* Posts by jason 7

3181 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2009

SR-71 Blackbird follow-up: A new TERRIFYING Mach 6 spy-drone bomber

jason 7

So might be ready by 2030....

...so lets be honest and say 2035 at the earliest so by that time...........

Nowadays if you cant get it done in less than 10 years you are wasting your money as something else will have passed it by.

However, as mentioned what we get to know about is usually the stuff from 10+ years ago......

Here's what YOU WON'T be able to do with your PlayStation 4

jason 7

I did wonder why.....

...Sony was keeping quiet on exactly what the PS4 could and couldn't do.

Win XP? Your PLAGUE risk is SIX times that of Win 8 - NOW

jason 7
Meh

Re: Why do I need a backup laptop?

Good for you Charles, great if you can wait for delivery or live next door to John Lewis. Great if you know how to setup a laptop and transfer 2GB of Outlook 2007 email or Outlook Express into the new world. Migrate Sage accounts or ACT to a new machine or a new OS.

A lot of folks don't.

But they dont think about it until it happens. And in my experience very few still use the cloud in the small business arena. in fact many have just discovered USB sticks.

It maybe 2013 in your tech warren but for the average person it's still 2005.

jason 7

The biggest problem?

All those lapsed copies of McAfee and Norton that folks haven't paid for or upgraded since they bought the laptop/PC 4 years ago.

"Well yes I think it has anti-virus!"

I love the fact that shop bought Windows 8 machines still have useless trial installs of McAfee on them which knocks out the perfectly good Windows Defender.

Still not helping guys!

jason 7

Re: Are we confusing cause and effect?

Very obvious indeed but a amazed how many choose to ignore it.

jason 7

I know a MS Reseller.....

...near me who can do MS Reseller Windows 7 Pro Licenses for not a great deal plus a decent dual core 2008 spec Dell Lattitude PC for about £70 to run it on.

I am constantly amazed by the number of small businesses that when I go visit to look at their IT setup, state they cant afford any new IT, too expensive, they only bought it all 2 years ago (read 6), scrimping and saving, worlds smallest violin etc.

Yet I walk past the big house, the M3 in the drive and the new leather sofa being delivered. Or they are an IFA!

If you cannot afford a few hundred quid for new IT from your business contingency budget then..well...what are you doing running a business?

Oh and quit running your business whilst owning only one laptop! Amazed how so many do not have a backup laptop or desktop system to run on.

So many 'cyberspying hackers' about... and most of you are garbage

jason 7

Would I be right in thinking....

...some of the basic ground rules for hacking these days would be -

Don't do it from your own home.

Don't do it on a machine you use for anything but hacking.

Don't use your own credit card...

Don't let them know you've been.

Don't keep going back.

Don't leave sarcastic/nasty comments behind that just make you sound like a vindictive d*ck to a jury.

I just see so many cases on the news that don't appear to have thought through what and how they are doing it.

Best rule is probably not bother in the first place.

HP fires sue-ray at makers of Blu-Ray

jason 7

I have yet to buy a Blu-ray.....

.....let alone burn one.

The tech has passed me by really.

Or should I say I passed it by. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Blighty's laziness over IPv6 will cost us on the INTERNETS - study

jason 7

Re: I guess the issue is.....

And then in the real world......

jason 7

I guess the issue is.....

...how do you make money selling and renting IPV6 addresses when there are so many compared to IPV4....

Cash cow lost.

jason 7

I just put my router on a timer switch that turns it off from 3am to 7am and it changes the IP address every day that way. Might cause more disruption for someone else. Not that I believe for one moment the NSA or the like have been anywhere near me or even remotely interested.

Phantom Flan flinger: The story of the Elan Enterprise 128

jason 7

Re: Atari ST

Yeah the ST and the Amiga were really exciting machines.

Except my dad came home with a Apple Mac 512k with extra external floppy.

