Re: [H] Backing up Win7 woes - an update with more woes

[Soren]

Thanks, but unfortunately a no-go. Acronis has a link on their web site 
referring to issues with the laptop I'm trying to back up (HP).

From what I could dig up on the net, Norton Ghost 2003 should support win7 
without any problems (using CLI), only newer versions should not be working 
properly.

Heh, time to become creative: My next attempt will be trying to run Ghost from 
a VM within a *nix live CD on a USB pen that has all the necessary drivers.

*Anything* seems better than Win7 System Restore, as this beast takes forever 
to finish.


Josh MacCraw wrote:
As Ghost is not "serving that" either, maybe you should try the Acronis 
boot disk, no?


On 10/8/2010 11:59 AM, Soren wrote:

To say it straight, forget about Linux's dd, and Acronis in this case, 
as I want

absolute reliablity, and neither do serve that.

I know Symantec is working on a new version of Ghost that works within 
Win7, so this

could be a common problem?

Re: [H] Is there?

[Soren]

Hello Duncan,

Most BSOD's are caused by malware on the computer interfering with the network 
settings, and not by poor drivers as many tend to believe.

The best possible (free) solution to this is:

www.safernetworking.org - pls donate a few bucks to keep him running...

Remember to update the .def files.

Else, Symantec 360 is a premium home solution, but this one should be installed 
on an absolutely clean system.

HTH.

/s

DSinc wrote:
Is there yet a plausible web site I can go to and punch in BSOD code 
numbers and get a reply in something other than terse MS program-blish?


OK, my newest install seems to have a "DRIVER" problem.  Fine.  The only 
"drivers" loaded are for the m/b, and/or my chosen A/V SW?  I can accept 
that these default drivers might be behind the curve, but I can NOT read 
this in the rather terse responses.


I am still working thru trying to get the basic m/b drivers up to date.
Wondering?
Best,
Duncan

[H] Google Crome browser without all the spying stuff

[Soren]

srware.net

/s

Re: [H] Backing up Win7 woes - an update with more woes

[Soren]

Thanks for the input so far on this.

Suffering from a bad knee injury keeping me immobile even for computer use for 
weeks, the status now is:

The laptop is still an HP G62 i3 dual core w/4GB RAM, and 320GB SATA 7.200 HDD. 
BIOS is upgraded to latest version. HP support isn't helpfull, to say the least.

Booting from a normally usable floppy on CD (floppy disk emulation), it only 
generates this exact error message:

"Type the name of the command interpreter (e.g., C:\WINDOWS.COMMAND.COM)
A>"

Using the Redirect command at this stage is new to me, so here I am completely 
blank...???

Well, after getting an external USB floppy drive ('only' 45 US bucks here in DK...), the laptop now boots properly from a floppy disk, except no CD/DVD drive is detected. 
I tried this with no less than eleven diferent boot disks, and all were no-go. "The CD driver isn't loaded" is the common error message.


The second - and maybe most important thing - is that while it's possible to start ghost.exe from this USB floppy drive, the error message is "...no drive to clone 
(11093)..." appears. Nice :)


This could be caused by either the fact that a CD driver is not loaded, or that 
a 2003 Ghost is not supporting newer systems. A Google search didn't bring me 
any closer.

Any solutions?

Any similar clone programs out there?

To say it straight, forget about Linux's dd, and Acronis in this case, as I 
want absolute reliablity, and neither do serve that.

I know Symantec is working on a new version of Ghost that works within Win7, so 
this could be a common problem?

Any suggestions?

If SATA's the problem (seems obvious), where do I find a boot floppy for 
this??? (bootdisk.com doesn't fix this)

Thanks.

/soren

Re: [H] write protected thumb drive ?

[Soren]

If drives are "mounted", no changes are possible to make, and Gparted will show these as "locked". With a right click on the drive bar, you can unlock the drive by 
choosing "unmount", and then it should be possible to set flags, format, etc. If a drive or partition is "auto-mounted" when inserted, this drive or partition would 
automatically show up as "locked" in Gparted. If this is the case, do an internet search for a "U3 unlocker", as this feature is present on many USB drives these days.


Reading your original message again, you only say it's a flash drive. Does this 
mean USB, Compact Flash, or SD?

Also, if you have a system that can boot from that particular type of drive, try doing that, as the drive then will be handled as a HDD with different results in the 
mentioned utils.


If this util doesn't work, there's also QTparted (depending of the CD you use), which has a few different features. If it's Knoppix, the 5.3.1 DVD is highly 
recommendable. though it takes some time to boot.


No need to step down the daddo ladder yet :) There's still plenty of tricks available, like Testdisk, etc. If everything fails, there's always an IDE adapter available 
for almost any interface. I use a handfull of these for different media myself, as this often is the shortest way to get complete control of the media.


If it's an USB pen that has been write protected via use of a USB-to-IDE adapter, you'll have to alter it using a system that can handle the thing in a similar manner to 
be able to zero out the drive, including MBR's, and then FAT32 format it back to normal.


Right now, I'd try one the utils from IBM/Hitachi that can give you a quite precise drive diagnostics (and do some zeroing, too), if you have a system that can 
specifically boot from a USB device (still assuming that you're talking about a USB pen).


If nothing of this works, consider buying an identical thingy for your son - I 
know, last way out ;)

HTH.


FORC5 wrote:

was a good try but was able to notice that this time it is not two partitions 
but is seen as two drives and Gparted says physically write protected check  
jumpers.

Must be locked by the manufacturer.  Are no jumpers.
need program, me like 8-)
thanks
fp

At 02:50 PM 9/3/2010, Soren Poked the stick with:

Mr. Fred, maybe using one of the so called "live-distros", e.g. knoppix.org, 
would help?

The util Gparted will tell u which properties the drive has, including write 
protection. Enable/disable is then just a flag away.

HTH.

FORC5 wrote:

Have a flash drive my son got at ASU, has the school manual on it. Copied that 
off. Can not use the drive because it is write protected.
There is no switch on the unit
Diskpart does not see it. have nothing with fdisk on it anymore (do not think 
anyway)
drive management will not let me delete the partition.
Partition magic (8) does not see it. 
pretty sure done with sw, anybody have a clue.

This will move me up a step on the daddo ladder :-D , son is a Computer 
Engineer student ( freshman)
thanks
still looking
fp

__ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature 
database 5421 (20100903) __

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com

Re: [H] Backing up Win7 woes

[Soren]

OK, so far my impressions are that the Win7 installation footprint should be in the area 
of "only" around 14 GB.

I need to do some partition resizing and so, including deletion of several propreritary HP progs, and cleaning up the registry. Hopefully, this will end satisfactory. In 
a few days I'll know.


Yes, I know I'm acting paranoid :), but I usually deal with XP installations (dumped Vista completely at first sight) where a fresh install can fit on a single CD, using 
highest compression in Ghost. With drivers and different progs installed, only 2 CDs, or at worst, a single DVD.


Come on... 14 GBs for an O/S alone - M$ has some serious issues here. I used to 
think that e.g. Ubuntu is a piece of bloatware, but this one for sure gets the 
prize.

What happened to OS/2, BTW? I've always wondered why any O/S needs to be more 
than 64MB's which is more than sufficient with proper coding, even seen with 
todays' standards.

/s

Re: [H] write protected thumb drive ?

[Soren]

Mr. Fred, maybe using one of the so called "live-distros", e.g. knoppix.org, 
would help?

The util Gparted will tell u which properties the drive has, including write 
protection. Enable/disable is then just a flag away.

HTH.

FORC5 wrote:

Have a flash drive my son got at ASU, has the school manual on it. Copied that 
off. Can not use the drive because it is write protected.
There is no switch on the unit
Diskpart does not see it. have nothing with fdisk on it anymore (do not think 
anyway)
drive management will not let me delete the partition.
Partition magic (8) does not see it. 


pretty sure done with sw, anybody have a clue.

This will move me up a step on the daddo ladder :-D , son is a Computer 
Engineer student ( freshman)

thanks
still looking
fp

Re: [H] Backing up Win7 woes

[Soren]

Inline..

tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:
Win7 install footprint is nowhere near that. Not even remotely close. 


Nope, I figured that out pretty quick :)


But most oems load it down with things, swap file and a hibernation file can 
add a couple gig, etc.


Oh yes, tons of useless apps, but these are already either uninstalled or 
disabled. This is why I'm a bit lost...


Win7 has most of the basic drivers built in for the most part.  A 32bit win7 
install can be done in a 16g drive.  A 64 in a 20.  My sizes at base were: 
10.7, 13.9.   Ymmv.


My thoughts, too. The install is a 32/64 hybrid of the Premium Home version. 
Don't know if that particular version is special for Europe or not.


Note: is is about 60% of a vista install, so its slimmed down quite a bit


I hear you. Slipstreaming is the next subject on the menu.

/s


--Original Message------
From: Soren
Sender: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
ReplyTo: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: [H]  Backing up Win7 woes
Sent: Sep 3, 2010 3:37 PM

Hi,

I recently bought my mom a laptop with Win7. Fine.

Not so fine is that the C: partition seems to occupy +34 gigabytes.

What I want is to be able to make a ghost image within reasonable limits. +34 
gigabytes doesn't seem so.

As of yet unexperienced with Win7, is this the normal disk (ab)use of the O/S?

Slipstreaming?

/s


Sent via BlackBerry 

[H] Backing up Win7 woes

[Soren]

Hi,

I recently bought my mom a laptop with Win7. Fine.

Not so fine is that the C: partition seems to occupy +34 gigabytes.

What I want is to be able to make a ghost image within reasonable limits. +34 
gigabytes doesn't seem so.

As of yet unexperienced with Win7, is this the normal disk (ab)use of the O/S?

Slipstreaming?

/s

Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade - for T

[Soren]

Finally, I found it. Use on your own risk, of course.

If anyone wants to try this, back up your registry beforehand.

With the current settings, it allows to surf the internet with IE 5 in RAM only.

Pls. pay attention to the last entry for settings of RAM disk size, drive 
letter, etc.


---start of .reg file:

REGEDIT

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Cache\Paths]
"Paths"=dword:0004
"Directory"="Z:\\Temporary Internet Files\\Content.IE5"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Cache\Paths\path1]
"CachePath"="Z:\\Temporary Internet Files\\Content.IE5\\Cache1"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Cache\Paths\path2]
"CachePath"="Z:\\Temporary Internet Files\\Content.IE5\\Cache2"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Cache\Paths\path3]
"CachePath"="Z:\\Temporary Internet Files\\Content.IE5\\Cache3"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Cache\Paths\path4]
"CachePath"="Z:\\Temporary Internet Files\\Content.IE5\\Cache4"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Cache\Special Paths\Cookies]
"Directory"="Z:\\Cookies"
"CachePrefix"="Cookie:"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Cache\Special Paths\History]
"Directory"="Z:\\History"

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProfileReconciliation\Cookies]
"CentralFile"="Cookies"
"LocalFile"="Cookies"
"Name"="*.*"
"DefaultDir"="Z:\\Cookies"
"MustBeRelative"=dword:0001
"Default"=dword:0001
"RegKey"="Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell 
Folders"
"RegValue"="Cookies"

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ProfileReconciliation\History]
"CentralFile"="History"
"LocalFile"="History"
"Name"="*.*"
"DefaultDir"="Z:\\History"
"MustBeRelative"=dword:0001
"Default"=dword:0001
"RegKey"="Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\User Shell 
Folders"
"RegValue"="History"

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell 
Folders]
"Cookies"="Z:\\Cookies"
"Recent"="Z:\\Recent"
"Cache"="Z:\\Temporary Internet Files"
"History"="Z:\\History"

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User 
Shell Folders]
"Cookies"="Z:\\Cookies"
"Recent"="Z:\\Recent"
"Cache"="Z:\\Temporary Internet Files"
"History"="Z:\\History"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet 
Settings\Url History]
"Directory"="Z:\\History"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ramdisk\Parameters]
"BreakOnEntry"=dword:
"DebugLevel"=dword:
"DebugComp"=dword:
"DiskSize"=dword:01f0
"DriveLetter"="Z:"
"RootDirEntries"=dword:0200
"SectorsPerCluster"=dword:0002

---end of file

Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 07:07 PM 03/08/2010, Soren wrote:
Still have some .reg files somewhere that originally was made for "RAM 
surf" with IE. They should be quite easy to edit to use a RAMdisk. 
I'll find them and post them, if you want them.


I'd be very interested in seeing them.

Maybe I should mention that I've only dealt with large amounts of RAM 
on XP CE editions. AFAIR, the Home version doesn't support more than 4GB.


That's fine.  I'm thinking of XP Pro anyway.

T

Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade

[Soren]

OK, I'll dig them up for you.

Right now the time is 1:32 AM at my place, and my server is shut down for the 
day, so I'll post them when I get back to life..

Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 07:07 PM 03/08/2010, Soren wrote:
Still have some .reg files somewhere that originally was made for "RAM 
surf" with IE. They should be quite easy to edit to use a RAMdisk. 
I'll find them and post them, if you want them.


I'd be very interested in seeing them.

Maybe I should mention that I've only dealt with large amounts of RAM 
on XP CE editions. AFAIR, the Home version doesn't support more than 4GB.


That's fine.  I'm thinking of XP Pro anyway.

T

Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade

[Soren]

Inline..

Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 10:51 PM 02/08/2010, Soren wrote:
Sorry, not entirely true. There seem to be a common misunderstanding 
about the O/S allocation of RAM.


E.g. WinXP can only allocate 3GB RAM for the O/S, which is often 
enterpreted as the whole system can only make use of 3GB RAM in total.
Actually, XP can only use 3GB RAM for the O/S, any remaining RAM is 
kindly allocated to applications with a max of 32/64GB for 32/64bit 
versions of the non-server O/S. The rest


So if I put 4GB in an XP 32 system, XP could potentially access 3GB for 
itself, but the extra 1GB (generally unreported) will be used by other 
applications?


If Pro/CE, yup. Home? Nogo.

The 4GB story is coming from the first release of Vista not reporting 
the correct amount of installed RAM (e.g. 4GB or 8GB showed up as 
3GB), which, quite understandable, lead to a great deal of confusion 
among guys like us.


I'm pretty sure that Vista still reports 4+GB as 3.25GB or something 
similar.


Heh, Vista is as Vista as Vista gets. This should be fixed with SP1. Tried 
patching? (SP2 is also out)


Both Vista32 and W732 run smoothly on +8GB RAM, same with XP.


Do you have a link for this, or have some way of testing it, because 
everything you say here (at least if I'm reading it right) goes against 
what I've read elsewhere.  
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778%28VS.85%29.aspx


MS's many support sites about this subject has contradicting info, so one can always argue any side of the question by using the relevant link. I spent *many* hours 
looking at their sites, and in the end I was more confused than enlightened.


However, this site clears the fog:

geoffchappell.com/notes/toc.htm

S

Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade

[Soren]

I know I'm mistaking when it comes to XP Home, but Pro/CE versions are 
different creatures, as you already know.

As Mr. Phiber correctly pointed out, no process can use more than 3GB RAM. (Hence the urban legend about XP/Vista not supporting more than 3GB RAM, which btw is almost 
true with the Home edition, which we all, of course, try to avoid :)


3GB/process is plenty when using an AV system, as separate processes often are 
executed at the same time, using different processors, sometimes by direct 
allocation.

What's NUMA? (never heard of it, or I don't remember - I'll look it up)

Most apps for professional audio recording make use of the AWE API. I'm not sure about professional image rendering progs, but the two systems I've built for this purpose 
make plenty use of the 32GB installed. And this happens with a default installation of the OS (XP CE).


To my knowledge, the PAE boot switch is only used if one wants to allocate more 
than 3GB RAM to the OS.

Thanks for the link, but I don't trust the MS sites about RAM and OS's 
anymore...

Soren

Greg Sevart wrote:

I'm still quite confident that you're mistaken. Client Microsoft operating
systems and Server SKUs less than Enterprise simply will not use any more
than 4GB. They're technically capable of leveraging PAE to extend memory
usage, but they don't. They will use PAE to support DEP (and NUMA,
apparently), but that's it. Windows 7 and fully patched versions of Vista
will, however, _report_ all installed system memory, but it will not use one
byte more than 4GB. I'd be happy to eat my words if you can point out a
Microsoft-published document that definitively indicates that I'm incorrect,
but I don't believe that is the case.

This document also outlines memory limits of 32-bit Windows versions that is
marked current as of May 2010:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2267427

Even if I am somehow mistaken and it is somehow possible to use PAE to use
more than 4GB of memory under a MS Client OS edition, that still doesn't
change the fact that each 32-bit process still has a maximum of a 4GB VAS.
PAE and 4GT ("/3GB switch") don't change that. The application must then use
AWE (Address Windowing Extensions) to make use of any memory beyond
that--and the list of apps that use the AWE API is very small. The only one
that I know of offhand that does is Microsoft SQL Server.

Greg


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Soren
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 2:54 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade

Heh... nice writeup, Greg, but not completely updated, if I humbly may say
so.

If one look at the MS support sites about this question, one will get as

many

different and contradicting explanations on the subject, as there are

support

numbers (Qxyz). Beats the crap out of most techs that I know.

However, I have built a large number of AV systems, and quite a number of
those are with more than 4GB RAM, even up to 32GB. They all use the
installed RAM without any problems, so I guess that at least *some* of

MS's

support sites are right, when some obviously aren't.

There is no "trickery" because the processor is not limited to 32 bits of
physical address in PAE mode. PAE mode adds a third level of page table
lookup and changes the page table entries (PTEs) from 4 bytes wide to 8
bytes wide. This gives more room for bits of physical page address, or

"page

frame number." In the first CPUs to implement PAE only four more bits were
implemented, for a total of 24, or 36 bits of physical address. Thereby
allowing 64 GB of ram to be directly addressed. No "trickery" is involved.

It's

the same address translation the MMU has been doing all along; the format
of the lookup tables (page tables) is just changed.

As you may see, this is not as much an O/S question, as it's a CPU

question.

Nowadays, no problems when using a high grade processor.

This site pretty much nails it:

geoffchappell.com/notes/toc.htm

BTW, one of the finer benefits from using a large amount of RAM, is that

the

swap file can be allocated to RAM, which makes makes the system very
responsive. This allocation usually takes place from top>down, depending

on

the method used (separate proggie, or just a .reg file).

./

Greg Sevart wrote:

Ummnot quite.

While it is technically possible to use more than 4GB of memory on a
32-bit OS with PAE, Microsoft client operating systems will NOT use
it. Even the Standard SKUs of their Server operating systems will not
use PAE--Enterprise or Datacenter is required. (This actually gets
even more convoluted--these OS editions DO use PAE to implement
NoExecute memory protection, but will not actually use more than 4GB).

Furthermore, I think you're 

Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade

[Soren]

Still have some .reg files somewhere that originally was made for "RAM surf" with IE. They should be quite easy to edit to use a RAMdisk. I'll find them and post them, if 
you want them.


Maybe I should mention that I've only dealt with large amounts of RAM on XP CE 
editions. AFAIR, the Home version doesn't support more than 4GB.

Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 04:53 PM 03/08/2010, Soren wrote:

BTW, one of the finer benefits from using a large amount of RAM, is 
that the swap file can be allocated to RAM, which makes makes the 
system very responsive. This allocation usually takes place from 
top>down, depending on the method used (separate proggie, or just a 
.reg file).


Can tell me how to allocate the swap file to RAM?  I'm assuming you mean 
I can put 8GB in a 32bit system and use 4GB of that as a swap file?


T

Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade

[Soren]

Heh... nice writeup, Greg, but not completely updated, if I humbly may say so.

If one look at the MS support sites about this question, one will get as many different and contradicting explanations on the subject, as there are support numbers 
(Qxyz). Beats the crap out of most techs that I know.


However, I have built a large number of AV systems, and quite a number of those are with more than 4GB RAM, even up to 32GB. They all use the installed RAM without any 
problems, so I guess that at least *some* of MS's support sites are right, when some obviously aren't.


There is no "trickery" because the processor is not limited to 32 bits of physical address in PAE mode. PAE mode adds a third level of page table lookup and changes the 
page table entries (PTEs) from 4 bytes wide to 8 bytes wide. This gives more room for bits of physical page address, or "page frame number." In the first CPUs to 
implement PAE only four more bits were implemented, for a total of 24, or 36 bits of physical address. Thereby allowing 64 GB of ram to be directly addressed. No 
"trickery" is involved. It's the same address translation the MMU has been doing all along; the format of the lookup tables (page tables) is just changed.


