Tech/Computer advice from me

Happy hour starts in 5 minutes
damnit fear now you've got me downloading debian just to play with it again.
 
tshile said:
All that is to say that windows being on your machine isn't hurting you other than it east up hard drive space. There can be performance benefits to having more free hard drive space but there's diminishing returns on that and I don't know enough bout xubuntu to comment either way other than to say it probably doesn't need a whole lot (2-3 gigs?) to function normally.
Click to expand...

So, the security issues with XP won't be a factor after April 8th, if I leave Windows on the PC ?
I assume it should only be a risk, if I flip over to Windows and go on-line ?
Or can I be hacked even if I'm working off-line, while in Windows, if there's security holes ?
Heck, I've even heard of people being hacked with their PC's turned off, as long as their internet connection is still live.


tshile said:
In fact, you don't even need to remove ubuntu from Windows when you're ready.

What you want to do is essentially rebuild your computer. There's a process but the short version is that you boot to the installer (via a disc or usb drive) and format the hard drive on your computer. At this point your windows is gone. You'll then install ubuntu cleanly onto the disk. When it's finished Ubuntu will be the only operating system on the computer.

Follow these instructions. When you download it download the 32 bit version.
Install Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS | Ubuntu

When you get to the installation type it looks like your options are Replace Windows 7, Something Else.

The way the instructions read yours will probably say Replace Windows Xp. Choose this option.

*Replace Ubuntu with xubuntu :eek:
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't think this process will work, as I discovered previously.
I cannot boot from CD, because the installation file will not fit onto a CD.
I cannot boot from DVD, because the PC does not even have a DVD drive.
And I cannot boot from USB, because, while it does have a USB port, there is not option in BIOS to boot from USB, unless an expert can tell me how to modify that, if it's possible.
Those are the reasons I went with WUBI, as my installer.

So, since this has been referred to as a "preview" or a similar term, does that mean that it will expire after a while, like a couple weeks, if I do nothing, or don't install the "complete" version to replace Windows ?
 
Last edited:
Oh, I forgot about those issues. Let me think on that...

Nope it won't expire.
 
tshile said:
Oh, I forgot about those issues. Let me think on that...
Click to expand...

Trying to figure a way to do it via USB. Because something tells me there's just gotta be a way.

In BIOS, under my Boot Device Priority, one of the options is "1st Floppy Drive"
This confuses me for a couple reasons.
First of all, I know the PC is slightly old, but it does not even have a Floppy Drive.
Secondly, of course the Floppy Drive preceded the USB Port, by ages - so why would it have a Floppy Drive option, but NOT a USB option ??? Surely, it does not literally represent Floppy Drive. So, is it possible, that the term Floppy Drive in fact is referring to the USB ? What else could it be ?

Also, BIOS does recognize there is a USB, under the Advanced menu in BIOS, first it tells me USB Function is enabled, then there's an option for USB Mass Storage Configuration. When I click on that, there's an option for the USB Storage Reset Delay, to specify 10, 20, 30, or 40 seconds. Don't know what that does exactly, but it doesn't sound related.
Then under that, there's "Emulation Type". I can modify that, and the options are : Auto, Floppy, Forced FDD, Hard Disk, CDROM. Something instinctive told me that Forced FDD may possibly be a pathway to the answer, so I googled "BIOS Forced FDD" and it led me to this page, which sounds like it's telling me I need to get Windows to some formatting on the Flash Drive before I can boot from it. But it's pretty technical, so I'm not sure.....
Are these instructions going to lead me to the answer ?

How to boot from a USB device?
 
Fear The Spear said:
Trying to figure a way to do it via USB. Because something tells me there's just gotta be a way.

In BIOS, under my Boot Device Priority, one of the options is "1st Floppy Drive"
This confuses me for a couple reasons.
First of all, I know the PC is slightly old, but it does not even have a Floppy Drive.
Secondly, of course the Floppy Drive preceded the USB Port, by ages - so why would it have a Floppy Drive option, but NOT a USB option ??? Surely, it does not literally represent Floppy Drive. So, is it possible, that the term Floppy Drive in fact is referring to the USB ? What else could it be ?
Click to expand...

it has a floppy drive option because that used to be the only way. even if it doesn't have a floppy drive, the motherboard and bios are configured to accept it so that is an option. you could hook up a floppy drive to your computer

well, your logic is a little backwards on the timing of the two :) It has floppy drive because that was a standard (well, probably CD was the standard, but floppy was a backwards compatibility thing) but USB booting probably wasn't out. Backwards compatibility is a big issue in the computer world - you're likely to see devices support really old stuff as opposed to really new stuff, though that trend is kind of changing just a bit (we're seeing legacy stuff finally be dropped from support with new devices for the first time in decades)

And no, floppy doesn't mean USB. Yes, it does literally represent Floppy drive :)



Fear The Spear said:
Also, BIOS does recognize there is a USB, under the Advanced menu in BIOS, first it tells me USB Function is enabled, then there's an option for USB Mass Storage Configuration. When I click on that, there's an option for the USB Storage Reset Delay, to specify 10, 20, 30, or 40 seconds. Don't know what that does exactly, but it doesn't sound related.
Then under that, there's "Emulation Type". I can modify that, and the options are : Auto, Floppy, Forced FDD, Hard Disk, CDROM. Something instinctive told me that Forced FDD may possibly be a pathway to the answer, so I googled "BIOS Forced FDD" and it led me to this page, which sounds like it's telling me I need to get Windows to some formatting on the Flash Drive before I can boot from it. But it's pretty technical, so I'm not sure.....
Are these instructions going to lead me to the answer ?

