Is Your Computer Naked?

[djMot]

There has been some discussion on the COD5 servers where I play about not using UAC.  I guess people just think it's more of an annoyance than it's worth.  Fact is, it's one of the primary lines of defense for our computers against malware.  I hear a lot of stuff about how UAC interferes with the "normal" operation of the machine.  It does not.  It only springs into action when a process tries to do something that could put the system at risk, and at that moment in time, it dims the screen and pops up the familiar (and apparently annoying to many) request for confirmation to continue.

 

It makes me shudder that so many think this protection service is borking up their computer when, in fact, it's there to help.  But why take my word for it, right?  I've only been a career-long IT guy, so what do I know, lol.  I'm not a security analyst, however; it's just that I've seen enough writing on the wall to be able to detect what's wheat and what's chaff.  So here's an article you should read from Windows Secrets, and an excerpt from the article is pasted in below that.  Please don't short-change your security, people.

 

The malware wars: How you can fight it

 

"If you are still using XP, I'd advise upgrading to Win7
or Win8 as soon as possible — XP is wide open to malware intrusions.
Vista and Windows 7 [mostly] fixed this open door with the User Account
Control; it pops up every time there is an attempt to make changes to
your system, legitimate or not (such as when a new app tries to
install). Most people just click Okay and continue, but this is one
point when there's a chance of stopping an infection from entering."

[Shamu]

My new PC is still in the womb.

 

And from this computer illiterate what the heck is "UAC"?

[JohnnyQuest]

uac disabled on my rig....30 processes running....i use mse....windows firewall and thats it since 2009,,,,,never had a problem...no intrusions...nada.....but i don't go to sketchy sites either.,,,,i have always had the attitude...the internet is a giant whore house.....if you don't go into bad parts of town you won't get  infected...lol....just me..

[JohnnyQuest]

My new PC is still in the womb.

 

And from this computer illiterate what the heck is "UAC"?

user account control...huge annoyance....for me anyways...any time you do anything some goofy popup saying are you sure....lol

[PingLo]

Good advice DJMot.  Glad we don't need UAC on this side of the fence.  

[djMot]

@@JohnnyQuest - how is it that something that pops up so rarely annoys you so greatly?  I just really do not get that.  It exacts no toll whatsoever on performance and does not inhibit anything from running - other than ask you to confirm an installer's request to run, or to allow something to modify a typically protected area.  Again, under day to day operations, you never even see a UAC confirmation message.  Why disable a protection method that barely ever farts, let alone takes a dump?

[djMot]

Not so fast there, PingLo...

 

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/03/23/security-flaws-could-undermine-trust-in-apples-mobile-payment-ambitions/

 

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/new-mac-malware-epidemic-exploits-weaknesses-in-apple-ecosystem/4726

 

And here's a database of 21,557 Mac exploits.  You're not as safe as you think.

http://www.exploit-db.com/platform/?p=osX

 

 

 

 

(btw, why is the @mention feature not available on your profile?)

[hxtr]

I use no UAC and i use NO java. I have no AV, no firewall, no protection at all except my commonsense. and I have no problems with viruses and mailware. 

 

In a corp environment all is reversed except java unless i have to have it.

 

MS is becoming irrelivent. Google and Samsung will take over the world. PC's apple and IBM are out the door. 

[hxtr]

I like my PC to do this until I tell it to do something. 

 

Windows 7 on boot. 

 

[hxtr]

And if you dont know PingLo.... apple is going to be on the way out. Google and Samsung will be the demise of Apple like Microsoft was back in the 80's. hahahahaha

 

I Fucking HATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    iTunes. 

[hxtr]

and here is another rant while I am at it... fucking iOS runs on Linux not Unix PingLo. If it IS Unix, then what version was it. 

 

here is the wiki so you can research

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix#1980s

 

I even know the history of the version of Linux that Netware purchased. Too bad they fucked up word perfect like they did Netware.  which I guess is another rant. 

[djMot]

I use no UAC and i use NO java. I have no AV, no firewall, no protection at all except my commonsense. and I have no problems with viruses and mailware. 

 

In a corp environment all is reversed except java unless i have to have it.

 

MS is becoming irrelivent. Google and Samsung will take over the world. PC's apple and IBM are out the door. 

 

Most of us will plod along uneventfully 'till one fateful day when...  BAM !!!  ...we get hit.  That "plodding along" can literally go on for years before the "BAM."  And the "BAM" can happen even when we are the most savvy computer user.  It's just a fact of life.  Again, with no performance hit for UAC, I don't get the reluctance to use it.  And with malware lurking out there hell bent on being stealthy on your system so as not to arouse your suspicion, but rather to very quietly rape your address book, send spam, perform denial of service attacks, and other crap you're totally unaware of, to run topless (without UAC) or Full Monty (no protection at all) seems far riskier than I'm prepared to use a computer.  IMHO.

[djMot]

I like my PC to do this until I tell it to do something. 

 

Windows 7 on boot. 

 

 

 

Not sure what your point is.  Mine's already been around the world and played several matches in COD5 Breakfast Club this morning.  Windows memory management is good at keeping things sorted out, and by and large, most systems loaf around doing nothing a lot of the time no matter now many processes you have loaded up.