As you may see, this is not as much an O/S question, as it's a CPU question. 
Nowadays, no problems when using a high grade processor.

This site pretty much nails it:

geoffchappell.com/notes/toc.htm

BTW, one of the finer benefits from using a large amount of RAM, is that the swap file can be allocated to RAM, which makes makes the system very responsive. This 
allocation usually takes place from top>down, depending on the method used (separate proggie, or just a .reg file).


./

Greg Sevart wrote:

Ummnot quite.

While it is technically possible to use more than 4GB of memory on a 32-bit
OS with PAE, Microsoft client operating systems will NOT use it. Even the
Standard SKUs of their Server operating systems will not use PAE--Enterprise
or Datacenter is required. (This actually gets even more convoluted--these
OS editions DO use PAE to implement NoExecute memory protection, but will
not actually use more than 4GB).

Furthermore, I think you're confusing user mode memory ("apps") with kernel
memory ("O/S"). By default, 32-bit versions of Windows XP with 4GB or more
memory installed will split the 4GB into 2GB of user space and 2GB of kernel
space. The kernel space is reserved for just that--the Windows kernel,
kernel mode drivers, etc. You can use the /3GB switch (4GT) to move this 2/2
split into a 3/1 user/kernel split. Absolutely anything over 4GB is not
used, and that's true for 32-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, or
Windows 7. 


You may lose some of the 4GB address space for memory mapped devices, such
as video cards and other devices. This is why you will frequently see a
32-bit system with 4GB of memory only report 2.8-3.8GB. There's no
requirement that these devices be mapped to actual memory, just that they
have memory address space--so 64-bit systems with chipsets that support it
will remap actual installed RAM around the mapped devices. This means that
on supported systems and 64-bit OS editions, you don't lose any memory to
memory-mapped hardware devices.

In short: If you're running 32-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista,
Windows 7, or Windows Server 2003/2008 Standard Edition, 4GB is your limit,
and some of that will always be reserved for hardware and kernel space.
Period.
If you're running 64-bit versions of the above, your limit essentially
depends on whatever MS has licensed for that OS edition. As examples,
Windows 7 Home Premium is 16GB, Professional is 192GB. Windows Server 2008
R2 Enterprise is 2TB. More detail, and the limits for all Windows OS
editions from 2000 to 7/2008 R2, can be found here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx 


Greg


-Original Message-----
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Soren
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 8:51 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade

Sorry, not entirely true. There seem to be a common misunderstanding
about the O/S allocation of RAM.

E.g. WinXP can only allocate 3GB RAM for the O/S, which is often
enterpreted as the whole system can only make use of 3GB RAM in total.

Actually, XP can only use 3GB RAM for the O/S, any remaining RAM is kindly
allocated to applications with a max of 32/64GB for 32/64bit versions of

the

non-server O/S.
The rest is plain BS. XP typically uses less than 200MB, btw.

The 4GB story is coming from the first release of Vista not reporting the
correct amount of installed RAM (e.g. 4GB or 8GB showed up as 3GB), which,
quite understandable, lead to a great deal of confusion among guys like

us.

Both Vista32 and W732 run smoothly on +8GB RAM, s

Re: [H] Sync outlook offline?

[Soren]

This might be what you're looking for: ghisler.com

It's a very generous piece of shareware, and works for most people as is.

Brian Weeden wrote:

My work is moving from Gapps to Microsoft BPOS, as I've brought up on here 
before.  Is there a way to have offline access to all my archived email through 
Outlook that is synced between my work and laptop computers?  I travel a lot so 
that is a big deal.

---
Brian

Sent from my iPhone

Re: [H] new system build suggestions or upgrade

[Soren]

Sorry, not entirely true. There seem to be a common misunderstanding about the 
O/S allocation of RAM.

E.g. WinXP can only allocate 3GB RAM for the O/S, which is often enterpreted as 
the whole system can only make use of 3GB RAM in total.

Actually, XP can only use 3GB RAM for the O/S, any remaining RAM is kindly allocated to applications with a max of 32/64GB for 32/64bit versions of the non-server O/S. 
The rest is plain BS. XP typically uses less than 200MB, btw.


The 4GB story is coming from the first release of Vista not reporting the correct amount of installed RAM (e.g. 4GB or 8GB showed up as 3GB), which, quite understandable, 
lead to a great deal of confusion among guys like us.


Both Vista32 and W732 run smoothly on +8GB RAM, same with XP.

The 64bit thing is driven by the market.

Someone wrote:

If you need 4G or more RAM then you're going to need 64 bit

Re: [H] Disk Clone Software

[Soren]

OK, that demands a stab in return ;)

You did remember to go AHCI>IDE in your BIOS before trying?

If yes, I may have some suggestions for you later.

Christopher Fisk wrote:
Other than the original message being 2 months old I'll take a quick 
stab at answering your inlines.


On Tue, 27 Jul 2010, Soren wrote:


Inline...

Christopher Fisk wrote:

 Hey Folks,

 I've been using my old version of Ghost  for years, with no problem.
 Booting from a floppy and migrating my windows install from smaller to
 larger and larger drives.  I've finally got to the point where that 
version

 no longer supports my hardware,


I still supports your hardware, you're only experiencing the usual BS 
from not using a brand new HDD.


If it supported my hardware I would be able to boot from the disk and 
have it see my SATA controller.  The version I had did not.




I get some archaic error from
 DOS saying it can't read my drives for some reason.  Rather than mess
 around with it trying to fix it, I've considered just getting a new 
program

 to handle the job.


In your case, the "right way" to do it could be imaging only the O/S 
partition, and nothing else.


Of course, because I don't care about my data being migrated at the same 
time and have plenty of open SATA ports on my system?  How can you 
assume my right way and wrong way?



But doing so leaves the hidden partition made by the O/S (e.g. XP) 
behind, and hence before doing a migrate, you'll have to wipe your new 
drive, including the MBR, and then do a repartitioning. Check that the 
new boot partition is at least the same size as the imaged partition.


I originally did a manual partition of my system, and actually the 
partitions go as follows on the drive I was trying to ghost:  Linux Boot 
(50MB), Linux Swap (4GB), Linux Ext3 (150GB), NTFS (100GB).  There are 
no hidden OS partitions.



Disconnecting the IDE/SATA cables from every other drive in the system 
may also help. The O/S wil find these drives again, don't worry.


Also, when entering Ghost, it'll ask you if you want to mark the 
drive(s) as usable with Ghost. Deselect this option.


If my software can not detect the drive controller then disconnecting 
those drives will not help.




 Is Acronis True Image what I'm looking for?  I want to boot from
 (prefereably) USB thumbdrive and be able to make an image to an 
external

 USB drive.  Booting from CD or floppy is a close second choice.


Maybe, maybe not.

The boot game is like the game of "scissors, paper, stone", if you 
know what I mean.


The priority levels are hard coded, and the old floppy has the main 
advantage.  Next comes floppy emulation on CD, next the HDD, and 
finally the USB drive.


Right now I run XP from a 4GB 133x CF card on a CF to IDE bridge card 
(goes right into the IDE connector on the MB), with swap file on a 
separate HDD partition, and it boots from BIOS beep to login prompt in 
less than ten seconds. That is seriously fast, so why use a USB pen 
for boot?


Because I want to store ghost on the USB pen in an effort to use it to 
move my main system drive from a 250GB SATA to a 1TB SATA without 
reinstalling windows.  It is easy enough to do that with linux, just 
copy the data over, doesn't work with windows.



For my internet system, I'll soon install a SD to IDE bridge card, 
making a boot from a write protected .iso image possible w/30MB/sec.


Those adapter cards are only about ten bucks, about the same as for a 
4GB SD card that does 20MB/sec. Beats any USB pen any time, plus the 
system sees the drive as a genuine HDD with all the benefits preserved.


About the back up to USB HDD, you'll need either back up from within 
Win, which is OK using non-O/S partitions, or you'll need a DOS floppy 
supporting USB 2.0, which is very hard to come by.


Or just get a version of ghost/acronis that supports my chipset, or do 
what I ended up doing and add ghost to a Bart environment.



Splitting the b/u assignments therefore seems like a reasonable 
suggestion.


Making a reliable b/u of an O/S partition, You'll need something that 
operates at a low level, like the floppy disk, or at least floppy 
emulation (Nero). Or making a super-floppy image on a bootable USB 
pen, meaning FAT12 formating, which XP does not support, but NT4 and 
2K does, as far as I remember.


While I haven't looked into DOS floppies with USB 2.0 support 
recently, I know that IBM used to support this with PC-DOS. Forget 
about the MS-DOS USB support, as it only reaches as far as USB 1.0.


Maybe bootdisk.com has something, I dunno.

 I then want to take that USB drive and put it internal into the 
system and

 take the smaller drive out of service.


What do you expect to gain from this?


Space.  Replace my 250GB main drive with a 1TB main drive.  Also I now 
have a drive that isn't a couple of years old and I hopefully ward off 
age r

Re: [H] Disk Clone Software

[Soren]

Inline...

Christopher Fisk wrote:

Hey Folks,

I've been using my old version of Ghost  for years, with no problem. 
Booting from a floppy and migrating my windows install from smaller to 
larger and larger drives.  I've finally got to the point where that 
version no longer supports my hardware,


I still supports your hardware, you're only experiencing the usual BS from not 
using a brand new HDD.

I get some archaic error from 
DOS saying it can't read my drives for some reason.  Rather than mess 
around with it trying to fix it, I've considered just getting a new 
program to handle the job.


In your case, the "right way" to do it could be imaging only the O/S partition, 
and nothing else.

But doing so leaves the hidden partition made by the O/S (e.g. XP) behind, and hence before doing a migrate, you'll have to wipe your new drive, including the MBR, and 
then do a repartitioning. Check that the new boot partition is at least the same size as the imaged partition.


Disconnecting the IDE/SATA cables from every other drive in the system may also 
help. The O/S wil find these drives again, don't worry.

Also, when entering Ghost, it'll ask you if you want to mark the drive(s) as 
usable with Ghost. Deselect this option.

Is Acronis True Image what I'm looking for?  I want to boot from 
(prefereably) USB thumbdrive and be able to make an image to an external 
USB drive.  Booting from CD or floppy is a close second choice.


Maybe, maybe not.

The boot game is like the game of "scissors, paper, stone", if you know what I 
mean.

The priority levels are hard coded, and the old floppy has the main advantage. 
Next comes floppy emulation on CD, next the HDD, and finally the USB drive.

Right now I run XP from a 4GB 133x CF card on a CF to IDE bridge card (goes right into the IDE connector on the MB), with swap file on a separate HDD partition, and it 
boots from BIOS beep to login prompt in less than ten seconds. That is seriously fast, so why use a USB pen for boot?


For my internet system, I'll soon install a SD to IDE bridge card, making a 
boot from a write protected .iso image possible w/30MB/sec.

Those adapter cards are only about ten bucks, about the same as for a 4GB SD card that does 20MB/sec. Beats any USB pen any time, plus the system sees the drive as a 
genuine HDD with all the benefits preserved.


About the back up to USB HDD, you'll need either back up from within Win, which is OK using non-O/S partitions, or you'll need a DOS floppy supporting USB 2.0, which is 
very hard to come by.


Splitting the b/u assignments therefore seems like a reasonable suggestion.

Making a reliable b/u of an O/S partition, You'll need something that operates at a low level, like the floppy disk, or at least floppy emulation (Nero). Or making a 
super-floppy image on a bootable USB pen, meaning FAT12 formating, which XP does not support, but NT4 and 2K does, as far as I remember.


While I haven't looked into DOS floppies with USB 2.0 support recently, I know that IBM used to support this with PC-DOS. Forget about the MS-DOS USB support, as it only 
reaches as far as USB 1.0.


Maybe bootdisk.com has something, I dunno.

I then want to take that USB drive and put it internal into the system 
and take the smaller drive out of service.


What do you expect to gain from this?


Running Vista Home Premium and have a few EXT3 drives on my main HDD.


Ghost 2003 works fine with Vista, done that about 35-40 times now.

I've not been impressed with Ghost 2003 or Ghost 10, but if Ghost14 is 
any better than those I can go with that as well.


With Ghost 2003 most people overlook the fact, that back up of NTFS/*nix 
partitions/drives only is supported when writing directly to CD or DVD, as 
stated in the manual.

Used as intended, it seriously rokcz. My XP system fits on a single CD 
(installation/configuration only, using hard compression), and the same goes 
for my three *nix systems.

Following the link I found on the list a few weeks ago I can get Acronis 
True Image for $30.


Knock yourself out :)

Though, you might want to consider that Acronis still has an unsolved history of data corruption, which is well documented on the internet. The reason could be that they 
are trying to pull off low level operations from a higher level, which in theory could be done by using the right sys calls and the right drivers. However, to my humble 
experience, this is not possible without making shortcuts and thereby glitches.



What do you think?


I don't think anything, besides what's your needs?

Do you want data reliability?, Do you want a back up that you for a fact know 
works?

Does it have to be through a mouse operated GUI, or can you accept that your 
back up may not work when you need it the most?

IMHO, everything has its place, and for back ups, this place is the CLI.

HTH

./s





Thanks!


Christopher Fisk

Re: [H] Strange ACER Win7 problem

[Soren]

Plug & Play Service disabled?

(Right Click on This Computer-> Administrate-> Services)

/s

Winterlight wrote:
I own a 18 month old ACER Aspire 6930 that came with vista 64 Bit Home 
Premium. Flashed with the latest BIOS.


 Last December I did a new clean install of Win 7 Pro. ACER has posted 
drivers for Win7 64 bit and the install was easy and straightforward. 
The only apps I installed was Acronis, a handful problem free non 
invasive  freeware utilities, and a Hauppauge PVR that records HD off a 
cable box. My plan is to turn it into a Media box  with my TV.


 Everything runs great. ...except for one thing. I can not run any of my 
MTP USB Devices. Not my cameras, my MS Zoom, or my Sandisk Fume... 
nothing will install. Doesn't matter what port I put them into I get a 
failed install, contact your manufacturer. They have the yellow triangle 
in device manager and some mention of a possible maybe corrupt file... 
the usual meaningless stuff.


 I have tried all sorts of uninstalls and installs but nothing works. It 
is a well known issue and not just for ACER as I found mention of the 
same problems with Dells. Lots comes up in a Goggle search, but no 
answers, at least that I can find.


Anybody have any ideas? thanks
w

Re: [H] CDR recovery

[Soren]

Hi,

This is a common problem that I have seen before.

The main two reasons are, 1: the disc is scratched (data corruption), 2: the 
reading laser needs realignment.

if 1: data corruption is recoverable to a certain degree. Try reading the same disc from a *nix live CD, this often solves the problem. Personally, I often use Knoppix to 
solve different problems, either the 5.3.1 DVD from www.knopper.net or the remastered CD at 
ftp://ring.aist.go.jp/archives/linux/knoppix/iso/knoppix_v5.3.1CD_20080326_xen3.2.1-20080519.iso


if 2: for a few bucks (or beers ;), a qualified electronics technician can adjust the laser focus correctly (assuming this error is present on a stand alone audio CD 
player). Else, try a different CD/DVD drive in the system, as they all have a different focus in the laser (a correctly adjusted laser focus is everything when reading 
optical discs).


If the burn process of the disc has been corrupted, there's not much to do 
about it, the data will then permanently be corrupted as it was recorded so.

Hth

/s

Julian Zottl wrote:

Hey All,
A friend of mine has some audio CD's (not sure if they are MP3 or Red Book)
in which some sections of the foil are corroded or gone.  It sounds like it
is only small sections though, so most of it should be recoverable.  What
software would help in this case?

Take care,

Julian (Sabre)

Re: [H] Computer turns itself off under load

[Soren]

I have described these symptoms before in an other thread.

If it isn't heat, you've probably got a virus in you BIOS.

Relax, and reflash your BIOS - you might want to go back a version number here. 
Reset Configuration Data, and it should work fine again.

BTW, why use Handbrake, when dvdshrink is available. Just a note ;)

Best,
Soren

Brian Weeden wrote:

Got another weird one.  My HTPC has suddenly developed an issue where it
turns it self off.  Not crash, but completely powers off.  And the only time
it happens is when I ask it to encode video, such as using Handbrake.  It
gets a few minutes into the operation and boom.  Everything else - surfing,
ripping, 1080p playback, etc is perfectly smooth and fine.

I'm thinking this could be power issue.  My guess is that when both cores
ramp up to full power to encode the video, the power supply can't handle it
and it dies.  The only recent change I've made is adding another disk to the
RAID array

Here's the rest of the hardware:

Athlon X2 4850e 2.5 Ghz
GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3H 780G Motherboard
Areca ARC-1220 PCI-Express x8 SATA II Raid card
(8) SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA
OCZ StealthXStream 600W EPS12V Power Supply

Is that too much power load for the OCZ?

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US

Re: [H] Was: Odd problem with hard drive - Now: BIOS caution during casual surf

[Soren]

Just a short update on this issue.

Different media now report about the *predesessor* of the root kit I've 
mentioned below. Here's an excellent write-up on that one in paticular:

www.prevx.com/blog/139/Tdss-rootkit-silently-owns-the-net.html

Here in Europe both the French and the German governments (both more than bleeding edge on the subject) for at least 6 months have been advising against the use of IE/OE 
(as in ANY version), because of a notorious black hole of exploits, and MS not being "dedicated to solve the obvious problems". Instead users are advised to use 
alternatives, such as Firefox+Thunderbird, or Opera (www.opera.no).


The local culprits are still the combo of Flash (any version), and MS JScript 
(a malformed hybrid between JavaScript and Java).

Please, don't shoot the messenger :)


Soren wrote:
If I may add, there's currently a virus around that potentially manage 
to mess up the BIOS of any M/B.


So, if your system or server is showing a strange date/day/year, some of 
your drives aren't recognized, or your system suddently simply won't 
boot, this might be the cause.


The attack appears to be a drive-by attack imbedded in Flash 
(surprise!), and coming from a broad variety of web sites. Hence the 
particular system user can't be blamed.


Solution: Disconnect all hdd's, and reflash the BIOS, and then set a 
sensible Supervisor pwd in your BIOS before doing anything else. 
Sometimes this alone will solve the problem. Remember to load & save 
Setup Defaults before proceeding.


This virus is also transparantly transferred (as in "invisibly") by usb, 
swapped hdd's etc., so be alert about this, and be sure to include this 
matter into your back up strategies. Further, this virus also disables 
the "Disable Active Scripting" facility in at least NAV.


For a clean system: As Tim says, format the boot sector, but also 
include sector 64 (e.g. use IBM's original zap.com util) - then perform 
a secure erase of the drive (goes for every drive in the system).


Sometimes it is enough just to rebuild the drive index file (testdisk) 
after reflashing the BIOS. But milage varies due to numerous variants of 
this particular virus.


This usually works:

1. format boot sector on drive, including sector 64, with drive mounted 
as master on primary controller.


2. repeat step 1 for additional hdds's in the system (mount the drives 
as master on a primary controller) as steps


3. use a *nix distro to define partition size on the boot drive (MS 
doesn't get partition offsets right)


4. power off, reboot, and install.

5. if you're in doubt about ANY parts of the above, get new drives 
instead, or turn them over to a specialist like Tim. The data on your 
drives is most likely recoverable, and not nessescarily infected itself.

Re: [H] Mapping printer xp to w7 ?

[Soren]

Document- and printer sharing between XP and W7 is a no-go. It can probably be 
done, but only by inside knowledge from M$. Who's first? :)

In your shoes, look for physical ports located on the back of the printer. If there's both Parallel and USB ports, two different cables might work with two different 
puters. Done this many times myself, and no hickups so far.


If this doesn't work, maybe you should look for some sort of PnP print server 
that is *confirmed* to work with both XP and W7-64.

Before connecting a printer to WAN, pls remember that a more than 10 years old vulnerability that makes it possible to gain access to a LAN from WAN through the printer, 
is still wide open and unpatched.


Bobby Heid wrote:

Have you set up printer sharing?  On the W7 box, go to Start|Help and
Support and enter share printer.  That should get you going.

