Slashdot Mirror

I use cookies, but I'm very nazi-ish about which ones I let stay. I block all 3rd party cookies, and I use a local http proxy to make sure none sneak through with underhanded iframe html and other things of that nature. Also, any time I see an annoying banner ad, i grab the url from the source of the page and add it to my hosts file block list (made easy with Hoster: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Hoster_d4626.html). Would that it were easier to manage these things, but unfortunately the internet isn't a perfect place.

For those that dont understand 3rd party vs 1st party cookies... the difference is this:

the way these tracking cookies work is when you're visiting site A, site A has a banner from site Z. If you have 3rd party cookies enabled, not only can site A set a cookie to your harddrive, so can site Z. Now, you go to site B which also uses site Z's ads... and site Z can see you were also at site A. Block 3rd party cookies however, and you cant get a cookie from site Z unless you actually VISIT site Z.

Disabling 3rd party cookies lets you keep their useful functions (login information at ebay, etc) and restrict the illegitimate ones (tracking my useage)

You can download the original removal tool here (no longer updated): http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html

You can download the currently maintained removal tool here, as intermute took over development from merjin and was aquired by trend micro: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Trend_Micro_CWShredder_d 3019.html

You can download the original removal tool here (no longer updated): http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html

You can download the currently maintained removal tool here, as intermute took over development from merjin and was aquired by trend micro: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Trend_Micro_CWShredder_d 3019.html

I submitted this as a story back on June 4. Since it was rejected (too verbose?), I posted it to my /. journal. My main question to other folks relates to how this would compare to using a regular ramdisk. The main deficiency with a ramdisk is that you'd have to reload the contents every time you reboot. Here's my article, with all its links:

Giga-byte Technology recently came out with a DRAM-based PC card that operates as a SATA hard drive. The product, iRAM, uses power from the motherboard to keep memory active when the system is shut down. During power outages, the product uses a on-board battery to retain memory for up to 90 minutes. The iRAM card is being talked about in the news (InfoWorld, itWorldCanada, engadget, PCWorld, multiplay forum) as a means of booting Windows faster. That is, you install Windows onto the iRAM drive to take advantage of the RAM's faster read-access time. Just hope that you don't lose power for more than 90 minutes.

Is boot time really that important, since many computers are on all the time? A ramdisk might have better uses, perhaps for caching frequently-accessed files such as databases and webservers. Or, if you insist on having faster bootup, instead of putting Windows on the iRAM disk, why not just store the hibernation file there?

I implemented a RAM-based database for an internet tool in 1998 to alleviate the read/write load on my local hard drive. It turned out to be a simple solution for the problem. At the time, it was just a matter of using a DOS-based ramdisk driver (ramdisk.sys). On application startup, it copied the database files to the ramdisk. During operation, everything was read/written to the ramdisk, and periodic backups were made to the physical disk. There are some inherent risks, such as loss of data during a crash since data isn't immediately written to a physical hard drive, so it may not be a great solution for a mission-critical production database. The iRAM product would make this type of database even more stable, in that the risk of loss of data is much less.

That was a while ago, so I thought I'd look into setting up a ramdisk in XP for some amusement. Follows are the results of that search. It seems that the options are relatively sparse beyond the DOS-based driver. A few freeware and commercial packages are available, though. One key factor beyond price is the size limit of ramdisk.

Microsoft's ramdisk offerings since Win2k are limited. Included with the XP OS is a ramdisk sample driver that "provides an example of a minimal driver. Neither the driver nor the sample programs are intended for use in a production environment. Rather, they are intended for educational purposes and as a skeletal version of a driver." Installation isn't simple enough for most users to benefit.

Alternatives include a shareware ramdisk, AR ramdisk (archive link: http://web.archive.org/web/20041011170408/http:/ww w.arsoft-online.de/products/product.php?id=1) (freeware, 2GB limit, discontinued, available for download here), a freeware (64MB limit) and shareware (2GB limit) version here,

Google have closed their downloads for Earth.
See http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4659.html for mirrors.
Not sure which version is the latest, but MajorGeeks have "Google Earth 3.0.0336 Beta"

"An hour. Seriously? I don't know if I've spent an hour /total/ removing spyware."

