Vincent: What's this? Dr. Lamar: New Policy, what's the matter? Flight got you nervous. Vincent: Nope, there's a problem Lamar... Dr. Lamar:...I still haven't told you about my son have I. He's a big fan of yours... Vincent: Just remember. I was as good as any, and better than most... Dr. Lamar:...He wants to apply here... Vincent:...I could've gone up and back and nobody would've been the wiser... Dr. Lamar:...unfortunately my son's not all that they promised. But then again, who knows what he could do. [test reveals Vincent as invalid] Dr. Lamar: For future reference, right handed men don't hold it with their left. Just one of those things. [Lamar hits button revealing Jerome's valid i.d] Vincent: [Vincent stares into Lamar eyes, hesitating] Dr. Lamar: You're gonna miss your flight Vincent.
That's basically it. If you're not an administrator, you can't install programs, change system files, or look at the contents of other user's directories.
That means if you're running as a "user" - NOT a "power user" because they can install files too.
You should also disable the "Run As" service so you don't allow a malicious user to give themselves admin access. Check out Black Viper's homepage for windows configurations. You can generally cut out a LOT of crap.
I run as a "user" at home. It's a bit of a PITA sometimes, but it sure as hell beats Ubuntu.
I have to run as Admin at work because I write code. Did you know that in VS, if you're not an admin, you can write code but not run or debug it? How's THAT for awesome?
The bad guys have access to all the same tools you have. They can get their hands on ClamWin, Avast, AVG, etc. They have full access to Windows in any flavour, every variety of Mac OS, and the rainbow of Linux. These aren't script kiddies farting around in their parents' basement. The "bad guys" are groups of organized professionals that know more about your computer than you do.
THE MALWARE DOES NOT GET DETECTED BY ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE BECAUSE THE WRITERS TEST IT USING THE SAME TOOLS WE USE!
To completely harden your system against an intrusion, you have to patch every single hole and then guarantee that there are no more holes. Further, every program that you install on your computer has to be guaranteed to have no holes. Finally, all your hardware (AND its firmware, I'm looking at YOU, 2-wire!) has to pass the same test - NO HOLES! Ask MS how happy they were with the folks who made GoldenEye.
To hack into a system, you merely have to find ONE hole. That's it. You're banking the health of your computer on the hopes that not one single person has put in an exploitable bug. Nobody on sourceforge made an error. None of the "featured articles" on TDWTF are in your code. None of the lowest bidders from Elbonia pasted together snippets from codesamples.com. All your pointers are bound, all the copying templates are limited (K&R, I'm calling YOU out on this!), and your multi-threaded application is coded properly. Did someone stay up until midnight to meet an arbitrary deadline? Is your program "good enough for who it's for"?
And you, just now, said, "I want to spend as little as possible on my security systems". Now, I fully agree that the free alternatives are significantly better than the ones that come bundled with your HP-branded Staples Windows Vista Ultimate Ice-Cream PC (Printer Included with Bundle). But the attitude is, "I'll slap on a few quick and easily downloadable programs and call my system secure." The bad guys get these programs too, and they probably know them as well, or better than, the authours.
One error, anywhere, and your security becomes "by obscurity". That's really what I use at work and at home. I don't have anything valuable on my computer, and I am not a worthwhile target for phishing, exploiting, hacking, etc.
Any system is exploitable. One error. That's all it takes.
Heh, I usually have a Mimic guarding an illusory Orc.
But yes, you're right, there are places I can walk to. There's a horticulture centre nearby, and I even bought a season pass so I can go there any time I want. (Last week, I took my daughter to a lunchtime picnic there.) My last job was just a lot more convenient to get out, probably because nobody cared when I wasn't around.
At least there's no stores nearby. My first job was across the street from a Tim Horton's.
I used to weigh about 250 pounds. My current weight is about 180. The majority of the weight I lost was when I was an omnivore. It wasn't a wholesale change in my diet, it was a vast increase in exercise.
I have gained about 10 pounds since I left my last job, but that's because my old job was a 25 minute bike ride away and I'd walk around at lunch.
My new job is a 10 minute drive (I take the kids to daycare now) and I don't really have anywhere to walk to.
That was exactly my point, but I should have taken it a bit further. It's like saying that shoplifters aren't allowed to go to the hospital, or even to prison, since those are both buildings. And yes, I know that copyright infringement isn't theft. If you take a careful look at the ads, they even say so. "Copyright infringement is stealing. (in their opinion) Stealing is a crime. (fact) Copyright infringement is therefore... (false logic, implied in the ads.)
