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User: fluffy99

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  1. Re:Windows virus needs help to limp onto WINE on Now Linux Can Get Viruses, Via Wine · · Score: 1

    First off, the black list used by firefox is a feature of firefox, not linux. There is no such proction in Konqueror. Furthermore, browsers can be set to associate EXEs with wine, and a few distro make this the default behavior. And winecfg contains a function to map a users home directory to a drive letter with a single click, putting all of a users data in the hands of a virus running under wine.

    Which could certainly be a method of escaping Wine into Linux. All it needs to do it add some creative scripting to bashrc and tcsh.rc, right?

  2. Re:So that means that by 2015... on No Cheap Replacement For Hard Disks Before 2020 · · Score: 1

    My guess is that the average would be near 30GB

    I have actually looked at this. On my corporate network, on average the computers have about 45 gig on them. Accounting for the average windows and software footprint, plus all the files stored on the servers that puts the per user average data size around 30-gig. So good guess!

    The average home user who doesn't download lots of video torrents, is probably not much all that much higher. Slashdot weenies who hoards lots of porn and download torrents 24/7 are obviously in a different category.

  3. Re:Hurrr on Court Orders the Pirate Bay To Delete Torrents · · Score: 1

    What about the fact that torrents can't be "infringing" If I make a torrent of "The Matrix", while I may not own The Matrix, I still own the torrent.

    Doesn't matter. Per the article, the court ruled that by hosting the torrents, they were assisting those who were violating the copyrights of others. They are aiding in the distribution of the material, which doesn't require they have possession of the material.

    I don't see it as any different than the want-ads in the newspaper. If they carry obvious ads for hookers in an area where that activity is illegal, you still can't accuse them of prostitution but you can certainly demand they filter out the blatant listings. Of course the end result is that the hookers carefully craft descriptions that are not quite so obvious.

    BREIN or whatever has no right to claim that my torrent is "infringing" as they are not the copyright holders of the torrent, I am. couldn't someone sue BREIN for unlawfully sending a false DMCA equivalent notice for my work.

    I suspect BREIN is just like RIAA in that they legally represent the music companies who do hold the copyrights. Since BREIN isn't in the US, the DMCA doesn't apply but I bet BREIN wishes they had a similar law in their country.

  4. Re:Let's give the devil his due on Engineers Tell How Feedback Shaped Windows 7 · · Score: 1

    I'm actually not sure how this got to +4 funny. Maybe +5 interesting? I digress. I've been a fan of Win2k for a long time, I used it for just about everything from gaming to my work up until XP64 and had a stable driver set. Does Win7 have that nifty feel of Win2k? Yes actually it does. Even on lower end hardware it's decently snappy, and runs well.

    Issues? The biggest I've found is it's ability to lose connection to the internet on reboots. Meaning you need to disable and reenable your network card which fixes it. Sadly no new drivers for my card, but otherwise works fine. I consider that a 2 on my 1-10(10 being worst) scale of crap. Otherwise, I'm quite happy. My XP64 machine has been up and running for a bit more than 460 days now without a reboot. I expect that Win7 will beat that easily.

    The biggest drawback to XP64 is the lack of drivers. A 460 day uptime eh? I guess you don't believe in installing critical security patches?

  5. Re:We Listened! on Engineers Tell How Feedback Shaped Windows 7 · · Score: 0

    Microsoft does have the technical resources to make IE score 100% on the Acid3 test.

    The ACID tests are somewhat irrelevant. It's a test of how well a browser deals with really fucked up, but compliant code. It does not show that the browser is fully compliant at all.

  6. Re:Hurrr on Court Orders the Pirate Bay To Delete Torrents · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Delete them and let the users make new ones with the same content.

    That's exactly what will happen, as well as new categories will be created to get around the areas that are to be blocked for Dutch users. This does set the precedent that if a site is notified of torrents for copyright infringing materials that they must remove them. This sounds perfectly fair, so long as the person complaining is the legitimate copyright holder and they point to a specific torrent. Afterall, you can't claim ignorance about the torrents if you have been notified. It also puts a burden on the copyright holder to monitor the site for infringing torrents and not the site owners.

