* Posts by adnim

2081 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Apr 2007

Cnet slammed for wrapping Nmap downloads with cruddy toolbar

adnim

Most users are just consumers and are not interested at all in Nmap. CNet have been doing this for at least a month maybe two.

I downloaded a simple utility.... I'm too simple to remember what it was... from CNet around six weeks ago. The installer by default would have installed some toolbar until I cancelled the install.

It's not just Nmap. I think CNet want to, or are in the process of, lacing all their downloads with poison.

We are IT professionals... At least I think some of us might be, and we find it easy to see when something isn't quite right. Your average user on the other hand is just a consumer with little clue about such things. What's more they are more inclined to leave tick boxes ticked when they have the word "recommended" next to them. I know this for a fact and you would too if you ever cleaned the crud from the machine of an average user.

Facebook security hole exposes Zuckerberg's privates

adnim

And the moral of the story is...

As with any other social networking site, do not post information or images that you wouldn't want the rest of the world and his/her dog to see.

Assange: 'iPhone, BlackBerry, Gmail users - you're all screwed'

adnim
Holmes

Enlighten me

or tell me something I don't know.

Gmail emails like any other email can be intercepted, or just passed on by the service providers to third parties.

Certain features of mobile devices have been used by service providers and device manufacturers to monitor and record "certain" device functions. So it is common knowledge that a mobile device can spy on the user or at least it should be.

The real news would be in the proof that the Illuminati actually exist and are in a concerted effort, along with the assistance of service providers and device makers, to monitor the content of every email and the communications of every device user in order to manipulate the masses into acceptance of the Status Quo.

Still, it isn't unwise to learn how a device works and what it does by itself either during start up or as a background task and be able to change that behaviour, should you so wish, before entrusting it with information you would not want shared. The simple fact that such a device *could* leak information without the users knowledge or approval is a security risk and should be mitigated before the device is used.

Unfortunately learning how a device OS works and being able to alter the behaviour of that OS is often beyond the abilities of the average consumer that use these devices. So they *could* in the future be "screwed". Unless of course legislation saves them.

As for IT professionals, especially those in the security field there is no excuse, you can save yourselves by either rooting your iPhone or move to Android or another OSS and gain FULL control over your device. Until you gain that control, the simple fact is...Your device is a security risk.

British garbage worms survive in space without human help

adnim

Yes

see title

Revealed: Full specs on Mars rover's nuclear laser heat ray

adnim
Happy

10^100 things to do with Carbon

No other element has the capacity to create compounds complex and diverse enough to facilitate all the chemical reactions required to support life, at least life as we know it. All life we are aware of is a result of carbon based chemistry, specifically organic chemistry.

If of course there is life existing in the Universe that is not dependent on such chemical complexity then it could well indeed be non carbon based, However, if such complexity and diversity of chemical compounds is a requirement for life to exist then it has to be carbon based.

Boffin bothers frogs until they spill super power secrets

adnim
Joke

If one conducted the kind of experiment on humans that Galvani conducted on dead frogs legs, I would guess that a human could jump pretty far too

Bishop to bless road salt supplies for added winter safety

adnim
Facepalm

Oh my!

Is this the idea of the bishop trying to garner support for an all but dead, antiquated superstition or has this come from the mind of a misguided council official?

Whatever the case, I really do hope that donations to the church, if any, for such a pointless task do not come out of the tax payers purse.

PETA riled by Mario's raccoon skin suit

adnim
Joke

Phurry Entities Taste Awesome

That is all

The Register goes Live on 22 Nov 2011

adnim

This isn’t a competition, we’re just going to pick five of you.

Aw shucks, I guess I have no chance as there's only one of me.

We need to talk about desktop virt

adnim

Client-server

computing worked fine on mainframes in the 70's and 80's. Accepting the advances in the technology, the difference between then and now is little more than a GUI.