Thanks,
Bobby

-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
[mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of FORC5
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2010 5:11 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: [H] Mapping printer xp to w7 ?

Friend, customer running a new puter with w7 home premium 64bit, her printer
( canon xx500) works fine.

Tried to map her laptop to print, can not make it go. I assume I need to add
the X86 drivers to the w7 install but w7 will not let me. DL'ed directly
from Canon. 


FWIW the printer on the w7 box just was recognized and worked on first boot
but when it asks me for additional drivers it just will not take them.

AT a loss at the moment. As a work around put a folder on the laptop to copy
docs to and a shortcut on the w7 box she can print so at the moment no big
deal but I really HATE not being able to make it go. I wonder to myself if a
newer printer might work. Worked fine when she was running xp.
I have mapped many a printer. My w7 box has no problem printing thru my XP
box. ( opposite to her situation)
fp
thanks
Happy *V* Day 

Re: [H] Phone-internal?

[Soren]

Do you have any links to support this, pls?

I'm very interested in this subject, as I work with different types of cables 
on a daily basis.

JRS wrote:

Solid CAT5 cable supports longer length runs and works best in fixed wiring configurations like office buildings. Stranded CAT5 cable, on the other hand, is more pliable and better suited for shorter-distance, movable cabling such as on-the-fly patch cabling. 

Re: [H] USB3.0 and Sata 6G

[Soren]

No problem. According to specs, USB 3 should be backwards compatiple with both 
2.0 and 1.1

Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

Anyone using these?

I bought a PCIe x 4 board that has 2 USB 3.0 ports adn 2 SATA 6G slots. 
I also have an enclosure that uses USB 3.0 (and is backwards compatible).


Will standard backup programs work with USB3.0? I guess I'm going to be 
testing is here soon, but I wanted to know if anyone else has done this.


Also, is there any advantage to running my Intel SSD off at the SATA 6G 
slot?


Thanks.

Re: [H] RAID

[Soren]

Consider installing the O/S using only the boot disks on the onboard RAID 
controller, and then later add any additional controllers/drives.

Winterlight wrote:
I don't use RAID very often. However, I am putting together a older PC 
for some specific jobs, and since I had two second generation 74GB 
Raptors I used the onboard PROMISE controller to set them up RAID 0 with 
plans to install Windows 7 on it. The primary onboard control is an 
Intel, but one port is damaged from a bad/loose connector so I  decided 
to disable the Intel controller in the BIOS.


To handle the three other hard drives I am using a PCI Promise SATA 150 
RAID 4 port controller with three SATA drives plugged into it. I have 
used this controller before and previously set it up as SATA not 
STRIPED. I have never used it as a RAID controller.


The problem is that when I set the PC's BIOS for the onboard PROMISE to  
RAID instead of SATA,  the PCI 150 also went to STRIPED, and now it 
shows all five of the drives, even the ones on the onboard controller. 
It seems as if it won't let me use the board PROMISE controller as RAID 
but the PCI as SATA the PCI controller has grouped them all 
together but I don't know enough about this to be sure. Can I do 
this or will the controllers not allow this. Thanks.

Re: [H] Was: Odd problem with hard drive - Now: BIOS caution during casual surf

[Soren]

If I may add, there's currently a virus around that potentially manage to mess 
up the BIOS of any M/B.

So, if your system or server is showing a strange date/day/year, some of your 
drives aren't recognized, or your system suddently simply won't boot, this 
might be the cause.

The attack appears to be a drive-by attack imbedded in Flash (surprise!), and 
coming from a broad variety of web sites. Hence the particular system user 
can't be blamed.

Solution: Disconnect all hdd's, and reflash the BIOS, and then set a sensible Supervisor pwd in your BIOS before doing anything else. Sometimes this alone will solve the 
problem. Remember to load & save Setup Defaults before proceeding.


This virus is also transparantly transferred (as in "invisibly") by usb, swapped hdd's etc., so be alert about this, and be sure to include this matter into your back up 
strategies. Further, this virus also disables the "Disable Active Scripting" facility in at least NAV.


For a clean system: As Tim says, format the boot sector, but also include sector 64 (e.g. use IBM's original zap.com util) - then perform a secure erase of the drive 
(goes for every drive in the system).


Sometimes it is enough just to rebuild the drive index file (testdisk) after 
reflashing the BIOS. But milage varies due to numerous variants of this 
particular virus.

This usually works:

1. format boot sector on drive, including sector 64, with drive mounted as 
master on primary controller.

2. repeat step 1 for additional hdds's in the system (mount the drives as 
master on a primary controller) as steps

3. use a *nix distro to define partition size on the boot drive (MS doesn't get 
partition offsets right)

4. power off, reboot, and install.

5. if you're in doubt about ANY parts of the above, get new drives instead, or turn them over to a specialist like Tim. The data on your drives is most likely 
recoverable, and not nessescarily infected itself.


Tim Lider wrote:

Could the HPA be located between LBA 1 and 62?  If so just wipe those
sectors clean and should fix the problem.  This is the first time I have
seen this problem with clone software changing the size of the drive.

If it is not on the sectors I mentioned.  You can change the Max LBA of a
drive. But that takes a firmware utility to change it.

Regards,

Tim Lider
Sr. Data Recovery Specialist
Advanced Data Solutions, LLC
http://www.adv-data.com



-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Lubomír Cabla
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 11:44 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Odd problem with hard drive

There is a solution:

Acronis HPA Makes the Cloned Drive Display Wrong Capacity

http://kb.acronis.com/content/1710

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 8:16 PM, Thane Sherrington <
th...@computerconnectionltd.com> wrote:


At 03:03 PM 1/13/2010, Tim Lider wrote:


Is the computer you cloned it from able to access the data on the
computer?
If so, then it could be the dell does not recognize the 160GB hard

drive

correctly. I have seen this many times on Legacy machines that do

not have

LBA32 or higher drive mapping.


This is a fairly recent computer so it should be able to see larger

drives.

 And when I move the hard drive back from the Dell to the cloning

system,

the BIOS on the cloning system also states that the drive is 98.5GB.
 Western Digital morons told that Acronis had "cloned the size of the

drive

from the source drive" but of course that's a load of crap, and when

I

rebooted after cloning, the drive reported its size normally.  So for

some

reason, installing the drive in the Dell overwrites the firmware in

the

drive and sets the size to 98.5GB.  I've yet to find a way to flash

the

firmware on the WD drive.


Also, were there any bad sectors on the drive during the clone? If

so, this

is probably why the drive is BSOD'ing.


There were, but Acronis copied without complaint.

T

Re: [H] SSL certificates

[Soren]

Yes.

Edit>preferences> in FF.

The old certificate is somewhat still saved on your computer, though.

Thane Sherrington wrote:
If the Gmail SSL certificate gets screwed up on one's computer, is it 
possible to delete it and download it again?


T

Re: [H] DDO question

[Soren]

Try this one:

qtparted.sourceforge.net

If you know your way around in Fdisk, this will probably suit your needs.

/soren

Rick Glazier wrote:

This seems "hardware" to me. (At least a "workaround" for hardware.)
I have refused to use DDOs for the last 16 years so this is a legitimate 
question.


IF a person is forced to use a DDO for their hard drive, can they boot 
to an

Acronis bootable CD and restore an Image file from an older hard drive from
the SAME physical hardware.

As in: they want to "clone" to a bigger HD NOT supported by the BIOS from
one that IS, --  in the same Laptop?)

Sorry if this is a "buggy whip" question, but the person has no money...

Rick Glazier

[H] Who said home cooking can't be fun

[Soren]

I think this is funny, but judge by yourself ;)

IKEA making 19" racks for computers...

Linux cluster in an IKEA Helmer desk drawer cabinet (Helmer I):
helmer.sfe.se

Helmer II, a further development of Helmer I:
helmer2.sfe.se

With Helmer III things get sort of out of hand:
helmer3.sfe.se

Pimp your 19" rack with an IKEA coffee table:
lackrack.org

For the "portable" rack builders: the IKEA Eina bed table is also 19" and it 
has wheels :)

BTW, being lucky to both own and develop high end audio, I can report that the standard Lack table is probably one of the best bases for an audio rack platform, no matter 
the price.


/Soren

Re: [H] Freeze up

[Soren]

Wow64 could be a reference to a 64bit ASPI Layer or some video codec (both aka spyware), but most likely it comes from surfing by an already infected internet site (aka 
trojan/spyware). Nothing you can do about this, unfortunately, except making Firefox with NoScript a strict home computing policy in the future.


To preserve the files on the drive, you are welcome to email me privately (see email header for reference), and I'll do what I can to help you out for free (commercial 
experience on this field).


If not, make a repair install of 2k as a start (press F4 or F5 during CD-boot and follow directions). NO? Boot from HDD >F8 >command prompt >[fix boot] - NO? >F8 >command 
prompt >[fix mbr]


For a full list of commands type [help /?]

Still no-go, pop a mail. Easier roads ahead.

//soren

Sam Franc wrote:

My wife has a W2000 box and she is computer illiterate.
Last night she froze up her box somehow.
Had to shut it down by the off switch.
Nothing else would work.
This am we get this message:
"The procedure entry point get system wow 64 directory A could not be 
located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll"

What needs to be done?
I am not an expert.
Sam

Re: [H] Thunderbird Settings & Mail

[Soren]

A plain copy of your mail folder to your new sys, and then pointing the new 
Thunderbird towards that direction in Preferences should solve the problem.

//s

Steve Tomporowski wrote:
Okay, now I am coming live from Windows 7No complaints so 
far...except with M-Audio.  It seems that they wrote their 64bit driver 
to only detect Vista64, so it refused to install.  To my chagrin, the 
Realtek High Definition Driver actually sounds better on the same 
speakers


Anyways, Tbird is now installed under 7, so does anyone know how to get 
my mail copied over?  It's still on the other drive, but Tbird did not 
give me any option to copy from Tbird


Thanks...Steve

Re: [H] More than 4GB of ram and VM question

[Soren]

in line...

maccrawj wrote:

Interesting read though it still stands that 32bit only addresses 4GB.


True - at least on paper ;)

The fact that more could be mapped is true but 32bit apps would have to 
be written using AWE which still limits linear address space to <4GB 
chunks. Biggest benefit of 64bit apps is ability to use more than 4gb 
per app without the kludge.


Hard core freaks needing more than 3GB RAM/app should go with some specialized sys 
from Industrial Light & Magic :) Servers being a different breed, though.

As mentioned in an earlier post, NTswitch can prepare one's hardware for the benefits of the NT server O/S, but alone the price tag of NT Server leaves this out for most 
private users, unfortunately.


Hint not intended.

As to the advantages for running multiple 32bit 4GB limited apps with > 
4GB physical RAM, should MS loosen the artificial limits of 32bit 
windows & PAE, that's how linux seems to do it & how it should be in a 
perfect world.


Agreed, but don't you think that quite a few years will pass before this will 
become true?

Strange world ;)

This all quickly becomes moot since you get 32 & 64 on all new Vista/7 
DVDs and 64 still let's you run your 32bit apps.


Yep, 64 is runing 32 with a significant speed penalty. So where's the gain?

As far as I can see, the only gain is in The Microsoft Pocket(tm). TMP.

If one's only occasionally running 32 with insignificant programs, 64 is 
definately the way to go.

Otherwise, new isn't always good, and vice versa.

IMHO, it's all about a sensible balance between things.

//soren


Soren wrote:

www.geoffchappell.com/notes/toc.htm ;)

maccrawj wrote:

2^32 IS 4GB, you do the math! ;)

 From the MS page that lead me to the link I posted:

"Windows NT 4.0 Memory Support. With Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 
Workstation and Server operating systems, the maximum amount of 
physical memory supported is 4 GB. The maximum amount of virtual 
memory is 2 GB.


With Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition, the /3GB switch was 
first added to Boot.ini."


http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

AND

"The PAE mode kernel requires an Intel Architecture processor, 
Pentium Pro or later, more than 4 GB of RAM, and Windows 2000, 
Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003."


http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx

Soren wrote:

Hey Brian,

As far as I know, the Windows NT generation is not limited to 3GB 
RAM, only to 64GB (32bit O/S limit - do your own math ;). One thing 
is what the O/S reports (and what MS wants us to believe), and 
another thing is what's actually doable. Nothing new there, 
unfortunately.


MS have several web pages describing the subject, though in very 
cloudy terms. The essence is that WIN only reports up to 'about' 
+3GB RAM, the rest is allocated to system (as in e.g. swap) and 
programmes.


The often overlooked fact is that WIN will only allocate up to 3GB 
of RAM - per process, that is. How many processes are running on 
your system?


I have build and/or setup several WIN NT systems with 4/8GB of RAM 
w/o any problems at all. Those are all A/V systems with RAID and all 
the bells and whistles, and no complaints so far. Oldest system is 
almost eight years old.


It's kind of like the old NT-Switch-trick - only a few (like 2) keys 
in the registry are changed, and then you've got Server. Bummer.


The limit for WIN NT Pro is 64GB by design (NT5/6/7/8=maybe). Home 
Edition is limited to 32GB, for whatever reason. Probably "bragging 
rights" :)


It's all on the MS web site, though in very cloudy terms. But the 
determined individual will find it.


Using +4 GB will include the "/PAE" switch in boot ini. Normally, 
this is added automatically by the O/S, and will run smoothly by so.


For an A/V system for professional use, 32GB RAM is not unusual on 
e.g. WIN XP Pro.


HTH

Re: [H] More than 4GB of ram and VM question

[Soren]

www.geoffchappell.com/notes/toc.htm ;)

maccrawj wrote:

2^32 IS 4GB, you do the math! ;)

 From the MS page that lead me to the link I posted:

"Windows NT 4.0 Memory Support. With Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 
Workstation and Server operating systems, the maximum amount of physical 
memory supported is 4 GB. The maximum amount of virtual memory is 2 GB.


With Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition, the /3GB switch was 
first added to Boot.ini."


http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

AND

"The PAE mode kernel requires an Intel Architecture processor, Pentium 
Pro or later, more than 4 GB of RAM, and Windows 2000, Windows XP, or 
Windows Server 2003."


http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx

Soren wrote:

Hey Brian,

As far as I know, the Windows NT generation is not limited to 3GB RAM, 
only to 64GB (32bit O/S limit - do your own math ;). One thing is what 
the O/S reports (and what MS wants us to believe), and another thing 
is what's actually doable. Nothing new there, unfortunately.


MS have several web pages describing the subject, though in very 
cloudy terms. The essence is that WIN only reports up to 'about' +3GB 
RAM, the rest is allocated to system (as in e.g. swap) and programmes.


The often overlooked fact is that WIN will only allocate up to 3GB of 
RAM - per process, that is. How many processes are running on your 
system?


I have build and/or setup several WIN NT systems with 4/8GB of RAM w/o 
any problems at all. Those are all A/V systems with RAID and all the 
bells and whistles, and no complaints so far. Oldest system is almost 
eight years old.


It's kind of like the old NT-Switch-trick - only a few (like 2) keys 
in the registry are changed, and then you've got Server. Bummer.


The limit for WIN NT Pro is 64GB by design (NT5/6/7/8=maybe). Home 
Edition is limited to 32GB, for whatever reason. Probably "bragging 
rights" :)


It's all on the MS web site, though in very cloudy terms. But the 
determined individual will find it.


Using +4 GB will include the "/PAE" switch in boot ini. Normally, this 
is added automatically by the O/S, and will run smoothly by so.


For an A/V system for professional use, 32GB RAM is not unusual on 
e.g. WIN XP Pro.


HTH

Re: [H] More than 4GB of ram and VM question

[Soren]

Your O/S only reports 3.4GB, obviously. What does the BIOS say?

Brian Weeden wrote:

What originally sparked this was my need to run Virtual XP from within
Windows 7.  I need to run a fairly memory intensive program inside the VM so
I would like to give it 2 GB of RAM.  But I still need to be able to run
some other memory intensive apps on Win 7, so allocated 2 GB of my 3.4 GB to
the VM isn't great.  Now, if I had 8 GB of RAM then everything is cake.  The
ram itself is dirt cheap (relatively speaking) and the OS cost is the same
so the only real issue at hand is making the change.

I don't have any wacky hardware, everything has a 64-bit driver so I will
make the change when I install retail Win 7 next month.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
Montreal Office
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 11:05 PM, Soren  wrote:


Hey Brian,

As far as I know, the Windows NT generation is not limited to 3GB RAM, only
to 64GB (32bit O/S limit - do your own math ;). One thing is what the O/S
reports (and what MS wants us to believe), and another thing is what's
actually doable. Nothing new there, unfortunately.

MS have several web pages describing the subject, though in very cloudy
terms. The essence is that WIN only reports up to 'about' +3GB RAM, the rest
is allocated to system (as in e.g. swap) and programmes.

The often overlooked fact is that WIN will only allocate up to 3GB of RAM -
per process, that is. How many processes are running on your system?

I have build and/or setup several WIN NT systems with 4/8GB of RAM w/o any
problems at all. Those are all A/V systems with RAID and all the bells and
whistles, and no complaints so far. Oldest system is almost eight years old.

It's kind of like the old NT-Switch-trick - only a few (like 2) keys in the
registry are changed, and then you've got Server. Bummer.

The limit for WIN NT Pro is 64GB by design (NT5/6/7/8=maybe). Home Edition
is limited to 32GB, for whatever reason. Probably "bragging rights" :)

It's all on the MS web site, though in very cloudy terms. But the
determined individual will find it.

Using +4 GB will include the "/PAE" switch in boot ini. Normally, this is
added automatically by the O/S, and will run smoothly by so.

For an A/V system for professional use, 32GB RAM is not unusual on e.g. WIN
XP Pro.

HTH


 -Original Message-

From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Brian Weeden
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 5:29 AM
To: hwg
Subject: [H] More than 4GB of ram and VM question

I'm currently running the beta on Windows 7 32-bit and using 2 sticks
of 2GB
RAM.  I have a recent need to occasionally run a VM with another OS in
it.
I would like to assign that OS 2 GB of RAM, but as I only have 3.6 GB
available and need to run some rather memory intensive apps in the
native
Windows OS at the same time, I can't.

I'm looking at adding another 4 GB of RAM.  I realize that a 32-bit OS
can't
address more than 4 GB, but my question is whether I can assign the VM
to
the other 4 GB?  Or is that not going to work because it's running
inside
the host OS which has the limitation?

And  yes, I will probably make the move to 64-bit when Windows 7
actually
comes out.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundation.org>
Montreal Office
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US

Re: [H] More than 4GB of ram and VM question

[Soren]

Nah, this is unfair, as you also begin to imply chipset support. Hence unneeded 
to mention that both MB and chipset have to support +4GB :)

To my experience, adding a load of RAM (and/or a +2GHz procesor) also stresses 
the need of a faster disk system. Things usually go hand-in-hand.

One could be abnormally surprised if one experienced the performance of e.g. an old fashioned 2.4GHz Intel Dual Core processor with a disk system consisting of 1 
Raptor/boot, 4-disk RAID0 + 4-disk RAID0 on XP Pro, only to mention one example of an A/V system.


Usually more RAM and/or a faster processor is the pick of fashion. But a really 
fast disk system kicks the heck out of almost any RAM/CPU-boosted system.

Bino Gopal wrote:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605

It also explains why you don't get the full 4GB, something which people here
have already mentioned...

BINO

Re: [H] More than 4GB of ram and VM question

[Soren]

Hey Brian,

As far as I know, the Windows NT generation is not limited to 3GB RAM, only to 64GB (32bit O/S limit - do your own math ;). One thing is what the O/S reports (and what MS 
wants us to believe), and another thing is what's actually doable. Nothing new there, unfortunately.


MS have several web pages describing the subject, though in very cloudy terms. The essence is that WIN only reports up to 'about' +3GB RAM, the rest is allocated to 
system (as in e.g. swap) and programmes.


The often overlooked fact is that WIN will only allocate up to 3GB of RAM - per 
process, that is. How many processes are running on your system?

I have build and/or setup several WIN NT systems with 4/8GB of RAM w/o any problems at all. Those are all A/V systems with RAID and all the bells and whistles, and no 
complaints so far. Oldest system is almost eight years old.


It's kind of like the old NT-Switch-trick - only a few (like 2) keys in the 
registry are changed, and then you've got Server. Bummer.

