Posts by Mage 9273 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Nov 2007
The Internet existed, sort of, before win 1.0. Web Sites added to existing Internet (FTP, Gopher, POP SMTP, NTTP) about 1992.
But the HID mode of USB is a security disaster. It's why Lenovo currently sells something with PS/2 ports for keyboard and mouse that has no USB ports.
Even Win95 had no USB support initially. It was only on NT4.0 (1996) on a cancelled Service pack previewed around 2000 or 2001.
I think win 3.11 was still supported even when win 98 was released. Apple had USB before win95 did, as a replacement for AppleTalk, which maybe was based on RS422.
Hence USB 1.0 was slow. It was meant for mice, joysticks and keyboards. Not scanners and HDDs.
Really?
The UK had space launch ability about 60 years ago but the US persuaded them to give it up. The only country to give up space.
Same applies to UK Nukes. USA persuaded them to give it up. Also UK is the only country to give up their nukes. All bought/rented from the USA for the last 60+ years.
The UK, esp. Scotland is so far north that only transpolar and LEO is viable. There is a good reason why even the Russians and US use Europe's Space port in South America, near the Equator. Also Canada and other non-EU countries are ESA members. While the EU contributes, not all EU countries are in the ESA.
Those folk in Surrey do great satellites, but likely they will move due to Brexit.
ALWAYS change default passwords to something about 8 to 12 characters random and written in an address book:
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"This will work reliably if the subscriber hasn't changed their router username and password from the default of admin and sky"
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Part of this is a classic attack. Even adverts on CNN & BBC webpages have served malware that scans your LAN and changes DNS settings on routers/Wifi via the Web Admin pages that have never been changed from defaults.
Talk Talk, Virgin, BT, Vodafone, Three & more have all suffered.
ALL Routers/WiFi are vulnerable, if they have defaults, with any browser client on any OS, unless most 3rd party javascript is blocked. Except SOME stupid websites complain you are using an "Ad blocker" when you are only doing better security than most AV software,
Already massive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_military_expenditure_by_country
also see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
UK spending is crazy. Who is going to invade UK? Much is spent in USA. GDP loss due to Brexit will exceed UK Miltary spending!
USA it's about pork barrel votes, not real threats.
x3 next highest and 3.7% of GDP ad 738 Billion
Saudi Arabia is spooked by Iran, a lesser extent Iraq. 48 Billion & 8.4% of GDP, is highest GDP. But seems disproprotionate
Israeli: Iran, Syria, Hezbolla, Hamas etc sp 19.9 Billion and 5.6% of GDP. Unlike UK & USA, it's survival.
South Korea spooked by North Korea. But partly USA ties.
China is not going to invade USA or Australia. Maybe Tiawan if everyone is distracted by the UK, Russians or USA doing something really stupid. See 1956: Suez vs Hungary.
Because of Google.
1) Websites coding for Chrome
2) Websites using google resources in real time.
I have to use Chromium on some sites now or I'm forced to use google's Captcha. Surely illegal in the EU. It's also abusive when you have an account and are not American. There are better simpler ways to block bots and why should there be bot blocking at all for regular long term users with a user name and password already?
Using latest Firefox is often no better than Waterfox Classic. Websites are coding for Chrome/Chromium/Edge. Some even tell you that you need to upgrade immediately to Chrome or Edge.
Firefox chasing Google ideas and GUI, both of which are rubbish.
Mozilla slowly destroying Firefox and Thunderbird for years.
Totally clueless changes on GUI and internals. Also Mobile and Desktop need quite different products and GUIs.
I have up to date Firefox on Mobile (because alternatives are worse) and both Firefox and Chromium on desktop, but I use Waterfox there, though recently the Classic Archive can't install any plug-ins due to domain being parked. I have some old 32 bit computers with up to date/supported OS, faster than 64 bit Atoms, but Waterfox is 64 bit only.
I've looked at Edge (on Windows), a pointless version of Chrome. I've looked at Palemoon, Opera, Seamonkey etc in the past and used Brave for a while on Mobile till Firefox on Mobile got a little less broken.
I think Gary Larson is the expert on Cow Orking.
Fax machine was first invented in 1851.
Hellscriber was a very narrow fax ribbon in 1930s Germany.
Radio weather maps on HF or satellite is a form of fax. You can set a radio beside laptop and use mic and free software to decode. There may be an Android app too.
Still popular in Japan because Japanese uses Japanese characters and the Chinese ideogram things, so a ball point pen and paper is handy.
