Re : Windows Linux

What on earth makes you think that most of us who use Linux now would have anything to do with ANYTHING MS was involved with?. Pure Linux will still continue.

"MS simply waves a patent-stick at it"

FUD !

Re : This is a title →

It's the idea of compounding the original error by 'upgrading' to IE8

Re : And reading between those lines

I think so - which is why I put the asterisks in !

Re : Just a shortcut icon

Previously posted :

http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/940193

"Microsoft Windows fails to safely obtain icons for shortcut files. When Windows displays Control Panel items, it will initialize each object for the purpose of providing *dynamic icon functionality*. This means that a Control Panel applet will execute code when the icon is displayed in Windows. Through use of a shortcut file, an attacker can specify a malicious DLL that is to be *processed within the context of the Windows Control Panel*, which will result in arbitrary code execution."

Re : On a more technical note →

Of course it might be designed to mimic nature - and, er, live off the 'land'

Re : You are clearly clueless about astronomy

You are clearly clueless about chemistry - Helium is an element - you can't synthesis and element by chemistry.

"Preaching "No Windows" to Management and Finance types is pointless."

Strange then that the London Stock Exchange should abandon a Windows-based system and be moving to Linux later this year.

But if I turn off my phone..

I can't really be bothered if it misses a call

From The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team

http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/940193

"Microsoft Windows fails to safely obtain icons for shortcut files. When Windows displays Control Panel items, it will initialize each object for the purpose of providing *dynamic icon functionality*. This means that a Control Panel applet will execute code when the icon is displayed in Windows. Through use of a shortcut file, an attacker can specify a malicious DLL that is to be *processed within the context of the Windows Control Panel*, which will result in arbitrary code execution."

Re : Can somebody please explain somenthing for me.

No, but I think it's executable code contains icons

@ Trevor

Trouble is the gravitational/aerodynamic forces on a meteorite must swamp any effects of any such magnetic 'well' . In any case a wide area around this house should be peppered with these meteorites if any such effect occurred. I don't believe this suggested mech. of 'targeting' could be so precise.

I wasn't really serious about enemy action - it was just to contrast with the probability of a con

Cheers,

@ Trevor

Sorry mate - it seems extremely unlikely even if the Earth was stationary & not rotating. But a spinning, moving target in the vastness of space ?

I think it can only be enemy action ( or most probably a con )

@David 141

I don't understand how your paragraph "This particular vulnerability........" is a more apt analogy than my ( rather briefer) comment. Admittedly a bug in one of the Linux file managers might possibly launch an executable but the mechanism in the case of Windows seems to be extracting the icon from a dll AND initializing the dll as far as I can tell all without user action

Re : Drive-by attack

SANS have upgraded Infocon to yellow due to this flaw

The most serious aspect is that it seems to work browsing shares

Re : LINUX should not laugh - too much

Sorry I don't understand - surely the point is that if a user choses to run a suspect executable, however they launch it - that's their problem and they deserve all they get. But the system will NOT automatically run an executable by merely browsing the directory.

Re : LINUX should not laugh

At least with Linux/Unix an executable will NOT automatically run merely on browsing a directory containing links

Re : Err, clarification

Funny my Asus 901 updates fine, mind I'm using a proper distro (eeebuntu). All my other Linux machines (6) also update without problems (OpenSUSE 11.2)

Re : s there a GUI Linux distro that doesn't ?

OpenSUSE 11.2/KDE - rock solid on everything I've installed it on

Re : "Free energy"

I think if you're going to wait for a technological change that will provide "Free energy" then it's probably going to be a long wait

"I see its uses for alpinists"

Ha, Ha etc.

Re : Well

Surely you must be mistaken. Linux can't cope with most hardware - everyone KNOWS that.

Just kidding of course. Nice example

Re : true, but

The idea that fossil power stations are significantly better than internal combustion engines is just wrong. If you are going to generate hydrogen electrolytically that makes it much worst as the efficiency is ~~50% for that process combined with ~~35% for the electricity generation to give overall efficiencies ~17%.

A good modern turbo diesel is ~~40% ( and yes there are diesel plane engines)

Re : Yes, but...

"At least a degree of magnitude more efficient usually"

Nonsense !

@ Darren Tuffs

Sorry you're having so much trouble - I can't imagine what the problem is. I've been using Linux more or less since the start and I've never had this behaviour. There may have been problems with X or the odd bit of hardware but never failure to install and boot a working system.