The limit for WIN NT Pro is 64GB by design (NT5/6/7/8=maybe). Home Edition is limited to 
32GB, for whatever reason. Probably "bragging rights" :)

It's all on the MS web site, though in very cloudy terms. But the determined 
individual will find it.

Using +4 GB will include the "/PAE" switch in boot ini. Normally, this is added 
automatically by the O/S, and will run smoothly by so.

For an A/V system for professional use, 32GB RAM is not unusual on e.g. WIN XP 
Pro.

HTH


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Brian Weeden
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 5:29 AM
To: hwg
Subject: [H] More than 4GB of ram and VM question

I'm currently running the beta on Windows 7 32-bit and using 2 sticks
of 2GB
RAM.  I have a recent need to occasionally run a VM with another OS in
it.
I would like to assign that OS 2 GB of RAM, but as I only have 3.6 GB
available and need to run some rather memory intensive apps in the
native
Windows OS at the same time, I can't.

I'm looking at adding another 4 GB of RAM.  I realize that a 32-bit OS
can't
address more than 4 GB, but my question is whether I can assign the VM
to
the other 4 GB?  Or is that not going to work because it's running
inside
the host OS which has the limitation?

And  yes, I will probably make the move to 64-bit when Windows 7
actually
comes out.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Advisor
Secure World Foundation 
Montreal Office
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US

Re: [H] Norton Anti virus Corporate

[Soren]

Yup, 5 linsences are the absolute minimum.

No- or only limited malware/spyware protection, though. Depends on Definitions.

Why not run some layered security, e.g. SpybotS&D together with Norton Internet 
Security or 360?

Only a suggestion.

//s

Winterlight wrote:
I see where you can buy as little as  5 licenses  of Norton Anti Virus 
Corporate. Does this come with a built in malware / spyware solution?

Re: [H] XP Annoyances

[Soren]

I'll bet a virtual sixpack that your system is infected with something.

Try download SpyBot at www.safer-networking.org - note the definitions update.

In the Features section you can see everything that is loaded by the O/S, and 
delete whatever entry.

Or, you could simply do a Run>RegEdit, and search (F5) for the string "C:\Documents", 
alternatively "Documents", and then delete the relevant key.

Your second problem sounds like you've installed the system as "ACPI Enabled 
Computer" (or something like that).

If this is the case, you should take a closer look at your BIOS settings in the 
"Power Management" department. If you disable Power Management, your problem 
will most
likely be resolved.

To my personal experience, it's always a good idea to reset the MB BIOS to 
Setup Defaults, before installing the O/S.

HTH.


Steve Tomporowski wrote:
I've got three minor problems with XP that aren't show stoppers but 
annoying.


First, I mentioned this in a previous message to the list.  I have a 
folder, C:\Documents, which opens at startup.  This is not a M$ created 
folder, I created it.  I have been through some 200 webpages and nothing 
has worked.  I also searched completely through the registry for that 
exact folder.  Startup and Run keys were examined long ago.  Don't know 
where to look for this one now.


Second, The MB is a Gigabyte Ultra-durable P45 and if I do not turn on 
the monitor (powered off via power strip) and boot up the system, it 
will show a black screen/monitor going to sleep.  Nothing will change 
that (mouse, keyboard, yelling, screaming).  All I can do it either hit 
the power or reset buttons to reboot.  I've been through the Power 
Options in Windows (all at Never) and nothing in the BIOS seems to apply.


Third, I have Tweak UI installed and if I set it for one account to boot 
up, it will do that on the next boot, but thereafter, back to the .net 
choose your account screen.  I go back to Tweak UI and the box has been 
unchecked.  How do I get it to stray?


This is plain vanilla XP, fully patched, no tweaks of services or 
anything else.


Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

ThanksSteve


__ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus 
signature database 4139 (20090608) __


The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com

Re: [H] -OT- Can anyone explain Norton's new ad campaign?

[Soren]

As far as I remember, With SAV CE one'd pay an annual fee per system, so it's 
not that different from a single user licence, except support is actually 
existing with the
CE license :) The actual subscription period may vary with CE, though, e.g. a 
five-year subscription. Price may vary.

1. No go, sorry.

2. That all "depends". Concerning the AV engine, there's no difference. Updates 
can be set to more frequently with CE, though.

If your clients are mainly SOHO, SAV standard licenses are usually sold in 
3-per-house-hold packages per CD (at least here in Europe). This could (or 
couldn't) be an
alternative to the more expensive CE license, all depending on the number of 
systems, and the determinated period of the contract.

//s


maccrawj wrote:
Personally I like SAV CE 10.x since it's just AV & keeps on updating w/o 
needing $$$ annual renewals. They can keep all that integrated crap IMHO 
and I refuse to use any AV that holds customers hostage for ransom on 
updates after 1 year no matter how good.


So the issues I'm running into with a pressing requirement of acquiring 
legit Symantec SAV Corporate 10.2 for some customers are:


1. Does any legit seller actually stocking with SAVCE 10.2 single 
license? They all got SAV Business 5-packs or larger, no SAVCE singles!


2. Symantec's site is not clear how/if SAV Business packs differ from 
the single license SAVCE by *needing* $$$ annual service renewals & 
activation to keep updating.


Would really like to get a source because I have several clients who 
need AV in a business setting and SAVCE 10.2 is my choice.


Soren wrote:

For corporate use, Norton/Symantec still kicks. Updates are still #one 
in the business.

Re: [H] -OT- Can anyone explain Norton's new ad campaign?

[Soren]

Heh-he.

A firm alternative could be antivir.com. They're usually ahead of the rest of 
the business (read: confusement), and will serve private users well, as in free 
beer.

www.antivir.com

Btw, I still run the Norton/Symantec bulk on several of my desktops.

Reason?

Antivir has a flaw in their update procedure, and therefore only updates 
definition files via the internet.

Norton still updates via downloaded files only. This makes multiple deployment 
easier as well, if one is into that kind of stuff.

Out-of-house experience: Both parties are happy, as long as they are connected 
to the internet.

For private use, the c/b is clearly in favour of Antivir, as it's free for 
private use (highly recommended for an intenet connected system).

For corporate use, Norton/Symantec still kicks. Updates are still #one in the 
business.

In the end, it all depends of what different layers of protection is available, 
and what degree/level of security is wanted.


//s

Steve Tomporowski wrote:

We've just discovered the new generation of idiots.

Re: [H] Hitachi hard drives.

[Soren]

Actually, Hitachi make some very decent harddrives.

Some statistics (not documented, since they're coming from 'the source' - be 
afraid, very afraid :)

+90 pct of returned harddrives are due to malware/spyware that makes the drive 
unusable.

With Hitachi drives it may be a good idea to make use of their disk config 
util. It usually solves a lot of potential problems (www.hgst.com)

Also, be sure you format both the primary and secondary boot sector before use.

Many drives of today are refurbished, but not nescessarily of poor quality.

If worried, use dBan to erase partitions (or the whole thing). After that, 
format the MBR's.

//s


Zulfiqar Naushad wrote:
What is wrong with Hitachi?  Can't they make a decent hard drive?  I am completely open to manufacturers and have toshiba, seagate, wd, hitachi and samsung hard drives. 

It seems that the hitachis are the ones with the greatest failure rate. 

Lately I noticed my laptop slowing down tremendously. I thought it was because it was due to it not being formatted for a long time. But I just found out that the 7200 rpm hdd in it (which is 6 months old) started vibrating a lot and making gentle click sounds. 

Right now I am imaging it to a wd drive. :-(  

Re: [H] cloning drive

[Soren]

I understand that, and it really p*ssed me off finding that writing to NTFS formatted images to HDDs isn't supported. NTFS support using optical media works fine, so this 
might be an M$ issue.


The power of Ghost lies in the Ghost command line version (Ghost CLI) run directly from the CD (e.g. System Works Pro 2003), with it's ability to image almost any system, 
one can imagine. In my opinion, the full-install programme should never have happened.


For the casual home user, even Ghost v5 CLI will mirror an XP/Vista boot partition on a single DVD just perfectly, or even the whole disk using the Optical Media Disk 
Spanning feature, with or without file compression, and with no data corruption on a healthy system.


Get FreeDOS (or make a complete DOS 4-disc, bootable CD-ROM), and there's 
imaging to USB media available as well.

Surely, Acronis has capturet something essential: that many people of today don't like to bother fiddling with a CLI, when it all can be done within the O/S, even with a 
nice GUI.


Reading the current Acronis web site, the Acronis workstation software is +185 
MB, but running within Windows. Ghost CLI is 1.000-something KBs, and runs from 
DOS.

If the need is only imaging on a regular basis, I still believe Ghost CLI wins 
hands down, despite the need for booting a DOS diskette/CD.

//soren

Rick Glazier wrote:

I used Ghost until they took too long to support writing the Image files
(when recording originally) TO NTFS drives.
I think I last used the 5x ver... Maybe 5.D?
Acronis captured the moment, offered a GREAT competitive discount/upgrade
and the rest is history...

Rick Glazier

From: "Soren"
clipped > All the whining about this tiny programme must be that some 
people at some time have found out that it's the absolute cloning 
standard, and then began recommending it to
others.  Those "others" didn't bother to read the fine print (a.k.a. 
the Manual), and hence is left into the eternal, bottomless abyss, 
without any sign of forgiveness. OK, I'm just guessing here ;) 

Re: [H] cloning drive

[Soren]

Several comments to counters of several points :)

1. Yup, theoretically a sector-by-sector copy would be slower, but in real world numbers we are talking at most 1-2 minutes for a typical O/S clone, so that doens't 
bother me. The point of using sector-by-sector clones is that some A/V vendors use techniques similar to root kits in their software, rendering parts of their A/V engine 
invisible to the system. So, if one uses a system based cloning util, these parts of the A/V engine could be let out on the cloned image. Of course Ghost includes the 
Swap and everything when cloning by sectors, that's why it's still widely used by e.g the FBI and the UK Scotland Yard among other law enforcement agencies. Very useful 
for forensics work. For normal b/u of single systems, though, precausions about the swap file must be taken, and that is either using a different mo in Ghost, or deleting 
the swap before b/u. Also the disk spanning feature is brilliant. Optical media is nice to have as an arhcive restoring point, unless all back ups are streamed to a 
mirrored RAID5 sys. For many smaller companies the cost of such a solution overshadowes the cost and ease of DVD-R. Maybe I also should point out that I find the full 
install of NT Ghost quite a mess for single setups. The cli version ran directly from CDis it, should anyone care anymore :)


2. Heh, so you mean that if the user can't make a working clone, it's the 
software's fault, even if the correct procedure is described in the manual?
Just teasing, I know what you mean. Software should be relatively easy to use, I agree, and Acronis seem to have a tight grip in the long straw at that point. Could you 
please describe what you mean with "Acronis at a basic level works the way people expect it to work". It's the words 'at a basic level' that frightens me the most. If you 
more detailed could describe what it does well and maybe does less well. I'm seriously considering buying Acronis, so a more hands-on description from an experiences 
Acronis user would be really nice (who trusts manufacturers these days).


4. I hear you. To be more specific, cloning is usually referred to the method of imaging sector-by-sector, so I think we both got a little confused here. Seems like 
Acronis also does cloning in its original sense, but with more granular options. And nope, file exclusions by default we don't want.


I looked into Acronis around v5 or v6, and the reports from different users on the net were image data corruption, so I decided to wait a few versions or three more, 
before flashing the card. I'm happy to hear it works so well for you, sounds like they've solved the few issues that once were.


Symantec support? Do they have support? As a former retailer, I can tell you, 
that they are only able to answer point-and-click questions, nothing else. Sad.

I've had data corruption with Ghost at one time, too, but that was on an o/c'ed system of my own. Never experienced it 'in the field'. Using different versions can also 
mess things up big time. E.g. Plextor's CDResq is not compatiple with Ghost, even it's the same program. Different versions of Ghost doesn't always play, either.


Yep, you're absolutely right, different tools for different jobs. But I'd like 
to hear more about your professional experiences with Acronis, anyways.

Good discussion, btw, thanks :)

//soren


Greg Sevart wrote:

Several counters to several points... :)

1. Of course speed is variable, but a sector by sector copy must necessarily
be slower in almost all cases. By examining the $MFT (or the equivalent in
other filesystems), you only have to copy sectors that actually have data
you care about, vs. each and every sector on the drive. The only way that a
sector-by-sector copy could be faster (or, rather, not slower) is if the
drive was completely full. For the record, most of the systems I work with
are Core 2 Quad/8GB/10k SATA or Core i7/12GB/15k SAS--certainly not slow. I
also never have need to image directly to optical media--again, it's too
slow.

2. Acronis isn't perfect either, and anyone that has half a clue will
readily admit that no software is perfect. However, Acronis at a basic level
works the way people expect it to work. While I will fully admit that you
have a firm understanding of Ghost, if the way that most people try to use
it doesn't function properly, that's a product problem, not a documentation
or end-user knowledge problem. 


4. That's interesting, since your original point was that anything less than
an exact duplicate isn't properly cloning. I was actually trying to point
out that the ability to exclude some files makes a lot of sense and can be
valuable, which you now seem to agree with. I wouldn't want any files to be
excluded by default, however.

I never used Acronis prior to version 9, since I was 

Re: [H] cloning drive

[Soren]

maccrawj wrote:
Or for $25 I got Acronis True Image which makes the boot disc for you 
and can backup directly to CD/DVD. Added coolness factor it will 
incorporate other Acronis tools into the boot CD like Disk Director.


Ghost? Partition Magic? BackupExec? All good products sold to a bad 
companies that have bastardized them.


True, true.


Soren wrote:

Hey FP,

Your message made me think a little further.

The boot disk used must have support for standard IDE ATAPI drives to 
be able to burn images to CD/DVD. The primary force of Ghost is not 
any longer (since v5.0, I believe) making an image to a HDD, but 
instead making images to CD-R/DVD-R, including disk spanning, boot CD 
and all that jazz.


If anyone has a mirror, I can provide a working boot floppy together 
with instructions how to burn this onto a bootable CD that the 
computer sees as an A:\ or C:\ drive. Jim E...?


The floppy was originally downloaded from bootdisk.com some years ago, 
so knock yourself out.


Having everything one needs on a bootdisk, including complete O/S, is 
not too bad. I'm writing this from such a disk ;)

Re: [H] cloning drive

[Soren]

Several answers to several points:

1. This depends on a variety of factors, e.g. CPU speed, HDD speed, CD burner speed, etc. The systems you work with must be really slow. In Ghost there is no noticeable 
difference, whatever method one uses (besides the compression rate, of course).

Ghost can multicast an image within the same timeframe you mention, not much 
difference there.
But, as I said, imaging to HDD suck big time since v6.0. Until v5.0 everything worked fine. Then something went wrong with their NTFS implementation during imaging to 
HDD. NTFS Imaging to CD/DVD works as a charm, though.


2. I'm not in any way defending Ghost, I'm only trying to be fair. As you mention yourself, I'm beating the program for not supporting its features correctly. Also I'm 
beating some Ghost users a bit, because to my experience people that can't make the program work are usually those who haven't read the manual. Also, I'm pretty sure even 
Acronis has some bugs/features built in ;)


3. What optional feature are you talking about?
My only comment about BartPE was a warning not to involve it (or supported/similar progs) into serious, corporate business as a secondary remark. Today 
convenience/lazyness is taking more and more space at the cost of data security. Some of those boot-CD proggies leave a pretty nasty footprint, hence a sound corporate 
policy would be to avoid them in general. That's all.


4. The reason for excluding e.g pagefile.sys in Ghost is that a win32 system won't boot if it's present - I don't know, but could be the same thing with Acronis. Besides 
that it's a space hog, as you mention. I don't know why Acronis include those files by default, since the rational approach would be leaving them out by default. These 
files are rarely needed, anyway.


Yes, I use Ghost on a regular basis, because I know how it works (and 
especially doesn't work! ;) I also use other programs.
My only claim is that before claiming that Ghost doesn't work, it might be a good idea to read the manual. What it does, it actually does pretty good. And this is burning 
an image to CD/DVD flawlessly, time after time. Also, files can be extracted individually from an image, if needed.


Acronis have a history of data corruption in some of their earlier versions, which could indicate that the program is not yet fully developed. Ghost is far past that 
point, meaning that the features that work, they work flawlessly. Don't get me wrong here, I'm actually very tempted to give Acronis a run for the money on my personal 
network. But as a quick and dirty on-the-spot back up solution, I believe Ghost will still be my no. one for some time to come. Until someone can show me a fast working 
DOS util that does an even better job.


//soren



Greg Sevart wrote:

Several points

1. Sector by sector copies are amazingly space and time inefficient. I'd
much rather have a product that was intelligent enough to process a volume
from a logical perspective. By the way, Acronis can do sector-by-sector as
wellas can most imaging products. I don't have the time or space to work
with sector-by-sector images. I can push a base image to a new PC in less
than 6 minutes from the network.

2. I find it interesting that you are so adamantly defending a product that,
by your own admission, has components that don't (and never have) work
properly.

3. You're using an purely optional feature (using with BartPE) that Ghost
doesn't have as a pro for Ghost? I'd be curious as to your reasoning here
actually. I hope it's something more than "it isn't officially supported",
because neither is changing the SID outside of sysprep, which both Acronis
and Ghost offer. For the record, I don't use the BartPE or the SID changing
functionality.

4. You do realize that the ability to exclude files is an optional,
off-by-default configuration setting, right? There are plenty of good
reasons to do so...like excluding pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys, which can
consume tens of GB for useless files that Windows will recreate upon
startup. The default option is to include everything.


Bottom line: I used, and loved, Ghost only up until I tried Acronis version
9. No way I'd go back now. The Universal Restore technology especially is
unrivaled. You clearly use and still love Ghost, and it meets all of your
needs and requirements. That's great, but don't knock Acronis when you
clearly haven't given it the level of research and detail that you proclaim
one must give Ghost to make a fair assessment.

Greg


-Original Message-
From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com [mailto:hardware-
boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Soren
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 8:51 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] cloning drive

If the system has no hw problems, and everything else is working OK,
here&#

Re: [H] cloning drive

[Soren]

Hey FP,

Your message made me think a little further.

The boot disk used must have support for standard IDE ATAPI drives to be able to burn images to CD/DVD. The primary force of Ghost is not any longer (since v5.0, I 
believe) making an image to a HDD, but instead making images to CD-R/DVD-R, including disk spanning, boot CD and all that jazz.


If anyone has a mirror, I can provide a working boot floppy together with instructions how to burn this onto a bootable CD that the computer sees as an A:\ or C:\ drive. 
Jim E...?


The floppy was originally downloaded from bootdisk.com some years ago, so knock 
yourself out.

Having everything one needs on a bootdisk, including complete O/S, is not too 
bad. I'm writing this from such a disk ;)

//soren

FORC5 wrote:

rarely use ghost from a fdd but on occasion have to, only problems ever had wad 
usually the disk.drives fault.

I have boot cd's made with ghost and zap installed. 

Only tried once but ghost would not clone a vista install. 
fp


At 06:51 PM 9/4/2009, Soren Poked the stick with:

If the system has no hw problems, and everything else is working OK, here's 
what I see during several days of the week:

Ghost 10 allows back up from both Win and *nix, if "copy sector-by-sector" is 
selected. Creation of a boot sector on the first CD/DVD is also supported, and it works, 
too.

Here's the culprit most people experience: When running Ghost from a floppy or 
from HDD it doesn't work as advertized. Nope, it doesn't, and it never has.

But it surely does, if one runs it directly from the CD-ROM. From System Works 
Pro CD, e.g. cd /support/ghost/ghost.exe

Used this way, Ghost still kicks Acronis deeply in their semi-Greek balls ;)

BTW, do NEVER trust a program that supports BartPE or alike for corporate use.

"...Provides imaging with removes (ie, clone but don't copy *.tmp' or 
whatever)..." someone wrote.

Honestly, either it is an image, or it's not. Further, a clone is what the word 
"clone" means: a clone, a complete copy.

If a clone is not an excact image, it is not a clone, but instead a bunch of 
mediated marketing BS.

Personally, I'd never buy any software from a seller that cannot distinguish between 
"clone" and "sort of clone", but that's probably only me ;)

About Ghost I want to say one thing: RTFM (Read The Fine Manual).

/soren

Re: [H] cloning drive

[Soren]

He-heh, just a few days ago I cloned a laptop with Vista, using Ghost v10.

