in this was for a couple of thousand years. Even featured on a Channel 4 programme a few years back - the builder was a forester, and part of the planning permission was that he had to remove it when he left his job.

So yes, planning permission IS required (in Britain) as its a 'permanent structure' and no, fire isn't a problem (compacted straw coated in clay & lime doesn't burn readily).

I understand the use of compacted straw in building is a lot more common in north america than europe. Good insulation (sound as well as heat).

Vote now for your fave sci-fi movie quote

Cheating?

"Chirp - tweedle -chirrup - twit"

Mad magazine's version of Star Wars

(translated: "with all my troubles now I'm saddled with a gay robot")

As I'm not conversant in 'droid I don't know if its accurate version of the original or not.

US government forces military secrets on Brit webmaster

@Bruce Sinton

"As the internet was invented by a Democrat, Mr.A. Gore , maybe it was left unsafe just to trap the simple Republican President."

No, he didn't say that despite what the "Communist News Network" told you.

What are your motives for perpetuating the lie?.

Elonex £99 Eee PC rival to arrive in June

Web sh*te

Was tempted, thinking can even get my tenner back of bank (thank you UK credit laws) if they decide to hold onto it.

Till I went to the site.

Not even a "best viewed using Internet Explorer" to warn us it was built with MS Office.

Ton-up electric Reliant Robin offered for '09

@ buggane (& article)

Bikes are safe.

However, bikers (with an engine or without) are more at risk from other road users coccooned from the real world in their four-wheeled tin boxes.

There aren't many bikers who haven't heard the magic words "sorry mate, I didn't see you".

Chinese make Olympic weather bow to Party's will

stranded

Listening to the news today - hundreds of thousands not able make their annual visits to wife & kids for New Year due to worst weather since records began - even had the Chinese PM at a railway station apologising through a megaphone.

Clearly a successful experiment then.

Ryanair battles ASA over 'saucy schoolgirl' ad

pick the paper

to advertise in to ensure that at least one person would complain. How many 'Sun' readers would complain?

Amateur code breaker honoured for defeating Colossus

Can't wait... can't wait @ AC

The Americans DID do it first AND there's a movie - U-571, so it must be true.

Bletchly Park? Pah!

FCC unveils NudeTube

This story is all about tits isn't it?

and a woman in a shower.

Darling backtracks on CGT

@anonymous coward

That's what they pay accountants & politicians for.

e.g. http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2005/11/microsoft_slash.html

or further back http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/01/silverstein.html

or even further back (70s?) the press ran the story of the FAMILY (whose name I forget) that owned land/cattle in the USA & a few hundred Dewhurst butchers shops in the UK paid UK 10 pounds tax.

Chinese firm sets legal dragons on Microsoft

Isn't it amazing

how so little changes over a decade or so?

http://www.msversus.org/archive/stac.html

Home Sec in anti-terror plan to control entire web

China

Heard about this on the BBC World Service earlier.

It was followed by a report on China online - 200,000 new users everyday..... mumble.. soon overtake USA as country with most uses..... despite employing many people to filter sites (including BBC World)...rabbit .... inappropriate material still gets through.

Perhaps UK Governent has hit on this as a way to reduce unemployment?

Or even 'community service' punishments for those who used the internet to "groom vulner,,,"

Oh shit.

Daft users and insecure web apps dominate threat index

@Stu Reeves

I think you miss Glenn Gilbert's point.

the item is headed 'daft users & insecure web apps".

By attempting to ridicule a pertinent point, i.e. that Windows, IE & Outlook Express, etc as shipped by MS over the 15 years - set up already set up for by pillocks for other pillocks so they don't need to think, fall neatly into both categories.

Why you mention Linux & Firefox I'm unsure.

If e.g. Ubuntu, RedHat, SuSE et al followed MS example and automatically allowed admin rights for every user, or built a browser into the OS, I'm sure they'd have the similar problems - and would deserve to be pilloried.

Israeli sky-hack switched off Syrian radars countrywide

@risky

If I sling some poor sod out of their house are the neighbours going to stand by when I start picking fights with them?

Israel was created by a war NOT by the UN. Britain reneged on promises to both Jews and Palestinians then sodded off leaving them to get on with it.