Grrrrrrrrr not quite so fun. All of a sudden I was the 16bit equivalent of the lonely kid with the BBC B. (as in no one else had one)

I may add that it was my first and last Apple PC. It's still in the loft back home.

jason 7

Well remember that today 97% of the worlds 'wealth' is debt.

jason 7

Re: Cheap keyboards

Yes folks tend to forget that stuff was bloody expensive back then.

Even in 1995 a 4x CD burner cost £1864.00!

jason 7

I remember seeing these.....

....and thinking.."well it's lovely looking and I love the spec but...it's a bit late isn't it?"

By then if you didn't have a Spectrum or a C64 it was game over. Didn't matter if the spec was twice as good.

It was all down to the budget your parents were prepared to spend/paper round savings and how many other mates you could borrow/swap games with.

However, the effort was appreciated.

"If ahhh cud turn back timmeeeeeeeeeeee!"

And one thing in that article made me smile. I remember around the turn of the century one of the phrases much shouted round the office was -

"Has anyone got a Madge card cable? I've lost mine!"

There must be that secret place somewhere full of lost socks and Madge card cables....

Just HALF of 10m iPhone, Android BlackBerry BBM app downloads activated

jason 7

Re: Installed and Dumped

Goodness how very 'third world'!"

Never been charged extra for texting to and from abroad.

Maybe a better choice of contract might help?

jason 7

Re: Installed and Dumped

I have to say lack of credit aside, running SMS on a modern Smartphone is excellent.

Why use anything else really, it does the job perfectly.

Reply-all email lightning storm STRIKES TWICE at Cisco

jason 7

Ahh this is always funny when that happens.

I remember it happening at my firm (about 15000 staff) loads of people going "Please stop!!!" and not getting the fact that they were not helping.

Then the wags started going "I'm off out for coffee anyone want anything?"

That was a fun morning.

It's the '90s all over again: Apple repeats mistakes as low-cost tablets pile up

jason 7

Re: Resale value

The problem with iTunes is that it's a crappy music database that's been pushed to do ten times more than it was originally intended.

Like taking a simple two slice toaster and trying to turn it into a full blown multi-function Magnet Kitchen.

Wait for it, waaiiit for it: We update an Atom tablet to Windows 8.1 Pro

jason 7

Just completed another 8.1 upgrade.

2006 spec Toshiba Tecra M7 slate laptop. 2Ghz CPU, 4GB ram and 64GB Samsung SSD.

From clicking 'Download' to reaching the new desktop took 59 minutes.

jason 7

Yep done it on three PCs now and all took less than an hour.

Simple.

jason 7

Re: Microsoft Time (sucks)

I must admit this is the only thing that truly annoys me about Windows 8. Had many instances of initial or secondary update where the download counter sits at 0% for ages and ages.

No clue whats going on if anything. A few reboots and retry gets you there eventually but it's not great.

Seems it either works perfectly or just acts plain stubborn.

On another note I installed 8.1 on my 8GB Athlon II X3 PC this morning. I just let it run in the background till it told me it wanted to restart. Didn't seem to take long at all, no longer than a usual Windows install.

Maybe 45 minutes tops. All went really smoothly. No issues.

Fiendish CryptoLocker ransomware: Whatever you do, don't PAY

jason 7

Re: So what AV's *do* detect it?

This is the big rub with AV software. They are always 24 hours behind. The code for the malware it re written and tweaked daily almost hourly and then released in the wild.

The AV companies make it easier as they allow 30 day trials of their software to test against.

I have seen every type of mainstream AV beaten. I tell my customers getting a virus is like getting a cracked windscreen. You can go years without one and then get two in as many weeks.

I do recommend adding EMET 4.0 as a bolster to your security. It's designed to enforce all the memory protection techniques to prevent zero day stuff. Really only works with Vista and above.

If you run modern software you shouldn't have a problem.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/srd/archive/2013/06/17/emet-4-0-now-available-for-download.aspx

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/06/windows-security-101-emet-4-0/

jason 7

Re: Nasty evil thing

I've found its dead simple to remove. It doesn't really hide itself all that much because...it doesn't have to. The damage is done.