The user wasn't convinced it actually worked, until I erased his entire HDD, 
and then ghosted it back from the DVD.

As impressive the age of Ghost might appear to some, it's still the #1 cloning 
util.

All the faults and malfunction I've seen so far, can be directly related to not reading and understanding the 'Fine Maunal', which appears to be a somewhat ancient 
dicipline nowadays.


Back in '94 I went completely off the world for two days to learn how fdisk works. E.g. in '97 I did the same, only in five days, to learn how Ghost works. And so the 
story continues...


Fact: Binary Ghost version +10 ran from CD-ROM will clone anything you want it to clone. Ghost does not distinguish between the color of your T-shirt or your operating 
system, Fista...ehhh, sorry, Vista included. It's all in the manual ;)


It even clones a Mac/BSD system perfectly, if used correctly.

All the whining about this tiny programme must be that some people at some time have found out that it's the absolute cloning standard, and then began recommending it to 
others.  Those "others" didn't bother to read the fine print (a.k.a. the Manual), and hence is left into the eternal, bottomless abyss, without any sign of forgiveness. 
OK, I'm just guessing here ;)


//soren

FORC5 wrote:

rarely use ghost from a fdd but on occasion have to, only problems ever had wad 
usually the disk.drives fault.

I have boot cd's made with ghost and zap installed. 

Only tried once but ghost would not clone a vista install. 
fp


At 06:51 PM 9/4/2009, Soren Poked the stick with:

If the system has no hw problems, and everything else is working OK, here's 
what I see during several days of the week:

Ghost 10 allows back up from both Win and *nix, if "copy sector-by-sector" is 
selected. Creation of a boot sector on the first CD/DVD is also supported, and it works, 
too.

Here's the culprit most people experience: When running Ghost from a floppy or 
from HDD it doesn't work as advertized. Nope, it doesn't, and it never has.

But it surely does, if one runs it directly from the CD-ROM. From System Works 
Pro CD, e.g. cd /support/ghost/ghost.exe

Used this way, Ghost still kicks Acronis deeply in their semi-Greek balls ;)

BTW, do NEVER trust a program that supports BartPE or alike for corporate use.

"...Provides imaging with removes (ie, clone but don't copy *.tmp' or 
whatever)..." someone wrote.

Honestly, either it is an image, or it's not. Further, a clone is what the word 
"clone" means: a clone, a complete copy.

If a clone is not an excact image, it is not a clone, but instead a bunch of 
mediated marketing BS.

Personally, I'd never buy any software from a seller that cannot distinguish between 
"clone" and "sort of clone", but that's probably only me ;)

About Ghost I want to say one thing: RTFM (Read The Fine Manual).

/soren

Re: [H] Making Vista and/or 7 live with XP

[Soren]

To avoid any questions of any kind of which/what media to boot from, you could use a boot manager. Google is you friend, use the most popular one. IRL, it's a matter of 
taste.


If going back from a boot manager to XP, @ command promt /fixmbr usually does 
the job.

//soren

Steve Tomporowski wrote:

Sorry to break up the echoes, but I gotta question!

I've been thinking about this for a while.  Both my machines here have 
XP installed.  I would like to play around with Vista and/or 7, but at 
least in Vista's case, 'they' say that it cannot coexist with XP due to 
the erasure of System Restore Files.


But I'm always skeptical of what 'they' say, mainly because 'they' 
generally have a very narrow viewpoint of the world.


HOWEVER

Is there a way for either or both to exist with XP.  The first and most 
obvious ploy is to swap hard drives on a tray, but what about installing 
each on their own drives and going from there?


Just looking for some cute ideas.

Thanks...Steve


__ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus 
signature database 4286 (20090728) __


The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com

Re: [H] mask your IP with a changing one

[Soren]

I just read this whole thread, because it sounded like a wet teenage dream. 
Man, was I disappointed... ;)

Seriously, NONE of the suggested sites nor features will help anyone in 
anonymizing data.

For instance, let's take covertsurfer.com: It would not be my personal first 
choice regarding anonymity, to put it mildly.

They ask you to install a programme on your computer that you don't know what 
is.

Secondly, noone seems to have done a simple 'netstat -an' (same command on *nix 
and win32) while running this unknown programme.

And what about the DNS? Where is it going? To covertsurfer.com...?

They are sucking you for every bit of personal and demographic information, 
just to make a few bucks selling it to third-parties.

And you get double taken by paying for it!

Please, guys, please...


To try to answer the original question: yes you can, by choosing an ISP that delivers a DHCP service. In that manner you'll have a new IP every time you start your 
computer. Otherwise, forget it.


If you want to mask your local IP, you should look into a proxy server or something similar. As a proxy server usually runs on a separate system on your local network, 
this will take another computer to establish, but it will also add security to your personal system, whatever operating system you might use.


Best regards
Ben Dover ;)

Winterlight wrote:
I know there are a few IT gurus in HWG so if there is a way to do this, 
you guys will know it.


 Is there a way to repeatedly mask your real IP address with another 
random one, that changes every time you log into the same site. To 
clarify... a site tracks visitors by IP addresses. You log on but mask 
your real IP address and display another one that is randomly chosen 
,every time you log into a web site. So you could log into the same site 
numerous times in a day, each time with a new IP address.  It can be a 
free way or a paid way to do it.


thanks

Re: [H] cloning drive

[Soren]

If the system has no hw problems, and everything else is working OK, here's 
what I see during several days of the week:

Ghost 10 allows back up from both Win and *nix, if "copy sector-by-sector" is 
selected. Creation of a boot sector on the first CD/DVD is also supported, and it works, 
too.

Here's the culprit most people experience: When running Ghost from a floppy or 
from HDD it doesn't work as advertized. Nope, it doesn't, and it never has.

But it surely does, if one runs it directly from the CD-ROM. From System Works 
Pro CD, e.g. cd /support/ghost/ghost.exe

Used this way, Ghost still kicks Acronis deeply in their semi-Greek balls ;)

BTW, do NEVER trust a program that supports BartPE or alike for corporate use.

"...Provides imaging with removes (ie, clone but don't copy *.tmp' or 
whatever)..." someone wrote.

Honestly, either it is an image, or it's not. Further, a clone is what the word 
"clone" means: a clone, a complete copy.

If a clone is not an excact image, it is not a clone, but instead a bunch of 
mediated marketing BS.

Personally, I'd never buy any software from a seller that cannot distinguish between 
"clone" and "sort of clone", but that's probably only me ;)

About Ghost I want to say one thing: RTFM (Read The Fine Manual).

/soren

tmse...@rlrnews.com wrote:

The acronis boot cd has a few major perks (imho)

Sorts out multi-os installs way better then ghost (more reliable)

Provides you bartpe plugins with the program

Boot cd successfully images across a network reliably with great network driver 
support

Bootcd actually supports hotplugging usb to image

Provides imaging with removes (ie, clone but don't copy *.tmp' or whatever)

I'd never go back. :). New versions are even better.  
Sent via BlackBerry 


-Original Message-
From: maccrawj 

Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:48:30 
To: 

Subject: Re: [H] cloning drive


Just did this myself for $15 after using like v6 for a number of years. Been waiting 
for ever for a decent deal to justify the update!


Rick Glazier wrote:

AcronisTI is currently 2009/ver12.
If you watch the sales/deals, upgrades are as little as $4 or around $15.
Call (or e-mail) them and strike a deal with them...

AFTER you are a registered user, you can D/L the bootCD ISO from
the "your registered programs section" of the Acronis Support WEB site.
Never even have to install the program to HD unless you want to...

Rick Glazier

From: "FORC5"
Been using ghost for years and like it's simple interface but newer 
versions do not seem to be able to just make a boot disk for this 
purpose. On occasion ghost just does not see the drives or whatever 
and does not work. When I find that I use Acronis True Image 10. It so 
far always works but is a little clunky. But it works.
I want to upgrade but do not need the full program and was wondering if 
Acronis® Migrate Easy would do what I want. As far as I can tell from 
their web site it needs to be installed. I want something that I can 
just boot to a cd.


I am beta testing Ghost 12 for Symantec and the disk will boot but it 
wants to install not just do the deed I need done.


Thanks
fp

Re: [H] pfsense vs. smoothwall

[Soren]

I used Smoothwall at one time, and it was only three days before it was hacked into pieces. Reinstall, same thing happened again. Hopefully they have upped their approach 
to security a bit since then, which is now a couple of years ago. Switched back to IPcop, and never looked back.


You might find Endian Firewall, www.endian.com, very interesting. It does most if not all of the things you mention + the Community version is free. It is as easy to 
install and set up as Smoothwall, if not easier. Exellent documentation, too.


Current version is 2.2. From version 2.3 it's supposed to have an IPS.

By default Endian allows only the usual stuff in outgoing communication, email, http, ftp, and so. Further rules can be added quite easily, since the web GUI is very 
smooth and organized.


Please note that most *nix based firewalls using the Snort IDS in these weeks (or months) are updated to the new Snort engine, meaning new versions. I don't know if 
Smoothwall does the same, but probably. Several are releasing new versions during September and October.


If it's for private use or for a school, Astaro (astaro.com) will throw a free 
license your way.

/soren

Robert Martin Jr. wrote:

Anyone tried both of these and have any comparative info. Smoothwalls been 
around for a while and has some good plugins so will be my top pick unless 
there are some reasons pfsense would be better.

The firewall box I'm going to put together has to have 


1) good QOS
2) handles VOIP well
3) handles P2P (torrent/emule) throttles correctly
4) good blacklist plugins
5) NIDS capability

Plus's would be

1) good filtering capability
2) timed rules
3) logging website use

Any feedback on either appreciated.

lopaka

Re: [H] Another reason to use NoScript - Click Jacking

[Soren]

Also known as "Scripting by Access".

The very nice util - WebWasher - that I've been shamelessly recommending ;) 
does the +same job + more.

Brian Weeden wrote:

"Click Jacking" (more formerly known as "UI Redressing" is the process where
you hide a page with links in an HTML layer behind another page.  So when
the user loads the page and thinks they are clicking on Punch the Monkey,
they are really clicking links to give someone access to their eBay account
or something similarly nefarious.

Check out this demo:

http://snipurl.com/clickjack

Fortunately, the NoScript add-on for Firefox comes with protection against
this sort of attack.  And it works whether or not you have scripting enabled
on a page.

More info for those that want to know:

http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm#168

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation 
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US

Re: [H] Observations of the new Intel PC

[Soren]

I hear you.

Most new stuff is odd.

On a new MB one have to upgrade the BIOS 3-5 times before the MB works as 
advertised. Price doesn't appear to matter.

HDDs are shipped with bogus data and degraded performance, and then - maybe - a 
BIOS update.

A good hint could be sticking to the brands that tend to have a conservative 
view on specs, i.e. WD, IBM (hitachi), Asus, etc.

As long as it lasts ;)

DHSinclair wrote:
The Intel PC has finally settled down. I spent the 1st days scratching 
my head but finally upgraded the m/b bios from the default 04041 to 
0404; and then to 0502.  This became necessary because the PC would only 
run for 20-35 minutes before it just re-booted itself. Odd.  At bios 
0502 this behavior has stopped.


It now seems that JMicron SATA logic does NOT work happily with the 
ICH10 logic on the P5Q3. And, sadly, the JMicron logic owns/controls the 
single EIDE/PATA connector on the m/b (along with its' two hard drive 
only SATA connectors).  Another odd, but OK.


Initially, I tried one of the Sabrent SATA/IDE converters on my dvdrom. 
It was not recognized on the SATA connector. Once I finally decided the 
converter was toast and used a different Sabrent converter, Bingo!  The 
dvdrom (pata) is now a fully recognized SATA client!  And, I was able to 
disable the JMicron logic in bios.  The PC is now stable and has logged 
some 50hours of continuous on-time with a single glitch.  I have 
temporarily given up on JMicron. I will do more study, but for now, this 
PC will be fully SATA.


Now that the aluminum case is fully buttoned up, I have used the newest 
Asus Probe II to monitor the power, cpu temp, m/b temp, and, fan 
speeds.  Currently, my E8400 is cruising along at ~117F.  The m/b reads 
~110F, but this seems odd. Perhaps this is just where on the m/b this 
sensor lives.


The last version of Asus Probe I used was v2.04.  This new Probe II is 
hugely improved.  Certainly more eye candy, but it also seems to have 
included most/all of the old H.Oda tool for checking out a cpu and the 
associated I/O.  It now lists information about everything I have 
plugged into the m/b; in full detail!  I do like this program.


The new PC has proved that my old 160GB pata hard drive and old AOpen 
dvdrom are AOK.  I did complete a fully patched w2ksp4 install.  The OS 
is still a bit confused, but working.  I still have duplicates of  
primary eide controller, primary and secondary channels, system board, 
and, what seems like too many 'm/b resources' and USB stuff.   The USB 
stuff is not an issue ATM. This m/b has 12 USB ports!  I see lots more 
USB in my future!


All in all, I am very happy with this new kit. It provides plenty of 
challenge and growth in the next several years for me. And, it runs 
stock at 3GHz which is plenty fast for what I need to do.  I will pass 
on dabbling on the AITweaker section of the bios.  I do not see a need 
to OC this PC ATM.


Just my initial impressions for now.  Suggestions and comments are welcome!
Best,
Duncan

Re: [H] WinXP Partition size?

[Soren]

If you place progs and utils on another drive letter, 4-8 Gigs is sufficient.

That is, if the swap file is set to a static size (e.g. 1.5*RAM)

DHSinclair wrote:

What is a reasonable partition size for WinXP?
I ask this because I have watched both W2K and WinXP getting close to 
outgrowing the 4GB partitions they live on (here) ATM.


Yes, there may be much junk that I have not yet found/killed on either 
that might mitigate this question.
I do keep all %temp%, temp, and tmp directories at 'empty' as best I 
can.  I do use eraser to clear unused space also.  Still, I find the OS 
(and my stupidity) is expanding.  I did expect this; just not this fast.

Thank you,
Duncan

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Hey Joe,

Joe User wrote:

Hello Soren,

Friday, October 3, 2008, 2:19:48 AM, you wrote:


Why are you addressing yourself?


I usually trim that out when i reply to my own post. Forgot.


Oh..


Why are you at all worrying about that?


I guess the same reason you might be asking me about it.


-- To be honest, why don't you come clean about WHY you need the
security features, that you claim?


I don't want to perpetuate the argument that really can't be solved.


???


Why do you hold your email address at a server/@people linked to organized 
internet crime?


Sorry? I don't follow you.


Seems like you're taking this rather lightly, aren't you?

A lookup @ the proper internet looking glass will show the 
information/connection, though.

If you feel like it, I can post the info, yes?

Then you'll also have the opportunity to steer out of any misconceptions on the 
subject, which would be a completely, natural reaction, yes?


It's all documented, so feel free to rip my head off - just asking ;)



I seriously hope I'm wrong about this, but so far not much is pointing in that 
direction...



Please enlighten me.



If everything of the above should prove to be at fault, you, Joe
User, will be the first to recieve my apologies.


See, the above statement from me is pretty harsh - but you don't seem to react 
to it in any way. How come?

Only wondering - and it sure smells funny.

Just say the word, and I'll post the information described.


Meanwhile, let the internet looking glasses speak...

Re: [H] About Flash?

[Soren]

maccrawj wrote:

Soren wrote:

maccrawj wrote:
Even if you were to fix Flash in this way, it's still blocking other 
functions like scripting.


Yep, but only Cross Site Scipting exploits.


My point was removing flash blocking globally (suggestion offered I 
replied to) != whitelist the domain. Flash blocking is only one thing 
NoScript blocks, so it still blocks whatever functionality it's 
configured to since the domain is untrusted.


Why you bring up XSS I'm not sure?


Might be digging a bit too deep into this, but Flash allows a 'feature' of XSS 
exploiting (basically, the very old 'swap image function' dressed in a nice 
suit ;)

My main concern is how people can view Flash content without being 'rectally 
harvested' at the same time.

At present moment, even with Flash 10.x, this doesn't seem to be the case.



If one wants protection against scripts acting on page load and page 
exit, there's no way around web washer.


Again I'm lost about where you are going with this. With a domain not 
whitelisted, no scripts or other content that NoScript is configured to 
block will run (short of a NoScript bug). What are you saying?


I'm only saying that NoScript isn't perfect, and that the author has admitted 
to that the proggie is an 'ongoing project'.

Also, I'm shamelessly promoting the usability of an old util named WebWasher ;)

Reason being that this util is able to protect either a private user or a corporate user against 0-day exploits based on e.g. image minipulation, which is VERY common 
these days.


To give a concrete example, NoScript is blocking pics out from 'Properties' of 
the pic.

But what if the properties of the pic is altered to the dimensional of '0*0'?

Then 99 pct. of all corporate content filters will allow this b-itch right 
through without even questioning if it's valid data.

Point: Using a properly configured WebWasher, this exploit will *never* reach 
the workstation.

Sure sounds like he has not whitelisted the domains hosting netgear 
content (there may be more than netgear.com) which is the ultimate fix.


No, and NoScript is still buggy as hell.


Eh? I've used netgear.com and have no issues, what do you mean by "no" 
vs. what I have said?


I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean here...?

I've months ago attempted a dialouge with the NoScript author, 
revealing several bugs, but no luck so far. He responds to email, but 
plays the ignorance card. No hope ;)


Bugs such as? Even buggy it's better than surfing naked if it blocks 
most otherwise active content.


I will not, at any time, reveal any bug that I've posted to any programmer, 
unless hopelessly ignored.

But, sure, better partly safe than completely naked, agreed.

I'm also sure that Giorgio M. is addressing everything possible as we speak.

Seems like today it's all about profiling and mining data, not 
supporting it.
I contacted him about an issue with wildcard domain whitelist patterns 
not working and got a response within 24hrs. Of course I went through 
the forums not email, so YMMV.


Yep, as you say, there are issues, and those are being dealt with, as far as I 
know.

For a quick NoScript fix you can use Ctrl+Shift+Backslash to toggle 
whitelisting of current domain (netgear.com for example).



Brian Weeden wrote:

If you go into the NoScript options there is a place where you can set
exactly what it blocks, and Flash is one of them.

I leave it blocked because it kills a lot of annoying ads but you 
can easily

allow Flash and still keep scripting disabled.

Re: [H] About Flash?

[Soren]

maccrawj wrote:
Even if you were to fix Flash in this way, it's still blocking other 
functions like scripting.


Yep, but only Cross Site Scipting exploits.

If one wants protection against scripts acting on page load and page exit, 
there's no way around web washer.

Sure sounds like he has not whitelisted the 
domains hosting netgear content (there may be more than netgear.com) 
which is the ultimate fix.


No, and NoScript is still buggy as hell.

I've months ago attempted a dialouge with the NoScript author, revealing 
several bugs, but no luck so far. He responds to email, but plays the ignorance 
card. No hope ;)

Seems like today it's all about profiling and mining data, not supporting it.

For a quick NoScript fix you can use Ctrl+Shift+Backslash to toggle 
whitelisting of current domain (netgear.com for example).



Brian Weeden wrote:

If you go into the NoScript options there is a place where you can set
exactly what it blocks, and Flash is one of them.

I leave it blocked because it kills a lot of annoying ads but you can 
easily

allow Flash and still keep scripting disabled.

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Hey Scott,

Watch below...

Scott Sipe wrote:


On Oct 3, 2008, at 1:00 AM, Soren wrote:


Scott Sipe wrote:

On Oct 2, 2008, at 10:10 PM, Soren wrote:


In your shoes, I would not bet my dimes on VNC alone. If a security 
breach happens because of VNC (it does from time to time, and VNC 
scans/exploits are automatic!), your client might become 'slightly 
upset'.


But, hey, it's your nuts ;)

I'd go GTA and VPN, and under no circumstances use VNC without VPN 
in *any* production environment (great for home use, though). By 
tunneling VNC in an encrypted VPN, you should be pretty safe.


Sorry to say this, but there's no easy way around a minor PITA if 
you also want high security. These tend to stick close together ;)


Setting up a test system at your clients office, and running a few 
vulnerability scanners against it before the final implementation, 
may be useful in keeping things tight and crispy.


HTH.

Could you expand on any of this?


Please, ekspress a little clearer which part of the above you want me 
to elaborate on, and I'll attempt to do so.


I've had VNC ports open for years and

no security issues.