Aussie-Irish boozer ejects 'terrorist' drinker

Another success

for terrorists.

People living with fear all over, when are they going to stand up to them and just get on with their lives?

Half of computer users are Wi-Fi thieves

@Stealing?

"I honestly can't see how a charge of 'stealing' can possibly hold up in court in most non-malicious cases"

Try telling that to Gregory Straszkiewicz: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/25/uk_war_driver_fined/

50% of computer users

don't know what the backspace key does in a WP/text application and use a combination of mouse, right cursor and delete keys EVEN THOUGH THEIR HUSBAND HAS TOLD THEM A MILLION FUCKING TIMES.

The study was carried out in our household, across equal numbers of both gender.

The maximum margin of sampling error is less than 0.000000000001%.

Another study amongst the same population reveals that the other 50% are always wrong, and should just leave them alone and let them get on with it their way.

Microsoft stuffs Sage with free accounts software

'Dumping'

is against WTO rules, isn't it?

Or does it only apply to Chinese shoes, Indian cotton, etc.?

Spanish cartoonists fined for royal sex mag cover

getting as bad as

the 'Land of the Free'.

Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail strike out Iran

please search

for another lame-ass excuse to badmouth America and Americans.

Is this what is known as "generalisation"?

Microsoft calls in the builders for Dublin data centre

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern

"a further example of Ireland being to the forefront when it comes to the cutting edge of technology... The Irish government recognises the importance of being a competitive, innovation-driven, knowledge economy,"

This is in relation to Microsoft?

Writers' strike hits US talk shows hard

I feel sorry

for all those poor presenters having to struggle by on talent alone - with no support - all for a paltry few hundred thousand a year.

Oh, so they're not showing new shows?

Stupid of me

Congestion charge dodgers register Bentleys as minicabs

Fraud

or not?

If you can afford to run a Merc SL (or is it a company car for some city banker*) you can afford a lawyer.

Which means its not fraud.

* the old Lahndan Tarn rhyming slang, guv.

Confused BBC tech chief: Only 600 Linux users visit our website

Which sounds better?

I had a look at the blog of the BBC's IT head, where he admits an error.

Stating that the figure could be 36,000 - 97,000 he says that "in excess of 30,000 is not insubstantial".

Almost as "insubstantial" as nearly 100,000, I wonder?

Flaming kamikaze squirrel torches car

Why the doubts?

Haven't the doubters noticed that engine compartments have a bottom, as well as top (held down by clip) and paneled sides?

Flames and fuel lines tend not to mix to well.

Jailed terror student 'hid' files in the wrong Windows folder

Old drives

I have a load of old disk drives (10 MB upwards) stuck in a box - one of them will possibly (probably?) have a copy of 'Anarchists' Cookbook'.

That's me in the shit then.

RIAA aims lawyers at usenet newsgroup service

I cannot tell a lie

I (sob) downloaded a copyrighted file from usenet.

I wish to appear in court to allow myself to be judged. (Oh, the shame).

I ask no more than my fellow conspirators stand alongside me in the dock - chief amongst them being Sony.

They not only allowed me to burn this file on a DVD with their name on it, but I am also able to watch it on a TV produced by them.

How I wish they had not placed such temptation in my path.

Swearing at work 'good for business'

@anon.

Perhaps the reason for the expanding Chinese market is ALL the fuckers swear?

Dutch Consumer Association declares war on Vista

Ready?

Vista certainly negates the 'linux isn't ready for the desktop' from the MS apologists.

US demands air passengers ask its permission to fly

You people crack me up...

"Think you got a muslim problem now?"

Hmm - wonder how, when & why it started?

They've won.

The last time I visited and saw the levels of 'security' at the airports it was clear that the nation was already in a state of terror.

This is just further proof that terrorists (real and imagined) have won.

Fortunately, as I've now retired, I won't have to go there again.

Kim Jong Il: dictator, gnome, and now 'internet expert'

we all know who invented

Just knew some 'Faux News' viewer had to mention the 'Al Gore invented the internet' myth.