Depending on scales of deployment desktop visualisation can save money, centralise control and ease administration. It should go without saying though that only having one server and thus one central point of failure would be rather silly, as would not taking measures to ensure that any network hardware failure is a show stopper.

In my opinion the most important issue of desktop virtualisation is confidentiality and thus who runs the servers? If it's in house then the HR dept have their work cut out in vetting those that will administer and have access to the virtualisation servers. If the virtualisation is outsourced which is most likely to happen if cost savings are involved, then it is a matter of placing trust in the expertise of third parties, their own HR recruitment procedures and the staff they employ.

As more companies, in an effort to make shareholders happy, outsource data storage and virtualisation to third parties I would expect the reports of data theft and the leakage of sensitive information to increase. As should everyone else who doesn't think humans are infallible.

I would never place sensitive, private or personal information on a server that is not under my direct control or can be accessed by persons unknown.

New pics of giant black sphere hurtling toward Earth

adnim
Joke

Nice animation

I didn't realise that we had such a clever moon, notice how it scuttles out of the asteroids path?

Stallman: Did I say Jobs was evil? I meant really evil

adnim

Macs are pretty digital handcuffs

Regardless of merit for users who want an easy to use consumer device, or the disadvantage for users who like control at all levels. All apple products are digital handcuffs which is the main motivation behind my avoidance of Apple products.

Now this is true whether Jobs was "evil" or not. I don't think Jobs was evil, just a self obsessed control freak and aren't we all to some extent? I know I'm a control freak, that's why I don't use Apple products as for self obsessed, well I am pretty awesome ;-)

Earth escapes obliteration by comet

adnim
Joke

Meh

Comets have been missing the Earth for a long time.

Father-of-three attacked teen after Call of Duty jibes

adnim

No

It's evidence that pent up frustration from hours of having the piss taken out of them can push a person with "mental health issues" to violent reaction.

Any conclusions reached beyond this are just supposition and unsubstantiated theory.

Further more, have you not noticed that The Reg always baits its readership? It's like a spoiled child craving attention in the form of comment. In most cases though, the baiting is a little more subtle than calling its readership dickheads.

El Reg in email address blunder

adnim
Joke

Thanks

That swelled my email spam database by 46,000+ records.

Reg readers, expect wonderful product offers from my business delivered direct to your mailbox very soon.

On a serious note: These things happen, I expect every database into which I enter personal information to be susceptible to compromise or human error resulting in exposure of that data. That's why I have never entered my real name or indeed any truthful, personally identifiable information in any online form, EVER.

German states defend use of 'Federal Trojan'

adnim

multiple times

"so anyone who uploaded the file must have cared little about keeping the technology secret and therefore effective for longer, or they were incompetent"

Perhaps they were suspicious of the file.

Win 8 haters are just scared of change, say MS bosses

adnim
Meh

Fashionable changes

"Redmond's developers have rather gently suggested that some of those objecting to changes in the Start Screen in Windows 8 are just reacting to change, no matter whether it's good or bad."

Yes there are some people who object to change just because it is different, this has always been the case and there were probably objectors to sliced bread when that was first sold.

I think in the case of Microsoft Operating systems people get used to working a a certain way, they become quick and adept in manipulating familiar environments. A few years later they have become so used to the personally customised windows experience that they have on their PC that they use it on autopilot.

Then another MS OS is released and all the switches and buttons have been moved somewhere else in an effort to make things easier for the user and to attempt to be fashionable. The developers not realising whilst developing these features that for most users an interface change is not wanted.

Windows 8 is little more than Windows 7 with a few more html/xhtml parsing libraries in a new frock, and could have been easily released as an add on for Windows 7 for a few quid. It could present the user with the option to have the way they do things changed and all the buttons and switches moving or hiding after it had been installed.

Microsoft flags Firefox and Chrome for security failings

adnim

Well spotted Mike

Firefox 6.02 masquerading as Internet Explorer 9 gets 4 out of 4.

