Posts by jack d

EU gave CrowdStrike the keys to the Windows kernel, claims Microsoft

Re: Dave Plummer has a different take on this - but from the legal standpoint...

I'm no lawyer, but I realize that when you sign a contract for IT services or software with support, you agree to certain vendor liability limitation clauses. But all this is based on an understanding that the Parties to the agreement act in good faith and in a professional manner. In case of CrowdStrike, judged from what we know already, the company acted with gross negligence, unprofessionally, not according to standards and presumably without proper supervision. All this is a good basis for claiming damages due to gross negligence and acting not based on industry standards.

VMware giving away Workstation Pro, Fusion Pro free for personal use

Re: They have hidden it well

Yeah, I spent over 40 irritating minutes searching, finally found it, downloaded and installed the Workstation Pro 17.5.2 but... I use Virtualbox every day for over 15 years now, but since I already lost my enthusiasm for VMWare due to their site being so easy to navigate, I became too lazy to install windows from scratch in a new machine, so decided instead to import an .ova device made from the working windows VBox machine. Unfortuantely, VMWare found that .ova's device line 16 and 19 were not compatible and so, that was it for me. Maybe next time.

But anyway, good luck for other enthusiasts and thank you VMWare/Broadcom for a nice gesture.

I'm happy paying Twitter eight bucks a month because price isn't the same as value

Simply put - I fully agree with whatever tha big corpos will do until 2030 and what is more, I will own nothing and be happy. Put it another way - I will always be happy with whatever stupidity the free media promotes now and ever forever

UK's National Cyber Security Centre recommends password generation idea suggested by El Reg commenter

Random words

Does anyone here realizes that the basic password cracking programs use what is called "dictionaries"?

Any word found in a dictionary is a poor password or part thereof. Assumng 30 000 words for the basic English dictionary, how long do you think it would take a supercomputer to crack your "random" 3 word password? Probably not even 2 minutes.

Freed whistleblower Chelsea Manning back in jail for refusing to testify before secret grand jury

Very troubling

We cannot agree on Chelsea's stance and motives and her tactics, because we all have different opinions ourselves and there is yet no legislation that we all have to be like one. What is not stressed enough is the behaviour and actions of the judge. They clearly show by him imposing improportionate, punitive fines, that it is not justice this "jury" is after, but low revenge on those who dare to question criminal actions of those in power. This "jury" is an abuse of democracy by those who should be its champions.

Put down your coffee and admire the sheer amount of data Windows 10 Creators Update will slurp from your PC

Re: Why can they not grasp

Isn't windows 8 today, after all updates since its launch, on the same level of illegal data slurping as its younger bastard? For once in my life, having recently bought my new laptop, I very diligently read the whole win 10 EULA. And since I did not agree to it and my greatest desire being not to offend anyone in Redmond, I deleted win 10 and use ubuntu.

Mars' 'little green men' buried alive by merciless meteorites – new theory

Life on Mars

Ever tried to download a high resolution Mars panorama pictures from NASA Curiosity Rover site? If you examine them closely you always find a number of 'things' with symmetrical shapes, often looking like pieces of machinery destroyed. Some time ago, people who said the Earth was round and revolved around the Sun were ridiculed and burned at the stake. Today those that dare imagine the existence of other civilisations in our Solar system or galaxy are thought of as enemies of the status quo - same as in the middle ages.

Miguel de Icaza on his journey from open source to Microsoft: 'It's a different company'

Re: open source people universally hate Miguel.

Microsoft sure is a different company today, different from the company it were in the 1990-ties, an open, enthusiastic group of youngsters that brought computing to literally every home on the planet - but TODAY it is an ugly world-wide monopoly, that leverages its position by unjust litigation threats to competition upstarts and outright fake patent extortion. We all have to make a living, we all should act reasonably - Dear Manuel - if you must sing, try a different tune

Why has Microsoft stopped being beastly to Google?

Consistency

As most of the governments relied on the special keys obtained from Microsoft to spy on their own citizens, Windows users, with the advent of the cell phone and Android, the PC slipped much in importance. PC is stationary, it can plugged out, etc. But an Android cell phone is a perfect spy - always with the "suspect", voice and video always on - all contacts, present and previous locations for years back - who would ever need Windows any more? Windows 10 tries to bridge the gap here - make Windows equal Android in the spying functions - hence the forced updates (anything can be "forced", like remote execution of code), inability to switch off telemetry, and so on. So it is just a cover up - how can you bite the hand that made you fat and let you grow into a world monopoly?

How to not get pwned on Windows: Don't run any virtual machines, open any web pages, Office docs, hyperlinks ...

An easy (pragmatic) solution

Ditch Windows for any Web or network related tasks, leave it only on airgapped machines/workstations used for running professional apps. You can send works thus created via your IT infrastructure based primarily on Linux.

It is already 10 years I found Windows unusable on the Internet - why should anyone bother any longer. The costs related to Windows security are increasingly disproportionate to effects - remember the "God Mode"? Don't you think that a system with an architecture permitting such monstrosity has some other modes conveniently fired up - Government Mode or an Agency Mode? Or that perhaps some bright lads out there already have their own private Windows Mode?

PowerShell attacks up

An easy solution

Ditch Windows for any Web or network related tasks, leave it only on airgapped machines/workstations used for running professional apps. You can send works thus created via your IT infrastructure based primarily on Linux.

It is already 10 years I found Windows unusable on the Internet - why should anyone bother any longer. The costs related to Windows security are increasingly disproportionate to effects - remember the "God Mode"? Don't you think that a system with an architecture permitting such monstrosity has some other modes conveniently fired up - Government Mode or an Agency Mode? Or that perhaps some bright lads out there already have their own private Windows Mode?

Microsoft gets into the advanced intrusion sniffer game – but only for Windows 10

Microsoft - a study in monopoly

Remember the days when Bill, Steeve and a bunch of fine and bright kids, literally from a garage, defied the established computing giants, and indeed, they brought computing to the masses the world over? See how they are now, having tasted the real big money and the power it brings. From a David fighting Goliath they grew into a big parasite, being now at a stage when the germ massively sends out into the host's body millions of spores that will eventually kill the host and in all probability, the parasite itself as well. Sadly, big money turns people, people with a weak moral stature especially, into tyrants, ready to please all those, who protect them. Look at Monsanto, trying to monopolize the world's food production with patented seeds, look at big oil trying to sabotage electric cars and reasearch on new ways of generating electricity, look at big pharma struggling to research a cure for cancer but not too soon, look at big banks or just stop looking and without further ado, upgrade to Windows 10.