How to boot from a USB device?
Click to expand...

I've actually never heard of the forced FDD option. It sounds like the motherboard doesn't have the required circuitry to boot directly to USB, so instead it has emulation ability to make the USB drive 'work as a floppy' for booting purposes. It actually sounds pretty clever :)

Feel free to give that a shot, just remember what settings you changed (or even better, what the current, working settings are) so you can flip it back if you have trouble. Using Forced FDD to boot to USB might solve all your problems here :)
 
if you could start a telecom that provided quality solutions coupled with expert customer care you could take over the entire market for this country and be king of the world.

i am not joking.
 
Fear The Spear said:
I think I found a tutorial that will solve my problem, seemingly much easier !

Click to expand...


Nice find! Didn't watch the whole thing, but it looks like a simple linux kernel.

Use ISORecorder to burn the ISO file to a CD. It works on Xp really well. There's tons of those software programs but ISO recorder is super lightweight/quick
ISO Recorder
You want V2
 
watching unix admins jump feet first into the microsoft world is lol-funny.

they're such babies. and seem to suck at figuring anything out, they just default to complaining whenever something isn't obvious to them :)
 
I don't know if anyone here still uses Yahoo email at all, but with all the changes they've made, it is totally turning to crap.
So I'm looking for a free, decent email.
I noticed an offer from Mozilla Thunderbird for a couple free email services - I think they're called Gandi and Hover.
Anybody familiar or know if either of them are good overall ?
 
It's what Hotmail was migrated too. It runs off of Microsoft exchange, and the web client is designed to mimic outlook like Mike said.

I use it and prefer it to Gmail but it's a personal preference. I'm used to Outlook and owa so I feel at home with it.

Recently Microsoft has come under fire for searching through an outlook.com users mailbox and deleting email related to a person trying to share pirated Microsoft software and internal information. This is after they did a full blown ad campaign against Google because Google uses algorithms to search your Gmail account to better target you with ads.

Up to you what that means. But in the past I've advocated outlook.com to get away from those things and now it seems like they have no problem doing it themselves when it suits their agenda, so I feel obligates to share the info :/
 
tshile said:
It's what Hotmail was migrated too. It runs off of Microsoft exchange, and the web client is designed to mimic outlook like Mike said.

I use it and prefer it to Gmail but it's a personal preference. I'm used to Outlook and owa so I feel at home with it.

Recently Microsoft has come under fire for searching through an outlook.com users mailbox and deleting email related to a person trying to share pirated Microsoft software and internal information. This is after they did a full blown ad campaign against Google because Google uses algorithms to search your Gmail account to better target you with ads.

Up to you what that means. But in the past I've advocated outlook.com to get away from those things and now it seems like they have no problem doing it themselves when it suits their agenda, so I feel obligates to share the info :/
Click to expand...

You think Google/Gmail is worse than Yahoo/Ymail/Rocketmail, or about the same ?
 
Fear The Spear said:
You think Google/Gmail is worse than Yahoo/Ymail/Rocketmail, or about the same ?
Click to expand...

Worse in what respect?

In terms of sending email - they all get your email to where you're trying to send it :)

In terms of spam protection? No idea, I don't use them all. Gmail does a good job. That should be the next topic I cover... preventing spam...

In terms of privacy? No idea. I default to - there is no privacy. 8 years ago I would have said you have nothing to worry about with GMail. Maybe even 3 years ago. But I don't trust that company at all anymore. It's a damn shame. I don't even know who rocketmail is but I'd trust them more than google at this point...

Security - Gmail has top security. No idea about the rest, I believe yahoo had a data breach not too long ago (not related to email, but still...)

I think most of them are probably on the same level across the board and you're probably best off making your decision based on: what kind of email address you can get (firstname.lastname@gmail.com might be better than lolinternet42@yahoo.com or whatever) and how much you like using the interface. To be completely honest.

I'm sure there's email providers dedicated to privacy and security above them, and probably aren't being tapped into by the NSA due to their lack of public recognition, but I wouldn't know one from another.
 
tshile said:
Worse in what respect?

In terms of privacy? No idea. I default to - there is no privacy. 8 years ago I would have said you have nothing to worry about with GMail. Maybe even 3 years ago. But I don't trust that company at all anymore. It's a damn shame. I don't even know who rocketmail is but I'd trust them more than google at this point...

Security - Gmail has top security. No idea about the rest, I believe yahoo had a data breach not too long ago (not related to email, but still...)
Click to expand...

Seems to me that privacy and security are very closely related, and almost inseparable.
I mean, if you have low privacy, doesn't that compromise security ?
And likewise, low security would compromise privacy, as well ?