[djMot]

and here is another rant while I am at it... fucking iOS runs on Linux not Unix PingLo. If it IS Unix, then what version was it. 

 

here is the wiki so you can research

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix#1980s

 

I even know the history of the version of Linux that Netware purchased. Too bad they fucked up word perfect like they did Netware.  which I guess is another rant. 

 

Yeah, *sigh*

 

As a former Novell NetWare Administrator, I long for the days of NetWare Servers.  They rocked!  Windows and MS Word fucked up WordPerfect.  They just couldn't compete when the desktop went graphical.  It was dead before Novell picked it up.  Who has it now?  Corel, I think.  Still going nowhere.

[google]

uac disabled ...

[djMot]

And if you dont know PingLo.... apple is going to be on the way out. Google and Samsung will be the demise of Apple like Microsoft was back in the 80's. hahahahaha

 

I Fucking HATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    iTunes. 

 

 

Don't count out HTC.  I own an HTC One X+ and it fairly rocks.  Samsung and HTC are constantly volleying for position.  I know Samsung typically gets the glory, but HTC has some pretty solid devices.  Holding the HTC One X+ in one hand and the Samsung Galaxy S III in the other, the HTC just feels so right.  Guess the S IV will take over for a while 'till HTC's next offering, though.

 

The Android OS is built on Linux, too.

 

I agree on the iTunes rant, but (for now at least) my internet radio station (Girls Rock Radio) is listed under the Alternative section of ITunes Radio.  But as a music service beyond that, yeah, piece of CRAP.  Google Music is the best now, at least if you're trying to source music for purchase.  That's because Google has constant bitrate 320k MP3s where iTunes and Amazon have variable bitrate (~256k) MP3s.  Rhapsody has 256k constant bitrate MP3 files, but their catalog has huge holes.  Spotify is AWESOME if you don't want to buy music, but their premium service is $9.99/mo.  Their library is as good or better than Google's and is probably the largest.

[hxtr]

 

I like my PC to do this until I tell it to do something. 

 

Windows 7 on boot. 

 

 

 

Not sure what your point is.  Mine's already been around the world and played several matches in COD5 Breakfast Club this morning.  Windows memory management is good at keeping things sorted out, and by and large, most systems loaf around doing nothing a lot of the time no matter now many processes you have loaded up.

Damn you are using 4.5gb of RAM. WOW... The memory and the zero utilization are my point. I start up with as little as possible. Even if I had 32GB of RAM I have it in my DOS head to save memory. C:\MEM /F must find a free upper memory region to fit this mouse driver and network lan drivers. hahahaha

 

I have an old system and lost 2GB of RAM a few months ago but having been through this whole PC evolution.... I am still very happy with my system... not super fast..  I cant Play BF3 very well but it sure is way faster then all my older systems.

[hxtr]

 

And if you dont know PingLo.... apple is going to be on the way out. Google and Samsung will be the demise of Apple like Microsoft was back in the 80's. hahahahaha

 

I Fucking HATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    iTunes. 

 

 

Don't count out HTC.  I own an HTC One X+ and it fairly rocks.  Samsung and HTC are constantly volleying for position.  I know Samsung typically gets the glory, but HTC has some pretty solid devices.  Holding the HTC One X+ in one hand and the Samsung Galaxy S III in the other, the HTC just feels so right.  Guess the S IV will take over for a while 'till HTC's next offering, though.

 

The Android OS is built on Linux, too.

 

I agree on the iTunes rant, but (for now at least) my internet radio station (Girls Rock Radio) is listed under the Alternative section of ITunes Radio.  But as a music service beyond that, yeah, piece of CRAP.  Google Music is the best now, at least if you're trying to source music for purchase.  That's because Google has constant bitrate 320k MP3s where iTunes and Amazon have variable bitrate (~256k) MP3s.  Rhapsody has 256k constant bitrate MP3 files, but their catalog has huge holes.  Spotify is AWESOME if you don't want to buy music, but their premium service is $9.99/mo.  Their library is as good or better than Google's and is probably the largest.

Im ignorant... I dont even know who HTC is. hahahahha

 

Dosent Samsung make all the LCD's for all devices.. i heard that but was not sure if true. 

 

and yep.. everything is now linux. I remember die hard Unix fucks claiming Linux will never make it. SCO will or BSD will... fucking Unix. If only they had a penis they could look beyond their computer screen. 

Edited March 26, 2013 by hxtr

[Shamu]

All I really want to know is Nokia stock going to go up? Just bought some at $3.27.

 

To hell with Samsung, Apple, Blackberry, Dell or IBM.

[hxtr]

 This was the last version I supported. Started with Personal Netware then right into 312 and then 4.0. What a mess some of it was.. lol

 

Mid 2000 we were working with Novell on the 5.5 to 6.0. Lots of curruption in NDS a true Network Directory System when with a click of a button and can lock you out of a pc rather waiting for someone to logout. To touch a file is to be athenticated for that file. But had to hae the constant comunication with the database... making it a challange. I had later 2001 380 fucking Netware 5.0 remote servers and half the fucking IBM's they installed had the tape drive hooked with the fucking SCSI hard drive so I take this job... and find a mess.