Combofix cleaned it up pretty quick. Worth checking out. Further scans with two other products found nothing more. Okay so the docs are hosed but that's too bad.

However, I'm sure it will mutate.

jason 7

Had this a few times too.

Customers lost all their docs.

However, most were just using the lapsed McAfee AV that was installed on the laptop when they bought it 4 years ago.....

Post-PC world? POST-MAC WORLD more like

jason 7

Re: @jason 7

But would you give a Bentley to kids to drive?

jason 7

You can burn through quite a few Chromebooks for the price of one Macbook Pro.

jason 7

Re: Check the specs

Thats why the two local Mac repair guys I know have both given up their Apple Support/Repair businesses.

Just not feasible anymore.

If I get an Apple person call in I have to tell them to go to the local Apple Store.

"But they wanted £700 to repair it!"

Oh well. You'd think they wanted you to buy a new one!

jason 7

Re: Apple PC buyers are more savvy

Hmmmm from most of the Apple owners I know, most are not that savvy at all.

Most wouldnt know a Haswell from a Hazelnut. Same as most 'computer owning people'.

So I don't think that excuse holds up really.

RIP charging bricks: $279 HP Chromebook 11 charges via USB

jason 7

To those that don't get it.

I suggest trying or borrowing one first.

Before I got mine I was pretty sniffy and felt "what the hell is this going to be useful for???"

But then I got one (felt I had to try as it's part of my job really) and within an hour or two I was pretty impressed. The form factor works, the usability is far more then you imagine for general use.

It is actually far nicer to use than all these cheap full laptops that keep getting mentioned. Laptops at that end are miserable. I do not consider the 11" Samsung miserable at all. My proper laptop gathers dust.

jason 7

Re: Specs making ChromeOS pointless?

How often in the 21st century do you find yourself offline?

I take it you have a smartphone with tethering? You live in the first or developing world?

If I find myself in a location or situation nowadays that doesn't have any access to the internet then chances are that's exactly the situation I wanted.

jason 7

Re: Love my Chromebook.

I have the 11" Samsung and its great. I don't bother using my 13" Laptop anymore. It's just too heavy and bulky compared to the little Samsung.

I can do most of what I need to do with it web wise plus a bit more. For me it's a more useful device than a tablet. It's also far far superior to a netbook. It may only have a 768p screen but at least the menus fit on it.

Basically it cost £200 so I just thrash it for two years and then buy a new one. And when I get the new one all I have to do is log into it and I'm up and running. Cheap, simple chuck-about computing. No need for Linux as it's...well linux already really.

Try doing that with your miserable bulky £300 Toshiba bargain special laptop from PC World.

Young? Been online five years? Congrats, you are the ELITE MINORITY

jason 7

Re: El Reg Elite Minority

I had my 20th Internet anniversary this year.

Ahhh installing 16550 cards with jumper pins for manual IRQ configs, Trumpet Winsock, RWIN tweaking, static IP address for a home user. Direct Connection ISP, Netscape V1.0 fitting on a single floppy.

Having an email address but no one else you knew back then did.

Dad going bonkers over the phone bill....

Universal's High Fidelity Pure Audio trickles onto Blighty’s Blu-Ray hi-fis

jason 7

Oh what's this....

....yet another format and another modern mastering that just takes us further from the original recording.

What I always find amusing is people clamouring to buy this stuff forget to check the frequency range of their speakers that were probably designed with a 22-24KHz cut off point for CD.

"I can really hear the extra highs!" Erm no.

Apple iMac 27-inch 2013: An extra hundred quid for what exactly?

jason 7

Re: Never keen on all in ones.

You kind of missed my point but nevermind.

jason 7

Never keen on all in ones.

Whether PC or Apple.

Fiddly (often laptop spec) parts, difficult to repair. If you send it back you cant get the HDD out so do you send it off with your data or wipe it first and copy the data back later. What if you cant wipe it?

