Search results

S
Can the government tell you wiped your hd?

The internal ATA Secure Erase feature locks the drive while it runs, so if anything happens that powers off the system while it's running, the drive is effectively bricked. I've lost a drive that way, so don't use that anymore. There is data agencies can pull to see how often the cells have...
- Savatar
- Post #37
- Jan 9, 2017
- Forum: Security
S
Getting the Kiddos into Cyber Security

It sounds like your son has some interest, which is great! Perhaps introduce him to some security news sources, like blogs, reputable twitter accounts, or news sites so he can keep up to date with some of what's going on with cyber security and what people are talking about. Also, vulnhub...
- Savatar
- Post #4
- Jan 9, 2017
- Forum: Security
S
Can the government tell you wiped your hd?

I've read that wiping a modern solid state drive (SSD) is fundamentally different than wiping an older mechanical disk. Because of the way the firmware works on an SSD, you do not really have control about where the data is written on the disk, so some software that would work to perform passes...
- Savatar
- Post #35
- Jan 9, 2017
- Forum: Security
S
Speculating about God

A person does not need to have a position on anything and everything, though. A fool tends to think himself wise, but a wise man tends to admit that he knows nothing. Some awesome quotes from Einstein: Whether the world or universe was a product of chance or design, or whether God exists or...
- Savatar
- Post #105
- Sep 23, 2014
- Forum: OT Discussion Club
S
What (physically) would be required for a 3rd dimension in electronic signals?

I think quantum entanglement and non-locality has pretty much shown that there is what can essentially be thought of as another dimension lingering about that is not well understood yet.
- Savatar
- Post #9
- Sep 23, 2014
- Forum: Ask a Technical Professional
S
Can ping adress via command line, but can not access from browsers

Proxy settings is indeed one of the most likely culprits from the sound of it. Pinging an IP like 8.8.8.8 shows you can get to the public internet, and pinging a domain name like anandtech.com shows that your DNS resolution is working properly (assuming it was resolved to the correct IP...
- Savatar
- Post #2
- Sep 23, 2014
- Forum: Networking
S
Big Steam Update

I think some of the features are a step in the right direction, but it feels more like a beta to me. Then again, Steam hasn't ever been a rock-solid, polished application, regularly failing to automatically sign in because of 'network problems' even though I know the network is fine (I just try...
- Savatar
- Post #3
- Sep 23, 2014
- Forum: PC Games
S
Thing about Apple

The 'user jail', in my opinion, does actually help to protect users. Most compromised iOS (and Android) devices are actually jailbroken, as most of the tools/techniques to do so require that. The iCloud leaks/attacks, from what I have read, were mostly accomplished through abusing one of three...
- Savatar
- Post #3
- Sep 23, 2014
- Forum: Security
S
best software to protect MBR

You can make up a backup of your partition table/MBR with tools like partimage, and then recover as desired. If you are sure the MBR isn't changing, this may be one of the best ways: http://www.partimage.org/Partimage-manual_Backup-partition-table If you ever hose it, you can overwrite the...
- Savatar
- Post #8
- Sep 23, 2014
- Forum: Security
S
In-depth: How CloudFlare promises SSL securitywithout the key

It looks like instead of relying solely on SSL, it essentially salts it with an additional layer (a one-time random key) exchanged between the client and the server. It uses that to generate what they are calling a 'premaster secret'... so it's SSL with an additional pad. I don't see how it...
- Savatar
- Post #2
- Sep 23, 2014
- Forum: Security
S
Dell BIOS Password Help

If the BIOS password was altered and the one they give you didn't work, there isn't anything like a 'master' BIOS password to backdoor the system, sorry :( (Even if there was, it would be wrong to give out that information). You will have to send it back to Dell or remove the battery and...
- Savatar
- Post #17
- Jan 15, 2014
- Forum: Computer Building
S
Does Bitlocker really encrypt?

Yes, Bitlocker isn't based on user passwords though. It protects from users viewing the hard drive contents from Live CD/DVDs or by taking it out and trying to read the content in another computer. It encrypts the Windows volume - so naturally, it doesn't protect the data after you are booted...
- Savatar
- Post #2
- Jan 15, 2014
- Forum: Windows
S
2015, will you go Windows 9 or steam OS?

I don't think that SteamOS/Steam Boxes are designed to be a general-purpose operating system. Although it is a derivative of Linux, it is focused primarily on gaming, and therefore it may be more apt to say that it competes with consoles and not general purpose operating systems. As far as...
- Savatar
- Post #134
- Jan 15, 2014
- Forum: PC Games
S
Is [i]this[/i] website legit?