I assume the systems will boot a Windows installation disk. Does the system do nothing with a LiveCD or do you get an messages ?

Very difficult to diagnose without more info.

Re : Maybe

Sorry the only system I had (minor) trouble with was one laptop.

All my servers/workstations are home-built. Currently :

64 Bit AMD

64 Bit AMD dual-core

64 Bit Intel dual-core - this had WiFi and installed perfectly in 19 minutes

64 Bit Atom dual-core

1 Atom Asus netbook

1 Lenovo laptop ( that needed a PCMCIA card to sort the WiFi)

I also still support several older systems for relatives including my 87 year old mother-in-law which are factory-built although none are major names.

I believe you - I just think you are atypical. Have you tried LiveCDs ? What happens ?

Re : Here We Go Again

Well I've installed 11.2/KDE on 5 systems since its release and it's been ROCK SOLID stable on all of them. Installs have been fast and easy.

Re : Hmm

All I can say is that I've installed SUSE/OpenSUSE for years on all sorts of hardware combinations and in the last 5-6 years I've had ONE laptop that needed WiFi sorting as the ONLY problem.

That's about 30 trouble-free installs

Maybe I'm lucky ?

"Novell era, openSUSE has never had a package updater that works out of the box"

Nonsense. I

Re : Polywell

Most of these 'references' seem more akin to religion than science

@ Anna Long

But switching off FM is precisely what is proposed when DAB + other digital conduits reach a certain percentage.

Resist this nonsense.

"Last time I looked at the figures there were over 6 million DAB radios in the UK"

The vastly larger number of people with FM are going to be much more annoyed if that's switched off then.

Re : Fire up the fusor

Rubbish !

Re : Unfeasible

Although unfeasible is a word it's being used incorrectly here.

Should be "capable of storing a PREVIOUSLY unfeasible amount of energy" although that's rather clunky.

As to its potential there isn't enough information. However XeF2 is NASTY stuff (and could make Li batteries seem quite benign. )

Re : 8 vs 16 bit/channel and other stuff →

It's not difficult to generate 16 bit/channel using dcraw or ufraw, alter the exposure if necessary and then set levels and save as 8 bit/channel. For most purposes it seems overkill

Re : Future proof

Open source - I know I've got a copy. That's as future-proof as I want.

Great guy

@Mark 65

Using a LiveCD is a good way of finding that out. I had a laptop where the wireless didn't work straight off - so I put a PCMCIA wireless card in - that worked fine - so I carried on with the install. I'm writing this on it now.

Re : It's all about the future.

That's why I archive the RAW files - that's as future-proof as you can get.

Re : Who needs it?

Agree. I upgraded my Canon 300D to a very new 18 megapixel 550D in early May and within a couple of days I had gathered enough updated software to process RAW images.

I have in the past processed RAW images to 16 bit/channel tiff but generally if the exposure is good then there is just a lot of empty 'space' round the histogram.

Re : Not for me it doesn't

Sorry you are having problems.

You've not given any indication what they consist of. It's really rather rare to not be able to get some kind of running system

3 suggestions

1) Ask on an Ubuntu forum - giving as much detail and saying that you are new to this

2) Use a LiveCD and see if you can get a running system without committing to an install

3) Install Virtualbox on Windows and install Ubuntu to that. - this should remove any problems with odd graphics cards or wifi

Re : Yep. But 'no' on KDE

KDE 4.3 is rock solid on all my machines. (5)

Re : Double encryption

I didn't suggest using the same algorithm!

The simplest transformation would make finding the real decrypt much harder.

Re : Brute force

Even if you possibly could run through all the combinations before the sun cooled you'd have to KNOW that you had cracked the encrypted info. Either a human search ! or some smart search algorithm.

So to be really safe double encrypt with 2 different keys

Re : Fuel Cells As Usual

Unfortunately making hydrogen from water by electrolysis is only ~50% efficient even using high temp./pressure processes. Depending on how the electricity is generated the efficiency could be down to ~16% by the time the hydrogen is put into the vehicle ( less if it needs to be liquified)

Fuel cells are only ~50% efficient so the overall efficiency would be ~~5%. Now I agree if the electricity came from renewables or nuclear there would be no CO2 but the electricity consumption would still be enormous for any sig. number of vehicles

Bull droppings

I agree with Fred & I HAVE climbed many mountains.