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How stupid can one person be?
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davecs
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

.... and remember folks, if it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is!
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jjmac
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Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 2:32 am
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Also, unless a person is prepared to take something apart, how are they going to actually learn anything, not to mention being able to accumulate a store of good spare parts. That can be used if the reconstruction should fail.

Being as it may, the 'ol surgeons saying of 'when in doubt, cut it out', i don't think it suggests that things like 'exploratories' shouldn't be attempted at times.

After all, is not the antics of history really just a tale of human follies. But on a larger scale.

I don't think there is anything that has been described that really supports the thread title here. Unless the bios flashing (wiping) episode is considered. But ... consider ... .exe files aren't exactly known for having clear help facilities. Even 'man' pages could be accused of possessing a certain cryptic quality at times. But then again, if it hasn't got a '--dry-run | --no-act' etc switch, one shouldn't expect a program not to. A good unix program should always return with some 'help' info when run without parameters though. And so should .exe programs as well. Or am i being stupid there, or just daydreaming Wink

The upside cpu fan could be thought of as an innovative experiment in cpu fan attachment, rather than anything else (grin).

If a manufacturer sells shonky chips, without telling anyone, how can that be the buyers fault. I would think that a lot of people would have been caught out there.

nordle wrote:
>>
It was then I suggested perhaps he would consider getting a new PC
>>

A person can't be expected to wear the result of someone elses lethargy/stubbornness.


ollie wrote:
>>
Although I did have one friend who, back in the Windows 95 days, deleted all of the useless .dll files to make room for more more applications and then found that Windows wouldn't start after the required reboot.
>>

I used to do that, but i was trying to figure out the significance of the files rather than trying to make room. The help/explanation system was very inhibited. It turned out there where quite a few significant files amongst those. user and system.dat being not the least (grin).


nordle wrote:
>>
Yet somehow a particularly nasty Trojan had installed itself
>>


Still not to clear on that. I take it wasn't directly traced. But was the box booting with in an 'always on line' state ?


What to be learn't:
-----------------------

When experimenting with dangerous explosive substances ... Always have a willing 'assistant' handy. ( actually, a few would probably be a better idea. )


Smile


jm
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Somebody stole my air guitar, It happened just the other day,
But it's ok, 'cause i've got a spare ...
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nelz
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jjmac wrote:
Also, unless a person is prepared to take something apart, how are they going to actually learn anything, not to mention being able to accumulate a store of good spare parts. That can be used if the reconstruction should fail.


Is "spare parts" a euphemism for "the bits that are left over when you put it back together"? Wink
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nordle
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Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 10:56 pm
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jjmac wrote:

nordle wrote:
>>
Yet somehow a particularly nasty Trojan had installed itself
>>


Still not to clear on that. I take it wasn't directly traced. But was the box booting with in an 'always on line' state ?


Yes, machine in question was attached wirelessly, via a bridge, to the adsl modem. Both bridge and modem are always on, so if the PC is on its connected to the outside world.

It was AVG which first discovered the Trojan. Upon which, I got a call, and at this point we booted the machine fresh and checked out connections. One opened to an IP registered to a Spanish ISP.

Advising the Police and Banks about all the details meansyou have to stump up the cash as the bank would have reasonable grounds for saying the balance of responsibility to maintain secure equipment lies with the user, not the bank. Ultimately I believe this exasperates the problem. People don't report it, therefore the "official stats" show its a much smaller issue than it really is.
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jjmac
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nelz wrote:
>>
Is "spare parts" a euphemism for "the bits that are left over when you put it back together"?
>>

You got in one Smile, washers and spaces, and various items. I think you must have some experiance in this regard too (grin),


nordle wrote:
>>
Both bridge and modem are always on ...
>>

I figured something like that was happening. A convieniance, maybe, ... but for who, is the question. I have never liked auto systems myself. They can and do cause bad injuries in industry at times, as well.

nordle wrote:
>>
I believe this exasperates the problem. People don't report it, therefore the "official stats" show its a much smaller issue than it really is.
>>

A good point ... I think it's going to be a long time before it all gets solved, if at all, though.

The BSD people have a good policy along these lines. I can remember reading one of their pages that suggested that any box that is on line, if to be secure, shouldn't have any programs installed that are designed to create or run files. They were referring to such things as image viewers, compilers, and such ... any thing that could open a file and then execute it. Seemed a bit like over kill when i read it. But i think they just maybe right. At least personal details should be removed, or partitioned off to a none auto mount.


jm
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Somebody stole my air guitar, It happened just the other day,
But it's ok, 'cause i've got a spare ...
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nelz
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jjmac wrote:
Is "spare parts" a euphemism for "the bits that are left over when you put it back together"?
>>

You got in one Smile, washers and spaces, and various items. I think you must have some experiance in this regard too (grin),


Washers and spacers I can live with, chips and hard drives are a little more worrying Very Happy
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jjmac
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One can solve part of that by not eating over the box Wink ... oops, was that a stage call for the 'fish' Rolling Eyes


It can be uncanny though, all a person has to do sometimes ... is clean a connection to muck it all up. It must be the water in isopro i think. It takes a little time to dry, or better, a few cotton buds.

But still ... the manual/tutorial will rearly mention this.

To divert:
------------
It never fails to amaze, and scare me, the kind of tools that are some times reported to have been left <cough> inside </cough> patients by surgeons, at times. Good grief, huge pliers ... saws ... lol. Shouldn't laugh, as it isn't funny really. roflo even louder.

Smile


jm
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The FVWM wm -=- www.fvwm.org -=-

Somebody stole my air guitar, It happened just the other day,
But it's ok, 'cause i've got a spare ...
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nelz
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It was inevitable that someone would mention fish in a thread about stupidity. The only suprise is that it happened on the second page rather than the second post Smile
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liegerm



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My Dad moved in with me in February (temporarily, I hope) and had never used a PC before. I showed him how to log in to mine and other than a few minutes explaining what email is and how to use Gmail, he's been doing fine. He's been writing CVs, using Google Map and now is in to Doom 3... My PC runs Gnome on Ubuntu 7.04 and I do not think that he would have found it quite so easy with M$ Blingdoze.
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wyliecoyoteuk
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just to answer the original question:
Click hereor here (flash required)
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nelz
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ROTFLMAO Mr. Green
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Rhakios
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What does the big red button do then?
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wyliecoyoteuk
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rhakios wrote:
What does the big red button do then?


It just reminded me of the Douglas Addams quote something like:
"if you put a big red button in a cave up a mountain, with a sign in big red letters saying "do not press" some human would press it before the paint was dry"
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Rhakios
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh alright, I looked for myself...

http://www.pixelscapes.com/spatulacity/button.htm
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wyliecoyoteuk
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How pointlesss is that? ...Oh,hang on a minute....
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