Posts by happygeek

Welcome to DaniWeb. I'm sure our gathered experts will be only to pleased to help you in your coding journey.

Erm, it's exactly the right place to say you are new here and tell us about yourself!

Welcome to DaniWeb, and I hope your bike is better than your piano :)

Sorry, but you didn't specify non-commercial or free of registration requirements. Most of the reputable security specific sites online are one or the other. There is plenty of good security coverage within the more general IT publications online, of course, usually available under a 'security' tab. Most of these are registration free, so just pick the magazine which you like the style of and trust the writers from and then go search for security stuff there.

The coverage within broader appeal publications does not have to be so general that it becomes useless, although this is sometimes the case. However, and I'm blowing my own trumpet again here so apologies for that, I have won the UK 'IT Information Security Journalist of the Year' award three out of the four years it has been held, including the current year. On all three occasions this has been for a portfolio of work for PC Pro magazine here in the UK, where I write a monthly column on matters security. You can find these at the PC Pro website, and I don't believe they ask for user registration unless you want to leave comments.

Feel free to discuss the issues here Shinedevil, rather than just dump a link to another site where it is being discussed.

I'll get the ball rolling: should the US Government have the right to seize the domains of those 'accused of aiding piracy' under a new law which looks like being voted through?

The key word here, as far as I am concerned, is accused. Found guilty of, then maybe. But just accused? No way.

Just a marketing tactic to make you click on the ad, and a pretty good one as I imagine plenty of folk would do just that. Whether the endpoint was selling you something or trying to infect you, well nobody here can really say, can they?

However, on the subject of advertising banners that work, my favourite from many years back was when a magazine I worked for at the time as Consulting Editor decided to place some banners on the more popular sites of the time (this was at least 10 years ago) which simply said, in big and black and bold letters: PLEASE CLICK HERE.

The click through rate on those ads eclipsed anything the magazine had ever tried before, or since for that matter. Not so sure it would still work today, given that people are a little (only a little, mind) more security aware.

I'd sell my body, there must be a retro market for that.

It's a three year old post, so I guess not altogether surprising link no longer valid. Thread now closed.

The Xbox/Kinect bundle deals are pretty good at the moment, nice new style Xbox with a Kinect sensor and a dedicated port to plug it in (no external power for Kinect required) with a 250GB hard drive for under £300.

Welcome to DaniWeb Gregg

Infosecurity and SearchSecurity get my recommendation, but then again (disclosure time) I do write for both of them.

Bit of a pop quiz here folks: how many Kinect owners reading this think it is too laggy?

I've honestly not experienced this myself, apart from when going a little too mad with Sports boxing, but some complain it lags loads. I wonder if it is an environment/room/lighting issue for those who are getting Kinect lag?

It comes with Kinect Adventures (bunch of mini games, nothing special but fun for a bit) with other games costing the same as any Xbox game. Avoid joy ride, the demo really sucks. Sports is good though, and if dance games are your thing then Dance Central is as good as the genre gets.

welcome aboard...

First there was a year of hype surrounding Project Natal, but the reality that is Microsoft Kinect has been in my family home for a week now. Everyone from my 10 year old daughter to my retired mother-in-law have played with it, so what's the verdict? Is this the future of motion control gaming or just a flawed imitation of the Nintendo Wii?

Let's start at the beginning with what Kinect is not: it's most certainly not a Wii, nor a PlayStation Move for that matter, as it takes a quite different and truly unique approach to the whole motion control gaming genre. You will have seen the television ads by now, and if you haven't don't tell Microsoft or the marketing executives might burst into tears considering the half a billion dollar advertising budget, and so should be fed up to the back teeth with the 'you are the controller' message. Truth be told, though, that really does sum up the Kinect. A surprisingly bulky but not bad looking (if you are into vaguely robotic design) device containing a depth sensor (more precisely an infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor that enables Kinect to 'see' the room in 3-D rather than inferring the same from a 2-D image) and RGB VGA camera (for enabling facial recognition) both with a 640 x 480 resolution, a multi-array microphone and some brilliantly inventive circuitry which allows it to understand and map distance and motion …

I honestly cannot recall what games I was playing EIGHT YEARS AGO to be honest :)

It has been pointed out to me that:

1. turning it off and on again does, actually, work in a surprising number of cases
   
2. the Internet is useless for support if your PC won't start

However, turning it off and on again is unlikely to solve your malware infection or software conflict problems and huge numbers of people have mobile phones with Internet access which can still access online support forums even when the PC cannot. So I stand by my assertions, sort of :)

Our first impressions of PC Problem Solving Made Easy was that it reminded us of the 'computer clinic' sections that you will find towards the back of any monthly computing magazine. You know the sort of thing where a reader writes in and says "how can I get text to fit on the page properly when printing?" and the magazine provides a brief step-by-step answer. Indeed, that very question appears on page 68 of the book, and is answered in three steps: checking paper and font sizes, setting margins and checking document size.

