Monroe

Maybe some of you remember the earlier story about the guy rigging a lottery computer to win a large jackpot with a root kit that destroys itself. Now it looks like he may have been doing this with other states ... at least the investigation is widening. Jackpot-Fixing Investigation Expands to More State Lotteries Dec 18, 2015 https://www.lotterypost.com/news/297188 DES MOINES, Iowa — The allegations read like a movie plot: a lottery industry insider installs an undetectable software program in the computers that pick winning numbers so he can know them in advance. He enlists accomplices to play those numbers and collect the jackpots. And they enrich themselves for years until a misstep unravels their high-tech scheme. Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, has been accused of tampering with drawings in four states over a six-year period, and investigators are now expanding the inquiry nationwide to determine if the number could be larger. State lotteries in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma have confirmed they paid jackpots worth $8 million to Tipton associates, including his old college roommate, Robert Rhodes. Investigators are looking at payouts in the other 37 states and U.S. territories that used random-number generators from the Iowa-based association, which administers games and distributes prizes for the lottery consortium. The inquiry is sending a chill through state governments that receive $20 billion annually in lottery revenue, and that depend on public confidence in the contests. Tipton installed software or had access to machines for national games such as Hot Lotto and some state-based games. The most lucrative ones, Powerball and scratch tickets, weren't part of the scheme, according to lottery officials. "It would be pretty naive to believe they are the only four" jackpots involved, said now-retired Iowa deputy attorney general Thomas H. Miller, who oversaw the investigation for 2½ years. "If you find one cockroach, you have to assume there are 100 more you haven't found." Tipton, 52, was convicted in July of fraud in the attempt to claim a $16.5 million jackpot in Iowa. He was sentenced to 10 years but is free pending appeal. He is also charged with ongoing criminal conduct and money laundering involving the other three state lotteries. Rhodes, a businessman from Sugar Land, Texas, is charged with fraud in connection with the Iowa jackpot, and is under investigation in Wisconsin. Tommy Tipton, Eddie's brother, who bought a winning Colorado Lotto ticket in 2005, resigned his position last month as a justice of the peace in Flatonia, Texas, 100 miles west of Houston, but hasn't been charged. Colorado authorities are investigating. Eddie Tipton's attorney, Dean Stowers, says his client is innocent. "There's just absolutely no evidence whatsoever that he did anything to alter the proper operations of the computers that were used to pick those numbers, absolutely no evidence. It's just all speculation," Stowers said. Rhodes' attorney did not respond to messages and Tommy Tipton did not return calls. The scheme allegedly continued for years. Prosecutors say Eddie Tipton installed software known as a root kit that enabled him to manipulate numbers without a trace. Tipton was tripped up, investigators say, by the audacious move of buying the winning ticket himself at a service station near where he worked in Des Moines. "This is kind of an eye opener," said Oklahoma Lottery director Rollo Redburn. "It reaffirms the fact that we've got to be constantly vigilant against people trying to defraud the system." Iowa launched the investigation in 2012 after a lawyer representing a trust tried to claim the $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot, turning in the ticket hours before a one-year deadline. The trust — which said it benefited a corporation in Belize — eventually withdrew the claim rather than identify who purchased the ticket. Investigators initially suspected it was merely someone trying to hide winnings from a creditor. The case took a dramatic twist when authorities released surveillance footage from the service station showing a stocky, hooded man buying the winning ticket and hot dogs in December 2010. Stunned lottery colleagues stepped forward to say the man looked and sounded like Tipton — a man with access to their computers. Eddie Tipton had worked at the association since 2003, after a career in information technology, including at a Rhodes-owned firm in Houston called Systems Evolution. He was promoted to lottery security director in 2013. Investigators allege that he passed the winning ticket to Rhodes, his University of Houston classmate, who then worked with associates to try to collect. At Eddie's trial in July, brother Tommy insisted the man on the video wasn't his sibling, who he said was larger than the person shown. In the Wisconsin case, authorities said, Rhodes hired a law firm to claim a $2 million Megabucks jackpot for him in 2008, and took legal action so the $783,000 cash payout could go to his limited liability corporation instead of him. Wisconsin Lottery spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said nothing seemed suspicious and that other winners have done the same. In Oklahoma, investigators have alleged a $1.2 million Hot Lotto jackpot claimed in 2011 is linked to Tipton but haven't spelled out details. Miller praised the Iowa lottery's skepticism about the suspicious jackpot but wonders whether other lotteries would have been as careful. Prosecutor Rob Sand, who is now leading the case, said investigators want to talk to anyone who has been asked to claim a prize on behalf of someone else. They are focusing on jackpots that involve tickets in which the numbers were specifically requested by winners rather than chosen randomly. ...

submix8c ... no the date is still the same - 06/06/2012 for .NET Framework 2.0.

I only have .NET Framework 2.0 installed from 2012 when I changed from Windows 98SE to Windows XP SP3. I really only did this since ocassionally I would run into a software program that required .NET Framework 1.0 or 2.0 ... just some form of .NET Framework. There were not many of those in 2012 but I suppose today in 2015, there could be more newer programs requiring .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.0 ... I don't know. So I stopped at version 2.0 ... today I am checking in the Add-Remove Program list and I see that .NET Framework 2.0 is listed as being "Used Rarely". It is noted that it was last used on 06/06/2012 ... which is a little later after I installed .NET Framework 1.1 and 2.0 in April or May of 2012. So my questions are ... how accurate is the information that .NET Framework 2.0 hasn't been used or accessed in any way since 06/06/2012? Also ... if that information is correct, could I just remove the whole .NET Framework program and not have any problems in the future? I have all the software on my XP setup that I really need and use and except for some updates to programs already on my computer ... I do not see myself installing very many new programs in the future. So is it at all "possible" that .NET Framework 2.0 is being used every so often and the date is not being changed or updated in the "Add Remove Program" list? monroe

