Yep, I’ve found a good app to add to my “Mr. Fixit” toolbox (thanks to TheWindowsClub and Anand@TWC). A zipped file is highly structured one and therefore prone to corruption from defragging, etc. Your usual zip utility won’t work with the file as it’s damaged structure prevents the utility from working. “This is because all zip tools check archives for integrity. If CRC values of the original files of an archive don't match the extracted ones, the standard too...
McAfee announced in Boston, today that U.N. headquarters, governments and companies have been infiltrated by RAT (remote access tools) malware. This malware has been on their systems harvesting secret information starting five years ago. The malware lay on the U.N. systems undetected for two years. McAfee released the report to coincide with the start of the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas today. Victims in the five-year campaign include the governments of the United States, Taiw...
OK, you’ve been good, and secured your wireless network. If you haven’t (and I can’t imagine the why of that), then please… please do so immediately. You can get a good guide here . This is of paramount importance to your identity because illegal and costly activities can be perpetrated on "your" network. The last thing you need is Homeland Security knocking on your door, telling you about "kiddy stuff and piracy" you've allegedly been engaged in. If...
This is limited to three "link safety" extensions available in the "Chrome Store". All are free. Web of Trust, McAfee and Norton Safe Web. 1. Web of Trust : Based on user experience and reporting by (site claim) millions of users. States they are “trustworthy”, although how they conclude this is unclear. Like: Unobtrusive, geared to color blind people as well, Shows trust ratings when using Google, Bing, Yahoo. Don’t like:&nbs...
Court Approves Cancer Gene Patent Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today’s Washington Correspondent reported on a rather distressing Appeals Court decision: A company that makes tests for breast and ovarian cancer can patent breast cancer gene sequences, in effect ruling that human genes can be patented. The ruling (2:1) reversed a lower court decision which ruled the opposite. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit -- a court that specializes in patent cases -- rule...
Well, this is a doozy. Skype made a major error and published Skype 5.5 with a major – no, make that a critical security flaw. If you have a facebook account, then you could use some of that functionality right in the VOIP software: Posting comments and status updates or seeing who among your ‘friends’ are currently online. David Vieira-Kurz published proof of the vulnerability here: http://www.secalert.net/index.php?en What could happen is that someone else ...
Some skinning for a change. Thought this would entertain our Dream makers especially, but these great creations really should be enjoyable for all…. These Cinemagraphs are what the 36 great contest entries were called on Gizmodo, but to me they look like hybrid dreams. No doubt our resident artists will explain this better than I, but Adobe After Effects to do the cross fading and looping seems to have turned the trick for the winner. I would reproduce ...
For those who wish to frustrate the online profile builders, there’s a good extension now available‘ “The TrackMeNot Chrome extension takes a novel approach to protecting your privacy from search engines that can create profiles of you based on terms you search for. Rather than hiding your searches from them in some way, it takes the exact opposite tack: It inundates search engines with a blizzard of background searches from you, so that no practical profile can be built...
Just noted this on Slashdot.com: I don’t know if you are participating in Google+ or not, but if you use Gmail for your personal/business correspondence, this could be catastrophic. Since errors can happen, and since an appeal mechanism doesn’t appear to be evident, I recommend: 1. Read Google+ ‘s ToS and make a copy of it. 2. Make a backup of your important correspondence, receipts, etc. 3. Try to find an appeal link, and if you find it PLEASE ...
In my web wanderings, I came across some great walls for 2of3’s beautifully done “Ubuntu”, and thought about a great way to create some beauty and support our Norwegian Master Skinner, especially now. Tim, hopefully you know the Community’s feelings about what has happened in beautiful, peaceful Norway, and our concern for you and your extended family as well as all Norwegians. So here is some beauty to accompany the great skin you did for all of u...
The best voice dictation software, hands down is Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and it is available for $46.99 – that’s a 53% discount, shipping as above. This is a great deal, folks. It comes on a DVD and supports XP, Vista and 7. I’ve used it for years. Very easy, greater than 95% accurate out-of-the-box. Teaching it is easy and requires very little time, only a quiet place. Were I you, I’d jump on this. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Na...
“Google's search engine has started warning users that they've installed certain malware. "Your computer appears to be infected," a banner will proclaim across the top of every Google search whenever the malware is detected. Clicking a link in the banner leads to instructions on how to find an appropriate anti-virus program to remove the software.” – arstechnica This is the warning (image from Neowin.net): Actually, the link leads to a Google search...
Richard O’Dwyer just might get extradited. Ho hum, Doc. Who cares? Turns out many folks besides his mum and dad. You see, Mr. O’Dwyer is a subject of The Queen. He “provides”, or helps to provide (through an online ‘link site’ – this is hardly parenthetical) movies and TV shows to which he owns no “rights” by providing these links. Ironically, he’s a student working towards his B.S. degree in “Interactive Med...
Unbelievable. The hacker group Anon has been turned down by “facebook” (well, if you’re Anonymous, what will you put as your face?) as well as Google+ . Nonplussed, our feckless lads and lassies have organized their own “Social Site”: “AnonPlus”. But do they deserve Doc’s coveted Chtzpah Award? So what’s Chutzpah? Is it not incredible, monumental and stupendous Chutzpah to expect folks to give you their emai...
Martin Brinkman over at gHacks.net has published a very good article about a valuable little app called “Re-Enable”. Often, folks don’t know their computers have been infected until something fails to work correctly or fails to open due to the virus’s “self protection” programming. Then the folks go to the various sites we’ve all talked about and succeed in removing the virus/Trojan, but the damage the “self protection” did remains: MsConfig, Regedit, the Control Panel, Wi...