I got my hands on a 64GB "Sony" flash drive given to me by a student who bought it on e-bay and kept losing data on it. Since the largest drive I had ever seen was 16GB at the time, I was curious how a 64GB just popped out of the woodwork. Turns out, the maximum capacity was 128MB, however, the file system reported 64GB on Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
When writing data to the drive, Windows would allow the drive to loop and continually overwrite itself while the Mac OS and Linux boxes would hit the 128MB limit and start throwing I/O errors.
This was about 2 years ago...good to see they're still at it and have expanded into the SSD arena./sarcasm
...some have yet to get past the concept of vulnerabilities vs. exploits.
Vulnerability: The lock on my door can easily be picked using a stick of butter Exploit: Someone exploited the butter vulnerability in my lock to gain access to my house
Assembly (or the assembler) is one thing. Engineering is a whole other beast.
No other PC manufacturer spends the time and the resources building engineering marvels like Apple does.
The last Dell I worked on had 4 bad hard drives in 2 years...why? Because some idiot engineer at Dell decided that pushing the heat radiating off of the heat sink of a Pentium 4 3.4 HT directly over a hard drive was a good idea.
The MBR isn't the only point of infection. TDSS also patches legitimate system files, resulting in reinfection of the MBR if the infected files on the drive are not taken care of first.
TDSSKiller sometimes damages the MBR upon removal, causing a BSoD in normal mode, but not in safe mode (yeah, I thought it was strange too).
For systems that BSoD after removal of rootkit.Win32.TDSS.tdl4 with TDSSKiller , rewrite the MBR with TestDisk, then insert a Windows Vista or Windows 7 disc and run the startup fix. This will resolve the BSoD issue and properly repair the MBR. Be very careful with TestDisk as you can really screw up your disk's partitioning by selecting the wrong options.
2 out of the last 5 systems I cleaned had this issue. It appears to possibly be a conflict between something TDSSKiller is doing and Dell computers that contain a MediaDirect partition.
Felt it here on the Youngstown State University campus. People in two buildings experienced a shift in weight of the building, similar to someone pushing on the side of a car once or twice.
You DON'T NEED this update to run Windows 7 on a Mac in Boot Camp. This update is more or less targeted at newer Macs that already shipped with Snow Leopard that are experiencing problems installing 7. (see link)
No problems here running Windows 7 Professional x64 on a 2007 20" iMac 2.4 (iMac7,1).
I had two tweaks that I had to perform. One tweak was due to a M$ screw-up and the other is a Boot Camp x64 driver compatibility issue.
1. Just set up a Boot Camp partition like you normally do, throw in the Windows 7 disc when prompted. If you see nothing but a black screen that says "Select CD-ROM Boot Type", please see the link below. This is a known issue with some downloadable Server 2008 / Windows 7 media provided by Microsoft in.iso form.
2. Format the BOOTCAMP partition (do not remove it, just format it and the installation process should start)
3. Once Windows 7 is installed and at the desktop, locate your Command Prompt, right-click and "Run As Administrator"
4. Insert your Snow Leopard disc (or other media containing the Boot Camp 3.0 drivers) and run the BootCamp64.msi from D:\Drivers\Apple\BootCamp64.msi
Instead of receiving the error message "Boot Camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model." when running the main Setup.exe, the 64-bit Vista drivers will install on Windows 7 x64 just fine. All hardware seems to be properly supported, although I replaced the Apple ATI Radeon HD 2600 driver with a current version from the ATI site for gaming performance purposes.
VMware Fusion 3.0.1 tied into the Windows 7 x64 Boot Camp partition works just fine as well.
If you like the Halo-like FPS games, there's always Marathon through the AlephOne project at source.bungie.org.
It is still nice to play after all these years and the AlephOne team has done a fantastic job of expanding on the multiplayer capabilities as well as changes to the UI.
The Sony rootkit was derived from Sony/BMG's need to control ripping of their CD content. It was most certainly wrong and got worse when a vulnerable version was exploited.
I won't comment on WGA....even the Microsoft fanboys hate that crap.
Apple has no interest in pushing the iPhone Configuration Utility to consumers. The software doesn't mean anything to them, nor do they know how to use it. For a piece of Apple software, it isn't very end-user friendly.
I believe this was just an error on Apple's part that got blown up into Apple doing something sneaky. The Safari debacle, yes, I would believe that. iPhone Configuration Utility, not so much.