The fact that plugins for Firefox give such a high level of control over the behaviour of the browser with regard to cookie acceptance, script execution, referrer string, user agent, advertisement blocking etc. offers much of the security I need in a browser.

As for Smartscreen filter: From the Internet Explorer 9 privacy statement

"Addresses that are not on the local list and the addresses of files you are downloading will be sent to Microsoft and checked against a frequently updated list of webpages "

Quite an invasion of privacy I would say. So switch on Smartscreen filter and tell Microsoft of every website you visit. I would also describe such a feature as information disclosure and thus a security issue in itself. But IE 9 is not marked down for this.

I agree that Microsoft has made huge improvements to the security of their OS wrt Windows 7 and standards compliance wrt IE9 but to punt such disingenuous bullshit as this website does to the average surfer should be illegal.

Would you let your car insurer snoop on you for a better deal?

adnim
Joke

Yes I would

providing I can turn it of when I am pissed.

Look who's talking ... about your Facebook Page

adnim

A new Farcebook

Charge users £1 (whatever it costs to support infrastructure) per year to use the service.

Let the the users have total control over how information they post is shared and to whom.

Let users restrict access to their wall/posts by age, group, individual.

Do not share, sell or divulge in anyway any information personal or otherwise concerning users of the service.

Once a user is logged out they are LOGGED OUT, they no longer exist to the service until they log back in.

Let users post links to anything and embed anything in their own wall (with a warning that a court order will be complied with)

Prohibit membership of corporate entities, small ltd companies and sole traders allowed.

Allow users to stop any internal advertising.

Users are the site, without the users there is no site, they are the Alpha and the Omega.

It sickens me that obscene greed (be that a greed for power or money) motivates some individuals more than a social conscience does? Yeah I know, I feel sick most of the time!

Do unto others....(no I don't do god) What other rule is needed?

adnim

It sees to me Tim 11

that the previous 10 Tims would agree with you. Unless of course they used Farcebook and were concerned with privacy issues.

The plane story of galactic clusters

adnim
Joke

Why are galaxies where they are?

Slartibartfarst's supervisor?

iPhones 'excellent for doing experiments on their owners'

adnim
Joke

Why don't they...

Just ask Apple for the data?

Boffins invent miracle pill that counteracts effects of booze

adnim
Joke

Huh

"Though a pill to let enjoy your favourite tipple without getting drunk appears to be a godsend"

Does it? Appears to be the spawn of Satan to me.

Reebok used 'very fit woman' in buttock-related deception

adnim

I don't buy Reebok shoes because they have a Reebok logo on them. I can find perfectly comfortable and equally durable shoes for around one fifth the price.

Yeah I know I miss out on the posing. My loss I guess ;-)

Spotify tethers future to Facebook

adnim

NoScript

Block Farcebook scripts from every site except Farcebook and accept session cookies only. Block all third party cookies. If flash is a necessity on some of the sites you visit install the better privacy add on. Of course this does mean using Firefox.

Prosecutor calls poker site 'global Ponzi scheme'

adnim

"...place their trust in a company that gave the perception they were always working in the interest of poker."

Just about all businesses give the perception that they are working in the interest of the product or the customer. For a start up, altruism is likely high on the list of mission statements of many businesses, until that is the greed kicks in. After that the perception is still maintained but it's just a veneer covering the realigned motives of the directors and shareholders.

US survey: 1 in 5 telecommuters work an hour or less a day

adnim

Eighteen hours one day

Then 2 days off.

Working from home suits me fine. I work when I feel like it, yet still manage to meet deadlines.

Sometimes I am motivated, sometimes I am not. I can do more work in an hour when I feel like it, than I can manage in several hours if I don't.

I am self employed so there is always motivation do at least a little bit of work every day, or every other day ;-) Saturday and Sunday are just days like the other five though, except the phone doesn't ring.