Too much like hard work. I like to know I can swap out a HDD or Graphics card in three minutes.

Function over style for me everytime.

jason 7

Indeed.

Waiting for the first one to not get the joke in...3...2..

Apple's new non-feline Mac operating system, OS X Mavericks, ready to go

jason 7

Re: Total amount of

It still sits in the Control Panel options like always.

You put up with CRAPPY iOS 7. You can put up with Obamacare too, says prez

jason 7

Re: Repulicans deny Evolution

I think you may be closer to the truth than you think.

By denying the poor and weak access to heathcare it's enabled the rich to allow a form of natural selection.

Unfortunately, it's not the best kind of natural selection as the survivors are highly deficient in other areas.

jason 7

Re: Facinating

Free healthcare socialist or communist?

Hmm no, I think the word is simply - Civilised.

Asus NV550JV 15.6in full HD notebook - the one we didn't have to send back

jason 7

Re: Awesome stickers!

Yes I really don't know why they have to put those on there. I peel them off my machines from new.

Awful legacy policies I guess.

jason 7

Re: Let's build a spec?

Errrm I think we'd end up with ...a Homer!

jason 7

Re: Dell M4800

Yes a Hybrid HDD would be a good compromise in such machines.The cost difference isn't that great. I've installed a couple of the new Seagate 500GB Hybrid laptops drives in machines and was very impressed by the performance from them.

Worth checking out if you want the space but also the general pep of an SSD.

EU move to standardise phone chargers is bad news for Apple

jason 7

Re: Standardised connector... like, err, Micro USB

I too preferred Mini-USB. Micro is too fragile.

I now have a pile of 8 Mini-USB chargers and 20+ cables that are no longer of any use.

Never quite understood why micro came along, it's not like thinner and thinner phones are a good idea...

BlackBerry Black Friday: $1bn loss as warehouses bulge with hated Z10s

jason 7

Re: Z10 Owner, And The Only One By The Looks Of It

I liked the look of the Z10 just before it came out. I was looking for a new smartphone and was keen to try the BB way.

Then they wanted a small fortune for it SIM free.

Nexus 4 it was then. I'm sure I'm not the only one that did the same.

One year to go: Can Scotland really declare gov IT independence?

jason 7

Am I the only one....

...that feels this is all just Alex Salmond on an ego trip?

"Don't worry Ma, I'll get myself into the history books somehow!"

(ooh looks like his mum has down-voted already!)

New iPhones: C certainly DOESN'T stand for 'Cheap'

jason 7

Re: Affordability my arse

Well as according to Apple stating that there is a 'Bit of Steve's Input' in all future products, he must have been signing all these off on his deathbed.

I guess he might have been a bit distracted at the time.

Very sad.

Peugeot 208 GTi: The original hot hatch makes a comeback

jason 7

Re: The engine

I suppose also the old adage , 'not all turbos are created equal' applies to reliability too.

Microsoft says axed certificates were FAILING its software biz

jason 7

You learn to live with it....

....I did A levels in the late 80's and only scraped one pass.

Now my papers would probably all get A* grades.

OK, forget the 3D telly fiasco: 4K is gonna blow you away - say tech giants

jason 7

Will they make a 32" version?

I personally think they got the current HD resolutions all wrong.

At worst it should have been 720p for standard broadcast TV and 1440p for Bluray. Lets dump the interlace stuff.

That way it would be a simple clean 100% upscale/downscale depending on what TV you bought or what you wanted to watch.

I currently have a 540p resolution TV (Sharp Perfect PAL) and 1080p stuff downscaled looks great on it. People often say what a great solid detailed picture it has.

Decent picture for day to day use and streaming and ultimate effect for Bluray movie watching at home.

Plus the 1440p would have helped with the larger screens that we now have. I would imagine 1080p's pixel density starts to wane over 45".

Plus it would have made PC monitors better to use if we had 1440p as standard.