It looks like it is actually a newer website, some sites are reporting that it might be bad... this doesn't mean it is for sure, but maybe. http://www.scamvoid.com/check/cheap-mall.net The webutation link to check that I used is here, which reports it as OK though... since it's new people might...
- Savatar
- Post #4
- Jan 13, 2014
- Forum: Security
S
Is [i]this[/i] website legit?

The site's "webutation" looks OK, but it doesn't look like they use SSL for checkout (?!) so I would be careful. It is probably an error of some sort on their site, though, and that does happen to even larger sites and stores from time to time. Usually in that case they will cancel the sale...
- Savatar
- Post #2
- Jan 13, 2014
- Forum: Security
S
Free will? Who cares?

While I accept it might be possible to build such a system, I am not as sure that would necessarily mean we therefore don't have free will. Free will is, basically, the capability to make a decision, and just because a computer might be able to simulate [at least some of] that decision-making...
- Savatar
- Post #146
- Jan 10, 2014
- Forum: OT Discussion Club
S
Free will? Who cares?

Hmmm... It would need all the inputs from every other event that the person interacts with (which may present itself with what is known as a deadlock condition in software engineering until other agents make their decisions to begin with - since those agents interact heavily with each other and...
- Savatar
- Post #142
- Jan 10, 2014
- Forum: OT Discussion Club
S
Free will? Who cares?

Indeed, some philosophers have stipulated that some actions are involuntary and occur before an individual makes any conscious thought or decision about what to do. That's not what free will concerns itself with (see my post above this one), we obviously don't control everything. :( The idea...
- Savatar
- Post #140
- Jan 10, 2014
- Forum: OT Discussion Club
S
Free will? Who cares?

That makes sense. I would absolutely agree with where you're coming from here, then! Choices aren't 'free' - they definitely have consequences, and the situations we find ourselves in are often not ones that we directly chose (or expected), although we do have some limited control over them in...
- Savatar
- Post #139
- Jan 10, 2014
- Forum: OT Discussion Club
S
Free will? Who cares?

I'll just address one point in this that I find interesting: While circumstances beyond our control are often influencers of a person's actions, I do not personally believe this interferes with the notion of 'free will'. A person does have more control over their thoughts and feelings with...
- Savatar
- Post #135
- Jan 10, 2014
- Forum: OT Discussion Club
S
IPC Message Passing In POSIX (i need help for this project)

It sounds like you are doing basic *nix system programming! :) I would start with a good threading tutorial... for example, any/all of the following: 1. http://randu.org/tutorials/threads/ 2. http://mij.oltrelinux.com/devel/unixprg/ 3. http://www.laptev.org/doc/pthreads.html They should be...
- Savatar
- Post #3
- Jan 10, 2014
- Forum: Programming
S
Basic Software Interface Question

Yes, although it only mentions C++ on the page, you can compile .c files as well. The steps to make your project ANSI C instead of C++ should be the same as outlined here on StackOverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5770858/how-to-develop-c-with-visual-studio-2010 I think cl.exe is...
- Savatar
- Post #16
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: Programming
S
Basic Software Interface Question

It might be good to make this its own post so that more people can see it as a new question/thread... but I would recommend either Visual Studio Express (which includes a full graphical IDE and cl.exe which drives the compiler/linker), or either the cygwin or mingw port of gcc (that's just a...
- Savatar
- Post #14
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: Programming
S
New to SC2, been spamming a few 1v1 games...

I agree, but I also find the custom games to be very relaxing and enjoyable as an alternative... of which there are many! And... there's always the AI (but that's usually 'too easy' or 'too hard'). I've probably spent more time playing custom games than competitive.
- Savatar
- Post #27
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: PC Games
S
MySQL select row order

A DBA once told me that there is no guarantee on the order that comes back, but I've never seen anything except the order of the PK. Still, it is recommended to use ORDER BY if you have to guarantee an ordering. According to this, MySQL will do a table scan if no ORDER BY is given...
- Savatar
- Post #2
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: Programming
S
Is Microsoft playing a dangeous game of chicken with the internet? (XP)

My apologies, I meant upgrading to newer Windows versions. For example, from Windows XP to Windows 7 or something like that... not applying Windows Updates (that doesn't currently upgrade to new operating system versions).
- Savatar
- Post #131
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: Operating Systems
S
Is Microsoft playing a dangeous game of chicken with the internet? (XP)