Maybe you just failed to notice that Bonjour, QuickTime, and MobileMe are all tied to iTunes for functionality.
MobileMe is tied in to iTunes for iPhones, Bonjour is for iTunes Sharing, and QuickTime is required for iTunes functionality.
Safari has been known (recently) to prompt for optional installation, but is not checked for installation by default. Your wife would have to check the box and click the install button to "accidentally" install Safari. Also, she is prompted to install these items because the Apple Software Updater process is running on startup. Whoever installed iTunes failed to read and uncheck the box for it to not be installed.
Apple only pushes the iPhone Configuration Utility updates to those who have the utility installed already. This is the case with my home and my work computers where only my work computer contained a previous installation of the iPhone Configuration Utility.
It appears to be more of a screw-up by Apple rather than the intent of pushing unwanted software.
Forgot to log in before I posted. Double-posts I'm sure are frowned upon.:-P
You gotta admit, they could have just told the OS to pop a "This Disk Is Unreadable" message, but they didn't. Instead, they gave people a small heart attack until they read the document.
MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will take care of Vundo. It isn't perfect, but a hell of a lot better than Spybot S&D.
Run an application called Dial-A-Fix. (Google it) It is pretty good at repairing Windows Update and detecting changes in registry keys that prevent users from accessing certain parts of the system. It will also allow you to dump the SoftwareDistribution cache (where Windows Update cache is stored) as well as re-register core DLLs needed for several services in the Windows operating system to properly function.
Vundo is famous for changing Windows group policies to hide or disable the user's ability to access parts of the Windows operating system that may spell its demise.
Kinda off topic, but hey, everyone needs a hand when dealing with this trash from time to time.:-)
Does HP cite loss of sales because consumers are not purchasing computers? Or computers with Linux? Or Macs? Or what?
How does Windows Vista hurt HP's sales? HP, Dell, Lenovo, Compaq/Gateway, etc are all selling similar systems with similar specs and Windows Vista pre-installed.
Unless users are just not buying computers to dodge Vista, are switching to Linux or the Mac, I don't see how HP can cite that this is due to Vista.
How can this not be due to the recession that that is occurring in the United States?
EA is not gonna get any of my business with their shoddy transgaming Cedega-wrapped junk that they deploy on the Mac platform.
They need to stop burning their users, which EA has done for years. Kinda sounds like a consumer case of abuse where the victims keep coming back time after time. A shame, really.
"Illegal P2P"? So, I guess that means that the WoW patches I just downloaded from the Bittorrent network are illegal.
I should expect a cease and desist letter from Blizzard any minute now...
WTF is with these RIAA and affiliate companies always making the statement that P2P is illegal? It is some of the MATERIAL that may be a violation of copywrite to distribute without license. The networks themselves and the sharing of free-to-distribute medias are perfectly legal. Maybe if they understood this, they would have a better result in court.
Really, the RIAA and MediaSentry/SafeNet need to be grilled in court over and over and over again. They still won't get the point, but I'm sure a few kicks in the nuts will wipe the grins from their faces.
Is it just me or did they completely skip the GameCube? The timeline went from the N64 to the GBA to the Wii without mentioning anything about the GameCube.
Is this even a complete timeline? Nintendo had a lot of other projects out there that weren't even mentioned in this article.
Ooookay, so our friendly "family-oriented lobbyists" attack Sega for putting a release date on a hack and slash type game, but we ignore the fact that games like Manhunt 2 already exist on the Wii.
Last time I noticed, stabbing a man to death with a syringe was "adult" and violent...
Here's a tip. DON'T BUY THESE GAMES FOR YOUR KIDS! Parents need to stop being clueless about technology and what their kids are doing with it.
AV companies have ignored spyware/malware threats for years and treated them as any standard Trojan/worm/virus. It is AMAZING to see how easily a Windows workstation is compromised even with proper AV/AS software installed. If Microsoft and the AntiVirus/AntiSpyware companies don't straighten their act, I can see us going to signed apps in the near future.
The fact is, many spyware/malware packages are toting along very malicious Trojans. The initial downloader Trojan almost always makes it under the detection line of the AV/AS software. While the AV/AS software may detect the malicious Trojan upon download from the downloader Trojan, the downloader Trojan is sometimes started as a service or as a component of Winlogon. This typically gives it an edge on the AV/AS software where it can download and install the malicious Trojan before the AV/AS even starts.
