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Is your "App Readiness" service set to manual, auto, or disabled? Mine is set to manual but I do see your boot time delay on several HP Envy 360 (ie, here) et alia forums that all suggest to disable "App Readiness". My "App Readiness" is currently not running. I don't think I've ever seen it run. But it may run only during boot time when it wouldn't show in my System Informer processes.

I couldn't find anything "suspicious" in the extensions embedded "jQuery v1.12.2" (jquery-1.12.2.min.js) [cited in the article as the root cause]. The CDN that publishes these jQuery files is public - ie, here -- https://blog.jquery.com/2016/03/17/jquery-1-12-2-and-2-2-2-released/ The "v1.12.2" in the extension and the "v1.12.2" from the official blog are DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT. To be fair, this is my first comparison of an extension's jQuery to the blog's jQuery. But if the two files identify as the SAME VERSION, I certainly wouldn't expect so many DIFFERENCES.

Well. I changed the test computer to a different one. It had 32GB of ram instead of just 8GB. SSD remained the same. The first boot was very different. It took just 34 seconds to display the login screen. The difference was "preparing devices" message before login screen. The next boot was exactly the same as before and took 1m 40s. So the system skipped something during the first boot. After some poking around i turned off "Use my login information to automatically complete setting up my device after an update or restart". The result was, the login screen appeared after just 15s.

Interesting! These are actually quite easy to prevent! I never (and I do mean *NEVER*) install extensions via Chrome Web Store. It's sad that we have to jump through these hoops, but in the case of the discussed "Phantom Shuttle" extension (no longer available on CWS but still available at crx4chrome), it really is VERY EASY to prevent these types of telemetry. Whether you want to see if your extension is contacting AD SERVERS or whether you want to see if any TELEMETRY is being collected, it really is VERY EASY. This isn't some old-dog new-trick complexity either. Just drag-and-drop *ALL* .js files contained within the extension to Notepad++ then search-all for http:// (important to note that there is NO "S", search for http, not https). In the case of "Phantom Shuttle" (v3.1.9 was the one I tested, most recent on crx4chrome), there are TWENTY TWO of them. Some legit, others not. This isn't 1990! Generally speaking, NOTHING should ever be communicated on http versus https! The extension is doing this http traffic so that your browser doesn't throw a "certificate error". Extensions should *NEVER* need to communicate via http. Doesn't mean that the mere presence of http over https is a legit concern, but does show you what to watch for in your network traffic logs. Or, at minimum, a gauge for those that do not monitor such logs. It's not a tell-tale, but you learn over time just what to look for. I always (*always*) modify my extensions (ie, prevent phone-home auto-update checks, prevent visits to home page at install/uninstall, etc). Sad, but we do live in an age where you have to take some steps to safeguard yourself, the "nanny state" doesn't have your best interests in mind, they have their own agenda.

I am a "numbers person", a bit of a geek. TOPIC VIEWS, read counts, contribution counts, "reputation" - if we are not going to make them accurate and actually mean something to the reader, we are better off making them all zeroes. Yes, I am being the "thorn in the side" here, I see that. The TRUTH can be a thorn sometimes! To be perfectly honest and fair, @AstroSkipper *deserves* the "rep" that he was CARRIED ALONG during our Era of Scheming. But the other TWO that were "recipients" of this SCHEME ??? We all know that answer! Most of us are not blindsided by our own "favoritism". I'll shut up now... But only "for now"... As @Monroe has pointed out, things HAVE improved in the last three weeks or so. And maybe, JUST MAYBE, it *TOOK* the forum showing "zero topic views" to ACHIEVE the ***FAKE*** numbers not going up and up and up every single day. edit: proper "tags" to member names to mathematically count towards their "rep"

Just for reading ... not much of a chrome person. https://www.foxnews.com/tech/malicious-chrome-extensions-caught-stealing-sensitive-data Malicious Chrome extensions caught stealing sensitive data Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report / January 5, 2026 Chrome extensions are supposed to make your browser more useful, but they've quietly become one of the easiest ways for attackers to spy on what you do online. Security researchers recently uncovered two Chrome extensions that have been doing exactly that for years. These extensions looked like harmless proxy tools, but behind the scenes, they were hijacking traffic and stealing sensitive data from users who trusted them. What makes this case worse is where these extensions were found. Both were listed on Chrome's official extension marketplace. ... just adding, the comments at the bottom of the article page are many and interesting. They number around 301 at this time. ...

It's my own personal opinion that it was done intentionally so D.Draker's name and maybe a few others, would drop off the 'Popular Contributors' list in time ... which finally happened in the last three weeks, or so. I actually miss his name no longer on the list ... it was interesting watching his 'contributor count' go up and down. I hope I am wrong about the 'topic views' ... but since October nothing, lots of '0s' starting to show up. ...