Also, I'm a little confused that you mentioned Gmail as being top security in the quote above. Didn't you imply in this earlier quote, that they are guilty of compromising privacy and/or security ?

tshile said:
This is after they did a full blown ad campaign against Google because Google uses algorithms to search your Gmail account to better target you with ads.

Up to you what that means. But in the past I've advocated outlook.com to get away from those things and now it seems like they have no problem doing it themselves when it suits their agenda, so I feel obligates to share the info :/
Click to expand...
 
Fear The Spear said:
Seems to me that privacy and security are very closely related, and almost inseparable.
I mean, if you have low privacy, doesn't that compromise security ?
And likewise, low security would compromise privacy, as well ?

Also, I'm a little confused that you mentioned Gmail as being top security in the quote above. Didn't you imply in this earlier quote, that they are guilty of compromising privacy and/or security ?
Click to expand...

In general terms - security is their ability to keep everyone else out of your stuff and privacy is the trust you have in them and how they use the data they collect on you.

When it comes to security Google is second to none. They have a lot of really, really smart guys working for them. They supply two factor authentication, free of charge. They monitor IP connections into your account and will display banners at the top of your email saying "Someone from China logged in your account x days ago" and you can click more information to find out more and file a complaint if you want to. All for free. You're not going to find better for free.

Google's apparently been pretty good at keeping the Chinese government out of protester/activists accounts despite some pretty ridiculous efforts on the behalf of China to gain access to those accounts... if you're bored look it up some time, it's some pretty wild stuff. They weren't so good about the NSA - but the NSA has some incredible people working for them so they get a pass for that one as far as I'm concerned :)

When it comes to privacy... well, you should default to if you put your information on someone's server they have access to it. At the end of the day that's what's going on. You're storing your info on their stuff - therefore they have access to it. There are systems that exist that are designed to store your data in ways that in inaccessible to the content provider. They come with the stereotype of being cumbersome and putting your data at risk (encrypted data where you forget your password = lost data for ever) and requiring a bunch of overhead. So while those systems exist, they're not used very much except where it's important (national security, for example. at least i imagine. well, i hope. god i hope...) but they work nicely. They don't get used though because they require a little learning and are a little more cumbersome; not much but a little. And if I've learned anything after 7 years in IT - ease of use trumps security and privacy for 90% of people. They'd rather it be easy to use than secure. So these systems aren't super popular.

Google uses algorithms to mine your data. They take that data and use it to target you with ads. Ads they make a lot of money showing you, despite the fact that you feel like you never ever click on them. It's just an algorithm - code designed to look at data, crunch it, and come up with a decision about that data. No one is actually digging through your email to find out what kid of ads you'd like.

At least that would be a line I would have given you 5+ years ago. Google become a stock/private sector giant that is now beholden to stock holders. Stock holders that have replaced almost all of the higher execs of the company, the ones that made the company the awesome tech giant they were, with a bunch of profit generating executives... the ones that have made the company as rich as it is... I don't trust theri motives one bit. I refuse to buy a NEST thermostat and I finally got rid of Android, when my wife gets rid of hers we'll be Google free house finally; one of the few... They still don't have people digging through your email though.

And it was microsoft (outlook.com) that is taking heat for searching through a users's mail box. It is an extreme case, and Microsoft is on shaky ethical ground and there's much debate about it, but it happened. They decided to open a users mailbox and search through it, removing items they were looking for. As far as privacy goes that's a pretty egregious act...

The problem is going after microsoft or gmail for that stuff kind of implies the others don't do that and that's something we just don't know.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
1) cyber security is driven by the environment the provider operates in and, ultimately, the business goals and objectives of the enterprise. there is no perfectly secure solution - the very nature of digital communications (connectivity) and the mathematics of abstracting meaning from ones and zeros guarantees that. even cutting all ties to the Internet leaves physical and insider threats.

2) cyber security is one among a number of business shapers that compete for limited resources. business' will always make allocation decisions that reflect risk tolerance and trade-offs at the margin.

how do you define privacy? what is the scope?

what are the implications of defining information as "private"?

do you abdicate any "rights" if you avail yourself of a free service? if a service provider has to absorb costs to protect "privacy" should users be charged?

if you receive a free service and your privacy is violated, should the provider be held liable - even if they exercised due diligence?

does it make any f'ing difference if you become upset over one government agency's or corporation's invasion of privacy but don't care about all the others because you happen to favor the objectives? there's no standard in this context...correct?

at the end of the day there is an inescapable paradigm: if you are going to regulate...then 3 things have to happen:

- sensing

- detecting

- enforcing

drop any of the three and your regulations lose deterrence value and effectiveness.

if you want accountability...then you are going to need attribution - who done it! wanna catch the terrorist, mean evil wall street crook, state funded hacker, or the child molester? you need identity for that. you need evidence. if the dangerous activity is targeted and represents one in a million sequence of network actions - how you gonna find it without collecting and storing massively?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Help Users

You haven't joined any rooms.

    You haven't joined any rooms.
    Top