The most amazing thing to do with a spyware infected PC is to scan it with everything you got, make sure all hidden and system files are viewable from Folder Options, then go into windows\system32 and sort the items by date modified or date created. You'll see a wonderful list of kjsdhfkjsh.exe, sdkssk.dll, sdkfjhsl.sys, etc that went completely undetected. This, of course, is completely ignoring the existence of rootkits, Browser Helper Objects, Winsock LSP entries, and a host of other fun stuff.
I often ask myself why the location I work for even bothers purchasing $90,000 worth of antivirus + antispyware products when over 75% of the stuff we deal with every single day goes undetected.
Since we have removal down to a science where I work, I often wonder if the $90,000 would be better spent on two more admins with similar knowledge.
Beta testers were notified by e-mail of the software expiration that night. A new copy was available immediately from the AppleSeed site.
My phone is fine and probably a lot of other beta testers who have a clue have a working phone as well.
Maybe people who beta test software should have a good understanding that it is a BETA test and Apple highly recommended that the BETA software not be installed on personal or business-related phones that need to have 100% accessibility and reliability.
How many beta testers in this program understand how to use a web browser to go grab the new release? If you're gonna be a n00b about it, don't sign up to be a tester.
Apple iPhone users should be content with the finding of an exploit by responsible security researchers. Unlike InfoSec Sellout (who is likely blowing smoke up his as*), Charles Miller and the rest of the Independent Security Evaluators team should be applauded for their work. They responsibly reported the vulnerability (and a potential fix) to Apple for investigation.
The Apple community should not in any way, shape or form, harass this group like they harassed InfoSec Sellout. I.S.E. are the good guys and as a 15-year Apple veteran, I give my best to those who are out to help Apple keep security at its tightest on their products and services.
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I got my hands on a 64GB "Sony" flash drive given to me by a student who bought it on e-bay and kept losing data on it. Since the largest drive I had ever seen was 16GB at the time, I was curious how a 64GB just popped out of the woodwork. Turns out, the maximum capacity was 128MB, however, the file system reported 64GB on Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
When writing data to the drive, Windows would allow the drive to loop and continually overwrite itself while the Mac OS and Linux boxes would hit the 128MB limit and start throwing I/O errors.
This was about 2 years ago...good to see they're still at it and have expanded into the SSD arena. /sarcasm
I would love to see the accelerometer and gyroscope readouts on that thing during the fall. Too bad it probably doesn't log that info while in sleep.
...some have yet to get past the concept of vulnerabilities vs. exploits.
Vulnerability: The lock on my door can easily be picked using a stick of butter
Exploit: Someone exploited the butter vulnerability in my lock to gain access to my house
Assembly (or the assembler) is one thing. Engineering is a whole other beast.
No other PC manufacturer spends the time and the resources building engineering marvels like Apple does.
The last Dell I worked on had 4 bad hard drives in 2 years...why? Because some idiot engineer at Dell decided that pushing the heat radiating off of the heat sink of a Pentium 4 3.4 HT directly over a hard drive was a good idea.
The MBR isn't the only point of infection. TDSS also patches legitimate system files, resulting in reinfection of the MBR if the infected files on the drive are not taken care of first.
TDSSKiller sometimes damages the MBR upon removal, causing a BSoD in normal mode, but not in safe mode (yeah, I thought it was strange too).
For systems that BSoD after removal of rootkit.Win32.TDSS.tdl4 with TDSSKiller , rewrite the MBR with TestDisk, then insert a Windows Vista or Windows 7 disc and run the startup fix. This will resolve the BSoD issue and properly repair the MBR. Be very careful with TestDisk as you can really screw up your disk's partitioning by selecting the wrong options.
2 out of the last 5 systems I cleaned had this issue. It appears to possibly be a conflict between something TDSSKiller is doing and Dell computers that contain a MediaDirect partition.
Felt it here on the Youngstown State University campus. People in two buildings experienced a shift in weight of the building, similar to someone pushing on the side of a car once or twice.
You DON'T NEED this update to run Windows 7 on a Mac in Boot Camp. This update is more or less targeted at newer Macs that already shipped with Snow Leopard that are experiencing problems installing 7. (see link)
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/windows-classic-linux-other-os/174668-windows-7-27-imac-black-screen.html
Windows 7 installed on Boot Camp 2.0 in Leopard also works fine.
