Dells are notorious for it. I'm not sure i'm even touching the trackpad when it happens, I think there is something so broken in their hardware or software that it's possible even vibrations from typing on the keyboard are setting it off.
I say this genuinely - go to the apple store and try one on a Macbook and be enlightened. This is how trackpads are supposed to work - the brain damage you get with PC trackpads just doesn't HAVE to be that way. Unfortunately, until you've used one that works, you don't understand. I used to be in the same camp and hated them since they came out, until I tried one with my mac. Now it is my preferred input device, unless I am gaming or drawing.
If you buy a trackpad that isn't garbage, they work pretty well. I feel no desire to carry a mouse with me for my Mac, and HATED trackpads with a passion until i switched. PC vendors need to get with the program, and spend the extra 15 cents apple does on whatever magic stuff they have in their trackpad (be it software, hardware or whatever).
Except in the process of implementing this new garbage they have broken search. Metro search doesn't know about desktop apps. It is also crippled to the extent that I can't even do simple stuff like search for a search term across all content types (like if i was, say... looking for file related to a particular project). Desktop search doesn't know about metro apps.
People with no clue keep claiming 'oh but the desktop is still there!", but the fact is that there are plenty of things broken between the two UI platforms, and other features that have been crippled - for no real benefit to outweigh the brain damage.
Actually, Vista was fast, stable and reliable if you ran it on appropriate hardware. The big problem people had with it was lack of driver support because it was new, and trying to run it on boxes with 1GB of RAM or less. Take vista today and run it on the same machine as Windows 7 and assuming the hardware is in any way competent (i.e., 4GB of RAM and supported disk controller / video card) it is much of a muchness.
Yup. Windows 7 = Vista with scheduler tweaks, copy of the display taken out of system RAM and held only in video memory (vista was a transitional OS and had copies of the display in both RAM and VRAM), a couple of tweaks to the UI here and there, and hardware / drivers catching up.
I ran Vista between 2006 and 2009 when 7 came out and Vista was fine.
The big fail will be in the enterprise. And here's why:
Even if we weren't dealing with an OS that cripples running multiple apps at the same time, even if we give everybody a touch screen, and they work well. Even if everybody's hardware is compatible, and we have all our applications certified as 100% compatible for free. Why will it fail? Because the new UI is a disjointed clusterfuck that is extremely different to the status quo (Windows 7 or in some cases XP). Introducing a new OS to an enterprise takes time - during which you are forced to support multiple operating systems at the same time. This support cost is going to cripple any deployment of Windows 8, and require a justification of epic proportions to allow it to be rolled out. And the advantages for the enterprise simply ARE NOT THERE.
The difference with Windows 8 is too large. With the trend towards web-apps that run on anything on the client end, with a UI change to this degree, we may as well consider alternatives to Windows, if we're going to change from Win7. But that will cost as well... so, Windows 7 it is until support runs out of something better, with a tangible benefit to offset the roll-out cost comes along.
Nicer hardware. Have yet to find an android phone that feels as nice in the hand as my 4-S. Also, apple hardware support - if you buy your devices outright with no plan (like we can in australia). Break your shit? Take it to apple and you get a new phone for fairly cheap. Last i did it, $280 bucks for a brand new replacement handset.
To clarify - since about 2003 ish? Linux has been fine usability wise. The hard stuff is stuff that end users don't mess with on Windows either. The problem is the lack of apps.. The lack of a standard "this WILL be available" UI. All the Linux distributions are currently doing is following Microsoft down the same path of FAIL, rather than providing a workable alternative.
Look - if i want to use a mountain of fail, I'll run windows. I don't need a half-assed clone of it that has no commercial applications.
Don't shy away from Linux's advantages, embrace them. Create something better. Just because apple or Microsoft have done something UI-wise, it does NOT mean it is good.
And as to the Ubuntu / Microsoft idea of running a single UI everywhere - no thanks. The entire reason UIs have evolved the way they do is to suit different form factors. Forcing the same fucking UI everywhere will just end up with a sub-optimal UI everywhere.