Well i work for a fair sized company i would say that a typical mywebsearch, comet cursor, 180solutions, screensaver inc, etc spyware infection takes about 20 minutes to disinfect.

for this i would be using
hijack this
spybot search and destroy
and the microsoft anti spyware

Oh and the most important thing is to do it from SAFE MODE with network. I would recomend installing and running all those tools from safe mode. This includes downloading the updates. The only exception would be the microsoft one since it needs WMI to install which does not work in safemode.

I also like and use Desktop Sidebar when I have to boot to XP.

Try this one.

When cleaning a PC I tend to use Spybot, AdAware, Startup.exe (don't know where this comes from) and Hijack this.

I'm sure if you have a read through the rest of the comments you will find some other useful stuff, but these four are golden. Especially if you have a legit copy of AdAware Pro with AdWatch in.
AdWatch can cause confusion for (l)users, being another box that pops up for them to think about, but on your system it is the canine's testicles.

* Note:
There is a huge collection of Spyware tools hosted @ MajorGeeks.com, where I downloaded AdAware from.

Since the site was slashdotted before it was even posted to non-subscribers you can go here if you want to download it:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4222.html

Mirror on Majorgeeks: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4222.html

Real has been doing a good job of turning themselves around recently. They've gone from one of the most bloated, dated, spyware-riddled, unstable, closed application to a less-bloated, more modern, more reliable application. Real went from being a colonizer of people's machines to a well-behaved tool. I've even started using their app again to play back Real files (despite the existence of Real Alternative).

And now they have a linux client. And they paid Thompson for MP3 playback rights on their Linux app to boot. They are a major desktop player and they're now supporting Linux. Good for them.

Dear Slashdot: get some perspective. This is a good thing for Linux, which somebody at Real decided to stick their neck out to do. Grow up a little and accept that non-Stallman software can be a good thing for the platform.

You can still download YzDock from some places, http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2790 it was neat but not rock solid as you'd expect for a version 0.8. Why would the mighty Apple be offended by such a thing? A) A threat to their IP B) It showed PC Users a cool Mac feature C) Some laywer had a few minutes to kill

For Windows, use BootVis. Comes very handy to figure out what driver is pausing the boot process for 5 minutes...

For bonus points, explain why Microsoft pulled it from its website.

Real Alternative. Play real without installing the evil real

however, their html-based player just uses rpm (real) files. view-source, find the rpm file and use that in realplayer and you can rewind to your heart's content.

Yeah I do that sometimes but if I do I use Real Alternative an er... alternative to RealPlayer (Win).

I just really object to jumping through hoops to listen to output that was paid for by the public. Also it's ridiculous that an organisation as large as the Beeb can't sort out their rights management. Practically, they're the only stations with national coverage and (last time I listened) they were rigidly adhering to set playlists on Radio 1, promoting the same ten or so songs throughout most of the day. Given this, if they can't negotiate useful terms then they should really stop taxing the great British Public.

I'll believe the value of dirac when I see it in use. Cynics might say that projects such as dirac and the talk of access to the archives is directly linked to the expiry of the charter in 2006 and they've just woken up and realised they need to win public support.

Star Downloader - good download manager, freeware (there's also a "Pro" version available), no spyware/adware/crapware bundled, uses a BHO for integration into IE. Handy program - I've been using it for over a year now.

Majorgeeks. there are other mirrors aound, too.

Mirrors of the 10.5meg patch are here, here, and here

I work in a campus Student Computing Helpdesk, and with the scans we run on most of the computers brought in, about 80-90% have a virus, trojan, or downloader (as found by AVG). I *never* see a computer where Spybot cannot find spyware, though to be fair, it will also find cookies and shortcuts. The computers that really worry me are the 25% that have a browser hijacker, such as CoolWeb. I've seen ones where every page request will redirect you to incredifind.com. We use CWShredder to clear up those. Side note: If you remove spyware from your computer and suddenly all your internet applications stop working, you possibly removed a spyware program that had rooted itself into Winsock. Try WinsockFix to clear that up.