No problems here running Windows 7 Professional x64 on a 2007 20" iMac 2.4 (iMac7,1).
I had two tweaks that I had to perform. One tweak was due to a M$ screw-up and the other is a Boot Camp x64 driver compatibility issue.
1. Just set up a Boot Camp partition like you normally do, throw in the Windows 7 disc when prompted. If you see nothing but a black screen that says "Select CD-ROM Boot Type", please see the link below. This is a known issue with some downloadable Server 2008 / Windows 7 media provided by Microsoft in .iso form.
http://sergiomcfly.blogspot.com/2008/04/select-cd-rom-boot-type-when-installing.html
2. Format the BOOTCAMP partition (do not remove it, just format it and the installation process should start)
3. Once Windows 7 is installed and at the desktop, locate your Command Prompt, right-click and "Run As Administrator"
4. Insert your Snow Leopard disc (or other media containing the Boot Camp 3.0 drivers) and run the BootCamp64.msi from D:\Drivers\Apple\BootCamp64.msi
Instead of receiving the error message "Boot Camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model." when running the main Setup.exe, the 64-bit Vista drivers will install on Windows 7 x64 just fine. All hardware seems to be properly supported, although I replaced the Apple ATI Radeon HD 2600 driver with a current version from the ATI site for gaming performance purposes.
VMware Fusion 3.0.1 tied into the Windows 7 x64 Boot Camp partition works just fine as well.
If you like the Halo-like FPS games, there's always Marathon through the AlephOne project at source.bungie.org.
It is still nice to play after all these years and the AlephOne team has done a fantastic job of expanding on the multiplayer capabilities as well as changes to the UI.
The Sony rootkit was derived from Sony/BMG's need to control ripping of their CD content. It was most certainly wrong and got worse when a vulnerable version was exploited.
I won't comment on WGA....even the Microsoft fanboys hate that crap.
Apple has no interest in pushing the iPhone Configuration Utility to consumers. The software doesn't mean anything to them, nor do they know how to use it. For a piece of Apple software, it isn't very end-user friendly.
I believe this was just an error on Apple's part that got blown up into Apple doing something sneaky. The Safari debacle, yes, I would believe that. iPhone Configuration Utility, not so much.
Maybe you just failed to notice that Bonjour, QuickTime, and MobileMe are all tied to iTunes for functionality.
MobileMe is tied in to iTunes for iPhones, Bonjour is for iTunes Sharing, and QuickTime is required for iTunes functionality.
Safari has been known (recently) to prompt for optional installation, but is not checked for installation by default. Your wife would have to check the box and click the install button to "accidentally" install Safari. Also, she is prompted to install these items because the Apple Software Updater process is running on startup. Whoever installed iTunes failed to read and uncheck the box for it to not be installed.
Apple only pushes the iPhone Configuration Utility updates to those who have the utility installed already. This is the case with my home and my work computers where only my work computer contained a previous installation of the iPhone Configuration Utility.
It appears to be more of a screw-up by Apple rather than the intent of pushing unwanted software.
Interweb BAAAD! Chubby GOOOOD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb_jLAisPzk
Forgot to log in before I posted. Double-posts I'm sure are frowned upon. :-P
You gotta admit, they could have just told the OS to pop a "This Disk Is Unreadable" message, but they didn't. Instead, they gave people a small heart attack until they read the document.
MalwareBytes Anti-Malware will take care of Vundo. It isn't perfect, but a hell of a lot better than Spybot S&D.
Run an application called Dial-A-Fix. (Google it) It is pretty good at repairing Windows Update and detecting changes in registry keys that prevent users from accessing certain parts of the system. It will also allow you to dump the SoftwareDistribution cache (where Windows Update cache is stored) as well as re-register core DLLs needed for several services in the Windows operating system to properly function.
Vundo is famous for changing Windows group policies to hide or disable the user's ability to access parts of the Windows operating system that may spell its demise.
Kinda off topic, but hey, everyone needs a hand when dealing with this trash from time to time. :-)
Does HP cite loss of sales because consumers are not purchasing computers? Or computers with Linux? Or Macs? Or what?
How does Windows Vista hurt HP's sales? HP, Dell, Lenovo, Compaq/Gateway, etc are all selling similar systems with similar specs and Windows Vista pre-installed.
