Re:It's not just the shady companies
on
The Spyware Inferno
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Set NTFS rights to the file to DENY for yourself or some subgroup. Deny rights take precedence.
Here's a complementary tip which will work on FAT32, all versions of Windows, and most other operating systems. If an application keeps creating a file or directory you don't want it to, delete the offending file or directory, create a new one with the same name, and set its read-only attribute. On most unices, chmod 000 will do just fine; on Windows just right-click and get the properties; on a Mac (including OS X) do Get Info and tick the "Locked" checkbox.
Bonus points to anyone who reads this and thinks "thaumaturgy.log"...:)
My favorite use for this is AOL Instant Messenger. While I love the app, it has an insatiable desire to create a directory named "filelib" within the HKCU's "My Documents," even if you never use the program's file transfer capabilities. "filelib" gets further populated with subdirectories named after each screen name you use. To fix this: exit AIM, delete the "filelib" directory, create a file named "filelib" inside of "My Documents," and set it to read-only. AIM will no longer create its unneeded tree there.
The same trick works to permanently prevent Windows ME from writing its subdirectories into C:\_RESTORE. Those who are familiar with this lovely feature, and who share the frustration that disabling it doesn't really disable it, may find this advice useful. I don't recall the subdirectory names, fortunately it's been awhile since I've had to deal with WinME.
My Documents\Application Data is another location where this comes in handy. Some versions of Windows Media Player write out a datafile on exit which contains MRU file lists among other things. I believe that some Adobe products used to write their MRUs to data files in AppData also, none installed so I can't double check.
Of course there are times when this trick won't work, several spyware apps tend to infest a system so deeply such that a) if you delete a component, another running component notices and immediately writes out a new copy; or b) some or all components run in a manner where attempting to delete them gives an error that the file is in use by the system. Safe mode, Ad-Aware, Spybot, and HijackThis - sometimes a combination of all of the above - will take care of these cretin.
And what happens when the system is infested with spyware?
Ah, but Microsoft thought about this in advance. See, "numerous networking features [were] removed" is a feature, designed with the convenience and security of users in mind. With XP Starter Edition's limited networking capabilities, the system can't possibly become infested with spyware!
if you use verizons voicemail service, they store the calls, does that mean verizon can listen if they want to?
Text messages sent by Kobe Bryant's accuser more than a year ago are potentially going to be introduced as evidence at trial. I don't know if telcos bother to keep your voice mail messages around forever, but it's obvious that they're logging SMS...
Next time you look at the aol messenger, just check out all the stupid ads that that thing has! And those annoying sounds!
I know you're trolling, but I'll bite anyway. I haven't seen an AIM ad in a long, long time. Of course, maybe that's because I'm running AIM version 4.8.2616 (Copyright 2001), which you can download at oldversion. It supports all of the AIM essentials, including messaging (obviously), chat, file transfer, stock ticker, IM Image, "AIM Phone" voice chat, and all the craptastic buddy icons your friends can find.
I don't know what sort of bloated junk they're pumping out as the AIM client these days, but ignore it. You're smart enough not to fall for some sort of viral IM, so forget the "latest and greatest," even with a vulnfix. Get one of the legacy builds. 4.8 works fine, has no ads, and oh - it allows you to change or disable the sounds.
Slickest, smallest, least intrusive messaging app I've ever found, and it has the most intuitive UI of any I've tried (including both Gaim and Trillian). That's why I use AIM and not ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, etc.
Apple's pitch has always been that you should buy an Apple computer, not that you should replace Microsoft's OS with theirs.
That's funny, I thought that replacing Microsoft's OS (albeit not on the same hardware) with Apple's was the entire point of a very large advertising campaign.
Actually, it appears that I misread, this isn't an international competition, but a British award which branched out this year due to egregious offenses in other nations. But my comment about Ashcroft stands.
that John Ashcroft didn't take the "Worst Public Servant" prize.