  7. Re:Can't Lock Linux Down on IBM's Answer To Windows 7 Is Ubuntu Linux · · Score: 1

    Also, it can at least apparently change permissions while a program is running, not just at the start.)

    When a program starts under windows, it requests certain permissions (or inherits the defaults). It can request additional permissions as it needs them, assuming the user account has them. For example the backupright or process_set_quota. I believe UAC intercepts these initial or subsequent requests, as well as requests for access to sensitive resources.

  8. Re:Can't Lock Linux Down on IBM's Answer To Windows 7 Is Ubuntu Linux · · Score: 1

    True, run-as requires the credentials of the person you with to impersonate. It is similar in that the process launched using runas, sudo, or setguid holds the id, group id, and rights of the impersonated user. The Sudowin project I mentioned is different in that regard as it allows elevating permissions while keeping the same user id (which makes it more similar to UAC).

    UAC is definitely not like sudo. UAC does NOT change the identity of the user, it intercepts when a process that requests elevated privileges.

  9. Re:Ridiculous on IBM's Answer To Windows 7 Is Ubuntu Linux · · Score: 1

    I'll agree with that. The quality, features and price of Korean cars is becoming competitive. Having the major auto maker sitting on their butts, paying expensive workers doesn't help either. It's the Chinese auto industry that I'm curious about. They'll probably be very cheap but i doubt the quality will there for some time.

  10. Re:Active Directory? on IBM's Answer To Windows 7 Is Ubuntu Linux · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I swear, some people can't be helped

    Yeah, those folks need to go back to Windows where such a simple task is easy to accomplish in the control panel and doesn't require all that nasty editting of krb.conf and smb.conf.

  11. Re:Ridiculous on IBM's Answer To Windows 7 Is Ubuntu Linux · · Score: 1

    If someone utilizes Excel to its full potential, they would be pissed off if they switched to Open Office, because, frankly, Calc doesn't have the high-end functions that Excel does.

    Yeah thats why nobody should buy Toyota cars when obviously every driver needs Ferrari performance.

    Enough with the car analogies. Besides, the guy is right. Calc is the Hyundai of spreadsheets. Works fine for ma and pa, but it sucks for anything significantly complicated.

  12. Re:Can't Lock Linux Down on IBM's Answer To Windows 7 Is Ubuntu Linux · · Score: 1

    Honestly the amount of fine grained control mixed with sudo (neither run-as or UAC are sudo, they impersonate another user rather then privilege escalation)

    We you referring to sudowin http://sourceforge.net/projects/sudowin/, which does maintain the user id and escalates privileges? The linux sudo impersonates another user just like run-as (http://www.gratisoft.us/sudo/man/sudo.html). Windows UAC controls privilege escalation.

    you get with *nix environment is leaps and bounds ahead of Windows. Admittedly group policy has some nice default templates, but as soon as you step an inch outside the norm (which is hard not to) be prepared for pain, so much so that the only place we employ GP is on our Terminal Services boxes. Even then a lot of the "Lock Down" is pretty much just obscuring things without actually adding any security.

    I think you're Linux expertise is better than your Windows expertise. Group Policies are very easy to use and work very well. Even going outside the norm, you can do a hell of a lot writing custom gpo templates or scripts. Most of the "lock downs" really do lock things down, but as you pointed out some are indeed security-through-obscurity like hiding some control panel options that the user can manually with a registry editor.

  13. Re:Not stripped out... on Sequoia Voting Systems Source Code Released · · Score: 1

    Hi Guys, it's a SQL Server 2008 backup. Nothing stripped out about it. It restores fine, i have it in my local instance of SS2008.

    According to the TFA, they admitted to being incorrect about the sabotage. Did it restore all of the procedures that appear to be in the dump file when parsed with `strings`?