After years of being a mobile service engineer, then five years of commuting 3-4 hours a day to and from my place of work. I find I am a lot less stressed.

Big Apple fake Apple stores agree to rat out suppliers

adnim

Perhaps...

you were downvoted because after this... "that with the margins that Apple make and the profits they hold, that they could manufacturer their products in America, employ Americans to do the work, make a patriotic contribution to the country"

Your moralistic stance became a dig a China. China or the Chinese people deserve nothing less or more than the respect we ourselves deserve.

I agree with the first half of your rant ;-) If corporates (not just Apple) and their shareholders were not such greedy ******* in the first place, then the manufacturing infrastructure of the west would still exist. There would be less unemployment and the wealth generated from the sale of consumer do dads could be nicely shared amongst us all. This would still make the providers of the do dads rich beyond necessity, if not rich beyond obscenity, which unfortunately seems to be what they mostly strive for.

Facebook music dashboard: Revenue at last?

adnim

adblock filter

facebook.com##div.ego_section

Some sites deserve support for which a donate button would be awesome, alternatively one could let their ads through.

Sites operated by high earning or high valued corporations deserve no such consideration... Block 'em all.

Murdoch to reappear before MPs in phone-hack case

adnim

Why before MPs?

Shouldn't he appear before a court of law?

I am ignorant in such matters, but it seems to me that if he was aware of and thus complicit in these phone hacking allegations he should answer to the law and not a group of people who have used NI in the past to push their own agendas.

Windows 8 to boot in 8 seconds

adnim

more time

waiting for PC to boot... less time working. This is only an issue if you love your work.

For me, wiping a couple of minutes off boot time is meh and a shrug or so what Icon would be more useful. Of course others' mileage may vary.

Battered Sony hires cyber-security chief

adnim

Is it possible

to hire just one person that can understand and has mastery over the whole IT infrastructure of a major corporation? Maybe this bloke will indeed hire sufficiently adept personnel in sufficient numbers to ensure some kind of security of the corporations IT systems. Employ one Jack of all trades or several masters of one... Which would you chose?

I like to think I am smart (after all, I do have an IQ in double figures), however, I do realise I only think I am. I could secure Sony, but they would have to let me employ some people far more clever than I.

Inside 'Operation Black Tulip': DigiNotar hack analysed

adnim

Not public knowledge

Unless the Beeb or Sky fill the news channels with this, ignorance will ensure continued trust of systems the average user does not understand. How deep is the hole? depends on whether you take the red or blue pill. But which pill do the media offer up to you?

Trust, I would love to share it with you, but how can I trust you when I fear to trust myself as my much of my knowledge is based on the information I receive from those with an agenda that may well be incompatible with mine?

Honesty, integrity and truth are indeed absolutes but they can be severely distorted, hidden or presented in a contradictory light by little more than greed.

China mulls further social-network controls

adnim
Big Brother

Which side is your bread buttered?

Does this:

"Unless administration is vigorous, criminal forces, hostile forces, terrorist organisations and others could manipulate public sentiment by manufacturing bogus opinion on the internet, damaging social stability and national security."

Read as this:

"Unless administration is vigorous, individuals, free thinkers, libertarians and others could manipulate public sentiment by spreading truthful opinion on the internet, damaging authoritarianism and populous control"

Stephen on Steve: The most important man on Earth

adnim

@Norfolk 'n' Goode

I am pleased for you that you realise this now. Education is not a bad thing and It's good to feel that I have contributed to your learning.

You perhaps now also realise that I am the most important man on Earth, which is why I took umbrage at such sycophantic twaddle in the first place.

Apology accepted ;-)

/removes tongue from cheek, awaits further down voting from those without a sense of humour. Perhaps I should just quit while I'm ahead.

adnim

Yup

You are right, my bad. I consider myself a little wiser.

adnim

Fry is awsome

I have a lot of respect for Mr Fry. Entertaining, observant, intelligent and witty.