Real Networks posted the instructions on dealing with security flaws.

A better way to deal with these security flaws (and the bloated piece of crap that is RealPlayer) is to uninstall RealPlayer and download Real Alternative.

From what I've seen, the release is not all that imminent, considering that this page was originally letting you download RC 3 of the beta, and it's currently on RC 10. I don't quite think they're done with it, sir.

From what I heard AOL rushed out the release of Winamp 3, which is why it was such a piece of shit. But the Winamp 5 Beta RC 10 seems to have combined the few redeeming features of Winamp 3 with the functionality and non memory whoringness of Winamp 2....while being compatible with plugins and skins from both versions.

Yes, it is an old program. It still works for me, but then I am still using Win 98 and Win 2000 on my computers. Never moved to XP.

I just tested the download from the link that I provided and it still works for me.

There are more details here http://www.wirehub.nl/~technica/3dtop/home.html but, unfortunately, the Developer moved on to create some rather "new age-ish" biofeedback programs, rather than concentrating on 3Dtop ... So, this program is no longer supported. The link above gives an old version of the program, while the majorgeek link http://www.majorgeeks.com/download186.html lets you download a newer and much more powerful version.

If you have access to an older version of Windows, do have a look at the program. It is worth it.

One of the programs that was really the visual inspiration behind the framework presented in my doctoral thesis was 3Dtop http://www.majorgeeks.com/download186.html

A review is given at the link I have provided, but this program was really the marvel of simplicity. It is only 356 KB (yes k), and truly converts all the files and folders on you computer into a 3D space.

If you are ready to re-INTERPRET what you normally store in a folder of file, so that it now fits this visual space, it is extrememly powerful.

For a person just starting off, the novelty of 3Dtop wears off pretty quickly because you easily get lost, and it looks just like eye candy, but if you REinterpret what the folders and files should contain, it becomes a very very powerful cognitive space.

Please don't flame me if you don't understand what I am saying, but as a last point, I would like to mention that as our cognitive space (displayed in the electronic space on the desktop) has no real correspondence to physical 3D space, it becomes hard to impose "laws" (like physical laws) and hence the electronic space almost becomes infinite, and really disorienting. One way to build laws is to recognize that (in Windows) the Desktop itself is a folder, which contains My Computer, which has the C:\ drive, which has windows, which has Desktop again ... it is this Russian Doll like relationship between two Desktop views that provides the backbone for building the laws that are equivalent of the "physical space" for the electronic and cognitive space ....

Nokia Monitor Test is the best free tool I have found for testing monitors.

Get it from Major Geeks

there is only so many times in a day you can "go make coffee" or "check your email".

Geek Slack List

• http://www.subgenius.com/
• http://www.slackersguild.com/
• BBC News
• http://www.memepool.com/
• http://www.plastic.com/
• http://www.arstechnica.com/
• http://www.metafilter.com/
• http://www.techdirt.com/
• http://www.bottomquark.com/ (Science News)
• http://newsforge.com/
• http://www.theregister.co.uk/
• http://www.anandtech.com/
• http://www.bjorn3d.com/
• http://cellar.org - Image of the Day
• http://www.collegehumor.com/
• http://www.everything2.com/
• http://www.kuro5hin.org/
• http://www.theonion.com/
• NASA - Astronomy Picutre of the Day
• http://www.majorgeeks.com - Windows Shareware / Freeware
• http://www.advogato.org/
• http://www.sweetcode.org/
• http://www.disinfo.com/ - Disinformation
• http://www.somethingawful.com/
• http://www.astronomynow.com/ - Astronomy News
• http://www.aip.org/ - American Institue of Physics - News
• http://www.adequacy.org/

• The Effects of Moore's Law and Slacking 1 on Large Computations

Hope this helps =)