Now, if a shoplifter was to steal from an open-air market (yeah, okay, assuming there's a black market for tie-dyed shirts and handmade magnets), then they couldn't go outside for any reason.
The point wasn't to lament my conditions, rather to point out that there are a lot of pompous prima donnas out there. "I must have 3 widescreen monitors, or else I can't work. And green M&Ms."
My first office was an old storage closet - 4 x 10 feet, with a window to the hallway. If you had the door open, the window was blocked.
Recognition and declaration of rights and freedoms
1. It is hereby recognized and declared that in Canada there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, national origin, colour, religion or sex, the following human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely,
(a) the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property, and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;
(b) the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;
it's time for internet access to be considered a civil right, to be suspended only for those genuinely too dangerous to remain at large.
Denying internet access isn't like a sentence of probation anymore; it's more akin to house arrest and should only be applied when the punishment fits the crime. Indeed.
Now, who gets to say what is "too dangerous" to be allowed Internet access?
Let's say I download (and legally, I might add) several gigs of mp3s. Apparently, this is causing millions of dollars in damages. Therefore, if I continue to have internet access, I am personally costing various industries millions of dollars a day!
I'm a dangerous person. I'm exactly like a professional shoplifter. Except, weirdly enough, those guys still get to buy groceries FROM STORES.
When you create a work, you also maintain and keep the moral rights to the work. That basically means that another person can't modify the work.
You can not assign the moral rights to another person. You can waive them or enforce them. If you don't act to enforce your rights, then you give them up by your actions.
There's an example where a sculptor created a flock of geese in a mall for decoration. For one Christmas season, the mall tied ribbons around the necks of the geese. The artist sued the mall and won, because it violated his moral rights to the work.
IANAL. I just know the difference between copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design, and trade secrets.
Yep, I had problems with GG on my 1.8GHz machine because I've got an ATI card (9200). I had to go back to Win2k because I wanted more than a 1024x768 @60Hz resolution.
It was my fault for having an ATI card.
It was ATI's fault for having proprietary drivers.
It was ATI's fault for being an unprofessional company.
It was my fault for not knowing how to use a computer properly. (I started programming 23 years ago, in 1985, when I was eight. I've set up Asterisk servers from an SSH session. I've got life-critical code in worldwide use. &etc.)
I want to run Ubuntu. I'd like to give my old laptop a little more life. I'd like to have my personal desktop PC work a little more securely.
It has to WORK! though. I want to give it another try, but I don't want to waste another week farting around with a stupid system without support for my system.
Now watch, I'll have people responding saying, "ATI works on my machine. I've got an enterprise-level system. It must be on your end. You should buy a better video card since ATI didn't release the right drivers and it's hard to work with them."
Showing it to your neighbour can be considered "publication". Some countries (like the US and Canada) give you that 1-year grace period between publication and filing. Other countries don't do that. Publish = public.
IANAL either. I was studying patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, integrated circuit topographies, and trade secrets for an exam yesterday.
Have you heard of Habitat for Humanity? Gobs of people with some talent in home repairs volunteer their time to fix up housing projects. A few of them are licenced contractors. Most are people who just picked stuff up along the way.
The home repairs still have to get inspected before people can move in. The same goes with any DIY repair. If you put up a new dividing wall or an addition, you have to get a permit and get it checked out before you paint it.
So, I'm not saying that nobody should get to program without a licence. (After all, how would my 8-year-old-self have done so?) Programs that are publicly distributed should require someone to sign off on them. There's a lot of absolute shit out there passed off as decent code.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, the Supreme Court of Canada would overturn the law - when it gets there.
It'll cost you seven figures to get there.
Just to be a dick:
...I still haven't told you about my son have I. He's a big fan of yours... ...He wants to apply here... ...I could've gone up and back and nobody would've been the wiser... ...unfortunately my son's not all that they promised. But then again, who knows what he could do.
Vincent: What's this?
Dr. Lamar: New Policy, what's the matter? Flight got you nervous.
Vincent: Nope, there's a problem Lamar...
Dr. Lamar:
Vincent: Just remember. I was as good as any, and better than most...
Dr. Lamar:
Vincent:
Dr. Lamar:
[test reveals Vincent as invalid]
Dr. Lamar: For future reference, right handed men don't hold it with their left. Just one of those things.