I already did. And I'm glad i did so. I still use WIndows 7 regularly for work (I'm an enterprise network guy), but as far as Windows 8 goes, it is the first major step BACKWARDS ui wise I have seen since I've been using and supporting Windows. Since 3.1.
This is the problem with Linux as well. IN an effort to make it "usable by my grandma!", and assuming that people's grandmas are fucking retarded, they are dumbing down the interface to the point of uselessness and breaking core functionality in the process. Newsflash! Grandma isn't a retard!
Like I said.... introduce it to people who know what they're doing. As in, people using it in a job, to earn money, and making use of more features than facebook, internet explorer and maybe a torrrent client.
If your machine isn't supposed to be doing http or https, then this is a warning sign. And yes, running firewalls internally is required in case one of your machines inside is compromised.
To clarify - you should be continually monitoring all your machines for unusual traffic. By unusual, i mean for example any traffic from a port that shouldn't be open. This is a good example of why it is safer to be fucking paranoid with your firewall rules on your edge, and do egress filtering as well as ingress - and be very specific with regards to what you open up and the source/destination as well as what ports you allow. If some daemon is running on a port that it shouldn't be running on, or connections are hitting your machine from unusual sources, you should be getting alarm bells going off.
You'd like to think so, but when things like this happen, you can see that having thousands of unqualified people looking at code and sometimes modifying it is not really any benefit to security at all.
So? You have root, write a script to change those flags,
Except you can't. The securelevel feature in FreeBSD (maybe others) disables the ability to write to files with the immutable bit set. The only way to write to these files is to reboot the box into single user mode, before the kernel securelevel is raised. Single user mode = no network running.
Setting securelevel is a one way thing, once it has been raised, you can not lower the securelevel.
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Dells are notorious for it. I'm not sure i'm even touching the trackpad when it happens, I think there is something so broken in their hardware or software that it's possible even vibrations from typing on the keyboard are setting it off.
I say this genuinely - go to the apple store and try one on a Macbook and be enlightened. This is how trackpads are supposed to work - the brain damage you get with PC trackpads just doesn't HAVE to be that way. Unfortunately, until you've used one that works, you don't understand. I used to be in the same camp and hated them since they came out, until I tried one with my mac. Now it is my preferred input device, unless I am gaming or drawing.
If you buy a trackpad that isn't garbage, they work pretty well. I feel no desire to carry a mouse with me for my Mac, and HATED trackpads with a passion until i switched. PC vendors need to get with the program, and spend the extra 15 cents apple does on whatever magic stuff they have in their trackpad (be it software, hardware or whatever).
Except in the process of implementing this new garbage they have broken search. Metro search doesn't know about desktop apps. It is also crippled to the extent that I can't even do simple stuff like search for a search term across all content types (like if i was, say... looking for file related to a particular project). Desktop search doesn't know about metro apps.
People with no clue keep claiming 'oh but the desktop is still there!", but the fact is that there are plenty of things broken between the two UI platforms, and other features that have been crippled - for no real benefit to outweigh the brain damage.
Actually, Vista was fast, stable and reliable if you ran it on appropriate hardware. The big problem people had with it was lack of driver support because it was new, and trying to run it on boxes with 1GB of RAM or less. Take vista today and run it on the same machine as Windows 7 and assuming the hardware is in any way competent (i.e., 4GB of RAM and supported disk controller / video card) it is much of a muchness.
Yup. Windows 7 = Vista with scheduler tweaks, copy of the display taken out of system RAM and held only in video memory (vista was a transitional OS and had copies of the display in both RAM and VRAM), a couple of tweaks to the UI here and there, and hardware / drivers catching up.
I ran Vista between 2006 and 2009 when 7 came out and Vista was fine.
Additionally... third party unsupported freeware to make the OS functional? Yeah, i'm sure that's going to fly in the enterprise...
