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User: spectre_240sx

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  1. Re:What we need is one universal standard on USB Flash Drive Round-up · · Score: 1

    Are you aware of the durability problems with floppy disks? Way too often I get people asking me to retrieve data from a toasted disk and most of the time it's completely gone. The sooner floppy disks are gone from this earth, the better.

  2. Re:What a great question! on Michael Robertson Says Root is Safe · · Score: 1

    Most OSes/environments I'm aware of have a per-user method of starting applications on login ("Startup Folder" in Windows, "Login Items" in OS X, etc).

    This isn't news to me. Reread my statement again and you might find that I'm talking about limiting that ability.


    To give them another meaningless dialog to click "Yes" to ?


    Who said that? Apple has already come up with a partial solution to this. Use VERBS instead of a simple yes or no when it comes to buttons. Instead of Yes, it would be "Make this run on startup" or something similar. Most people aren't stupid, they're lazy and don't want to read dialog boxes. Giving them a short cliffs note will inform them better as well as possibly interesting them enough to read the entire dialog.


    Ah, but there is. In the past creating viruses and other "malware" were the domain of bored and/or malicious geeks. Today, they're mostly the domain of organised crime and professional spammers - neither of who have anything to gain by letting you know their software is present by damaging stuff.


    And how exactly does that prove to me that kids won't get bored and start writing viruses again? The nature of malware changed once, and it will certainly change again in the future. There's nothing to say it won't go back to what it was before. Beside that, who knows what else it could turn into next. All the more reason to not run as root.
  3. Re:Hmmm... on Nintendo Revolution Under Wraps Past E3 · · Score: 1

    Super Smash Brothers Melee is worth the price of the system imho. I've spent hours and hours playing that with my friends and it never got old. That's one thing I like so much about nintendo. They kept console gaming as a communitive experience rather than something you do alone when you're bored. Gaming is a lot more fun for me when I've got a friend next to me whose ass I can kick :)

  4. Re:Why shoud I have to sign... on We're Open enough, Says Microsoft · · Score: 1

    You provide a service for people for free and they piss and moan about it. No, that's not very nice and I would probably tell each one of those people exactly where to go. Actually I'd even give them a nice handbasket forr the ride. Microsoft is making money on their products, so they should be expected to cater to their users to a certain degree. Also, because their file formats are closed, they actually gain a certain amount of control over the documents. Do you really think that Microsoft deserves any control at all over your data? I certainly don't and that's why I don't use Office for personal items. Unfortunately, there are so many people that DO use Office, I have to have it on my computer and I have to use it if I want to send files back and forth between my coworkers.

    This isn't about whether Microsoft should do everything that everone asks them to do. It's about the fact that they have way too much control over people.

  5. Re:What a great question! on Michael Robertson Says Root is Safe · · Score: 1
    This about the only really compelling argument - and the only reason it's compelling is because *today's* malware assumes the user is running as admin. However, there's very little that malware actually does that requires admin access, so once non-admin users become commonplace, malware authors will simply rewrite their software to assume the user doesn't have admin access.
    Ok, so here's where OS security comes in. Say there's a provision that keeps a non-privledged user from accessing any startup routines. In this case, the malware won't be able to start itself every boot and becomes MUCH easier to remove. Actually, I think the operating system should warn ANY user of whether an installation or process is modifying startup config, but that's beside the point.
    Destructive viruses are old and busted. Teh n3w h0tn3ss is mass-mailing and DDoS zombies.
    Destructive viruses haven't been a problem for a while. I'll grant you that. However, there's nothing that says they won't make a return. Even one destructive virus can do a lot of harm if it's well written. Why chance it?
  6. Re:What a great question! on Michael Robertson Says Root is Safe · · Score: 1

    No, these aren't problems that should affect a skilled user, but we're not talking about skilled users. Linspire is aimed towards many people, including the type that doesn't know enough to be careful about what they click on. And windows? Well, I think we all know what the majority of windows users are like. Also, don't forget, humans aren't perfect. Even the smartest sysadmin does stupid things sometimes, I'm sure of it. Running as a non-privledged user prevents those mistakes from being disasters.

  7. Re:root on Michael Robertson Says Root is Safe · · Score: 1

    It doesn't even need to be malicious software to cause a problem. A bug in the right type of software can do just as much harm as a virus. If you run as root, you at least double your succeptibility.

  8. Re:What a great question! on Michael Robertson Says Root is Safe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One word: Spyware. You run as Administrator, it hoses your machine. If developers would actually write software so that users didn't have to run as Admin just to open up notepad, then spyware wouldn't be anywhere near as big a problem as it is right now.

    Now take that one step further and consider a malicious virus being accidentally executed by the same user that thought Bonzi Buddy was cute. Spyware is bad, but that virus might, oh... kill all your .jpg .doc and .mp3 files.

    Now how do you feel about running as Administrator?