[Lamar hits button revealing Jerome's valid i.d]
Vincent: [Vincent stares into Lamar eyes, hesitating]
Dr. Lamar: You're gonna miss your flight Vincent.
Touché.
Edit: Stupid UNICODE.
Three words:
Power on LAN.
That's basically it. If you're not an administrator, you can't install programs, change system files, or look at the contents of other user's directories.
That means if you're running as a "user" - NOT a "power user" because they can install files too.
You should also disable the "Run As" service so you don't allow a malicious user to give themselves admin access. Check out Black Viper's homepage for windows configurations. You can generally cut out a LOT of crap.
I run as a "user" at home. It's a bit of a PITA sometimes, but it sure as hell beats Ubuntu.
I have to run as Admin at work because I write code. Did you know that in VS, if you're not an admin, you can write code but not run or debug it? How's THAT for awesome?
Don't you get it?
The bad guys have access to all the same tools you have. They can get their hands on ClamWin, Avast, AVG, etc. They have full access to Windows in any flavour, every variety of Mac OS, and the rainbow of Linux. These aren't script kiddies farting around in their parents' basement. The "bad guys" are groups of organized professionals that know more about your computer than you do.
THE MALWARE DOES NOT GET DETECTED BY ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE BECAUSE THE WRITERS TEST IT USING THE SAME TOOLS WE USE!
To completely harden your system against an intrusion, you have to patch every single hole and then guarantee that there are no more holes. Further, every program that you install on your computer has to be guaranteed to have no holes. Finally, all your hardware (AND its firmware, I'm looking at YOU, 2-wire!) has to pass the same test - NO HOLES! Ask MS how happy they were with the folks who made GoldenEye.
To hack into a system, you merely have to find ONE hole. That's it. You're banking the health of your computer on the hopes that not one single person has put in an exploitable bug. Nobody on sourceforge made an error. None of the "featured articles" on TDWTF are in your code. None of the lowest bidders from Elbonia pasted together snippets from codesamples.com. All your pointers are bound, all the copying templates are limited (K&R, I'm calling YOU out on this!), and your multi-threaded application is coded properly. Did someone stay up until midnight to meet an arbitrary deadline? Is your program "good enough for who it's for"?
And you, just now, said, "I want to spend as little as possible on my security systems". Now, I fully agree that the free alternatives are significantly better than the ones that come bundled with your HP-branded Staples Windows Vista Ultimate Ice-Cream PC (Printer Included with Bundle). But the attitude is, "I'll slap on a few quick and easily downloadable programs and call my system secure." The bad guys get these programs too, and they probably know them as well, or better than, the authours.
One error, anywhere, and your security becomes "by obscurity". That's really what I use at work and at home. I don't have anything valuable on my computer, and I am not a worthwhile target for phishing, exploiting, hacking, etc.
Any system is exploitable. One error. That's all it takes.
Heh, I usually have a Mimic guarding an illusory Orc.
But yes, you're right, there are places I can walk to. There's a horticulture centre nearby, and I even bought a season pass so I can go there any time I want. (Last week, I took my daughter to a lunchtime picnic there.) My last job was just a lot more convenient to get out, probably because nobody cared when I wasn't around.
At least there's no stores nearby. My first job was across the street from a Tim Horton's.
I'm a vegetarian.
I used to weigh about 250 pounds. My current weight is about 180. The majority of the weight I lost was when I was an omnivore. It wasn't a wholesale change in my diet, it was a vast increase in exercise.
I have gained about 10 pounds since I left my last job, but that's because my old job was a 25 minute bike ride away and I'd walk around at lunch.
My new job is a 10 minute drive (I take the kids to daycare now) and I don't really have anywhere to walk to.
Those are similes. Similes use like or as.
Or, in this case, like a smartass.
That was exactly my point, but I should have taken it a bit further. It's like saying that shoplifters aren't allowed to go to the hospital, or even to prison, since those are both buildings. And yes, I know that copyright infringement isn't theft. If you take a careful look at the ads, they even say so. "Copyright infringement is stealing. (in their opinion) Stealing is a crime. (fact) Copyright infringement is therefore... (false logic, implied in the ads.)
Now, if a shoplifter was to steal from an open-air market (yeah, okay, assuming there's a black market for tie-dyed shirts and handmade magnets), then they couldn't go outside for any reason.
Wasn't that a movie?
Heh.
The point wasn't to lament my conditions, rather to point out that there are a lot of pompous prima donnas out there. "I must have 3 widescreen monitors, or else I can't work. And green M&Ms."