Unless users are just not buying computers to dodge Vista, are switching to Linux or the Mac, I don't see how HP can cite that this is due to Vista.
How can this not be due to the recession that that is occurring in the United States?
EA is not gonna get any of my business with their shoddy transgaming Cedega-wrapped junk that they deploy on the Mac platform.
They need to stop burning their users, which EA has done for years. Kinda sounds like a consumer case of abuse where the victims keep coming back time after time. A shame, really.
"Illegal P2P"? So, I guess that means that the WoW patches I just downloaded from the Bittorrent network are illegal.
I should expect a cease and desist letter from Blizzard any minute now...
WTF is with these RIAA and affiliate companies always making the statement that P2P is illegal? It is some of the MATERIAL that may be a violation of copywrite to distribute without license. The networks themselves and the sharing of free-to-distribute medias are perfectly legal. Maybe if they understood this, they would have a better result in court.
Really, the RIAA and MediaSentry/SafeNet need to be grilled in court over and over and over again. They still won't get the point, but I'm sure a few kicks in the nuts will wipe the grins from their faces.
Is it just me or did they completely skip the GameCube? The timeline went from the N64 to the GBA to the Wii without mentioning anything about the GameCube.
Is this even a complete timeline? Nintendo had a lot of other projects out there that weren't even mentioned in this article.
Ooookay, so our friendly "family-oriented lobbyists" attack Sega for putting a release date on a hack and slash type game, but we ignore the fact that games like Manhunt 2 already exist on the Wii.
Last time I noticed, stabbing a man to death with a syringe was "adult" and violent...
Here's a tip. DON'T BUY THESE GAMES FOR YOUR KIDS! Parents need to stop being clueless about technology and what their kids are doing with it.
Actually, I think this is a great exercise!
AV companies have ignored spyware/malware threats for years and treated them as any standard Trojan/worm/virus. It is AMAZING to see how easily a Windows workstation is compromised even with proper AV/AS software installed. If Microsoft and the AntiVirus/AntiSpyware companies don't straighten their act, I can see us going to signed apps in the near future.
The fact is, many spyware/malware packages are toting along very malicious Trojans. The initial downloader Trojan almost always makes it under the detection line of the AV/AS software. While the AV/AS software may detect the malicious Trojan upon download from the downloader Trojan, the downloader Trojan is sometimes started as a service or as a component of Winlogon. This typically gives it an edge on the AV/AS software where it can download and install the malicious Trojan before the AV/AS even starts.
The most amazing thing to do with a spyware infected PC is to scan it with everything you got, make sure all hidden and system files are viewable from Folder Options, then go into windows\system32 and sort the items by date modified or date created. You'll see a wonderful list of kjsdhfkjsh.exe, sdkssk.dll, sdkfjhsl.sys, etc that went completely undetected. This, of course, is completely ignoring the existence of rootkits, Browser Helper Objects, Winsock LSP entries, and a host of other fun stuff.
I often ask myself why the location I work for even bothers purchasing $90,000 worth of antivirus + antispyware products when over 75% of the stuff we deal with every single day goes undetected.
Since we have removal down to a science where I work, I often wonder if the $90,000 would be better spent on two more admins with similar knowledge.
Beta testers were notified by e-mail of the software expiration that night. A new copy was available immediately from the AppleSeed site.
My phone is fine and probably a lot of other beta testers who have a clue have a working phone as well.
Maybe people who beta test software should have a good understanding that it is a BETA test and Apple highly recommended that the BETA software not be installed on personal or business-related phones that need to have 100% accessibility and reliability.
How many beta testers in this program understand how to use a web browser to go grab the new release? If you're gonna be a n00b about it, don't sign up to be a tester.
Hmm, Windows Mobile on a Palm device. That ought to tell you where Palm is going in the future...
Apple iPhone users should be content with the finding of an exploit by responsible security researchers. Unlike InfoSec Sellout (who is likely blowing smoke up his as*), Charles Miller and the rest of the Independent Security Evaluators team should be applauded for their work. They responsibly reported the vulnerability (and a potential fix) to Apple for investigation.
The Apple community should not in any way, shape or form, harass this group like they harassed InfoSec Sellout. I.S.E. are the good guys and as a 15-year Apple veteran, I give my best to those who are out to help Apple keep security at its tightest on their products and services.