Yeah, alright, well...

I do use UltraVNC and encryption plugins, along with
password authenticated domain login. What kind of security breach are 
you foreseeing?


Heh-he... not exactly far from what I suggested, is it? ;)

I am not foreseeing anything at all. But I do my share of reading log 
files, I can assure you. Doing so keeps the beat going ;)


Additionally, with MS RDP, you're fully encrypted and using normal 
domain login.


FYI, MS RDP is notorious about exploitation. 'nuff said.

I have an IPSEC VPN setup between remote locations and the main 
office, but for employees on the road who just want to access their 
desktop, RDP is perfect.


Probably perfectly adequate for serving a specific purpose in the case 
of your employer.


But you forget to mention all the other implications you've taken ;)


Is there more to say, do you disagree?


Scott, easy now.

Please, let me know what parts of 'million dollar company' and 
'sensitive information' in the original question you didn't 
understand? ;)


Hello Soren,

First off just wanted to be clear, I wasn't trying to be critical of 
what you're saying, sorry if it came across that way.


It's perfectly OK with me for anyone to be critical about my writings - how 
else should we all develope on this list?

Please, don't take my participation on this subject as personal - it is not :)

You say that MS RDP is notorious about exploitation? Do you have any 
further information, it's not something I'm familiar with.


Various MS protocols have been exploited for years, including Windows Update. 
Nothing new to that.

Tight security includes absolutely no support for *any* kind of Remote Desktop support. Else, it's almost like leaving your house key under the door mat, and with a huge, 
illuminated arrow pointing down at the doot mat.


Hackers have known about RDP for years.

The specific purpose that we use RDP for is pretty much exactly what joe 
was asking for--a way to remotely access a work desktop from home or 
elsewhere. We're a fairly small operation--2 fulltime locations, ~20 
people in all and a likewise small IT budget (though since we use 
FreeBSD/OpenBSD we don't really have software costs on the server end!). 
Sensitive information is involved :)


Yup, but how does BSD security even compare to Win security?

Or, is it the other way around? ;)

What I was looking for in my original questions were any facts about 
exploitation (which I think you provided some in a 2nd post).


OK. Try lists.insecure.org

Honestly, the way I see it is, if somebody really wants to hack you, 
they're probably going to be able to do it unless you've got dedicated 
IT staff to constantly monitor systems, always up to date on patches, 
etc. 


Yep! The internet is back in its original form - partly anarchy - except that 
today the anarchy is tightly controlled and organized, and profit is the only 
motivator.

On the other hand if you take some fairly easy and basic safety 
steps, you can make yourself a LOT harder for the random scan attempt, 
bruteforce hack attempt, etc. Things like using non-standard ports, 
using encryption, and using strong passwords.


Agreed.

Using a layered security model with non-standard ports goes a long way.


Scott

Re: [H] Trojan??

[Soren]

Hi,

Judging from your info, it mostly sounds like a browser hi-jacking. Nice ;)

Currently no way to avoid this sh*t when using IE, sorry.

Back up your data before doing anything else.

Being in your shoes for a moment, I'd check the assigned IP addy, the assigned 
Gateway addy, and the assigned DNS addy (both Primary and Secondary DNS).

Next, check the browser's network settings for anomalies.

safer-networking.org is your friend - if you have the cujones, goto gomer.net.

Please remember, no AV solution is perfect - it sometimes takes up to 'several' weeks before they get their sinature files right. In the meantime we're stuck with 
whatever trash the internet may offer :)


Sam Franc wrote:

This am when I started up a message came on the screen from AVG.
"AVG finds you have a trojan. Do you want to remove it forcefully?"
I clicked yes and the message reappeared.
I could not get rid of it.
I restarted the computer and the message was gone.
Now when I start Firefox I get a message it is taking to long no matter 
what URL I try to get.

Is that the trojan working?
What should  I do now?

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Hi Thane,

Yup, Open VPN, even it still freezes every now and then (mostly insufficient 
hardware resources).

Else, a proven, closed source (ouch! ;) solution.

Thane Sherrington wrote:

Hi Soren,
If Hamachi isn't secure, is there a similar service which you would 
recommend?


T

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Brian Weeden wrote:

Hamachi IS proven to be secure


??? (documentation missing)


and there are no issues with the mediation server.


??? (documentation missing)


But if you doubt what I said and won't listen to the podcast nor
check out the GRC forums to discover for yourself then I guess there's
nothing I can say that would change your mind.


From where do you actually *know* that I should refuse to listen the grc 
podcast?

Just asking ;)


Choose something else then.


Fine, but that point of view doesn't solve anything, does it?

Cry like a baby as much as you want, but at least, please, get your facts 
straight :)

Best,
soren

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Joe User wrote:


Hello Joe,


Well, hello, 'Joe'. Or should I instead call you by your real name, George A. 
Moore?

Why are you addressing yourself?


Does anyone else see my msg's being received before they were sent?


Why are you at all worrying about that?

-- To be honest, why don't you come clean about WHY you need the security 
features, that you claim?

Why do you hold your email address at a server/@people linked to organized 
internet crime?

It's all documented, so feel free to rip my head off - just asking ;)

I seriously hope I'm wrong about this, but so far not much is pointing in that 
direction...

Please enlighten me.

If everything of the above should prove to be at fault, you, Joe User, will be 
the first to recieve my apologies.

Meanwhile, let the internet looking glasses speak...

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Brian Weeden wrote:

Hamachi was open source and then got bought by a company which turned it
into a commercial product. 


...and then developed further on the proto... man! Wake up, you are really disappointing me on this subject, only to defend a potential spyware that is going to be used 
by a company exchanging sensitive information.


Honestly, doesn't that ring foul in your ears? :D


Yes, there is a mediation server and yes it
could log those things.  But so what?  


Brian, come on, you know and can do *much* better than that.

All it knows it that you had a

connection between machine X and machine Y for Z minutes.  It can't listen
in and the biggie - keeping VNC/RDP from being exposed to the internet - is
still true.


You're guessing wildly here :D

Please, state some facts about what has actually *proven* to be secure in 
regard to the original question. By that I don't mean 'semi secure' or 
'adequate'.


If you want to learn more, take a listen to Security Now epsiode #19 where
Gibson really dives deep into Hamachi:

http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

FYI, Gibson did find a few minor annoyances with Hamachi and every other VPN
product out there so he's currently in the process of writing his own from
scratch.  From what I hear on the GRC newsgroups it's going to be awesome
but it's still a few months out from completion.


As I said in another thread, Mr. Gibson is way out of my league. That was a 
strongly sarcarstic statement.

Marketing + Assembler + .gov ties is not excactly my kind of wet dream ;)


---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundtion.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 1:14 AM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Hi Brian,

Heh-he... big confusion here because of
www.metasploit.com/users/hdm/tools/hamachi/hamachi.html

Still, I'm not so sure how I can agree with you about Hamachi.

First, it's a closed protocol.

Second, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamachi :

"...For the product to work, a "mediation server", operated by the vendor,
is required. This server stores the nickname, maintenance password,
statically allocated 5.0.0.0/8 IP address and the associated
authentication token of the user. For every established tunnel, it could log
the real IP address of the user, time of establishment and duration as well
as the other interconnected users..."

In my world this doesn't work well with exchange of sensitive information.


Brian Weeden wrote:


That's why I like the VNC through Hamachi option.  Not only is it using a
secure VPN tunnel, but when you log into Hamachi it gives you a 5.x.x ip
address which is in the same class as 192.x.x.x or 10.x.x.x - they aren't
routable on the larger internet.  Combine that with confiuring VNC to only
accept connections from those specific 5.x.x connections and you have a
very
secure system.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundtion.org>

+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 10:10 PM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

 IMHO, I think the key words for your considerations may be 'there will be

sensitive data accessed', and precautions taken according to that.

Of course, there's a lot of ways this can be done, and you say that you
already have an aplliance to take care of the matter - but here are my
thoughts.

If you need a quick solution, I suggest setting up e.g. an IPcop box (
ipcop.org), and run a VPN connection through that. Among other options,
PfSense (pfsense.org) or m0n0wall (m0n0wall.ch) runs directly of a CD.
Then there's of course GTA O/S (gta.com), former gNatbox, that is *very*
tight and often used by the financial sector. If you can setup a router
by
its GUI, you can also setup one of those, it's pretty much the same deal.
IPcop has a dual Snort (IDS/IPS) feature that, when updated by free
subscription, works pretty good.

Running e.g. the GTA O/S, opening just one single port (everything is
closed by default), with an encrypted VPN tunnel and a 20-24 random
characters access code (and remote managing off, of course!), would leave
you pretty safe. Not invulnerable, but pretty safe. It also supports
Blowfish high encryption, which is considerably faster than e.g. 3DES.
The
GTA O/S is still available for free in a 2 user version.

Also, setting up both XP nodes to allow TCP traffic only on a single
port,
from a specific IP and/or MAC, may be a good idea.

In your shoes, I would not bet my dimes on VNC alone. If a security
breach
happens because of VNC (it does from time to time, and VNC scans/exploits
are automatic!), your client might become 'slightly upset'.

But, hey, it's your nuts ;)

I'd go GTA and VPN, and under no circu

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Come on, Brian...

Brian Weeden wrote:

You're not exposing your information at all.


Well, that you really don't know :)


You're still running your data
encrypted through the Hamachi network.


Excactly... through the Hamachi network.


The only third party is the Hamachi
mediation server and that only exists to establish the original connection.


You don't actually *know* that do you?


You can't do the connection from behind a NAT without it.


You probably mean, *you* don't know how to...? :)


You don't have to use my suggestion, I'm just throwing it out there.  I
would suggest that you listen to the podcast before making any final
judgments.

To the original poster, if you want an answer from real security experts,
head over to the GRC newsgroups and take a peek around.  You won't find
better security experts anywhere:

http://www.grc.com/discussions.htm


Well, that's a dillusion, sorry.

While Gibson has done a great job informing about malware, MS ignorance, etc., 
he's still making his own/.gov agenda.

And lots seem to swallow ;)


---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundtion.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 1:28 AM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Brian Weeden wrote:


Google VNC vulnerabilities, there have been a bunch in the past and still
some open:

http://www.realvnc.com/pipermail/vnc-list/2006-May/054854.html
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=1331
http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/05/vnc-flaw-proof-of-concept.html


Yep, the reason why I wrote what I wrote.

 There are two different types of "secure" we are talking about here.  One

is
the encryption of the packets.  That's fairly easy to do.  But the other
is
much harder.  By running a service - any service - and opening a port in
your firewall, you are exposing yourself to outside penetration.


Yep, but if you run e.g. UltraVNC through an encrypted VPN tunnel, what are
the statistics? ;)

 There are bugs in everything and nothing is completely bulletproof.  Most

often times
all it takes is to get a buffer overflow from specially crafted packets
aimed at the service port and voila, an attack is in (I'm simplifying of
course).


Yep, but what most admins tend to overlook or ignore, is the fact that a
solution based on layered security does the walk. The rest is talk.

Admins are often lazy, the easier, the 'better', no matter security.

 That's the beauty of running it through Hamachi - only packets coming from

the other machines in your personal hamachi network would be able to use
it
and those packets can't be spoofed or routed through a man in the middle
attack.  VNC/RDP whatever isn't exposed to the general internet this way.


I don't quite see the beauty in exposing sensitive information from a
million dollar company to a third party through the Hamachi proto, sorry.

 ---

Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundtion.org>

+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 5:11 PM, Scott Sipe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

 On Oct 2, 2008, at 10:10 PM, Soren wrote:

 In your shoes, I would not bet my dimes on VNC alone. If a security

breach
happens because of VNC (it does from time to time, and VNC
scans/exploits
are automatic!), your client might become 'slightly upset'.

But, hey, it's your nuts ;)

I'd go GTA and VPN, and under no circumstances use VNC without VPN in
*any* production environment (great for home use, though). By tunneling
VNC
in an encrypted VPN, you should be pretty safe.

Sorry to say this, but there's no easy way around a minor PITA if you
also
want high security. These tend to stick close together ;)

Setting up a test system at your clients office, and running a few
vulnerability scanners against it before the final implementation, may
be
useful in keeping things tight and crispy.

HTH.

 Could you expand on any of this? I've had VNC ports open for years and

no
security issues. I do use UltraVNC and encryption plugins, along with
password authenticated domain login. What kind of security breach are you
foreseeing?

Additionally, with MS RDP, you're fully encrypted and using normal domain
login.

I have an IPSEC VPN setup between remote locations and the main office,
but
for employees on the road who just want to access their desktop, RDP is
perfect.

Is there more to say, do you disagree?

Scott

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Brian Weeden wrote:

Google VNC vulnerabilities, there have been a bunch in the past and still
some open:

http://www.realvnc.com/pipermail/vnc-list/2006-May/054854.html
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=1331
http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/05/vnc-flaw-proof-of-concept.html


Yep, the reason why I wrote what I wrote.


There are two different types of "secure" we are talking about here.  One is
the encryption of the packets.  That's fairly easy to do.  But the other is
much harder.  By running a service - any service - and opening a port in
your firewall, you are exposing yourself to outside penetration.


Yep, but if you run e.g. UltraVNC through an encrypted VPN tunnel, what are the 
statistics? ;)


There are bugs in everything and nothing is completely bulletproof.  Most often 
times
all it takes is to get a buffer overflow from specially crafted packets
aimed at the service port and voila, an attack is in (I'm simplifying of
course).


Yep, but what most admins tend to overlook or ignore, is the fact that a 
solution based on layered security does the walk. The rest is talk.

Admins are often lazy, the easier, the 'better', no matter security.


That's the beauty of running it through Hamachi - only packets coming from
the other machines in your personal hamachi network would be able to use it
and those packets can't be spoofed or routed through a man in the middle
attack.  VNC/RDP whatever isn't exposed to the general internet this way.


I don't quite see the beauty in exposing sensitive information from a million 
dollar company to a third party through the Hamachi proto, sorry.


---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundtion.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 5:11 PM, Scott Sipe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


On Oct 2, 2008, at 10:10 PM, Soren wrote:


In your shoes, I would not bet my dimes on VNC alone. If a security breach
happens because of VNC (it does from time to time, and VNC scans/exploits
are automatic!), your client might become 'slightly upset'.

But, hey, it's your nuts ;)

I'd go GTA and VPN, and under no circumstances use VNC without VPN in
*any* production environment (great for home use, though). By tunneling VNC
in an encrypted VPN, you should be pretty safe.

Sorry to say this, but there's no easy way around a minor PITA if you also
want high security. These tend to stick close together ;)

Setting up a test system at your clients office, and running a few
vulnerability scanners against it before the final implementation, may be
useful in keeping things tight and crispy.

HTH.


Could you expand on any of this? I've had VNC ports open for years and no
security issues. I do use UltraVNC and encryption plugins, along with
password authenticated domain login. What kind of security breach are you
foreseeing?

Additionally, with MS RDP, you're fully encrypted and using normal domain
login.

I have an IPSEC VPN setup between remote locations and the main office, but
for employees on the road who just want to access their desktop, RDP is
perfect.

Is there more to say, do you disagree?

Scott

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Hi Brian,

Heh-he... big confusion here because of 
www.metasploit.com/users/hdm/tools/hamachi/hamachi.html

Still, I'm not so sure how I can agree with you about Hamachi.

First, it's a closed protocol.

Second, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamachi :

"...For the product to work, a "mediation server", operated by the vendor, is required. This server stores the nickname, maintenance password, statically allocated 
5.0.0.0/8 IP address and the associated authentication token of the user. For every established tunnel, it could log the real IP address of the user, time of 
establishment and duration as well as the other interconnected users..."


In my world this doesn't work well with exchange of sensitive information.


Brian Weeden wrote:

That's why I like the VNC through Hamachi option.  Not only is it using a
secure VPN tunnel, but when you log into Hamachi it gives you a 5.x.x ip
address which is in the same class as 192.x.x.x or 10.x.x.x - they aren't
routable on the larger internet.  Combine that with confiuring VNC to only
accept connections from those specific 5.x.x connections and you have a very
secure system.

---
Brian Weeden
Technical Consultant
Secure World Foundation <http://www.secureworldfoundtion.org>
+1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
+1 (202) 683-8534 US


On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 10:10 PM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


IMHO, I think the key words for your considerations may be 'there will be
sensitive data accessed', and precautions taken according to that.

Of course, there's a lot of ways this can be done, and you say that you
already have an aplliance to take care of the matter - but here are my
thoughts.

If you need a quick solution, I suggest setting up e.g. an IPcop box (
ipcop.org), and run a VPN connection through that. Among other options,
PfSense (pfsense.org) or m0n0wall (m0n0wall.ch) runs directly of a CD.
Then there's of course GTA O/S (gta.com), former gNatbox, that is *very*
tight and often used by the financial sector. If you can setup a router by
its GUI, you can also setup one of those, it's pretty much the same deal.
IPcop has a dual Snort (IDS/IPS) feature that, when updated by free
subscription, works pretty good.

Running e.g. the GTA O/S, opening just one single port (everything is
closed by default), with an encrypted VPN tunnel and a 20-24 random
characters access code (and remote managing off, of course!), would leave
you pretty safe. Not invulnerable, but pretty safe. It also supports
Blowfish high encryption, which is considerably faster than e.g. 3DES. The
GTA O/S is still available for free in a 2 user version.

Also, setting up both XP nodes to allow TCP traffic only on a single port,
from a specific IP and/or MAC, may be a good idea.

In your shoes, I would not bet my dimes on VNC alone. If a security breach
happens because of VNC (it does from time to time, and VNC scans/exploits
are automatic!), your client might become 'slightly upset'.

But, hey, it's your nuts ;)

I'd go GTA and VPN, and under no circumstances use VNC without VPN in *any*
production environment (great for home use, though). By tunneling VNC in an
encrypted VPN, you should be pretty safe.

Sorry to say this, but there's no easy way around a minor PITA if you also
want high security. These tend to stick close together ;)

Setting up a test system at your clients office, and running a few
vulnerability scanners against it before the final implementation, may be
useful in keeping things tight and crispy.

HTH.


Joe User wrote:


Hello,

I have a client that has a multi million dollar company but they don't
spend a lot on the IT side. They are now going to a vacation home
within the states pretty regular and want remote access to the desktop
in the office. I have an appliance in place that I will set up to
allow access within and will use VNC. There will be sensitive data
accessed and I am looking for suggestions on which VNC would be the
best way to go to keep things secure but without being a PITA.

High speed both directions and XP Pro on both systems.

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

Joe User wrote:


I think he may be saying...
VNC is open source and/or popular - lots of little proggys made to
find and break into it - brute force, etc? 


Nope, I'm saying systematic, automated exploits aimed directly towards VNC, due 
to e.g. poor coding, etc.

Not sure on RDP, but

myself I always have a bit of reservation when it's MS.


That makes sense ;)

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

...down below

Scott Sipe wrote:


On Oct 2, 2008, at 10:10 PM, Soren wrote:


In your shoes, I would not bet my dimes on VNC alone. If a security 
breach happens because of VNC (it does from time to time, and VNC 
scans/exploits are automatic!), your client might become 'slightly 
upset'.


But, hey, it's your nuts ;)

I'd go GTA and VPN, and under no circumstances use VNC without VPN in 
*any* production environment (great for home use, though). By 
tunneling VNC in an encrypted VPN, you should be pretty safe.


Sorry to say this, but there's no easy way around a minor PITA if you 
also want high security. These tend to stick close together ;)


Setting up a test system at your clients office, and running a few 
vulnerability scanners against it before the final implementation, may 
be useful in keeping things tight and crispy.


HTH.


Could you expand on any of this? 


Please, ekspress a little clearer which part of the above you want me to 
elaborate on, and I'll attempt to do so.

I've had VNC ports open for years and

no security issues.


Yeah, alright, well...

I do use UltraVNC and encryption plugins, along with
password authenticated domain login. What kind of security breach are 
you foreseeing?


Heh-he... not exactly far from what I suggested, is it? ;)

I am not foreseeing anything at all. But I do my share of reading log files, I 
can assure you. Doing so keeps the beat going ;)

Additionally, with MS RDP, you're fully encrypted and using normal 
domain login.


FYI, MS RDP is notorious about exploitation. 'nuff said.

I have an IPSEC VPN setup between remote locations and the main office, 
but for employees on the road who just want to access their desktop, RDP 
is perfect.


