Posts by Phil W

Re: Win8 Safeguarding series critiques wanted

Who's the target audience for this lot supposed to be?

It feels like you're aiming it at totally novices, yet the advice spans from really basic things to quite advanced things in a very short space of times. You also reference a number of terms without explaining what they are.

Pick your target audience and either explain the terms you're using and what the utilities you're using (like Group Policy) are and what they do better, or change the tone of the videos so it doesn't feel like you're talking to someone who's never installed Windows before.

My next criticism is that your opening statement in the first video is false.

Windows 8 (Pro or otherwise) on it's own with no extra security software is not better security than you can buy from any third party. Sure it's more secure out of the box than any previous edition of Windows, but there are many third party security tools that are better than what's included.

"Windows Defender" in Windows 8 is not even as good as security essentials, as you say its "more like" MSE than the old Windows Defender and is certainly not a terrible product but if you look at the core components of it you'll see there are some missing compared to MSE on Windows 7.

Hence why there are a number of guides on how to install MSE on Windows 8, despite it not being officially supported.

Windows Firewall hasn't changed significantly in Windows 8 apart from some of the default rules, and is still the bizarre and sometimes ineffective bag of crap it used to be.

If you have a firewall that detects a new program accessing the network asks if you want to allow it, while still giving the application network access before you've actually responded to the prompt, it is not doing it's job properly.

There are any number of free firewall programs that are better and easily available.

I also find it strange that you simply suggest installing Java with no warning. Java is becoming less prevalent on popular internet websites, but seems to have a new major security hole announced every week. Frankly I personally strongly suggest to the average user not to install it unless they actually have a need of it.

Part 3 is titled "BIOS or UEFI", yet makes no real reference to UEFI. Perhaps briefly explain what it is and the differences between the two.

If this series of videos is aimed at total novices is it wise to advise them to set a BIOS password? Sure it's a security measure but what if they forget the password? You make no mention of the implications of that, which can be quite serious on systems like Sony and Dell laptops where the BIOS password cannot be reset if forgotten.

On a more positive note, the section on configuring Group Policy is not bad, and provides some useful advice that most users would not come across ordinarily. It even has some things I would not of thought of doing on a home PC, and I'm fairly familiar with using GP in a domain setting.

The idea behind these videos is good, but they're a bit vague as to who they're aimed at and lack details and explanation in certain areas.

Re: Worlds of misunderstanding

You're right to some degree, there are a few types of people who get into Linux. I'd say three.

Those that want to get into it to use it as an alternative desktop OS to Windows. They just want it to work to browse the internet or play games or what ever. Maybe cos they don't want to pay for Windows, who knows.

The second group would be those that want to learn the actual OS side of things, they want to understand how it works be able to configure all the different aspects.

The third group would be those that HAVE to learn Linux for work purposes. These people may or may not actually want to learn it, and if they don't ease of use is really paramount for them.

As for if I think the ease of use will give newbies a solid grasp. No but that's not what's important about it.

If you're a newbie venturing into Linux for the first time you've potentially got two things to contend with. Not knowing how it works or how to use it, and not being comfortable with the feel of it.

If you can eliminate, or reduce, the issue of them being comfortable with the system, learning the actual inner workings of becomes that much easier due the confidence the comfortable experience will give them.

Considering that idea, look at the state of Debian vs Mint after a clean install.

The desktop environment you get from Debian is stark and lacking in a variety of features and options, to get a decent desktop experience you immediately have to start learning.

The desktop environment you get from Mint is polished and smooth and has everything you need to get started.

I think the point Roby was making is that it's not about him being a celebrity but more about the fact that since he's paraphrasing a well known film, it becomes far more obvious that it was not an actual threat.

Just like if I said that my opinion of Apple was "to nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure", most people would realise I was paraphrasing a film quote and not actually intending to engage in a nuclear weapons attack in Cupertino.

Where as if I said "Off to see some dodgy Russians later to buy a nuke to blow Apple HQ up" it would be far easier to think I might actually try and do that.

Regardless, the bit where he says "Unlike some people, I WILL find who hacked my account." adds a serious context to threat and should land him in trouble.

Re: Acronym

Not really a reply to my post though is it.....

Also not sure why I was downvoted. I just pointed out a technical error in the article.

Re: Does Samsung support Linux?

@AC Let me just fix that for you?

Does Samsung support Linux?

Yes, not specifically on this product but they contribute kernel code.

Did Samsung write the Linux driver that crashes?

The code used to compile the module came from Samsung.

Did Samsung install Linux?

No. But given they contribute code to the Linux Kernel to make it work with their laptops, perhaps they should of done so to test it?

If this happened with when installing Windows XP on the laptop, because XP contained an old Samsung driver that broke the UEFI firmware would you be blaming Microsoft or Samsung?

Re: There is a simple fix

"Did Samsung write it?"

Yup pretty much, the module is compiled from code samsung provided.

There's your explanation of why they now have to fix it......

Re: Well actually

It's not unrelated to the OS true, but as has been said the blame lies squarely with Samsung.

It should not be possible to kill a UEFI firmware simply due to loading a bad driver.

In fact the driver isn't even bad, it works fine on other models of laptop.

But whether you point to the UEFI or the kernel module as the cause, I'm pretty sure it's Samsung's fault since as far as I'm aware the samsung-laptop module is code actually code contributed to Linux by Samsung.

Re: DSGi always do well

Interesting though I'd be far more interested in seeing YOY comparisons for whole years though rather than just Christmas. Judging a business's performance solely on the Christmas period can be misleading.

As for your comment on margins, it really depends on the lines, I beleive that the margins on some of the larger goods such as TVs and washing machines are quite low. But other items are quite large, or should be.

SD memory cards just for example. 16GB Sandisk class 4 SD card is almost twice the price in PC World/Currys as it is at Play.com from various market place suppliers. Even if Dixons bought them in at retail price from these other suppliers, they could still sell them at nearly 100% profit.

Re: They're doing this backward...

Indeed, it is a delaying action at best. But that's hardly a compelling argument against doing it.

To argue otherwise is to also argue against fuel efficient cars because the oil will run out eventually anyway.

Re: Rip off

As I posted above, ITV (along with Channel 4 and Channel 5) do receive some of the licence fee.

It is only a very small proportion compared to what the BBC get, but they do get some.

Re: Rip off

The TV licence isn't a rip off if you watch anything on BBC channels, or even ITV, Channel 4 or Channel 5 as they all get a small proportion of the fee. It's even justifiable if you watch any Terrestrial RF or Satellite broadcast TV since some of the fee goes to pay the OFCOM licences for the RF frequencies.

That said, you should have a choice. There's no good reason I can see why you should need a TV licence if you have Virgin Media. The fees to the BBC should be part of the cost of the Virgin package, with no TV licence required, since there's no OFCOM licence fee for cabled broadcasting.

Re: WTF?

"There is no such thing as a digital signal, it's all broadcast using the exact same UHF channels as analogue - the box merely interprets the "1s and 0s" to make up the picture."

That statement is nonsense of the highest order. You've essentially just said digital doesn't exist and then gone on to explain how it does.