Ahh, I've never went through that... I have always manually re-formatted and re-install later versions before I've ever gotten a message to do that. :) Windows upgrades aren't known for being very 'smooth', so people still encourage users to completely re-install from scratch. :(
- Savatar
- Post #128
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: Operating Systems
S
Is Microsoft playing a dangeous game of chicken with the internet? (XP)

The linux distributions that I've used work similarly to Windows in that regard. They actually do go 'out of support' and will only update to the latest supported version of the packages on the official repositories, not the _actual_ latest version of the packages that you have installed. So...
- Savatar
- Post #126
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: Operating Systems
S
Basic Software Interface Question

A couple of good Windows system programming texts are: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0321657748 and http://www.amazon.com/dp/0735663777 These are the two most recent, anyway, and primarily target Windows Vista / Windows 7. These focus mostly on how Windows works in general on a relatively low...
- Savatar
- Post #12
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: Programming
S
Free will? Who cares?

Throughout history, God has demonstrably tended to favor the unassuming and humble in the world. The Jewish people were delivered from the mighty Egyptians. They had several ups and downs throughout the way, but they considered themselves to be His chosen people. Then Jesus came along, and...
- Savatar
- Post #117
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: OT Discussion Club
S
Stanley Parable - I don't get it *spoilers*

From what I've read, it's like a 'choose your own adventure' book, except in video game format. That sounds like a marvel concept, as I liked those books as a kid. That's kind of what they meant in the trailers when they say 'You are Stanley... or are you?!', and so on. Although I haven't...
- Savatar
- Post #11
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: PC Games
S
Am I wrong, or has the fundamental re-pricing of Steam games begun?

I was eye-balling some games (some of which were Pop Cap games) that were lesser known, but they didn't go on a 75% sale as well... in previous years they had a Pop Cap sale - but not this year. :( So, as you guys have already said, they do seem to be getting away from publisher sales - which...
- Savatar
- Post #21
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: PC Games
S
New to SC2, been spamming a few 1v1 games...

It used to be that Starcraft 2, when it first came out, matched new players against one of [almost] every league to try to build the matchmaking stats. You'd play a bronze, silver, gold, plat then diamond player... and it was tough. I remember winning the first one or two and then getting...
- Savatar
- Post #16
- Jan 9, 2014
- Forum: PC Games
S
Email encryption

Thanks, I have used FoxIt Reader when I need to view PDFs before, though I do still disable any web browser plugins. Here are a couple references that show the most common attack vectors for Windows PC infection in 2012 and 2013...
- Savatar
- Post #17
- Jan 8, 2014
- Forum: Security
S
Email encryption

Yeah, I understand the constraints. I have also been thinking about creating some secure messaging application ever since LavaBit went under. Unfortunately, after thinking about it, there doesn't seem like very much I could do. Most security-conscious users who demand 'ultra security' would...
- Savatar
- Post #15
- Jan 8, 2014
- Forum: Security
S
My son has expressed interest in a gaming pc

50" plasma might not look that great once a PC is hooked up to it - but I've never tried it so I'm not sure. Can you test with the laptop you have now to ensure that it will meet your display needs? With a PC you usually want to read the screen pretty easily... otherwise some simple things...
- Savatar
- Post #9
- Jan 7, 2014
- Forum: PC Games
S
My son has expressed interest in a gaming pc

How old is he? Do you already have a 'non-gaming' PC? Does he have a personal PC that is 'his' that he uses? That might be some important points to consider. If you don't, that may add a lot of value to getting a PC. If it's just to play the one game, Minecraft, I probably would not...
- Savatar
- Post #4
- Jan 7, 2014
- Forum: PC Games
S
NOW CLOSED ; List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV... and give a */10

Watched Stand Up Guys last night... I'd give it around 6.8/10. Not bad, but not great either. It could have been better if they changed a few things (it needed more connection with the characters feeling the end is near and wanting to relive the old days - it came across as far too gimmicky...
- Savatar
- Post #5,381
- Jan 7, 2014
- Forum: OT Discussion Club
S
Email encryption

Never use PDF attachments if you can avoid it... they are not secure since malicious information inside PDF files can be used to execute code. Many users use Adobe Acrobat viewer, which is known to have had several vulnerabilities throughout the years, and is still among the top three methods...
- Savatar
- Post #13
- Jan 7, 2014
- Forum: Security
S
Any way to find email address associated with PGP key? I forgot friend's email addy..

No problem! The one downside to this is that spammers have been known to harvest email addresses from keys on public key servers. So, if you ever publish your key, keep that in mind. There's not really any good workaround for that except to use spam filters (you could, perhaps, register the...
- Savatar
- Post #4
- Jan 7, 2014
- Forum: Security

RESOURCES

Top Bottom