I did IT in a company for a while that sold Fax machines when people were changing to email. Hackers would send 100s of page feeds to a fax number and indeed spam was expensive even with plain paper as those used inkject or thermal ribbon. A very few people had Zetafax on PC or Server and sometimes with 10 numbers on ISDN. Or plain paper laser copier/printer/faxes I used a Nokia Communicator N9210i on GSM to test fax machine installs. Often a new Fax bought in Ireland was for the UK market so without an adaptor with a capacitor you could send faxes but the fax would never answer a call. Same with phones; they didn't ring. Israel used the same socket as UK, but wires from RJ11 at phone / fax end crimped 1:1, but BT has inner and outer pair swapped. So imported UK phones and Faxes plugged in direct but didn't work at all (late 1980s).
Long ago. When he started it at University for people to rate girls.
A toxic cess pit where posters of content are the product for the real users, the advertisers. His entire organisation should be split-up, data collection model banned and the people running it charged with abuse, sedition and manslaugter. Or just shutter facebook, whatsApp, Instagram etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Meta
That list, and one of Amazon and Alphabet are a result of acquisitions being tax deductible. Corporate USA is out of control
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Amazon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Alphabet
These lists are not complete. Please help by updating them.
This works to image even computers with UEFI, as long as Windows uses classic bios boot option in BIOS.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/disk2vhd
Works for XP.
Needed to turn off Shadow Volume copy and tick a 3rd box not on screen shot. Created file worked with Oracle OpenBox on Linux when put in a subdirectory offered to the VM GUI. Install Guest Utils to get a better 3D GPU, 1 Gbps LAN, USB etc than original laptop.
XP Serial ports mapped to serial USB on Linux.
XP USB webcam unsupported by Linux worked via existing XP driver and mapped USB ports.
External USB DVD on Linux working as XP DVD.
Linux Mint 20.1, Mate desktop and a mix of Linux Theme components gives better than Win9x/win2K/XP GUI and easier use than Vista, Win7, Win 8, Win10. More reliable too. It looks Win9x/win2K/XP style apart from arrogantly written SW (Chromium, Firefox etc) that ignores the system GUI.
I got my 2002 Epson scanner bought for XP working direct on Linux Mint 20.1, SANE and GIMP. A rather more serious PCI SCSI adaptor than it originally had.
But I imaged my 2002 XP laptop using the MS utility and run that as a VM from a USB HDD using OpenBox on Linux Mint 20.1 on a 2016 laptop. Hardly used it more than once or twice a year.
Why no mention that Windows 2000 was NT 5.0 and XP was the finished version as Win2K wasn't ready, it and totally pointless ME were rushed out.
I re-installed/installed Windows 98SE on a lot of Win ME boxes. ME was the most pointless Windows version in the Win9x series.
XP is NT 5.1 and should have been free to Win2K users, as indeed Win7 was simply a fixed version of Visa and should have been free to Vista users.
MS lost the plot about 2002 or 2003.
XP was spoiled by a lot of badly written commercial SW ignoring security model that was ported Win 3.x -> Win 9x -> Windows 2K & Win XP. Hence people having to be administrator to run it.
Settings started to get a messed up GUI with Management Console added, but buggy, some settings in NT4.0 gratuitously moved and irrational changes to Control Panel. Progressively worse with Vista, Win7, Win 8.x (stupidest ever desktop) and Win 10 (most inflexible GUI/Theme ever).
Then after Win 2000 there are too many OS versions, crippled Home Editions starting with XP.
Was Itanium XP 64 bit or 64 bit Alpha NT 4.0 the shortest supported version ever?
Also with XP 32 bit they removed PAE and by default limited programs to 2G Byte. NT 4.0 could use PAE to have more than 4G Byte RAM.
Was there too much involvement of MS programmers that didn't know NT from 3.1 to 4.0 and too much Marketing control from 1999 onwards, hence pointless Win ME, rushed out Win2K, crippled Home Editions, Vista, Win 8 and Win 10?
I got a bright LED "name badge" panel under €10. It's actually a miniature 1 to 8 messages sign with any font, optional scrolling and variable speed. At the brightest setting people looking at you go; "My eyes! Turn it off!".
I just tried it in my jeans pocket. Can't see it at all.
There is a x3 more expensive version with Bluetooth. I didn't want to research the security & privacy of that so I got the version charged and programmed via USB.
If we are going multi-headed, Classics and Evil, then Hecate. Triple headed or aspected Goddess associated with crossroads, entrance-ways [Portals], night, light, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery.
There is a Facebook Portal product. It's about as good for mental health as necromancy (communication with the dead, not raising armies of the dead or sex with dead bodies).
Also bots are a bit like ghosts.
My colour Brother ink MFC was the same. No PC fax or Scan if any ink cartridge was exhausted. No black print even if C Y or M was empty. I don't bother with high quality photo print now so use a duplex colour laser MFC from Brother. It seems to still scan with exhausted toner. No Fax, but I didn't use fax on previous laser MFC and only once on the inkjet. Last used fax about 2014 using modem on a 2002 laptop.
Fax might still be needed by lawyers, NHS and parts of Asia. I use either Viber or email now instead.