The big fail will be in the enterprise. And here's why:
Even if we weren't dealing with an OS that cripples running multiple apps at the same time, even if we give everybody a touch screen, and they work well. Even if everybody's hardware is compatible, and we have all our applications certified as 100% compatible for free. Why will it fail? Because the new UI is a disjointed clusterfuck that is extremely different to the status quo (Windows 7 or in some cases XP). Introducing a new OS to an enterprise takes time - during which you are forced to support multiple operating systems at the same time. This support cost is going to cripple any deployment of Windows 8, and require a justification of epic proportions to allow it to be rolled out. And the advantages for the enterprise simply ARE NOT THERE.
The difference with Windows 8 is too large. With the trend towards web-apps that run on anything on the client end, with a UI change to this degree, we may as well consider alternatives to Windows, if we're going to change from Win7. But that will cost as well... so, Windows 7 it is until support runs out of something better, with a tangible benefit to offset the roll-out cost comes along.
Nicer hardware. Have yet to find an android phone that feels as nice in the hand as my 4-S. Also, apple hardware support - if you buy your devices outright with no plan (like we can in australia). Break your shit? Take it to apple and you get a new phone for fairly cheap. Last i did it, $280 bucks for a brand new replacement handset.
To clarify - since about 2003 ish? Linux has been fine usability wise. The hard stuff is stuff that end users don't mess with on Windows either. The problem is the lack of apps.. The lack of a standard "this WILL be available" UI. All the Linux distributions are currently doing is following Microsoft down the same path of FAIL, rather than providing a workable alternative.
Look - if i want to use a mountain of fail, I'll run windows. I don't need a half-assed clone of it that has no commercial applications.
Don't shy away from Linux's advantages, embrace them. Create something better. Just because apple or Microsoft have done something UI-wise, it does NOT mean it is good.
And as to the Ubuntu / Microsoft idea of running a single UI everywhere - no thanks. The entire reason UIs have evolved the way they do is to suit different form factors. Forcing the same fucking UI everywhere will just end up with a sub-optimal UI everywhere.
I already did. And I'm glad i did so. I still use WIndows 7 regularly for work (I'm an enterprise network guy), but as far as Windows 8 goes, it is the first major step BACKWARDS ui wise I have seen since I've been using and supporting Windows. Since 3.1.
This is the problem with Linux as well. IN an effort to make it "usable by my grandma!", and assuming that people's grandmas are fucking retarded, they are dumbing down the interface to the point of uselessness and breaking core functionality in the process. Newsflash! Grandma isn't a retard!
The rest of us also want to get things done!
Like I said.... introduce it to people who know what they're doing. As in, people using it in a job, to earn money, and making use of more features than facebook, internet explorer and maybe a torrrent client.
Because is broke search. Because the start screen breaks workflow. Because it has 2 horribly disjointed user interfaces.
Try introducing it to 4 people who know what they're doing and see how you go. It's a crippled piece of shit.
Also, even compiling from trusted source is no good if your compiler is compromised.
Yeah, and other operating systems do hashes for their binaries, too.
If your machine isn't supposed to be doing http or https, then this is a warning sign. And yes, running firewalls internally is required in case one of your machines inside is compromised.
To clarify - you should be continually monitoring all your machines for unusual traffic. By unusual, i mean for example any traffic from a port that shouldn't be open. This is a good example of why it is safer to be fucking paranoid with your firewall rules on your edge, and do egress filtering as well as ingress - and be very specific with regards to what you open up and the source/destination as well as what ports you allow. If some daemon is running on a port that it shouldn't be running on, or connections are hitting your machine from unusual sources, you should be getting alarm bells going off.
You'd like to think so, but when things like this happen, you can see that having thousands of unqualified people looking at code and sometimes modifying it is not really any benefit to security at all.
Except you can't. The securelevel feature in FreeBSD (maybe others) disables the ability to write to files with the immutable bit set. The only way to write to these files is to reboot the box into single user mode, before the kernel securelevel is raised. Single user mode = no network running.
Setting securelevel is a one way thing, once it has been raised, you can not lower the securelevel.
Passphrases on SSH keys are not the same as SSH passwords. They don't go over the wire.
You do network inspection and verify what the machine is doing over the wire matches what it SHOULD be doing over the wire.
Because the source server that feeds both could NEVER be compromised.