I realize that this is an international competition, and certainly the idea of tracking kids and trying to determine which of them are most likely to become criminals (this was covered previously on Slashdot, but I can't manage to find a link) is abhorrent. But I believe Ashcroft is most deserving of "Worst Public Servant," worldwide.
The GWB admin shot it down and then last year allocated the same program at UT to research the problem here.
In other words, next time the current administration accuses John Kerry of being a "flip-flopper," there's now yet another cogent, clear, and provable counterargument?
I'd be interested in more details about the UT study and its political history.
Over the past 5 years or so, I've lost 5 NICs to lightning. More recently, I lost an 80 gig HD this year to lightning. In all cases, there were APC surge protectors between the wall and the affected PCs.
I don't fault APC: my machines are up 24/7/365 aside from power outages, and we get a shitload of lightning in this area. All but one of the losses were at the apartment, I've taken direct hits at the house (mostly to the chimney) and didn't lose anything. I think wiring issues at the apartment were to blame for the majority of the problems.
I've learned to always keep a backup fresh NIC around, though. Lightning is a bitch.
Think of all the spam that one of these accounts could hold.
I set up a Gmail account just over a month ago (on June 23rd). After I used it for a couple of test messages with friends, I set up a few of my most spammed email accounts to forward to Gmail. As of now, I have 67497 spam messages, using 360 MB (36%) of my 1000 MB.
Gmail has gotten better at catching spam on its own, but it's not great yet. I use SpamAssassin and score anything over 6.1 as spam. Gmail sends stuff with scores as high as 8 straight to my inbox. Granted, it's easy to set up a system that works for me; it's hard to set up a system that works for everyone.
One thing I've found really interesting is the ability to instantly search through 67,000+ spams! It's amazing how prolific the "random words to defeat Bayesian filters" spam tactic has gone. Just about every word I've tried appears somewhere within the contents of 67,000 spams...
Search results for: in:anywhere anthropomorphic 1 - 20 of about 80
Search results for: in:anywhere antagonistic 1 - 20 of about 150
Search results for: in:anywhere necromancy 1 - 20 of 61
Search results for: in:anywhere juxtaposition 1 - 20 of 58
Search results for: in:anywhere loquacious 1 - 20 of 51
It's crazy. I wasted a few minutes last week searching through my Gmail spam archive trying to find a word that didn't appear anywhere, and came up with very few successes. If nothing else, Gmail is probably the world's biggest and most accurate archive of spam.
What if I 'allegedly threaten' to watch my sister change? Will I get arrested for being a pervert?
Probably not, unless your alleged sister alleges that you watched her changing, or unless you allegedly post pictures of your sister changing online. But we can't know for sure until we see the alleged photos. Have you allegedly tried Gnutella, and if so, what are the alleged filenames?
*The preceding post alleges that your sister is of legal age.
If this recording enters the public domain, what incentive will Elvis have to produce new music?
As a Memphian, I hope the answer is "none." We already get invaded twice a year (once for Elvis Birth Week, and once for Elvis Death Week with Maximum Candlelight Vigil Ceremony Love), that's plenty. Last week we had the additional influx of tourists bleating about "That's All Right's" 50th anniversary and the worldwide coverage it brought. It's actually rather interesting that nobody mentioned that a copyright was lapsing - particularly on that song - until after the fact...
Anyway, if it turns out that Elvis is still alive, and he records a duet with Tupac or Biggie, my head is going to explode. No more incentives for Elvis to produce new music, please:)
Jamieson added, "The end of the sound recording copyright on the explosion of British popular music in the late '50s and '60s, not just the Beatles, but many other British artists, is only a short period away. If nothing is done they will suffer loss of income not just for their sales in the U.K. but their sales across the globe."
Pardon me, but so fucking what?
The late '50s and '60s was more than 40 years ago! Who guaranteed anyone a right to still be profiting from music recorded before man set foot on the moon, especially when those artists are no longer around? The living Beatles, the heirs to Elvis Presley Enterprises, and anyone else who has been suckling at the copyright teat for 40 years should be grateful for what they have. Quit whining about "loss of income" from something you didn't lift a finger to produce.
