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Comment Re:Proof (Score 4, Insightful) 546

So the NSA keeps a list of identities of MI6 members stored where some Hawaii-based contracted sysadmin has complete access to them.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if the did. As a system admin for over 20 years you would be surprised what you come across, what people trust you with and to do.

One bank I worked for all the terminals where secure with individual passwords, everything was secure. All but the backups. Everything was backup to tape that everyone in the IT department had access too. The backup tapes where not secure or tracked. Anyone with a IT badge could have walked in there, walked out with every customer record and it would have been weeks before it was noticed.

I was system admit at a real estate company. For years my job was to load weekly backups to a offsite location in the trunk of my car. This data contained every piece of data the company had from pay role to customer information.

One time when I was cleaning out an account for a former employee, on his unsecured home directory I came across a CSV file containing a dump of every customers account number, name, DOB, address, credit card numbers, SSN, and a lot more. If I wanted to commit a case of identity theft I could have made off like a bandit and nobody would have ever known.

Email admin. Almost every thing that goes on in a company now goes through the email system. A email admin could know more about the company than any one if he wanted too. What big deals are going down to who is sleeping with who in the office.

What it comes down to is people simply think that computers are all secure because they have no real clue how they work. The secretary at the front desk, she has no clue that her gossip is stored in plan text on a server that anyone in the IT department can read. Most CEO, CFO, BLTs, are the same way. They will email back and forth about the upcoming "big deal" they are working on.

Most people are simply ignorant on how computers really work.

Comment Re:Quiet? (Score 1) 558

MB: GIGABYTE GA-AM1M-S2H AM1 2 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard CPU: AMD Athlon 5350 Kabini Quad-Core 2.05GHz Socket AM1 25W AD5350JAHMBOX Desktop Processor AMD Radeon HD 8400

That is almost the exact same rig I have for a htpc at home. The thing is so quiet when I first fired it up I thought it was dead. I'm even using the stock 50mm cpu fan that came with it. The 5350 is no power house processor but is more than enough to do most desktop work. Even some light gaming if you want too.

Over all I was more than impressed by how quiet this system was.

Comment Re:Quiet? (Score 1) 558

Has anyone built a near-silent desktop computer with off-the-shelf components? I'm interested in getting the details.

I built a quad core htpc out of a AMD 5350 processor. Not exactly a power house processor but if you are looking for something to do word-processing, web browsing, and some light gaming you could do worse. I selected that processor with the goal of quiet in mind. When I power up the system all there is a slight whirl of the fan starting. Even then you have to be in a quiet room and have your ear on it. Other than that its whisper quiet when running.

But if you want a decent rig that is also fairly quiet, think big ass fans. 120mm and above. My antec 900 case has 3, 120mm fans in it and a 240mm on top. My cpu fan is also 120mm. I have two of them sitting next to my desk at home. Both of them put out are inaudible in a normal room and just a low whisper in a quiet room.

Comment Re:My main PC (Score 1) 558

Nerds are not value conscious, nerds are cheap. Nerds are also fanboys.

All I have in my house are AMD processors, except for the i5 I have in my surface. The reason I have all AMD processors is because I know the processor line. I don't know Intel that much, but I'm learning.

When you called it the underdog you pretty much nailed it. I'm already working on my design for my next workstation. I'm going with a i7 this time. Just to be frank, AMD has fallen behind on the technology curve. DDR4 ram is out, PCI 3.0 is standard now and so is 22 nm processor. Intel is 2 years ahead of AMD on technology.

Unless AMD pulls some serous rabbits out of the hat, these will be the last AMD systems I have.

Comment Re:Duh.. Evolution. (Score 1) 637

I would like to point out that of all the creatures that have come before us we are the only ones that really get a choice on if we go extinct or not. We alone have the ability to take ourselves off the extinction list.

We can also just as well put ourselves on that list too. Not only that, we can move ourselves to the front of the line if we chose too.

Comment Re:Here's mine ... (Score 2) 558

It's not a database server. I simply don't find myself IO bound. When I do, it's a long running task that I usually kick off and walk away from. I have more need of disk space for redundant backups of my stuff, not raw speed.

This is why you need a proper bitch box. A box to get your bitch work done with out tying up your main desktop. My bitch box doubles as NAS and has a AMD FX-8350 shoved in it. It also has 16 GB of memory. When I have bitch work for it to do I spin up a VM and crack the whip.

This I can get long term tasks done while leaving my main workstation open for more important tasks. Like GTA5.

Comment Re:My main PC (Score 1) 558

I don't have a "Main PC" I have "main pc's." Workstation / Gaming Rig: Windows 7 Pro AMD 8150 8 core. Gigabute GA-990FXA-UD3 MB 24 GB of GSKILL Sniper 1866Mhz RAM 512 GB Crucial MX200 SSD 256 GB Scandisck SSD 4, 1 TB WD Blacks in a RAID 5 array 2, EVGA 770 Graphics cards. 2, ACER 2ms 1080p gaming monitors. Bitchbox / NAS / Plex: CentOS 6.6 AMD 8 core 8350 Gigabute GA-990FXA-UD5 MB 2, 1 TB WD Black System and Scratch disks 3, 3 TB WD Reds in a RAID 5 array, (2 WD Reds to add on mydesk when I get round to it) Some cheap ATI graphics card so it will boot. I have a few other systems around a back up box and a htpc.

Comment Re:I've already uninstalled the windows 10 nag ico (Score 1) 374

Heh, yeah, yet another reason why I don't like Windows: the automatic upgrades that always seem to turn up when they are inconvenient and require a reboot

You realize those are configurable right? The default is to let windows take care of itself, but you can configure when and if windows will download and install updates.

Personally, mine is set to download update automatically but I tell it when and what it can install. I never get caught by a random restart. When I tell it install the updates I expect there will be a restart. It just lets me know there are updates out there.

Comment Re:I'll believe it when I see it... (Score 2) 119

Because we have already been there, we got plenty of lunar rocks, and there is no particular reason to go back. Mars is much more interesting, and asteroids provide far better economic opportunities.

"We" have done no such thing. Only a hand full of people have been to the moon. I don't know about you, for all I know you might have been one of them. I do know that one of them wasn't "me."

That is the most important reason I want to go back to the moon. I haven't been there and I would love see the original sites of the first moon landings.

That is how I want to do it, tour the moon like tourist.

Comment Re:bye (Score 1) 531

The "write amplification" on SSD is greatly exaggerated. Unless you are running a enterprise level database off of consumer drives I doubt your going to wear one out before it becomes obsolete. The SMART warning system is also greatly improved when it comes to SSDs over spinning rust. Just use it like a normal HD and don't worry about it.

I have a 5 year old 256 GB SSD in my system now. It has been used as a system disk for that time. It is now at the end of its useful life. The SMART system is showing reallocated sectors on it, 3 to be exact, and it was small so I decided to replace it. I moved it off to a back channel and use it as a scratch drive. I replaced it with a modern 512 GB SSD. But still after 5 years of constant use its still good for that.

Comment Re:bye (Score 1) 531

bought a new laptop with 16 GB upgradeable to 32 GB. No swap space configured.

This is something I don't understand why you would want to do this? Even with 16 or 32 GB of RAM. Diskspace is cheap too and the system won't use it unless it needs it. I would rather keep the swap on and have it there to use if needed. When it comes to swap its better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

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