The last inkjet I had that did decent photo print was about 2002 anyway. The current laser is as good as cheap inkjets for colour and about 1/100th of running cost!
Even 480p is good enough for a web cam. More important would be a zoom lens as a well as focus. You can't position a web cam for best field of view and most seem to have the wrong field of view to clip on a monitor or laptop screen frame.
My laptop camera is fine but no use when I'm using an external monitor.
I've also had web cameras that work fine in VLC or other applications but give a black screen on Viber or Zoom.
But mostly we just use audio in calls. More reliable when people on dodgy WiFi or Mobile connections.
Facial recognition maybe can be used to unlock your own phone, as an alternative, if you choose.
It's immoral for anything else.
Public surveillance by UK police, access to recreational facilities in the USA. Subway in Moscow.
Even if it worked well, but it doesn't.
The EU has voted to ban remote biometrics of the public (people elected democratically). It will take a while for the sovereign EU nations to enact their own laws. It will include using Facial Recognition on the public.
Fifty years ago schools admitted (or served) only pupils with dinner tickets. In sensible schools they used the same tickets for bought dinners or free ones. It didn't cause any delay.
No school should be using this tech. It's even been banned or suspended in some USA and Swedish schools.
It may have some theoretical value but overall with real browsers and poorly trained users and security flaws in applications and OS, it's pointless. I've a bunch of PCs with no TPM and the others have a connector, but no-one sells the module.
Most stuff is now Linux here for five years.
It's a Google scam to get personal details. I discovered you can reset the settings Google changed.
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Another annoyance is Google locking access if you use a different IP address!
!
Sign-in attempt was blocked
****************@gmail.com
Someone just used your password to try to sign in to your account. Google blocked them, but you should check what happened.
Check activity
You can also see security activity at
https://myaccount.google.com/notifications
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Completely idiotic.
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Another scam is Twitter locking your account for "violations".
But then you have to fill in the privacy stealing & USA Cultural Google captcha and give them a mobile number to receive a code to unlock. However there is a form where you can appeal and then they claim it was an automated software mistake. They never say what was violated and unlock the account without getting a phone number. This will happen multiple times. You only get any email when you start the appeals procedure. Web Forms have to be filled in twice.
1)
We’re writing to let you know that your account has been flagged for unusual behavior that violates the Twitter Rules, and has been locked until you take the following steps:
Log into your account, or open your Twitter app on iOS or Android.
You’ll see a message about your account, and a prompt to click “Start.”
Select your country/region, and then enter your phone number.
Click “Send code.”
You’ll receive a message from Twitter with a confirmation code.
Enter the code you receive on the prompt screen. You’ll receive a confirmation. Please note, it may take a few minutes for your account to be completely unlocked.
If you’re still experiencing a problem after confirming your identity, respond to this message and provide us with more details about what’s happening.
Please note, repeat violations of the Twitter Rules can lead to a permanent suspension of your account.
Thanks,
2)
Hello,
We’re writing to let you know that your account is now unlocked. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
A little background: We have systems that find and remove automated spam Twitter accounts, and it looks like yours was flagged as spam by mistake. This can happen if an account exhibits automated behavior in violation of our rules.
We apologize for the mixup, and hope to see back on Twitter soon.
If you need to get in touch with us again, please file a report through your Twitter app or our forms page, as this account isn’t monitored for replies.
Thanks,
1) Nothing wrong with good passwords, different for every site. Money related ones in the paper address book kept safely (never with phone/tablet/laptop), others in the browser with a master password. So only need to remember two, but written in the book in case you die suddenly; note some kinds of deaths destroy your phone too.
2) SMS is not secure. Someone can either intercept it or even setup your number.
3) SMS has no guaranteed delivery or latency.
4) What happens to the 2FA when your phone is lost, broken (stupid model with virtual SIM) or stolen? A backup phone can't easily get the same number unless you are the expert criminal in item 2. A backup phone/tablet/computer can use the same email address as a broken one
5) properly done email can be safer than SMS or an App.
After a 1/2 a lifetime in Computer Journalism, and training surely you know:
1) Random advice from colleagues is dangerous
2) Unless you have a team of more than 15 or a project the size of building & outfitting a hospital you know you don't need any Task List program (or Project manager sw, which I had to keep explaining to people that it's sw for a project manager of giant projects, it doesn't manage).
Stereoscopic TVs, mis-named 3D are not remotely 3D.
Lenticular displays are better than stereoscopic but lower resolution. The more angles of view the lower the resolution. There is no secret sauce. Compared with a spinning drum with an offset screen with the projected image changing as the drum rotates this is abysmal.
Also any flat display fails because the focusing of the eye can't change for the distance away of the object. A big clear spinning cylinder/drum with the offset ground glass screen has short comings (everything is transparent) compared to a real hologram.
It's a toy. It's not a proper 3D display and nothing remotely close to a holographic image!
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