  14. Re:Hyperbole much on Sequoia Voting Systems Source Code Released · · Score: 1

    The more you read at the ultimate site more you realize the people digging thru this garbage know nothing about what they are reading, and not much about programming either.

    Just because you know how to run grep or strings does not mean you can use the data it reveals.

    I got that impression as soon as I saw they were wrong about the data being "sabotaged" (they didn't know what they were looking at) and they used the phrase "SQL code", when what they really meant was stored procedures. Whether those stored procedures are part of the voting software or can influence the data is another question. They might be used to generate reports or dataset views, or simply used to setup the initial database structure. They might even be looking at the normal default procedures you'd find in any MS SQL database.

    Like what ?... Let me guess : no need to show someone that's not supposed to win, for instance ?

    How about not running in that particular district? Or it's a closed primary and a Democrat should only see the Demcrat candidates.

  15. Re:Until... on Ultracapacitor Bus Recharges At Each Stop · · Score: 1

    Electric motors are very inefficient as slow speeds.

    If they are, they appear to have solved that problem for trams, trains & delivery vans.

    No they haven't solved the inefficiency, nor would it stop a motor from being used for the examples you cited. Usage doesn't really change the fact that electric motors are far less efficient at very slow speeds. http://www.4p8.com/eric.brasseur/emamem.html. Electric motors are most efficient when designed for and operated at a fixed speed and load.

  16. Re:Until... on Ultracapacitor Bus Recharges At Each Stop · · Score: 1

    Unsprung weight is an issue, but not a major show stopper. You still need to put the brakes somewhere, as DOT requires mechanically activated brakes on all wheels. Regen braking won't hold the vehicle when its stopped anyway. Even it there was sufficient room within the wheel, that's still putting a lot of heat in there.

    The second issue is gearing. Electric motors are very inefficient as slow speeds. Without some gearbox involved, it's difficult to get an acceptable range of speed while not compromising slow speed efficiency. Compounding the problem is that the motor will likely be generating the most heat, when the wheel is turning very slow and has minimal cooling. With regards to total power, 4 smaller motors will weight much more than a single motor of equal power.

    I do like the concept for it's simplicity though. Rebuilding the "engine" could turn into "swapping" the engine with not much more effort than changing brakes.

  17. Re:MDs should be experts in stastics on On the Efficacy of Flu Vaccine · · Score: 1

    Malpractice suits don't even help. MDs are insured and only have to spend a few days in court if some one calls them out on it then if they are proven wrong the Hospital insurance takes the fall and all our costs go up while the MDs pay stays the same. What we really need to do is hold each physician criminally responsible for what they say and do in a clinical setting

    Actually, the profit margins for many Doctors and specialists are getting smaller over time due to the increased insurance premiums. Google shows this as an example. http://www.nysun.com/new-york/rising-insurance-rates-put-city-doctors-out/57934/. Other articles claim the Insurance premiums have risen %130 in the last 10 years, and Doctors salaries not kept pace with inflation as a result.

    I won't t argue about the competence of Doctors in general, but I do feel they are under a lot of pressure to diagnose correctly while keeping costs down. I recognize that it's a tough job, and it's statistically guaranteed that some small percentage of patients will get misdiagnosed or receive an incorrect treatment. Surgical errors will still happen, particularly since the shear number of surgeries performed in the US is rising and the media is eager to publicize any errors.

    Of course, half of the Doctors out there are below average performers. (yes that was a joke)

  18. Re:MDs should be experts in stastics on On the Efficacy of Flu Vaccine · · Score: 1

    What's the contradiction? The Doctor didn't say he was certain.

    Well in the case of Meningitis, you can't be 100% certain without expensive lab work and procedures that can introduce their own risk of infection. It is the Doctor's responsibility to give the patient his best advice based on accepted medical practices, the patient history and his experience. In this case he had a strong opinion that it was vial in nature and would improve, but warned that if symptoms got worse it might be bacterial.

    As a poor immigrant (or HMO member) would you rather the Doctor spent your money for additional testing to eliminate the remote chance or trust his advice to wait and see?