However, I stand by what I posted earlier regarding such sycophantic mumblings. It appears I have now been down voted by four people (jobbie lovers perhaps), whom so it seems, also have their heads firmly placed where the sun doesn't shine.

<shrug>

adnim

Mmmm

Such sycophantic diatribe.

I'm surprised he could be heard with his head so obviously lodged up somewhere very dark indeed.

A Farewell to Oates: Adios, El Reg

adnim

Good luck

good fortune and take care.

Microsoft unveils file-move changes in Windows 8

adnim

Consumers...

Have little to no choice, purchase a new laptop or PC and it likely to be Windows all the way down.

Try getting a machine with anything else installed at an on-line or a brick consumer electronics shop.

A heat gun makes the COA labels very easy to relocate ;-)

comScore sued over 'sinister' data collection methods

adnim

Commercially viable...

Costs less to implement than the money we make from selling your ass.

UK man faces five charges for repeated Facebook hacks

adnim
FAIL

"He was not very good at it then."

He got caught, ipso facto he was shit at it.

Hundreds of Brit pubs to offer free WiFi

adnim

Free WiFi?

"Access is free for BT Broadband customers".

So for those of us who don't use BT broadband it isn't free?

Should the title of this article then read:

"Hundreds of brit pubs to offer free WiFi for BT broadband customers"?

And here's me thinking I could do work at the local on those pleasant sunny afternoons, looks like I will have to stick to my garden and bottles of real ale.

Dog fight game bitten with pro-PETA virus

adnim

And...

just because we have apposable thumbs we have the right to kill anything we damn well fancy, including each other.

I would guess that you don't train rats to tear each other apart?

Seriously though, pest control by humane methods is in some cases a necessity, but to torture animals for amusement is something entirely different. However I do find it a little disturbing that you "love killing small animals".

Many might find a game like this distasteful but so what? It's a video game, I am curious as to how dogs manage to use it for training purposes though.

Microsoft begins cagey Windows 8 disclosures

adnim
Linux

You care...

or at least you cared enough to respond.

I don't want to move the market, Microsoft's bug ridden and insecure operating systems have earned me quite a few quid. If it wasn't for people who researched the insecurities and privacy implications of using Microsoft operating systems and software, Microsoft and cybercriminals would own all our arses, not just those of the consumer. Thanks for reminding me I am not Steve Jobs, for a moment I forgot that I am just a nobody ;-)

adnim

They just

want to lock users out of the guts of the O.S. This is a double edged sword. Consumers can feel safe and "secure" in the knowledge that their shiny Win8 laptop/PC is as easy to use as a mobile phone. Whilst those of us who like to control what our machines do and what information leaks out of it in the background will have to fight through layers and layers of obfuscation to customise the OS beyond what customisation options MS decide to allow the user to have.

Expect the recommended settings to share as much information about your use of the OS to Microsoft as is legally or perhaps otherwise possible with almost every click. Expect a desktop full of advertising that is difficult to block.

Expect me to never install this on anything but a VM with wireshark installed for research purposes. After all I have to work for a living and ridding MS operating systems from malware isn't something I relish but it does pay the bills.

Consumers will embrace this, they have little choice. Those with a clue and choice will stay with previous versions or move to another OS.

Mass WordPress hijack poisons Google Image well

adnim
Unhappy

This is the

second time I have read an article intimating that Wordpress has been exploited to plant nastiness based upon the story head line.

Can you please be more accurate with those headlines and less sensationalist please. It's getting tiresome. Yes it's 5:25 am and I am tired and cranky because I have been working for 21 hours. Time for a few hours sleep before I start all over again.

Columbia debris emerges from Texas lake

adnim
Joke

Are they sure?

looks like a damaged Texans golf ball to me.

Isolated human genes can be patented, US court rules

adnim

Oh, that's just great

So when do I get sued for patent infringement?