No, he never said it.

http://web.archive.org/web/20000125065813/http://www.mids.org/mn/904/vcerf.html

(Sorry, I should have said CNN viewer)

You want to learn about Ubuntu?

The problem with windows is not knowing how to use it.

"My MOTHER can use windows. My Dad can even (at a push) install it on a machine. Neither of them would stand a chance on linux."

B*LL*CKS.

Mom MIGHT be able to use Windows, but how often do you need to put something right for her?

Dad might be able to install Windows 'at a push' but when the choice is installing Windows (on a clean drive) to installing Ubuntu (on a clean drive) there's no contest. (no digging through piles of scratched CDs for drivers, for a start).

THEN when dad's installed the O.S. there's still the office software, antivirus, firewalls, adware.

Try both on a 76-year-olds 500MHz Dell, then tell me Windows is easier to install than Xubuntu.

BTW have they fixed XP so you don't have to have both a floppy and a SATA drive?

Utah gives up new dino species

re: What?!

Huh, Philistine - you forgot about the bit about God placing earth in a black hole for a while..

Anyway, it was only 4,800 years ago. Please try to stick to the facts.

Start-up sued in US courts over GPL 'violation'

Gave away?

Tom says " work they gladly gave away in the first place."

The law case is brought by the authors of Busybox, the guys who own the copyright; their lawyers are the 'Freedom Software Law Centre". That they released it under GPL doens't mean they gave anything away; merely made it availabe to others free of charge IF they adhered to their conditions.

BTW Mountford D. if it's based on Busybox there isn't any 'proprietary added stuff' - the GPL says the GPL applies to the new code, any changes Monsoon are required to make public the source of any changes they make.

PC superstore unhinged by Linux

Re: Windows marketing "Search results for: "linux"

"PC World Recommends Windows Vista® Home Premium"

All dealers do this in adverts - they were (don't know if they still are) required to do it or they didn't get the MS products which they were obliged to install on every computer sold.

As Linus Torvalds said "Bill Gates can't tell me anything about computers, and I can't tell him anything about business".

Washington backing for Brit arms biz coming unstuck

Another inquiry that won't be completed

The British Government stopped the inquiry when the Saudis threatened them.

The US Government investigate Saudi Arabia - what a joke.

Please remind me, what nationality were the twin tower bombers? Bin Laden comes from where?

Creationists open biblical history museum

Plants

As the Bible is truth, can someone explain to me how my plants can't survive being submerged for a week or so, yet in Noah's time they were covered for nearly 1.5 months?

Admittedly they had the advantage of being fertilised by the rotting corpses of all the animals and people that God (in his wisdom) killed but still, no oxygen?

On top of that, wouldn't the Ark have been knee-deep in bird-shit being the only roosting place in the world?

Puzzled

Why is it that someone who holds a belief will state it is a fact, whilst those who are in possession of facts accept that it is a 'fact' only in the light of present knowledge?

As Bertrand Russell said: "I would never die for my beliefs; I might be wrong."

Lenovo pays Microsoft $1.3bn for software

$300 desktop

Probably a wise decision not to go into the "sub-$300 desktop" market, as they announced last November.

Latest AACS crack 'beyond revocation'

Land of the free

Just a reminder that DMCA, unlike AACS, RIAA & MPAA doesn't include the word "America" in its name.

Just as valid as the others in its jurisdiction over the rest of the world though.

God, I wish I was free.

How did we all end up with Windows?

Microsoft have always been better at marketing than software.

Add to that dubious business dealings, untrained showroom staff, locked-in contracts with suppliers, et al and it's clear why "we" all ended up with Windows.

Head of DrinkorDie cops to copyright charges

EULA comes after the sale

I want merchantable goods, you sold me defective goods. I want them repaired. This is my right under the Sale of Goods act.

Nope. They didn't sell you any goods.

You have bought a license to use Windows.

The EULA (which you agreed to by buying a computer with a licensed copy of Windows installed) says that MS can do whatever they want, they still own your copy of Windows.

The only way round it is to buy a computer without MS installed, or provide evidence that you do not accept the EULA (e.g. photos of you formatting the harddrive in the store) and ask for a refund - you'll probably need to go to a small claims court for this.