There should be a non-SSE2 version of Mypal68 on the GitHub page, you could try running Serpent 52 (IA-32) version first to test Firefox 49 - 52 method then move on to Mypal.

I found my complete FineSSE project from 2011 including a well-tested but unreleased version 30. It includes support for CC/Breakpoint and can be extended for other continuable exceptions. I also began a version 31 in 2013 that starts to add a process picker for easier attachment to any running process. For now, I'll create a version 32 from v30 that also handles exception 0x406D1388 (Name thread). I don't plan to support locales other than the system (maybe user) default at the app-level by either name or ID. There are name constants: LOCALE_NAME_INVARIANT LOCALE_NAME_SYSTEM_DEFAULT LOCALE_NAME_USER_DEFAULT and ID constants: LOCALE_INVARIANT LOCALE_SYSTEM_DEFAULT LOCALE_USER_DEFAULT that I can use to fake/minimally implement the locale API's. (See LOCALE_INVARIANT.) KernelEx already has LCMapStringW, GetLocaleInfoW, and CompareStringW so I'll see how those are handled. The InitOnce functions need more study, but can be redirected to ReactOS for now. My WinME system is SSE-only. Which browser should I try testing with?

To be finally on topic again I would like to know why the counting of topic views has no longer been working. @Tripredacus Was it disabled intentionally? Or accidentally? Or is it a forum software bug?

You might be right! All that "free speech" really does here in the USA is make it very difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Once again, you're completely wrong. Your cited "free speech" has not existed among you for quite some time.

That's what it is like in a country that lives and dies by "free speech". Call it a sociological experiment. Wondering if I can be "banned" for 'off-topic free speech'.

That's how you act. My posts are always factual and problem-oriented, as befits a scientist. Being on topic is very important to me. But when I see what's going on in your country, nothing surprises me anymore.

Not to me it isn't. But yeah, I can agree that I've beaten this dead horse enough for one day. DOES NOT MEAN I WILL NOT BEAT IT AGAIN DOWN THE ROAD. I'm not breaking any forum rules. That's how "social media" sites work. A lot of babbling.

@NotHereToPlayGames Once again. This topic is about the counting of topic views. Nothing more, nothing less. Stop your off-topic babbling! I am interested here to know what is going on with the number of views counted by the forum software. Your silly and childish behaviour is rather annoying and, what's more, simply embarrassing.

I posted a screencap once of it happening. Moderator did not like me posting the screencap. REALITY is REALITY. We have two or three people that will go back DEACDES, literally DECADES, to hunt down a post by one of THREE people *ALL* just to click a "like" and run those three people's "rep" points THROUGH THE ROOF. Moderators are aware. No rules were broken. It is allowed. I have three brothers and two sisters. Maybe I should PAY them to all join MSFN and start "liking" all of MY posts? But no! The "gangsters" doing this would have ME banned! I guaranteed it! Even though all I did was what others have done! REALITY is REALITY.

I have a rather low reputation. Please stay on topic, don't be jealous. We can ask the admins to transfer my rep to you, if you're that unhappy about it... But views, I'm afraid, are not transferable.

Please give links to that statement! I might have missed.

Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification! @NotHereToPlayGames, I'm afraid you're wrong. There's no relation between likes and views. When I put several likes in one topic, to either one or different members, it was counted as one visit, the same would have happened if no likes were distributed at all. Clearer now?

Face reality. Your "reputation" was FARMED (as D.Draker himself called it when OTHER people were doing it!) You didn't break any rules. Neither did the folks doing the "farming". There is no "integrity" in your rep points. Nor in D.Draker's points. Nor in Dixel's points. It's been a "game" going on for several years. Even publicly bragged about and compared directly to one of our moderator's "rep" spanning 20yrs instead of 4yrs. It's all just a "game". And as much as it is not a broken rule to partake, I am breaking no rules in "discussing", it is, afterall, what makes the "social media" world go round. Like a record baby round round round round Again - Contratulations! WELL DONE !!!

As our own moderators have stated. No rules were being broken. THE SYSTEM WAS GAMED. Plain and simple.

You LOVE it !!! Look at YOUR "reputation" score and HOW YOU GOT IT !!! Congratulations! WELL DONE !!!

Absolutely right. This is completely off-topic. That's why I called him "King of off-topics" long ago. No one needs to know. One of his favourite citations. Even called me "Wayward Son" in the past.

Not really. It is *ALL* tied together. Good luck to the owners/supervisors. They know all the "facts". Junk In = Junk Out