First impressions can be deceptive though, and after reading through the 224 pages of advice provided by writers from Which? (a consumer association in the UK which is now 53 years old) we found ourselves getting frustrated at the simplicity of much of what it has to offer. The back cover promises "step-by-step instructions for fixing all the most common PC problems" which is a rather bold, rash even, claim to make. Both the problems being raised, and often the solutions being proposed, are too simplistic to be truly useful. By way of example take "my web browser isn't working correctly" which, as a question goes is far too generic and lacking in specific information to be useful. You need to define exactly what isn't 'working correctly' for a start, and when the answers provided apply just to Internet Explorer then it is immediately irrelevant and unhelpful to all those people using …

Didn't your local WalMart sell it on the day of release? Mine did, but I don't know about UK stores.

Yes, but I'd already pre-ordered it for delivery on launch day. When it didn't arrive I expected it the next day, then it became obvious it was lost in transit so I went and bought a copy.

Aaaaaargh! :'(

Sorry Marvin, but that's not the way DaniWeb works.

If you have a problem, you post something explaining that problem and asking for help in the appropriate forum and if any of our members are able to help they post answers in that thread. You get the help you seek and hopefully the problem is solved, and other guests and members with the same or similar problems in the future get to benefit from the solution as well.

I can't, but there are plenty of people in the appropriate forums here at DaniWeb who can.

I only got Black Ops this week after a MASSIVE ROYAL MAIL FAIL prevented my pre-ordered from Amazon game from being delivered on launch day, or week for that matter, despite Amazon posting it first class on the Saturday before the launch day itself.

All of which means that I've only had time to get started on campaign and not even touched multiplayer yet. It will be a shame if the cheaters and boosters are still able to do their stuff from the Xbox - was hoping that Treyarch might have done something better in this regard than Infinity Ward ever did.

First impressions, after a snatched couple of hours play, very impressive and much improved (campaign mode at least) from MW2.

Ah, right, I didn't review the 'Pro' version, just the standard, here...

Welcome aboard the good ship DaniWeb!

Attracting trolls now, so thread closed as already solved and two years old

I think you need System Mechanic Pro to get the anti-virus stuff - System Mechanic 10 is not marketed as a malware removal product.

Click on the One For All link at the top of the review, or in this reply to save you scrolling back up :)

You seem to have a lot of interest in finding passwords. Your requests elsewhere for code that will reveal user login/password details by inserting a USB thumb drive, now you have forgotten your admin password.

Please read the DaniWeb rules, especially the Keep It Legal section regarding asking for help with hacking activity.

Hi I just joined and would rather use a handle than my real name. I assumed incorrectly that my login name and display name could be different. Would it be possible to change it to br_astronut?

Done

Can the admin please change my username to wolf_council
i'm a new user as in created my profile a long time back bt barely logged in before..
daniweb helps me out a lot in my field as of now..
i'de like to stick with wolf_council rather..

thanks!

Done (apologies for the delay, missed this one!)

OK, I will attempt to answer your questions (as best I understand them, anyway) and provide some advice at the same time:

1. Donations can be sent to our office address of DaniWeb LLC, 1140 RXR Plaza, Uniondale, NY 11556 if you do not want to pay online.

2. Hijacking is defined at DaniWeb as asking a new question of your own within an existing thread by someone else, instead of starting a new thread. To start a new thread simply navigate to the appropriate forum and hit the bit towards the top which says "Click Here To Start A New Thread".

3. I have marked the old threads as solved, although they are long forgotten. The past is, indeed, the past and genuine mistakes are forgiven at DaniWeb.

4. You can give anyone reputation by tapping the up arrow to the right hand side of any of their postings, and add some comment as to why in the box that pops up.

5. Any posts that break the rules, or you find offensive, can be reported by using the 'Flag Bad Post' button to the left side of each posting, under the details of the user who posted it. This will open a box that lets you explain the problem, and thje posts is then flagged in a special forum where it can be seen by all the moderators and dealt with as soon as possible.

