I have two Windows 11 "appliance" computers, they do one job, and ONLY one job. I call them Toaster1 and Toaster2. They are used at Church by a younger group. I have created the registry entries to stop MS from updating beyond 23H2. Not going to do anything else. If they force it, I will simply eliminate Windows on these toasters and then begin doing it on all of the other users I support - all retirees.

I'm 67 years old, and I am upgrading users in their 80s to Linux without issue. 90% of them ONLY use a browser anymore, and they are very happy with the amazing speed bump they get from that change. It's so easy.

That said, 24H2 is a line. It is my last line for MS. If they ignore the registry setting, the line is crossed, and MS is out. Looks like it will need to be done by 2026 anyway. Might as well get started on the few Win11 users that I have left.

Thanks all for the heads up. I now have several months to plan.

Here's the will.

The "feature" of changing the CallerID must become illegal. Telcos should have until Jan 1, 2019 to get this into play. After that, if it can be proven that the technology still exists, it is a $1,000 dollar fine per call.

And this DOES NOT have to be pushed through our inept congress. I won't live that long. However, the FTC can implement this overnight. As a citizen, I need to be protected from the unfair tactics of these scammers. CallerID spoofing is not a feature, it is a deceptive practice that harms people. It is a lie, plain and simple.

Here's where to let them know. www.ftc.gov Under the "Take Action" section, file a complaint.

No More CallerID spoofing.

Actually, it does. I was always told that:

BS = bullshit
MS = more shit
PHD = Piled Higher and Deeper

Ditto. I was unable to see the beyond the S in see ... and the candidates I would like to "see as President" wasn't listed. So I selected the Cowboy Neal option.

Now, aware of what the poll is really asking, I also wonder at the missing trump card. He would have gotten my vote. From the current list, probably Jeb Bush.

I understand the Clinton choice ... but I figure that her train has already left and that her resignation is a foregone conclusion. She hung herself.

I really hate this argument, this drama. Global warming is measurable. It either exists, or it doesn't.

The real controversy is the cause of global warming. Honest scientists argue over this point. At best I can only be a spectator. I don't have any access to the raw data nor to the equipment required to reliably measure whether this cause or that cause directly contributed to global warming. If you don't either, and you have strong feelings one way or the other, I recognize and will respect your faith, and will not argue with you.

That said, I will stipulate that global warming is happening, AND that I am a contributor because; a) I drive an SUV and b) I eat too many beans (creating methane) IF you will stipulate that under no circumstance will one politician anywhere do anything whatsoever to resolve the problem. At best, all their hot air makes it worse.

We received one of these calls a couple of months ago. My wife answered, and told them to speak to me. She handed me the phone, but I had no idea who it was when I said, "Hello?"

All I can say is, when I heard the line about "I am calling you from Windows", I got angry. I figured you'd have to be doing drugs to believe that I would fall for this scam. Of course, HE didn't know that ... but that's where the thought came from. So I just accused him of doing drugs and calling people. I figured the call would end quite abruptly, but it didn't. He said he wasn't doing drugs, and then almost apologized, fumbling all over himself. Now the call intrigued me.

"Yes you are. I know when someone is doing drugs and talking on the phone! And you sir, are doing drugs, and that is illegal!"
"Oh no sir, I am not doing that."
"Do you think I am lying to you!?!? I know what I'm talking about. How would your mother feel if she knew you were doing drugs!?"
"She would not like that."
"Well, do I have to call her? I will you know. I will call your mother and tell her that you are doing drugs and making phone calls for Windows!"
"Oh no sir, don't do that.

Really dude? At this point my wife is beginning to slide on to the floor. Anyway, I told him never to call me again and I hung up. Call didn't last a full minute, but it was absolutely hilarious. Never got a return call either.

... and quicksand.