Probably perfectly adequate for serving a specific purpose in the case of your 
employer.

But you forget to mention all the other implications you've taken ;)


Is there more to say, do you disagree?


Scott, easy now.

Please, let me know what parts of 'million dollar company' and 'sensitive 
information' in the original question you didn't understand? ;)

.

Re: [H] Remote access VNC suggestions

[Soren]

IMHO, I think the key words for your considerations may be 'there will be 
sensitive data accessed', and precautions taken according to that.

Of course, there's a lot of ways this can be done, and you say that you already 
have an aplliance to take care of the matter - but here are my thoughts.

If you need a quick solution, I suggest setting up e.g. an IPcop box (ipcop.org), and run a VPN connection through that. Among other options, PfSense (pfsense.org) or 
m0n0wall (m0n0wall.ch) runs directly of a CD. Then there's of course GTA O/S (gta.com), former gNatbox, that is *very* tight and often used by the financial sector. If 
you can setup a router by its GUI, you can also setup one of those, it's pretty much the same deal. IPcop has a dual Snort (IDS/IPS) feature that, when updated by free 
subscription, works pretty good.


Running e.g. the GTA O/S, opening just one single port (everything is closed by default), with an encrypted VPN tunnel and a 20-24 random characters access code (and 
remote managing off, of course!), would leave you pretty safe. Not invulnerable, but pretty safe. It also supports Blowfish high encryption, which is considerably faster 
than e.g. 3DES. The GTA O/S is still available for free in a 2 user version.


Also, setting up both XP nodes to allow TCP traffic only on a single port, from 
a specific IP and/or MAC, may be a good idea.

In your shoes, I would not bet my dimes on VNC alone. If a security breach happens because of VNC (it does from time to time, and VNC scans/exploits are automatic!), your 
client might become 'slightly upset'.


But, hey, it's your nuts ;)

I'd go GTA and VPN, and under no circumstances use VNC without VPN in *any* production environment (great for home use, though). By tunneling VNC in an encrypted VPN, you 
should be pretty safe.


Sorry to say this, but there's no easy way around a minor PITA if you also want 
high security. These tend to stick close together ;)

Setting up a test system at your clients office, and running a few vulnerability scanners against it before the final implementation, may be useful in keeping things 
tight and crispy.


HTH.

Joe User wrote:

Hello,

I have a client that has a multi million dollar company but they don't
spend a lot on the IT side. They are now going to a vacation home
within the states pretty regular and want remote access to the desktop
in the office. I have an appliance in place that I will set up to
allow access within and will use VNC. There will be sensitive data
accessed and I am looking for suggestions on which VNC would be the
best way to go to keep things secure but without being a PITA.

High speed both directions and XP Pro on both systems.

Re: [H] Looking back

[Soren]

???

Brian Weeden wrote:

You a Security Now podcast listener?  If not, you should really check it out
as they tackle the computer security issue fairly deeply.

--
Brian



On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 12:22 AM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Thanks Duncan,

About the 'home cinema adventure', I can only say: Been there, done that,
no matter the cost. Period.
Then Sony came out with their series of HDD recorders, and I havn't looked
back since. Heck, it's still a computer, only the package is different. And
if one doesn't know how to work around a DVD burned by a HDD recorder,
there's only one place to go: HWG ;)

Nothing wrong with a change to fit the needs. But o/c potential is still
there on current CPU's, as I see it.

What I have been up to?

Well, heavy research (as in *really heavy*) into what makes the web
exploits of today, along with research of what to do about the matter. Heavy
research into data recovery (hint-hint ;), as these days malware seems to
take down about +80 pct. of non-working HDD's.

All along that, I've been building ultra stable systems for the music
recording industry, doing data recovery for the same industry, and so far
with a 100 pct. success rate. The bottles of Single Malt keep ticking in :)

Designing and benchmarking RAID systems for different purposes.

Also, *nix has been a good experience (as long as it may last)

It is - indeed - a very nice feeling booting one's system, knowing that
there's NOT a ton of spyware and virus waiting for you. But again, as long
as it may last.

Currently, I'm wondering if my Asus T2/P4 w/64 MB RAM can get back in
business running a different firewall. Heh-he, that might be a new HWG
record.

Overclocking? Nope, but since I'm currently running mainly AMD systems
dating back to 2000-2004, the different systems in my home network is on par
with 'normal PC use'. Only thing missing is a butt-kicking processor speed
on my A/V RAID system.

But did I have a dual Core2 Duo 45nm?

Ooohhyes, clock the hell out of those, as most are likely to reach +3.4GHz
without any 'measures' taken.

Well, all'n'all the Subject Line could have been 'Are we becoming Old
Farts(tm)'?

I know for a fact that I am... :)

But do I carry at least some experience with me? Ohhh, yes!

And so very much thanks to the Old Farts of the HWG :)


DHSinclair wrote:


Soren,
Welcome back. I, for one, have missed your calm, crisp, reasoned replies.
Our List has changed as the needs and desires of  the community and
available technology have changed.  Don't think many of us overclock now
simply because base speeds have increased to levels not possible back in
00-01.
 From my personal viewpoint, the List now seems to be focused on things
video-capture, audio-capture, storage of video and audio, and, htpc. JMHO.
More importantly, what have you been up to these last 7-8yrs?
Duncan

At 22:12 09/30/2008 -0400, you wrote:


Hello all,

As some of you may remember, I was on the original HWG list initiated by
Tom Pabst.

Back in about 2000-2001, when Spam sort of took over the internet, I was
unwillingly unsubscribed. My ISP just couldn't handle the amount of Spam,
and went out of business partly because of that.

This leaves a gap for me of approx. 7-8 years.
snip

Re: [H] Looking back

[Soren]

Heh-he, right on!

How many on this list have a seriously overconfigured system that only serves a 
'real' purpose like surfing the web, really?

That meaning anything beyond 19" monitors and win 3.0 running on a 15GHz 
processor w/2TB RAM ;)

Brian Weeden wrote:

And don't forget trying to figure out how to actually build something fast
enough to max out Crysis.

Re: [H] Looking back

[Soren]

Thanks Duncan,

About the 'home cinema adventure', I can only say: Been there, done that, no 
matter the cost. Period.
Then Sony came out with their series of HDD recorders, and I havn't looked back since. Heck, it's still a computer, only the package is different. And if one doesn't know 
how to work around a DVD burned by a HDD recorder, there's only one place to go: HWG ;)


Nothing wrong with a change to fit the needs. But o/c potential is still there 
on current CPU's, as I see it.

What I have been up to?

Well, heavy research (as in *really heavy*) into what makes the web exploits of today, along with research of what to do about the matter. Heavy research into data 
recovery (hint-hint ;), as these days malware seems to take down about +80 pct. of non-working HDD's.


All along that, I've been building ultra stable systems for the music recording industry, doing data recovery for the same industry, and so far with a 100 pct. success 
rate. The bottles of Single Malt keep ticking in :)


Designing and benchmarking RAID systems for different purposes.

Also, *nix has been a good experience (as long as it may last)

It is - indeed - a very nice feeling booting one's system, knowing that there's 
NOT a ton of spyware and virus waiting for you. But again, as long as it may 
last.

Currently, I'm wondering if my Asus T2/P4 w/64 MB RAM can get back in business 
running a different firewall. Heh-he, that might be a new HWG record.

Overclocking? Nope, but since I'm currently running mainly AMD systems dating back to 2000-2004, the different systems in my home network is on par with 'normal PC use'. 
Only thing missing is a butt-kicking processor speed on my A/V RAID system.


But did I have a dual Core2 Duo 45nm?

Ooohhyes, clock the hell out of those, as most are likely to reach +3.4GHz 
without any 'measures' taken.

Well, all'n'all the Subject Line could have been 'Are we becoming Old 
Farts(tm)'?

I know for a fact that I am... :)

But do I carry at least some experience with me? Ohhh, yes!

And so very much thanks to the Old Farts of the HWG :)

DHSinclair wrote:

Soren,
Welcome back. I, for one, have missed your calm, crisp, reasoned 
replies.
Our List has changed as the needs and desires of  the community 
and available technology have changed.  Don't think many of us overclock 
now simply because base speeds have increased to levels not possible 
back in 00-01.
 From my personal viewpoint, the List now seems to be focused on things 
video-capture, audio-capture, storage of video and audio, and, htpc. JMHO.

More importantly, what have you been up to these last 7-8yrs?
Duncan

At 22:12 09/30/2008 -0400, you wrote:

Hello all,

As some of you may remember, I was on the original HWG list initiated 
by Tom Pabst.


Back in about 2000-2001, when Spam sort of took over the internet, I 
was unwillingly unsubscribed. My ISP just couldn't handle the amount 
of Spam, and went out of business partly because of that.


This leaves a gap for me of approx. 7-8 years.
snip

Re: [H] Looking back

[Soren]

Ahh, so, you bitch me, I bitch you - and just to be sure, everyone has to be a 
bitch? ;)

In 'the good old days' we're all getting out of our ways to help out, no matter 
what.

Do I miss that...

Brian Weeden wrote:

We've just been bitching over the same old stuff :)


--
Brian



On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 10:12 PM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Hello all,

As some of you may remember, I was on the original HWG list initiated by
Tom Pabst.

Back in about 2000-2001, when Spam sort of took over the internet, I was
unwillingly unsubscribed. My ISP just couldn't handle the amount of Spam,
and went out of business partly because of that.

This leaves a gap for me of approx. 7-8 years.

What have you guys been doing in all that time, and how does the IT
development during almost a decade inflict with your daily use of computers
and IT?

Are you running fancy RAID server setups for home computing, or are you
keeping things as simple as possible?

Do you have the latest mobo running with maximum processor power, and a
premium load of RAM?

I mean, did Phiber finally get his 'alien drive', and did we all get what
we hoped for, hardwarewise? :)

By no doubt, this list has been a significant influence for global hardware
designers, and we should all be proud of that.

On a personal level, I would not be where I am today without this list (thx
Jim E.)

Where are you today?


Best,
Soren

[H] Looking back

[Soren]

Hello all,

As some of you may remember, I was on the original HWG list initiated by Tom 
Pabst.

Back in about 2000-2001, when Spam sort of took over the internet, I was unwillingly unsubscribed. My ISP just couldn't handle the amount of Spam, and went out of 
business partly because of that.


This leaves a gap for me of approx. 7-8 years.

What have you guys been doing in all that time, and how does the IT development 
during almost a decade inflict with your daily use of computers and IT?

Are you running fancy RAID server setups for home computing, or are you keeping 
things as simple as possible?

Do you have the latest mobo running with maximum processor power, and a premium 
load of RAM?

I mean, did Phiber finally get his 'alien drive', and did we all get what we 
hoped for, hardwarewise? :)

By no doubt, this list has been a significant influence for global hardware 
designers, and we should all be proud of that.

On a personal level, I would not be where I am today without this list (thx Jim 
E.)

Where are you today?


Best,
Soren

Re: [H] server died again #2

[Soren]

DHSinclair,

Posting this again in case you deleted the old server thread.

If you can only get a partial boot before things start to look strange, it's probably a FUBAR'ed boot sector. If it was a failed disk, the SCSI controller (depending of 
brand and model) would go into rebuild mode, and w2k would not boot at all.


Can you get a command prompt?
If yes, try the command [fix boot]. This should restore the backed up boot 
sector. [fix mbr] restores the backed up mbr. [-? p] lists all options pagewise.

Is there an F-key you can press before w2k starts booting that takes you to the 
SCSI controller menu (rebuild option)?

Have you tried doing a 'repair installation' from the 2k install CD?

Another, more time consuming, option is to hook up a DVD writer to the system, run e.g. a WinME boot disk, and then Ghost.exe from a System Works Pro 2003 CD (it's in the 
Support>ghost folder), and then write the whole shebang directly to DVD(s). Afterwards, the data can be extracted with Ghost Explorer, even if the images are compressed.


If nothing else works, there's a nice little util that I use myself (I do some data recovery from time to time). Email me off the list, no reason to lose all your data, 
as your system can be made to work again.


Best,
Soren

DHSinclair wrote:

I have zero idea what "it" may cost.
I do not have a web site.
I believe the this is the rage, but, I choose not to play.
Yes, cost is, at this level, is a fair discussion.
I get it. I am still at a hdw recovery level.
Duncan


At 12:50 09/29/2008 -0700, you wrote:

At 12:29 PM 9/29/2008, you wrote:
As a guy who understands ftp and hand codes his website, I can tell 
you that

JungleDisk + Amazon S3 is just damn easy for everyone, not just users.


what does that cost?


snip

Re: [H] server died again!

[Soren]

DHSinclair,

If you can only get a partial boot before things start to look strange, it's probably a FUBAR'ed boot sector. If it was a failed disk, the SCSI controller (depending of 
brand and model) would go into rebuild mode, and w2k would not boot at all.


Can you get a command prompt?
If yes, try the command [fix boot]. This should restore the backed up boot 
sector. [fix mbr] restores the backed up mbr. [-? p] lists all options pagewise.

Is there an F-key you can press before w2k starts booting that takes you to the 
SCSI controller menu (rebuild option)?

Have you tried doing a 'repair installation' from the 2k install CD?

Another, more time consuming, option is to hook up a DVD writer to the system, run e.g. a WinME boot disk, and then Ghost.exe from a System Works Pro 2003 CD (it's in the 
Support>ghost folder), and then write the whole shebang directly to DVD(s). Afterwards, the data can be extracted with Ghost Explorer, even if the images are compressed.


If nothing else works, there's a nice little util that I use myself (I do some data recovery from time to time). Email me off the list, no reason to lose all your data, 
as your system can be made to work again.


Best,
Soren

DHSinclair wrote:
No. I do NOT know that I have 2 failed drives. That was my posit at this 
point.
Certainly, if I do have 2/3 dead, I would expect to be dead in the water 
completely.

Kiss my last install and all my data goodbye!
Am I close?

I suspect only one failed drive ATM, but can not yet prove this.  Once I 
can get that far, I do know how to recover.  I am not yet there, I 
believe. And, why I am consulted with the IT Pros of the List.


All I have is the RAID alarm, and w2kserver OS that will not complete a 
boot to its login prompt.
It will get to an F8 prompt. I tried an F8 boot but got another BSOD. I 
may try again and look for a "last known." prompt to choose. Barring 
that, considering the RAID, and my lack of knowledge, I feel I only have 
the power to do more harm than good.


I do have my lan client's now pointed back to the ESET Barn; so future 
vdefs should continue to arrive auto-magically. (They do. This client is 
now +2 above the server!)

Thank you.
Duncan

At 18:00 09/27/2008 -0400, you wrote:
Wait, you had two drives fail at once? Well, with your setup, you 
could only survive losing one drive at a time.


DHSinclair wrote:

Ben,
Was running in RAID 5 (?); 2 data drives and a parity drive. With the 
previous OS install and with the first 2 drive failures, the alarm 
set and I got a msg at the w2k desktop that the RAID was operating in 
a degraded mode, but still fully operational. Adaptec SM Pro 
confirmed which drive was inop. The previous glitches cleared up as 
soon as I got replacement drives and told SM Pro to "rebuild" the 
RAID.  This time I can not get to SM Pro. Just my luck.
This time, I walked in to a frozen desktop, mouse cursor changed to 
an UParrow/DWN arrow (never seen this before), a stuck messenger svc 
window about one of my clients not able to contact the server, and an 
inop START button - even from kbd commands.
I suspect that my 1st mistake was to press the RESET button to 
reboot. I am not learning "server" well at all.  Thanks for the view 
of no virus.  I will proceed to try and find out which, or, 
how many of the drives are toast!  I have been expecting the oldest 
of the 3 to fail sometime this year!

Thank you.
Duncan

Re: [H] Reactionless drive??

[Soren]

Forgot to say that this technology is *not* reactionless, contrary to what some 
might 'think'.

However, if converted properly into storage technology, the 'feeling' could be 
"reactionless".

Go figure ;)

G.Waleed Kavalec wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive
Man this would be TOO DAMN COOL if it turns out to be real.

The Chinese space agency is building one.  They aren't stupid.

I mean: whoa.

Re: [H] Reactionless drive??

[Soren]

http://emdrive.com/faq.html

http://emdrive.com/theorypaper9-4.pdf

http://journal-download.co.uk/digitalmagazines/EU/index.php?pdffile=eu01may2007fulleu.pdf

G.Waleed Kavalec wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive
Man this would be TOO DAMN COOL if it turns out to be real.

The Chinese space agency is building one.  They aren't stupid.

I mean: whoa.

Re: [H] WPA2 in Windows 2000SP4

[Soren]

Maybe your router is only WEP compatible?

Winterlight wrote:
I am working on a Thinkpad that has wind 2K SP4 fully patched and I have 
installed a Bilken Wireless PMCIA adaptor  but when I bring up the 
wireless router, I am only seeing WEP inputs.


 Is there anyway to get WPA2 to work with Windows 2000 SP4?

Re: [H] What the hell is this folder???

[Soren]

Most probably XP SP3 leftovers.

Right clicking on the relevant file or folder, and changing access rights, the 
file or folder should then be accessible.

If you want to be more certain, get Dependency Walker from www.dependencywalker.com, just to confirm if (or if not) all of the .dll files' dependencies are OK. Then you 
can see which files on your system drive are keeping those files popping up again and again.


Also, try Spybot Search & Destroy + updated signature files from 
www.safer-networking.org.

BTW, some vira and malware go undetected for months and even years, so 'clean' if often 
only "clean", if you get my picture.

Other stuff to consider: www.gmer.net/index.php - but be careful with this one, 
now you're warned :)

Winterlight wrote:

The only way I can get rid of them is to do a quick format of the drive.

Re: [H] Facebook

[Soren]

You're right, and sorry for my cranckiness, it came out wrong because of that.

What I wanted to say is that sites like FB are often searched by employers in regard to job applicants. In my country there recently has been several news articles on the 
subject. Mostly because people over the years make several profiles on several sites and then forget about them as time passes. And ones future boss might get quite a 
story from those profiles.


With the earlier compromized (also) mail servers at yahoo, google, among others, history shows that one is taking a risk about ones personal info by submitting to an 
online service. Also, the usually heavy use of scripting of these online services makes it almost guaranteed that ones email addy is 'lifted' by the provider.


So, beware, and make precautions, was really all I wanted to say :)

Scott Sipe wrote:
Regardless of whether or not you like facebook, it IS almost 5 years 
old, so I'm not quite sure it counts as "new" :-P


Scott

On Sep 21, 2008, at 2:21 AM, Soren wrote:


Yeah, beacuse 'new' equals 'good'?

No-f*king-way!

Think again, Naushad :D

Naushad Zulfiqar wrote:

Are you guys on facebook?
If yes, then lets create a Hardware Group "Group".

Re: [H] insert picture in hotmail

[Soren]

Christopher Fisk wrote:

On Sun, 21 Sep 2008, Soren wrote:


Who would want to use Snotmail these days? ;)

Seriously, consider other options.


IMO, if you're going to bash something at least answer their question at 
the same time.


I am sorry, you're absolutely right. I have been a bit crancky lately. My fault 
only, it has nothing to do with the list.

That said, the 'best' online mail service these days is probably google mail, 
used with HTTPS.

Or a stable ISP offering a similar web mail solution.

If you goto the attachments page you can click attach and attach it.  
I'm not sure how to do it inline.




Christopher Fisk

Re: [H] Future PC thoughts? (maybe long, but worth reading :)

[Soren]

> maccrawj wrote:
> Any *nix based appliance router is going to have the same features &
> capabilities assuming:
>
> 1. Software exists
> 2. sufficient RAM & ROM
> 3. powerful enough CPU
>
> What's made the linksys 54's and similar hardware from other vendors so
> popular that they have enough of all 3 for home or soho bandwidth levels.

Well, you covered your a** pretty good here ;) so I'll only say that it's a 
matter of compiling/compilation, which features are present or not.

Besides that, I want a well working firewall, HTTP proxy with filtering 
options, and Snort IDS on both Red and Green, which I don't believe a Linksys 
x54 router offer.

But true, the linky is a nice device. Though, I suspect that the 54's are vulnerable to kernel injection. In plain English this means injection of whatever you can 
imagine, and then some. It takes a reset (and a complete reconfiguration) to beat the consequences of a kernel injection.