And now for the advice, …

How about: The Ancient Quiz?

This thread is FIVE YEARS old!

No problem :)

Thread now closed as just a spam trap

This thread is now closed as it has become nothing but a spam trap and the original question has already been answered.

Welcome to DaniWeb Marvin, I hope you enjoy your time with us and find what it is you are looking from within the DaniWeb community.

DaniWeb does not delete posts unless they are in breach of our rules. None of your posts appear to fall into that category, sorry.

If you have not used one of these 'universal' programmable remote control devices for a while then prepare yourself for a shock of stellar proportions: this thing is really easy to use. No, I mean it, really easy. One For All rightly claims that it is just a three button process. The first of those buttons is quite aptly labelled 'magic' because that's exactly what appears to happen.

Press the 'magic' button, select the type of device you want to control (TV, Set Top Box, DVD, AMP, MP3 or Games Console) and then enter the appropriate generic code for your device. Hold on a moment, I hear you screaming, so nothing has changed then. In the bad old days these things used different codes for every model of TV a manufacturer made, codes which often didn't work. The SmartControl takes a different approach to coding by using generic brand codes that cover most models they make and, amazingly, seem to just work. Magic, device, code and use: it really is as simple as that! I programmed a Sony Bravia HDTV and Sky HD set top box with just six button presses and, are you ready for this, in less than 60 seconds. What's more, both devices worked perfectly reliably with the remote control afterwards. Of course, the whole point of the SmartControl PS3 is that it can do something that other Infrared (IR) remotes cannot: it can control your Sony PlayStation 3 games console. The reason …

If you become a DaniWeb sponsor by making a 12 monthly donation of $45 the monthly cost equates to just $3.75, for a six monthly donation of $25 the monthly equivalent is $4.16, whereas a monthly donation is $5.00

That's better, I get it now :)

Do you want to try that again, this time with a touch of making sense thrown in?

Rather than cover all the same ground again, may we take the liberty of referring you to our earlier review of System Mechanic 9.5 which provides all the basics of what the software is and what it does? In a nutshell though, System Mechanic is a collection of diagnostic, repair and optimization tools which have been engineered to work together in order to 'tune-up' your computer. It helps fix errors that can cause crashes and slow down performance, boost Internet speeds and Windows start times, clean out clutter and generally ensure your computer runs smoothly and speedily.

So what's new in System Mechanic 10 then? Well we feel we have to start the round up with the licensing deal, mainly because it's a real money saver for a change. Instead of imposing Draconian restrictions on the user, Iolo has instead opted to make things simple. How simple? How about this: one payment, one license, every PC in your household is covered. The Whole Home Licensing deal is that cool, especially for the bigger family with more that the arbitrary three computers which usually force them into either buying the software again to cover an additional laptop and netbook, or force them into becoming pirates and use the software outside the terms of the license.

When it comes to actually functionality, the news is generally just as good although there is one exception which we will come to in …

In other words you don't want to do any work yourself on this...

On the whole, I like the fact that books are cheaper on the Kindle than in print formats: that's how it should be and Amazon is making a point of pushing the fact in the Kindle Store.

Shame, then, that when looking at an Amazon recommended item (Alar of Eden by James Rollins) I discover that the paperback is £5.24 (UK), the hardback £8.73 and the Kindle edition an astonishing £8.99 - yep, more expensive than the hardback version!

Shame on you Orion and Amazon.

Needless to say, while I might otherwise have purchased this I now won't be doing so in any format and have made a mental note not to buy future books by the same publisher.

Winding down with a bit of Avenged Sevenfold. Nightmare is playing right now...

It's available as a plain old-fashioned book as well...

Obviously you are not suggesting, are you, that anyone did this to somehow get a free copy of a commercial/copyrighted music track otherwise you would be in breach of the 'keep it legal' rule: "Do not pursue any illegal activity within forum posts"

Get some different friends.

Well, I said it right here on DaniWeb in the "Web browser speed test: Chrome, Firefox, IE9, Opera and Safari head-to-head" speed test ratings piece that we produced last month.

If you want to know why it was fastest, I suggest you go and read that comparative speed test which dropped JavaScript benchmarking for real world usage testing. It makes for interesting reading...

... as long at its entertaining (good gameplay + not infested by cheaters nor bots)

Not infested by cheaters, she says, advertising a WoW gold shop. Arf arf.