  9. Re:Damn... on Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B · · Score: 1

    Certainly worth a look. Thanks for the link!

  10. Re:Quark on Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B · · Score: 1

    I don't think there's much chance of Quark staying on top anyway. Everything I'm currently hearing points to people moving over to InDesign anyway, which I'm actually quite happy about. Quarks nasty interface and other bugs will not be missed in my eyes.

  11. Re:really, really bad. Hello FTC? on Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B · · Score: 1

    I would have to disagree there. One thing Adobe is really well known for is a standard interface accross all of it's products. Golive currently fits into this very well. We may see some of the code behind DW being used in Golive, maybe they'll even switch the products completely, but one thing I'm certain of is that the interface will remain, which effectively kills dreamweaver.

  12. Mod Parent Up on Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B · · Score: 1

    We don't need more adware floating around.

    Sidenote: Why does Download.com allow this crap?

  13. Re:I'm scared. :( on Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B · · Score: 1

    It's a sad day when I read that as Millenium Edition trying to drive an 18 wheeler... I think I'm going to go for a walk...

  14. Re:Damn... on Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B · · Score: 1

    I definately agree that hand coding is the best way to lay out a site, but there are other uses for DW as well. My biggest reasons for using it is the integrated site manager. Trivial, maybe, but it really makes things easier when working on a large site, especially when multiple people are working on it. Besides that, the syntax highlighting is pretty good, not to mention custimizable. I usually change the background of server side elements to a very light grey so I can differentiate them from the HTML quickly as I scroll down the page. There are a few more small things that keep me using it too, but the site manager is what I haven't been able to find elsewhere. As soon as I find one that fits my needs, I'm dropping DW like a bad habit :)

  15. Re:Damn... on Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B · · Score: 1

    While definately not ready for primetime yet, it looks like the project has potential. I'll be keeping my eye on it. Thanks for the link.

  16. Re:Damn... on Adobe Buys Macromedia for $3.4B · · Score: 1

    Are you kidding? For 90% of it's life, Homesite had a memory leak that would force you to restart the computer after 2 hours of working (if you were lucky.) Stripped down and does only what it needs to, yes, but smaller footprint is not the first term I would think of when speaking of this software.

    Btw, I say this as a person that used Homesite for years while working as a professional developer because there was really nothing out there that worked any better.

  17. Re:I dunno on Star Wars: Revelations Available Online · · Score: 1

    That actually went through?! Got a link by chance?

  18. Re:This must be why lawyers get paid so much... on Unintended Consequences of Using GPL Fonts · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's easy. About 90% of it translates roughly to "Please bend over."

  19. Re:whisky tango foxtrot on Congress Debates Anti-Spyware Bill · · Score: 1

    Dont forget the services area which, unless you're somewhat experienced with computers, you A) don't know exists or B) don't want to mess with. On top of that there are the many ways which programs can reinstall iself and recreate those entries in the registry, etc.

    Honestly, you sound a lot like the type that comes into the store I work at claiming that they've worked with computers for years and they know everything about them. Yes, I would agree that stupid users such as yourself are a large part of the problem.

  20. Re:Blindfolded? on The Video Game Pianist · · Score: 1

    Sure, but how do you find the home row? I don't see nubs on any of the keys...

  21. Professionalism on Loophole found in Internet Domain Naming · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The reason Joe's Garage needs www.joesgarage.com rather than joesgarage.ict.ks.us is because it seems more professional. It creates an illusion of size to the people that don't fully understand the way the system works; ie bob smith who is looking to have his car serviced.

    In the early days of the web, most of the websites worth looking at had a .com TLD and were fairly large and I think that idea has stayed with us until now.

  22. Re:OS included? on Free Software on a Cheap Computer · · Score: 1

    You're still comparing two different things. A computer architecture and a computer manufacturer. Maybe you need to spend some time reading the dictionary to find out what those terms mean. Spend some time looking and you'll find out that Apple isn't the only company that makes PPC based computers.

  23. Re:OS included? on Free Software on a Cheap Computer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That's like comparing apples to oranges. A PC is a generic term for an x86 / amd64 based computer (essentially it's become a term to denote a system that will run Windows). Apple is a company just like Dell or Gateway or HP. They just happen to sell a specific variant of PPC based computers. The only difference is, Apple ships their own operating system with the machine while "PC" brands just come with Windows for the most part.

  24. Re:Law Enforcement Ahoy.... on Best Buy Has Man Arrested for Using $2 Bills · · Score: 1

    Pretty sweet, but it still doesn't seem like you can transfer funds peer to peer with it. I might have missed that part though. Still, it's definately a step in the right direction.

  25. Re:Cluestick on Google Founders Cut Salaries to $1 · · Score: 1

    If you'd like to make a difference and change some peoples' minds about whether Google is good or bad, you might want to provide some evidence and examples that would back up your statement. Otherwise you're just another whiner.