I'm lucky to be paid a decent wage for the work I do today, and I'll consider myself fortunate if my job is still around next month. I sure as hell don't have any expectation that, 40 years from now, I'll still be making money from something I did today! Much less that my kids, if I ever choose to have any, will see any benefit beyond what I manage to save up and pass on to them. Even pension plans are a dying breed here in the US; when once a widow could count on her husband's years of duty to his company to provide some meager living for her when she survived him, nowadays it's generally left up to Social Security.
Why, then, is it so different when it comes to copyrighted works, music in particular? Why is it that the descendants of dead musicians feel that they're due millions of dollars for their parents' (or even grandparents') work, eternally? I don't get it. Maybe I should have been born to musicians.
There's an English version of the registration page. According to that page,
"When you gain "Naenara" user ID, your webmail address is automatically allocated. eg: your "Naenara" ID@kcckp.net."
root, postmaster, and kimjongil were already taken. But as soon as I figure out how to use the webmail interface, I'm abuse@kcckp.net.. Leave it to Korea to ignore the abuse account:)
Yeah, right. That gives you approximately two outlets, HBO and Showtime, neither of which would be interested in "labor of love" programming that isn't going to rake in major profits.
Sure, there are plenty of other cable channels. Yet despite the supposed lack of FCC oversight, none of them will go anywhere near the word "fuck" and I can't think of many that will tolerate "shit." Hell, the E! network chops its Howard Stern show up beyond belief, bleeping out stuff like "lesbian" or "buttocks," even though they're airing it during safe harbor! Taking it to cable isn't really a choice here, because even cable channels aren't willing to rock the boat.
They made the right decision - suck it up, edit out the four-letter words, and raise a stink.
Slashdot Mirror
Bonus points to anyone who reads this and thinks "thaumaturgy.log"
My favorite use for this is AOL Instant Messenger. While I love the app, it has an insatiable desire to create a directory named "filelib" within the HKCU's "My Documents," even if you never use the program's file transfer capabilities. "filelib" gets further populated with subdirectories named after each screen name you use. To fix this: exit AIM, delete the "filelib" directory, create a file named "filelib" inside of "My Documents," and set it to read-only. AIM will no longer create its unneeded tree there.
The same trick works to permanently prevent Windows ME from writing its subdirectories into C:\_RESTORE. Those who are familiar with this lovely feature, and who share the frustration that disabling it doesn't really disable it, may find this advice useful. I don't recall the subdirectory names, fortunately it's been awhile since I've had to deal with WinME.
My Documents\Application Data is another location where this comes in handy. Some versions of Windows Media Player write out a datafile on exit which contains MRU file lists among other things. I believe that some Adobe products used to write their MRUs to data files in AppData also, none installed so I can't double check.
Of course there are times when this trick won't work, several spyware apps tend to infest a system so deeply such that a) if you delete a component, another running component notices and immediately writes out a new copy; or b) some or all components run in a manner where attempting to delete them gives an error that the file is in use by the system. Safe mode, Ad-Aware, Spybot, and HijackThis - sometimes a combination of all of the above - will take care of these cretin.
I don't know what sort of bloated junk they're pumping out as the AIM client these days, but ignore it. You're smart enough not to fall for some sort of viral IM, so forget the "latest and greatest," even with a vulnfix. Get one of the legacy builds. 4.8 works fine, has no ads, and oh - it allows you to change or disable the sounds.
Slickest, smallest, least intrusive messaging app I've ever found, and it has the most intuitive UI of any I've tried (including both Gaim and Trillian). That's why I use AIM and not ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, etc.
Actually, it appears that I misread, this isn't an international competition, but a British award which branched out this year due to egregious offenses in other nations. But my comment about Ashcroft stands.
that John Ashcroft didn't take the "Worst Public Servant" prize.