Seems to me that every time we get a TEMPORARY tax cut, we end up paying for more boondoggles at each "renewal". A two month extension? Really? Why? I would be ELATED to see this AND the "Bush/Obama Tax Cuts" expire. At least no one in congress would be holding it over my head like a damned dog biscuit expecting me to sit nicely while they "craft" another renewal bill. I think I'll just bite someone.

Throw all incumbents out for the next 20 years!

This legislation is a breath of fresh air in a world where people buy and sell information about me for their marketing purposes. Let me add to this though ...

I hope that this legislation will require that this consent must be obtained outside a standard EULA.
I hope that this legislation can be extended to ANY device that tracks my location, such as future cars.
I hope that this legislation can be extended to REQUIRE a warrant before any one can provide this information to the government.

What David Brinn misunderstood is that it has been attempted ... with miserable results.

Here is a C/Net Article from 2007 documenting just how horrible trying replace the current IRS computer system has historically been. I remembered when it totally failed in the 1990's, and I was reminded of the axiom, "if it cannot be done on paper, it cannot be done on a computer", a reference to computer efficiency rather than the uninformed perception that computers can work miracles.

Because a miracle is exactly what it would take to model the IRS code in a computer. As soon as one would get into the process, Congress would add another 1000 pages, and modify 500 others! This would be an annual issue, and as such, the model would never be finished.

Taxing should be simple and fair and the easiest way to do that is to tax income on people and tax sales on businesses, at a flat rate. That would cut the 10,000 pages down to one or two and STOP CONGRESS from messing with it every year.

Well, maybe it would slow them down.

Dammit, I so wanted to hate another company.

I have been doing this for years with Sony. After spending countless nights cleaning computers of their ill-written rootkit, I became quite set that I would never buy another Sony product, and I tell others about it to this day. I haven't had to touch a Sony infected computer in years, but I can guarantee you that my vendors all know not to even mention the name to me. What a shame that such a talented group of engineers was saddled with such a poorly envisioned marketing department.

However, this event seems to be quite different. Sony BMG was trying to prevent people from copying their music. (grrr - that statement alone is the nicest thing that I've said about Sony in years, and it SO inadequately describes how they failed)

Samsung is trying to do ... what? Simply gain marketing information? You could gain more information by targeting a specific demorgraphic and going through their trash! Something else is going on here, and it smells a lot worse than Sony.

Would you connect one of their internet ready TV sets up to the net? If so, get your wireshark up and running and start changing channels! Let us know.

The only advantage to keeping a prisoner in Guantánamo was that the prisoners could be considered outside the US legal jurisdiction. The US Supreme court, in June of 2008, essentially overturned that argument and stated that all Guantanamo captives were entitled to the protection of the United States Constitution. There would be no advantage to moving Julian Assange to Guantánamo by the US Government.

Of course, his lawyers can argue this all they want. But should the Swedish court throw that argument out as outlandish, they may throw other arguments out as well.

"Control, control! You must have control!" -- Yoda

My father was an HVAC engineer for a company that focused on commercial systems. They sold a great number of systems to schools in the midwest. Many of these were strictly controlled through telephone lines, an absolutely state of the art system at the time. However, this meant that the teachers no longer had thermostats in their classrooms. They called often and complained bitterly about the room temperature. No amount of adjustment could make them happy.

My father was tasked with finding a solution. He sent teams of local installers out to the schools to install thermostats in every classroom, and the subsequent silence was wonderful.

Of course, these thermostat cases had nothing more inside than a thermometer to display the current temp and a small washer to hold the adjustment dial on. But the users had "control" again.

Technically, you are correct. But in this incident, the web server being used IS relevant.

1. The payload is IIS/MSSQL specific. The author WANTS that platform.
2. The method of injection normally doesn't work on mySQL. jameswilkes over at http://nsmjunkie.blogspot.com/2010/06/anatomy-of-latest-mass-iisasp-infection.html stated it quite well:

"Also, the SQL contains multiple SQL statements. I use PHP and MySQL databases which by default will only execute one command. That makes it much harder to hack. So switching to PHP and MySQL might be a good security choice."