    I think you got flagged as a troll since the first of your comment sounds like a rant against doctors in general.

  19. Re:Wait, its okay for Firefox to have a kill switc on Firefox Disables Microsoft .NET Addon · · Score: 1

    From http://www.xbap.org/blog/

    "What are the requirements for running a XBAP application? You will need to install the .Net 3 Framework runtime from Microsoft to run XBAP."

    The XBAP functionality is part of the net framework and not natively in IE. The Windows Presentation Foundation add-on to Firefox gives Firefox the ability to access XBAP.

    As I understand it, the MS09-054 patch fixes the IE vector and the actual vulnerability is part of MS09-061.

  20. Re:Wait, its okay for Firefox to have a kill switc on Firefox Disables Microsoft .NET Addon · · Score: 1

    That technet blog says the vulnerability is in XBAP, which is part of the .NET framework.http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa970060.aspx and not IE. The lines between some of the IE and .NET libraries are pretty blurred at times though, given the level of integration.

  21. Re:Wait, its okay for Firefox to have a kill switc on Firefox Disables Microsoft .NET Addon · · Score: 1

    It's semantics, but the vulnerability is within .Net and not specific to IE. I don't suppose it really matters in the end, but this does contribute to the perception that IE is "infecting" Firefox. It's really a common vulnerability that has been exposed in both browsers. No different than if they shared a common rendering dll that had an issue.

    I believe Microsoft chose to roll this up in the IE cummulative update to minimize some dependency problems (and to perhaps keep the total Patch Tuesday count a little lower?)

    I like the comments given in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=522777#c71.

  22. Wait, its okay for Firefox to have a kill switch? on Firefox Disables Microsoft .NET Addon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Given all the past fuss about Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft to have the ability to remotely disable features, software or addons it's suddenly not an issue that Firefox has the capability of pushing changes? While I think the Firefox devs gave some serious thought before throwing this switch, I don't think this is a no-brainer. What about environments where they need the .net add-on? Are they forced to go back to using IE? Do you see Microsoft disabling the old versions of Firefox or Adobe Flash?

    If you want to read a mix of retarded, informative, and stupid comments have a look at the bug report https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=522777. For example - "Firefox shouldn't have to rely on IE patches for security" - this is not related to IE. It also seems to be political as they have no interest in determining if they have the .net update that negates the vulnerability (the vulnerability is not in the firefox add-on, its in .net which becomes accessible from within Firefox if the addon is enabled).

  23. Re:Problem with clinical trials on On the Efficacy of Flu Vaccine · · Score: 1

    But there is still no excuse for not properly verifying the efficacy of the seasonal flu vaccine. As pointed out earlier, most of the data used to support the flu vaccine is of poor quality. In particular, flu deaths are never verified as actually being the flu and not one of several other flu-like illnesses, plus the trend that healthy people get the vaccine more than vulnerable people.

  24. Re:MDs should be experts in stastics on On the Efficacy of Flu Vaccine · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'd be pissed if the doctor didn't tell me there was a very slim chance that it might be a more serious form. The Doc did the right thing, as it emphasized that the patient should come back if things get worse, indicating that it might be a bacterial caused menegitis.

  25. Who said they're reinventing the Internet? on Lockheed Snags $31 Million To Reinvent the Internet, Microsoft To Help · · Score: 1

    From the freaking article: "Lockheed Martin's team will develop router technologies that include strong authentication and self configuration capabilities to improve security, reduce the need for trained network personnel and lower overall life cycle costs for network management."

    I doubt they are trying to reinvent tcpip at all, but rather working at the router level to secure router-router communications and simplify configuration and management. In all likelyhood, they will simply implement existing protocols in a consistent manner. The bulk of the security issues in the military is due to poor configuration management and lack of properly skilled guys setting up and managing networks. It's no wonder the Chinese have a nearly free run of the DOD networks right now. Step number one should be to unplug the DOD networks from the Internet.