I realize that this is an international competition, and certainly the idea of tracking kids and trying to determine which of them are most likely to become criminals (this was covered previously on Slashdot, but I can't manage to find a link) is abhorrent. But I believe Ashcroft is most deserving of "Worst Public Servant," worldwide.
I'd be interested in more details about the UT study and its political history.
Lightning. Lots and lots of lightning.
Over the past 5 years or so, I've lost 5 NICs to lightning. More recently, I lost an 80 gig HD this year to lightning. In all cases, there were APC surge protectors between the wall and the affected PCs.
I don't fault APC: my machines are up 24/7/365 aside from power outages, and we get a shitload of lightning in this area. All but one of the losses were at the apartment, I've taken direct hits at the house (mostly to the chimney) and didn't lose anything. I think wiring issues at the apartment were to blame for the majority of the problems.
I've learned to always keep a backup fresh NIC around, though. Lightning is a bitch.
How old is that kid, 2, maybe 3 years old? And he's got an earring?
What the fuck is wrong with people?
Gmail has gotten better at catching spam on its own, but it's not great yet. I use SpamAssassin and score anything over 6.1 as spam. Gmail sends stuff with scores as high as 8 straight to my inbox. Granted, it's easy to set up a system that works for me; it's hard to set up a system that works for everyone.
One thing I've found really interesting is the ability to instantly search through 67,000+ spams! It's amazing how prolific the "random words to defeat Bayesian filters" spam tactic has gone. Just about every word I've tried appears somewhere within the contents of 67,000 spams...
Search results for: in:anywhere anthropomorphic 1 - 20 of about 80
Search results for: in:anywhere antagonistic 1 - 20 of about 150
Search results for: in:anywhere necromancy 1 - 20 of 61
Search results for: in:anywhere juxtaposition 1 - 20 of 58
Search results for: in:anywhere loquacious 1 - 20 of 51
It's crazy. I wasted a few minutes last week searching through my Gmail spam archive trying to find a word that didn't appear anywhere, and came up with very few successes. If nothing else, Gmail is probably the world's biggest and most accurate archive of spam.
*The preceding post alleges that your sister is of legal age.
Anyway, if it turns out that Elvis is still alive, and he records a duet with Tupac or Biggie, my head is going to explode. No more incentives for Elvis to produce new music, please
The late '50s and '60s was more than 40 years ago! Who guaranteed anyone a right to still be profiting from music recorded before man set foot on the moon, especially when those artists are no longer around? The living Beatles, the heirs to Elvis Presley Enterprises, and anyone else who has been suckling at the copyright teat for 40 years should be grateful for what they have. Quit whining about "loss of income" from something you didn't lift a finger to produce.
I'm lucky to be paid a decent wage for the work I do today, and I'll consider myself fortunate if my job is still around next month. I sure as hell don't have any expectation that, 40 years from now, I'll still be making money from something I did today! Much less that my kids, if I ever choose to have any, will see any benefit beyond what I manage to save up and pass on to them. Even pension plans are a dying breed here in the US; when once a widow could count on her husband's years of duty to his company to provide some meager living for her when she survived him, nowadays it's generally left up to Social Security.
Why, then, is it so different when it comes to copyrighted works, music in particular? Why is it that the descendants of dead musicians feel that they're due millions of dollars for their parents' (or even grandparents') work, eternally? I don't get it. Maybe I should have been born to musicians.
Sure, there are plenty of other cable channels. Yet despite the supposed lack of FCC oversight, none of them will go anywhere near the word "fuck" and I can't think of many that will tolerate "shit." Hell, the E! network chops its Howard Stern show up beyond belief, bleeping out stuff like "lesbian" or "buttocks," even though they're airing it during safe harbor! Taking it to cable isn't really a choice here, because even cable channels aren't willing to rock the boat.
They made the right decision - suck it up, edit out the four-letter words, and raise a stink.