Comment All you need to know: (Score 5, Insightful) 359
I know of only two instances where I've ever definitely been infected with spyware. I don't do stupid things like downloading and running strange programs from third-party sites, so I think both infections were probably caused by a site exploiting a security hole in Internet Explorer, or in a plug-in like Adobe Acrobat or the Flash player. Both times, once I noticed I was infected, I got rid of the infection with Malwarebytes, but I don't know how much damage the spyware did in the meantime.
Malwarebytes is good software, but as you point out you don't know how much damage was done. Secondary infections can easily be missed, and many malware programs open your machine to further exploitation. As tired as the suggestion is, you needed to do what you did with your website: revert the machine to a known good backup of the system state, formatting first. Anything less and you *should* have that nagging doubt that you haven't actually cleaned everything up. There are ways to diminish the concern: inspecting the machine for unexpected packet flows, using anti-rootkit tool, etc... but only by formatting and restoring a know clean state or formatting and just restoring your data files will you be confident).
Comment Re:two ways to solve the tax "scam" (Score 1) 1505
"That's the second thing that's wrong with it. It punishes success."
How right you are. We should return to the model where the failures pay for everything. Just rename the poor as peasants, set the various city, county, state and federal tax collectors up with cool names like the Baron, Duke and Lord and we will have returned to a classic system that didn't punish success.
Of course if that is too extreme, you could always try to be successful in a failed state. I hear that openings for local warlord are surprisingly common.
Comment Re:Switching to OTA digital could destroy video DR (Score 1) 589
Where do I get all these magical digital freedoms? You make it sound like the Broadcast Flag and DMCA magically vanish with over the air transmission, and the content providers are going to sing Kumbaya with us as we rip their content in the ways we want to.
I have my doubts.
Comment Re:Unfortunately inevitable... (Score 1) 1001
"There are plenty of things I consider inherently immoral- (the law against murder, to take a random example)"
I think I will just go away now, nothing here to discuss.
I think I will just go away now, nothing here to discuss.
Submission + - Is XP-64 really worth it?
chip_whisperer writes: I used to be a big time custom desktop builder, making many working boxes per year, but I've been off the bandwagon for about four years now and am trying to get back into it now that Ars Technica has just released their recommendations. The standard seems to be heading towards 64 bit processors, but I'm wondering if you can/is it worth it to run a box on simply Windows XP or should I get XP-64? I've heard that driver support for 64 can be a hassle. Also, for you fellow Linux geeks, how are current distros doing in supporting 64 bit processors? (e.g. Suse, Ubuntu, etc.) Thanks for all your help!
Submission + - "Hanging On the Edge of a Stall" = Defying
An anonymous reader writes: Filmed by Tom Vance at the California International Airshow 2005 in Salinas, California, "Vapor Trails Video" (October 2005) is easily one of the best — and maybe the best — and certainly one of the most beautiful F/A-18F Super Hornet flight demonstration videos publicly available. The video starts off with the F/A-18F Super Hornet jet fighter performing a spectacular transonic, high-speed pass (you'll want this photo gallery). At about 2 minute and 20 second mark the fighter jet crew gives a stunning "hanging on the edge of a stall" demo, the jet barely moving while suspended in midair, knowledgeably teasing fate and defying gravity.
Submission + - Google revamps its innovation strategy
razor88x writes: "Google seems to be in the midst of a major course correction. It's overhauling its once much-praised process for creating and launching new products, shifting from what Rough Type calls a "spaghetti strategy" — "throw a lot of stuff against the wall and see what sticks" — to a "simplicity strategy" aimed at pruning back its ungainly product set. Google cofounder Sergey Brin recently complained, "I was getting lost at our site keeping track of everything. I would rather have a smaller set of products that have a shared set of features." CEO Eric Schmidt added, "We are trying to shape the innovation going forward from here and get things more integrated, make Google more integrated. This is a big change in the way we run the company." I guess letting your engineers run wild didn't turn out to be such a smart idea after all."
Submission + - Will blogs and wiki rebuilt the US intelligence?
prostoalex writes: "Any James Bond fan would be eager to tell you how the technology used by the intelligence community far supercedes anything available to mere mortals. However, as The New York Times Magazine discovers, the three-letter agencies asre consistently relying on twentieth-century technologies, where the information is not shared between agencies, making it extremely difficult to connect the dots, such as CIA reports, NSA findings and local police reports. The result? Impossibility to predict the September 11th attacks, even though anybody with access to all the pieces of information could probably alert the higher-ups. A small group of enthusiasts in CIA, FBI and Department of Defense are promoting the use of intelligence blogs and wikis for sharing information among the agencies."