My first office was an old storage closet - 4 x 10 feet, with a window to the hallway. If you had the door open, the window was blocked.
The hell it isn't!
We've got a Bill of Rights here, and I quote from it:
PART I
BILL OF RIGHTS
Recognition and declaration of rights and freedoms
1. It is hereby recognized and declared that in Canada there have existed and shall continue to exist without discrimination by reason of race, national origin, colour, religion or sex, the following human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely,
(a) the right of the individual to life, liberty, security of the person and enjoyment of property, and the right not to be deprived thereof except by due process of law;
(b) the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law;
(c) freedom of religion;
(d) freedom of speech; (emphasis mine)
(e) freedom of assembly and association; and
(f) freedom of the press.
Denying internet access isn't like a sentence of probation anymore; it's more akin to house arrest and should only be applied when the punishment fits the crime. Indeed.
Now, who gets to say what is "too dangerous" to be allowed Internet access?
Let's say I download (and legally, I might add) several gigs of mp3s. Apparently, this is causing millions of dollars in damages. Therefore, if I continue to have internet access, I am personally costing various industries millions of dollars a day!
I'm a dangerous person. I'm exactly like a professional shoplifter. Except, weirdly enough, those guys still get to buy groceries FROM STORES.
As always, contact your local MP.
Where I work:
In a garage. It's 24' x 24'.
With 2-3 other people.
There's a lathe and a milling machine, which are often on when I'm working. I have to wear earplugs.
I have one 17" CRT monitor.
There's no toilet. Just a porta-potty.
There are, of course, no workout facilities, beer kegs, etc. There's a fridge and a microwave.
And yes, I'm writing code.
That's normal.
When you create a work, you also maintain and keep the moral rights to the work. That basically means that another person can't modify the work.
You can not assign the moral rights to another person. You can waive them or enforce them. If you don't act to enforce your rights, then you give them up by your actions.
There's an example where a sculptor created a flock of geese in a mall for decoration. For one Christmas season, the mall tied ribbons around the necks of the geese. The artist sued the mall and won, because it violated his moral rights to the work.
IANAL. I just know the difference between copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design, and trade secrets.
I'll try HH out and see if there's enough support for ATI cards. I don't have an nVidia card.
;)
If a dialog box that was supposed to pop up doesn't, then I'll file a bug report. Assuming, of course, I can get it to reproduce.
Would you like a cookie?
I thought it was an emoticon:
XP
Yep, I had problems with GG on my 1.8GHz machine because I've got an ATI card (9200). I had to go back to Win2k because I wanted more than a 1024x768 @60Hz resolution.
It was my fault for having an ATI card.
It was ATI's fault for having proprietary drivers.
It was ATI's fault for being an unprofessional company.
It was my fault for not knowing how to use a computer properly. (I started programming 23 years ago, in 1985, when I was eight. I've set up Asterisk servers from an SSH session. I've got life-critical code in worldwide use. &etc.)
I want to run Ubuntu. I'd like to give my old laptop a little more life. I'd like to have my personal desktop PC work a little more securely.
It has to WORK! though. I want to give it another try, but I don't want to waste another week farting around with a stupid system without support for my system.
Now watch, I'll have people responding saying, "ATI works on my machine. I've got an enterprise-level system. It must be on your end. You should buy a better video card since ATI didn't release the right drivers and it's hard to work with them."
Nipples aren't intuitive interfaces. Both moms and babies have to learn how to nurse, and it's an important part of prenatal classes.
If it's not done correctly, you end up with hungry babies and sore moms.
I Â Unicode!
Showing it to your neighbour can be considered "publication". Some countries (like the US and Canada) give you that 1-year grace period between publication and filing. Other countries don't do that. Publish = public.
IANAL either. I was studying patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, integrated circuit topographies, and trade secrets for an exam yesterday.
For the last time:
You are NOT a taxpayer.
YOU ARE A CITIZEN.
I'm replying to both of you here.
Have you heard of Habitat for Humanity? Gobs of people with some talent in home repairs volunteer their time to fix up housing projects. A few of them are licenced contractors. Most are people who just picked stuff up along the way.
The home repairs still have to get inspected before people can move in. The same goes with any DIY repair. If you put up a new dividing wall or an addition, you have to get a permit and get it checked out before you paint it.
So, I'm not saying that nobody should get to program without a licence. (After all, how would my 8-year-old-self have done so?) Programs that are publicly distributed should require someone to sign off on them. There's a lot of absolute shit out there passed off as decent code.