 

Never take a Netware job unless you look at their tree first. hahahahahaha

 

No but it was a mess... once a week or so i had a serve go down. Tape drive blows the Mirror... have to start over... both drive fucked. What a pain ripping the server out of the tree.. a bad thing.

 

Come to find out my 3rd NDS server had been talked to by NDS 1 and 2 but had not been talking to NDS 1 or 2 since the installation. They said NDS 3 crashed on install into the tree. They had to rip it out and when they put it back in it was never right. It was a cause for so many problems I faces. When I left that bitch... all them server were fixed.. all them problems were gone. 

 

Nursing home... i still have the smell of old people like Shamu on me. Even when I get old their aint no fucking way I am going to a nursing home. Fuck that shit... shot me first. 

 

 

NDS was like a living thing. It even had a heartbeat. 

[BigPapaDean]

Huh????? lmao!!!

[HarryWeezer]

@@JohnnyQuest - how is it that something that pops up so rarely annoys you so greatly?  I just really do not get that.  It exacts no toll whatsoever on performance and does not inhibit anything from running - other than ask you to confirm an installer's request to run, or to allow something to modify a typically protected area.  Again, under day to day operations, you never even see a UAC confirmation message.  Why disable a protection method that barely ever farts, let alone takes a dump?

 

Truer words have never been spoken.

[7Toes]

I AM NAKED AT MY COMPUTER DOSE THAT COUNT      

[djMot]

 

 

And if you dont know PingLo.... apple is going to be on the way out. Google and Samsung will be the demise of Apple like Microsoft was back in the 80's. hahahahaha

 

I Fucking HATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    iTunes. 

 

 

Don't count out HTC.  I own an HTC One X+ and it fairly rocks.  Samsung and HTC are constantly volleying for position.  I know Samsung typically gets the glory, but HTC has some pretty solid devices.  Holding the HTC One X+ in one hand and the Samsung Galaxy S III in the other, the HTC just feels so right.  Guess the S IV will take over for a while 'till HTC's next offering, though.

 

The Android OS is built on Linux, too.

 

I agree on the iTunes rant, but (for now at least) my internet radio station (Girls Rock Radio) is listed under the Alternative section of ITunes Radio.  But as a music service beyond that, yeah, piece of CRAP.  Google Music is the best now, at least if you're trying to source music for purchase.  That's because Google has constant bitrate 320k MP3s where iTunes and Amazon have variable bitrate (~256k) MP3s.  Rhapsody has 256k constant bitrate MP3 files, but their catalog has huge holes.  Spotify is AWESOME if you don't want to buy music, but their premium service is $9.99/mo.  Their library is as good or better than Google's and is probably the largest.

Im ignorant... I dont even know who HTC is. hahahahha

 

Dosent Samsung make all the LCD's for all devices.. i heard that but was not sure if true. 

 

and yep.. everything is now linux. I remember die hard Unix fucks claiming Linux will never make it. SCO will or BSD will... fucking Unix. If only they had a penis they could look beyond their computer screen. 

 

Don't want you to be ignorant.  Idiot, sure.  Ignorant, no.  So here:  http://www.slashgear.com/htc-one-x-official-we-go-hands-on-02249834/ 

 

And a review of the Samsung vs HTC:  http://www.slashgear.com/htc-one-x-vs-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-battle-royale-02250090/

 

And I just saw this...  OMG, I want one !!!  http://www.htc.com/us/smartphones/htc-one/

 

Linux is very quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, getting it's foot into everyone's door.  The little OS that could.  lol. 

 

BUT...  We wouldn't have all the great PC games without MS, and Windows, and the DX line of graphics software subsystems.  If they would just make a graphics standard for Linux, and if it were easy enough to re-tool the gaming shops over to that standard, it would be another HUGE nail in MS's coffin.  I just installed Ubuntu on a old Pentium 4HT box (single core, looks like 2 cores with hyper-threading, runs at 3GHz, but is actually slow as snot) and I was TOTALLY IMPRESSED !!!  The disk partition manager is cool, and with Firefox and LibreOffice included and installed with the distro, it goes a long way toward replacing my desktop right out of the box ('er, download.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited March 26, 2013 by djMot

[KaptCrunch]

My new PC is still in the womb.

 

And from this computer illiterate what the heck is "UAC"?

User Account Control (UAC)

 

User Account Control (UAC) is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It aims to improve the security of Microsoft Windows by limiting application software to standard user privileges until an administrator authorizes an increase or elevation. In this way, only applications trusted by the user may receive administrative privileges, and malware should be kept from compromising the operating system. In other words, a user account may have administrator privileges assigned to it, but applications that the user runs do not inherit those privileges unless they are approved beforehand or the user explicitly authorizes it.

To reduce the possibility of lower-privilege applications communicating with higher-privilege ones, another new technology, User Interface Privilege Isolation is used in conjunction with User Account Control to isolate these processes from each other. One prominent use of this is Internet Explorer 7's "Protected Mode".