Submission + - Verisign to retain .com control through 2012
ScrappyLaptop writes: (From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6199394.stm )
The US government has given its blessing to a controversial deal over the future of the lucrative .com net domain. The deal gives .com administrator Verisign control over the domain until 2012.
The US Department of Commerce retains some oversight of Verisign and has final approval of any price rises to renew .com net addresses. Critics said the deal gave Verisign a monopoly hold on the iconic domain.
Verisign has run the .com domain since 1999 and has now won the right to keep on controlling it until 2012. The deal also gives it the right to raise prices to renew .com domains in four of the six years of the contract. Price rises are limited to 7% in any year and six months notice must be given of any proposed increase.
The deal also signals the end of legal action taken by Verisign against Icann and the dropping of a retaliatory suit by the net overseer.
Submission + - ComputerWorld Documents Microsoft's Lobbying in MA
Andy Updegrove writes: "Carol Sliwa at ComputerWorld has posted two excellent stories just now on ODF in Massachusetts, based on over 300 emails secured under the Massachusetts Public Records Law (the local analogue of the Federal Freedom of Information Act). The longer and more intriguing article focuses on Microsoft's lobbying efforts in Massachusetts, and confirms, as I reported last week, that Microsoft lobbyist Brian Burke was spearheading an effort to bring pressure on the state's Information Technology Division (ITD) by promoting an amendment that would have taken away much of the ITD's power to make technology policy. The article goes on to describe the back-channel negotiations between State CIO Louis Gutierrez and Microsoft's Alan Yates, and the way that Microsoft played the lobbying card throughout those discusssions in an effort to protect its wildly profitable Office software franchise against potential erosion by competing products that support ODF.
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/articl e.php?story=20061204084504239"
Submission + - Demo Virus for Mac OS X Released
Juha-Matti Laurio writes: "Heise Security has a report about new Proof of Concept virus for Mac entitled as OSX.Macarena by AV vendor Symantec. Symantec suffered from a slight lapse when it recommended in the first version of the virus description that users clean the system by deactivating the system restoration (Windows ME/XP), which was covered with screenshot here. It is known that the virus infects other data in the folder in which it is started, regardless of extension, says Heise."
Submission + - Shawn Hogan may win law suit against MPAA
mariushm writes: "Shawn Hogan, the millionaire sued by MPAA for allegedly downloading Meet The Fockers, has written in his blog that he may win the law suit due to a technicality:
Universal City Studios Productions (the entity suing me [more or less] on behalf of the MPAA) doesn't actually have a legal right to sue because they didn't own the copyright. You can read the motion to dismiss over here (warning:PDF) if you are bored.
He continues his post with a very serious question:
For the hundreds of people that "settled" for $2,500, are those settlements even legal/valid? If they turn out to be invalid, what can I do to help everyone get their settlement money back from Universal/MPAA? They're legal right to make settlements with people would be along the same lines as me settling with you for downloading Star Wars. I'm thinking if people were paying me because I told them I owned the copyright to Star Wars (but I didn't really) may be illegal in itself."
Universal City Studios Productions (the entity suing me [more or less] on behalf of the MPAA) doesn't actually have a legal right to sue because they didn't own the copyright. You can read the motion to dismiss over here (warning:PDF) if you are bored.
He continues his post with a very serious question:
For the hundreds of people that "settled" for $2,500, are those settlements even legal/valid? If they turn out to be invalid, what can I do to help everyone get their settlement money back from Universal/MPAA? They're legal right to make settlements with people would be along the same lines as me settling with you for downloading Star Wars. I'm thinking if people were paying me because I told them I owned the copyright to Star Wars (but I didn't really) may be illegal in itself."
Submission + - Linux.com | Knoppix 5.0.1: A solid live DVD
old_skul writes: There's a new Knoppix out, and it's bigger, better, stronger and faster than previous versions. The new Knoppix Live DVD has over 9GB of compressed packages, making it the most hardware compatible and most software-rich Knoppix ever.
Submission + - Big Oil Helping the Environment?
superjordo writes: Large oil companies are funding research to inject C02 back into depleted reservoirs. "The objectives of the project are to prove the long term reliability of geological storage of CO2, and to undertake the research and development necessary to establish scientifically based standards for monitoring future [Carbon Capture and Storage] operations. This could in turn lead to guidelines for the certification of sites suitable for [Carbon Capture and Storage] on a wide scale."
http://www.tno.nl/tno/actueel/tno_persberichten/20 06/europese_unie_en_industri/index.xml (select English top right)
http://www.tno.nl/tno/actueel/tno_persberichten/2