However, what I'm looking for is a *noiseless* platform that can run firewall, proxy, and two instances of Snort (IDS) at the same time. I am running this as we speak, 
but the noise is too much. That's why I'm wondering if one of the new 'webtops' could run this or not. The current system is an AMD K6 400MHz w/256 MB RAM, and it's 
running smoothly. But what happens if I decide to go for one of the 'webtops' and insert a couple of USB NIC's???


At the moment I'm running IPcop (ipcop.org), which is somewhat nice, but it 
also seems vulnerable to kernel injection.

Brian Weeden wrote:

If you are looking for a complete firewall, spam, malware solution check out
Astaro's Security gateway.  They sell it as a hardware box for commercial
users but it's available for free as either a VMware appliance or a bootable
Linux Live type ISO that can be put on any old grey box:

http://www.astaro.com/our_products/astaro_security_gateway


Yeah, I know Astaro, and I both like the features and the UI very much.

But, unfortunately, Astaro wants to keep track of its users through registration data, so this is a no-go for me. I just don't like nor trust companies that wants to 
brand their users on the forehead ;)


Despite being one of the most lawfull persons on this very planet, these days it seems hard to find a firewall/proxy that doesn't phone home, or have 'nice' eavesdropping 
'features' built in from scratch - even in the Open Source community, shame, shame, shame. We're not all te**o*ists. I nail them, as I find them, period.


Right now I'm thinking of running either m0n0wall or PfSense directly from 
CD-ROM due to *nix kernel injection issues.
Just in case if anyone shouldn't know what kernel injections are: In most cases it's your ISP injecting a tracking proggie into your_browser.exe or your O/S kernel. Nice. 
I once caught my ISP redhanded. That's no ISP no more ;)


On other occations, it's either a hacker or an unknown intelligence service 
that wants to eavesdrop on your IT communication.

Quite a nice scenario, as one not any longer knows if one is protecting one's 
system from te**o*ist abuse/relay, or from investigating authorities. Bummer.

The only PC firewall that was able to do that kind of detection was bought up 
by Symantec. And since then, they proudly removed this very feature.

Anyhow, not that I believe Astaro would be overkill for my home office, no way. 
Only I don't feel comfortable with the hardwiring of registration data to 
MAC/IP data.

I hope my straight talk about this subject is OK, as this list usually is about drilling right to the core of the problem. And please beware that the fancypants at 
lists_insecure_org probably not yet are aware of the described vulnerabilities. If any of there is, they're just pathetic :D


Anyway, with e.g. PfSense, I could fall back to use my Asus T2P4 w/64MB RAM again (which has been spinning since 1995!, and only got 'archived' a few weeks ago due to 
Snort memory issues).


Anyone have experience running m0n0wall/PfSense?

Thanks.

Best,
Soren



Brian

On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 6:00 PM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Not yet, but I've set up a few of the 54 models for friends.

My reason for a stand alone system for firewalling, is that with my current
solution, I've had absolutely zero spam, trojans, spyware, and what have we
- for years. And I'd very much like to keep it that way.

I'll check out the alternative firmwares, there might be something
interesting. Thanks.

Best,
Soren


j m g wrote:


Have you looked at any of the dedicated firewall/routers out there
with 3rd party flashes?

tomato, dd-wrt, etc - Specifically the Linksys models?

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 1:45 AM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Looking back at the mid to late 90's at the HWG

Re: [H] insert picture in hotmail

[Soren]

Who would want to use Snotmail these days? ;)

Seriously, consider other options.

Best,
Soren

Winterlight wrote:
How do you insert a picture in a hotmail ? I can see how to attach 
something easily enough but how do you drop a picture into a email?


thanks

Re: [H] Facebook

[Soren]

Yeah, beacuse 'new' equals 'good'?

No-f*king-way!

Think again, Naushad :D

Naushad Zulfiqar wrote:

Are you guys on facebook?

If yes, then lets create a Hardware Group "Group".

Re: [H] Wireless N router

[Soren]

I set up one of those for my dad some months ago, as they needed some more 
power (big old house with thick brick walls).

Works flawlessly, easy to setup, smooth internet connetion whereever in the 
house (using full encryption), with two laptops sharing only 1Mbit.

Cards in the laptops are D-Link 802.11n PCMCIA.

Gary Udstrand wrote:

Time to boost my wireless speeds and range.   I have been looking at
replacing my wireless router with a new 802.11n router, and in particular
the D-Link DIR-655 extreme N.   It looks like a decent router but I have no
experience with D-Link stuff.  Is this a decent router?  Buy?  Stay away?
:-)

I would also be looking for a mini-pci card, USB, or PCMCIA or ?.  I would
prefer the mini-pci but I am open to other options.  Any recommendations
would be welcoem!  :-)

Thanks!

Re: [H] Future PC thoughts? (maybe long, but worth reading :)

[Soren]

Not yet, but I've set up a few of the 54 models for friends.

My reason for a stand alone system for firewalling, is that with my current solution, I've had absolutely zero spam, trojans, spyware, and what have we - for years. And 
I'd very much like to keep it that way.


I'll check out the alternative firmwares, there might be something interesting. 
Thanks.

Best,
Soren

j m g wrote:

Have you looked at any of the dedicated firewall/routers out there
with 3rd party flashes?

tomato, dd-wrt, etc - Specifically the Linksys models?

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 1:45 AM, Soren <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Looking back at the mid to late 90's at the HWG list, the major items have
always been overclocking and getting the max out of whatever PC one might
have.

Much respect for, and MUCH fun about that! (at least I had a lot of fun ;)

Well, as my power bill keeps climbing, I am looking for different solutions.

Currently, I am using old fashioned PC's for both firewalling and web
access:

1. Firewall: 400MHz AMD w/256 MB RAM
2. Workstation: 2 GHz Athlon XP w/1 GB RAM

Both are running *nix in different variants.

What I am seriously considering switching to, is:

1. A very small laptop solution for the firewall, e.g. one of the new Atom
based laptops, with USB adaptors as second and third NICs. AMIbios is
preferred.

2. A *very* small and completely noiseless PC as a working system and for
internet access. Again, AMIbios is preferred.

Any thoughts?

1. At the moment my own thoughts are that one of the cheap, low powered
laptops could be close to ideal when it comes to policing the LAN access.

2. A 1 GHz Via passive cooled CPU could run *nix just nice from an
(external?) CD/DVD-ROM (ITX).

Or what?

Regarding 1), I have close to no experience with USB LAN adaptors - can
anyone please fill me in?

About 2), Does anyone on the list have any experience running ITX computers
as a regular workstation, and/or with the O/S from an external CD drive?

I might emphasize, that since I went from Winblow$ to a *nix platform, I've
had absolutely zero spam, adware, trojans, etc. in my M$ orifice
environment. Or I'm just completely unaware ;)

So, what are your thoughts about the above?

Would you consider it yourself?

Why?

Why not?

Any input is valid.

Thanks.

Best,
Soren

Re: [H] Future PC thoughts? (maybe long, but worth reading :)

[Soren]

Thanks Scott, and, yeah, I've looked into the Soekris products.

They seem expensive, though, as I would need some additional Soekris components 
for the purpose.

At the moment, Asus' new Eee PC 701 for the firewall seems like a good buy. 
This is for my home office, so the cheaper the better.

Best,
Soren

Scott Sipe wrote:

On Sep 15, 2008, at 1:45 AM, Soren wrote:



What I am seriously considering switching to, is:

1. A very small laptop solution for the firewall, e.g. one of the new 
Atom based laptops, with USB adaptors as second and third NICs. 
AMIbios is preferred.


If you're not wanting an off the shelf router/WAP/etc, you could check 
out Soekris: http://www.soekris.com/


Fairly cheap, no moving parts!

They do take a bit of work to get off the ground, but I'm using a couple 
at work to run an IPSEC connection between a main office and a 
warehouse, etc. You pretty mcuh ave to run Linux/FreeBSD/OpenBSD/etc


Scott

Re: [H] Local Web Filter

[Soren]

Hey Thane,

Just out of curiousity, did you find a solution?

Best,
Soren



On Wed, 13 Aug 2008, Thane Sherrington wrote:

Is there a good program that I can run on a computer and set it to 
whitelist certain sites and block all others?


T

Re: [H] Chrome browser?

[Soren]

Heh-he.. That's indeed interesting - yet another IE piggy backing browser, 
nice. Or not.

Free Google Chrome Browser - like in "free lunch" and "free beer", all at once?

Personally, I'd prefer absolutely NO data mining of my surfing habits and email 
communication, period.

What's next? Google Passport? Free Google cleaning in your home (and of all 
drawers, of course ;)?

To be able to piggy back a browser off IE, the browser provider must have some 
kind of cooperation with MS, as they are as closed as can get about closed 
API's.

As far as I know, the Google Chrome Bowser is developed in cooperation with 
FF/Moz team.

Maybe both Google and Mozilla has been made so called 'useable idiots' by MS to 
take FF off the market.

Smart move.

Best,
Soren

DHSinclair wrote:

Thanks Alex,
Odd and interesting. Believe I will wait until this list's 
browser-mavens pass judgement. ATM, I am happy with FF. Happier still 
that I have put IE7 into the background!

Duncan

At 12:30 09/02/2008 -0700, you wrote:

On Tue, 2 Sep 2008 12:18:43 -0700, Alex wrote
> On Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:07:25 -0400, DHSinclair wrote
> > What is the opinion(s) of the new Google Chrome browser?
> > I am concerned about any backwash against FF ATM.
> > Duncan
>
> trying to download it now, nothing happening

initial 5 mins with my standard slew of websites.

looks slick, feels faster than FF3

need ad-blocking plugins as well as proxy configuration (reads off IE 
control

panel)

Re: [H] XP-home slipstreaming.

[Soren]

Probably fine.

However, what bothers me, is that noone really know for sure what kind of 
"information" is left on a CD made with one of those proggies.

Until then, I'd prefer oldschool above anything else.

The very old hwg member Hayes Elkins (lots of pun intended ;) posted a nice and 
clean, non-BS solution:

1. Copy your CD to a directory [ "c:\xpcd" for example]
2. Acquire SP3 [rename it to "SP3.exe" for example]
3. Type this command: SP3.exe -s:C:\XPCD

...and that should be it.

Clean and simple, yet not especially detailed ;)

Best,
Soren

maccrawj wrote:

Use nLite and be done with it, otherwise seek out the MSFN site.

http://www.nliteos.com/

Only time I've run into where SP fails is incorporated hotfixes, some 
trickery with file states (expanded when not needed vice versa) & custom 
winnt.sif but fixable. Ran into this with a XP Pro  Gold (sp0) CD Dell 
PN: 6u814.


http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/
http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/sitemap/

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/6/




nobozoz wrote:
I have a Dell Inspiron that came with Dell's Reinstallation CD for 
Windows

XP Home (not even SP1, just plain XP). I'd like to use this disk as the
basis for a slipstreamed XP Home SP2 or SP3 installation and repair CD 
for

this laptop.

Are there any issues with using an OEM CD as the seed of a 
slipstreamed CD?


Can I go from plain XP to XP SP2 and just bypass XP1?

Could I just as well go from plain XP to SP3?

There are many web tutorials out there explaining the slipstreaming
process - which would you recommend.

Thanx,

Re: [H] Local Web Filter

[Soren]

WebWasher is great at that. Can also be set to filter all the Flash 1*1 and 0*0 pixel exploits that are quite common (e.g. as described in the thread "[H] No recovery 
discs or partitions"):


cyberguard.com/products/webwasher/webwasher_products/classic/download/index.html?lang=de_EN

Freeware for home users, go for v3.3 or 3.4. V. 3.3 works the best on my 
systems, but you may perfer different.

Full product at webwasher.com or cyberguard.com.

It's actually a local proxy, so if you use Firefox, the line to insert in the proxy config line is [http://127.0.0.1:9000/proxyconf], that is if you chose to use port 
9000 for Internet connection. Setting the port below 1,024 seems to reduce incoming proxy requests.


If you care about security, make sure you're not running it as a server.

And yes, it's kind of old, but it still does the job effectively. Also, I 
really like the granularity of this beast, as you can make it do almost 
whatever you want.

BTW, most routers offer a blacklist feature, lots even within a specified time 
frame.

The quick and dirty solution could be editing your HOSTS file: e.g. 
BadHost_TAB_INSERT_HERE_127.0.0.1 = badhost.com 127.0.0.1, or IPofBadHost   
127.0.0.1

Using HOSTS alone will open up for some exploits, though, as it's really just a primitive redirection. Use with care, and be sure to enable Write Protection after 
editing(!) If you Google "hosts file", some pre-compiled, updated files will be available.


Best,
Soren

Christopher Fisk wrote:

On Wed, 13 Aug 2008, Thane Sherrington wrote:

Is there a good program that I can run on a computer and set it to 
whitelist certain sites and block all others?


T


http://www.cyclope-series.com/internet-filtering/internet-content-filtering-software.html 



Use local policy to force the proxy.

Re: [H] Memory issues

[Soren]

I've build a few A/V editing systems using almost the same basic components 
every time, e.g. true CAS2 RAM from Kingston.

One day, when designing a system with an AMD processor (normally I'd use Intel for A/V), this particular RAM didn't play at all. Blue and black screens everywhere, in no 
particular order.


I, too, pinned it down to the RAM timing, and after some "debating" with my usual parts dealer, he admitted that this particular RAM is incompatible with AMD processors, 
due to timing issues.


It seems like "Standard RAM" works fine with any processor brand, while the so called 
"high end" RAM types are designed for Intel processor timing specs.

Changing the RAM in that system to standard Samsung RAM solved the problem, and 
the system has been running flawlessly ever since.

Might be the same thing you're experiencing right now.

Best,
Soren

Brian Weeden wrote:

When I rebuilt my HTPC I used an AMD 780G motherboard (GIGABYTE
GA-MA78G-DS3H), Athlon X2 4850e, and 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800.

Ever since then I've been getting a lot of errors, bluescreens crashes and
it's been a real beast to track down the root cause.  I think I've pinned it
down to the Crucial ram.  With both sticks in, memtest86 crashes before it
completes (doesn't give a memory error, just can't finish).  But each stick
passes with flying colors by itself.

This is replicated in the computer's performance.  With both sticks in, it
won't last more than 8 hours without some sort of blue screen crash.  With
only one stick in it runs for days at a time with no issues.  But of course
it's dog slow with only 1 GB of ram in Vista.

The RAM I used is on the manufacturer's compatibility
list<http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/MemorySupport/motherboard_memory_ga-ma78g-ds3h.pdf>for
the motherboard and are running at their stock speed and timing (DDR2
800 and 4-4-4-12) as well as voltage.  Looking through the reviews on
Newegg<http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=20-146-565&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=100&SelectedRating=-1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&Keywords=&Page=>there
seems to be a lot of reports of faulty sticks, sticks dying after
short periods of time and general quality issues.

My question is, could this be something else causing the problems?  Should I
return both for replacement to Crucial?  Just one?  Will they even accept it
when there doesn't appear to be any defects with the RAM?  Or should I just
cut my losses and get some Geil?


Brian

Re: [H] XP-home slipstreaming.

[Soren]

lThis might work:

1. make a root folder on your boot drive named "XP" (please disregard the 
quotation marks from hereon), like: C:\XP

2. copy the complete XP CD to the folder described above (copy -> paste)

3. have the Service Pack 3 for local distribution on same system, and rename it 
to something useful, e.g. SP3.exe

4. copy sp3 to a root folder named e.g. sp3 - like: C:\SP3

5. Open cmd window (start>run> type cmd and hit Enter)

6. in cmd window type: "cd \" (cd-space-backslash), next: "cd SP3" 
(cd-space-sp3)

7. extract ServicePack 3 to the CD files by doing: "SP3.exe -x:c:\SP3" and hit 
Enter

8. if you have a semi-slow computer, pad yourself on the shoulder and grab a 
beer ;)

9. when the window "Extraction Complete" appears, pad yourself on the shoulder once 
again, and click "OK"

10. in the cmd window, navigate to "C:\sp3\i386" and type: "cd update", then "update 
s:c:\XP" and hit Enter

11. grab a beer or a coffee, depending on beer consumption

12. after finishing the actual slipstreaming, there'll be another OK window. 
Click it, and be ready for the tricky part

13. I only know how to make this work with Nero v5/6.x and ISObuster, so here we go: Make a root folder like "C:\img". In ISObuster select the item "BootableCD" (have 
your original CD in the drive!) on the left, next: right click on that and select "Extract" -> point this to "C:\img"


14. when Nero displays its Start Menu, chose "CD-ROM (Boot)". Next you'll have to select a source for your CD's boot sector, select "C:\img", enable "Expert Settings" and 
select "No Emulation" and set Number of Loaded sectors to "4"


15. goto "Label" and type in the ISO9660 name you want, e.g. "WXPSP3VOL_EN", and then 
select "New"

16. drag'n drop all the files from the folder "C:\XP"

17. now burn the bastard

18. send me a bottle of +25yrs Single Malt Highland Scotch ;)


The above is straight from the head, but it should work if you do exactly as 
explained (done it myself some times, now). If not, please let me know.

Best,
Soren

Spam & virus free since 2001 - what about you?


nobozoz wrote:

I have a Dell Inspiron that came with Dell's Reinstallation CD for Windows
XP Home (not even SP1, just plain XP). I'd like to use this disk as the
basis for a slipstreamed XP Home SP2 or SP3 installation and repair CD for
this laptop.

Are there any issues with using an OEM CD as the seed of a slipstreamed CD?

Can I go from plain XP to XP SP2 and just bypass XP1?

Could I just as well go from plain XP to SP3?

There are many web tutorials out there explaining the slipstreaming
process - which would you recommend.

Thanx,

Re: [H] Admin password

[Soren]

I've used this one on several occasions.

However, it does not recover the password, only allows for a reset.

Not all the versions listed on the web site works properly, so you'll have to 
figure out which does.

Best,
Soren

Winterlight wrote:

At 06:34 PM 8/23/2008, you wrote:

This is one that you can make a boot disk and has NT recovery capability.
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Jeff


Have you actually used this one?

Or can somebody recommend something they have successfully used ...and 
they know is safe.


thanks

Re: [H] Browser/System issue

[Soren]

If your NIC has some sort of config utility, you could use it for checking and altering the operation mode. Sometimes a NIC is factory set to a lower value, no matter 
what Windows reports, or what setting is used in Windows Networking.


A traceroute (=tracert cmd in win) to the host will reveal if there are any 
bottlenecks on the way.

Hint: streamaudio.com/site/StreamTimeout.aspx

Best,
Soren

DHSinclair wrote:

Soren,
Thank you. ATM I forget a test for half-duplex.
Switch says 1000baseT for this nic.
ipconfig /all shows all normal.
I did run all the Marvell diagnostics and they come back AOK.
(Yes, perhaps a loaded result.)

Uh, Media player tweak options? Which media player do you mean?
I do have M$ MP9, but I do not use it for online radio stuff.
Well, that I am aware of :)
Best,
Duncan

At 23:23 08/20/2008 -0400, you wrote:

Maybe a NIC running in half duplex?

Do you have any tweak options for the buffer in your media player?

Best,
Soren

DHSinclair wrote:

I like to listen to remote radio programs with the PC.
I am having trouble with one from LA (krla870). It comes via 
streamaudio.com and
the Salem radio network. I can get the player to load and sync, but 
then the audio
stream starts dropping out; frequent "buffering..." outages.  I 
suspect it may be an

upstream trouble, but can not yet prove.
Are there local settings I have that may be causing this?
I've been through FF v3 twice and can not find any bottlenecks.
Have 1GB of ram. Any ideas on where to peek/poke to tune
this machine?
Duncan

Re: [H] Browser/System issue

[Soren]

Maybe a NIC running in half duplex?

Do you have any tweak options for the buffer in your media player?

Best,
Soren

DHSinclair wrote:

I like to listen to remote radio programs with the PC.
I am having trouble with one from LA (krla870). It comes via 
streamaudio.com and
the Salem radio network. I can get the player to load and sync, but then 
the audio
stream starts dropping out; frequent "buffering..." outages.  I suspect 
it may be an

upstream trouble, but can not yet prove.

Are there local settings I have that may be causing this?
I've been through FF v3 twice and can not find any bottlenecks.
Have 1GB of ram. Any ideas on where to peek/poke to tune
this machine?

Duncan