I was having that problem on Black Friday weekend in November. It was very slow ... it wasn't Cyber Monday but I just figured people were hitting Amazon very hard that whole weekend but I also noticed some other non-shopping sites seemed to be slow. That was when I was after the 32 gb $6.99 flash drives that I posted about earlier. I've never noticed that before. I did read that "online shopping" was greater this year ... I don't know. Just my observation ... Here are two sites that are good for checking the status of a web site ... Is It Down Right Now "Is It Down Right Now" monitors the status of your favorite web sites and checks whether they are down or not. Check a website status easily by using the below test tool. Just enter the url and a fresh site status test will be performed on the domain name in real time using our online website checker tool. For detailed information, check response time graph and user comments. http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/ or Websitedown Info Is this website down for everyone or just me? Is it down or just me? Online website down status checker tool to test any site's reachability in real-time. To perform an is it down query, simply enter the domain name or copy and paste the URL address of the unavailable website and see if it is down or not for other users right now. http://www.websitedown.info/ ...

I guess if a drone doesn't get shot out of the sky ... now it has the Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department to worry about. I going to buy a "butterfly net" ... had one as a kid when I collected butterflies. I could catch the "little ones" that look like insects ... Dragon Flies come to mind. Tokyo’s Drone Squad Will Deploy 10-foot Drones Armed with Nets to Police the Sky Squad will patrol no-fly-zones and order unlawful operators to land their drones. by Mark Walton (UK) - Dec 11, 2015 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/12/tokyos-drone-squad-will-deploy-10ft-drones-armed-with-nets-to-police-the-sky/ In an effort to enforce no-fly-zones across the city, Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department is launching a drone squad. According to Japan Today (via Popular Science), the squad will patrol no-fly-zones and "will search for the operators and order them to ground the drones." If an operator fails to comply, police will scramble large drones up to 10 feet long armed with cameras and nets to take down the unwanted machines. There's no word yet on whether said tactics will be accompanied by a perfectly-timed blast of The A-Team theme tune, though—we can but dream. Despite the humorous name, the drone squad will take on some serious issues in Toyko. "Terrorist attacks using drones carrying explosives are a possibility," a senior member of the police department's security bureau told the Asahi Shimbun website. "We hope to defend the nation's functions with the worst-case scenario in mind." Earlier this year, a 40-year-old Japanese man admitted he landed an unmanned drone carrying radioactive sand atop Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office in an effort to protest nuclear power. Nobody was injured in the stunt. The launch of the drone squad follows an amendment to Japan's Civil Aeronautics Law that went into effect yesterday. The law limits drones to flights below 500 feet (compared to 400ft in the US and UK), and also bans drones larger than 200g from dense residential areas, which includes all of Tokyo. The fines for violating these rules could be as much as ¥500,000, or roughly £2,800. .... also Drone squad to be launched by Tokyo police 4 hours ago http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35070818 If a suspicious drone is detected, the operator will be warned via loudspeakers on the ground. But if he or she fails to respond, police will launch drones equipped with nets to bring down the device. ...

Some additional news on the 32 GB Flash Drives I ordered from Amazon after missing out on the 32 GB Flash Drives at the Walmart Black Friday sale. They arrived today ... the original order was never shipped or got lost in transit. Amazon took care of the problem and mailed the flash drives with two day delivery. I connected one and got a surprise ... it has a flashing orange activity light ... I did not know that SanDisk model would have the activity light included. So many of the smaller cheaper drives don't have that anymore. They were on sale for $6.99 at that time ... if they are at that price again and you like an activity light on a flash drive ... this should work. http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Frustration-Free-Packaging--SDCZ60-032G-AFFP/dp/B008AF380Q/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1448740504&sr=1-6&keywords=32+gb+flash+drives ...

rodocop ... thanks for the "heads up" on the newer version ... will try it out later today. ...

Welcome back ... I've been expecting you ! Now to "sort of new" information. I have been searching around for a video of that particular David Wade cooking episode. I have not been able to find anything as yet. It's too bad that episode and a few others are not on DVD. I did find some additional interesting information ... this from the David Wade Gourmet web site dated October 29, 2015 ... the receipe. Turkey-In-A-Sack October 29, 2015 http://www.davidwadegourmet.com/#!TurkeyInASack/xyz27/5632448d0cf2ce5bf432ee7e ... then this from 2014 David Wade, Gourmet: Have Ascot, Will Travel by Paula Bosse http://flashbackdallas.com/2014/11/24/david-wade-gourmet/ ...

I really didn't pay too much attention to the "$24.98" price in the Walmart ad ... in my mind it seemed inflated ... but I was interested in getting some $7 flash drives. So Amazon became a "backup plan". I also did not notice the PNY flash at Amazon was only $7.99 after a $5 rebate. Some of the reviews said the SanDisk flash drives were slow when transferring data onto the drives. I guess there are faster 2.0 drives which cost a little more. I just wanted some cheaper storage ... the USB 2.0 drives are probably going to be cheaper and dissappear one day as USB 3.0 drives become all the rage with newer computers. Two years ago Walmart had 8 GB USB 2.0 drives for $5 ... last year it was 16 GB USB 2.0 drives for $5 and maybe next year it will be $5 for a 32 GB drive after the $7 price this year ... if there are still 2.0 flash drives being manufactured in any great quantity. If you need them for older computers then grab what you need in 2016 ... who can say if "good name" USB 2.0 drives will still be easy to find at a cheap price after 2016. Probably will always be cheap "no name" junk drives around. ...

Flash Drive update ... I decided to go to my local Walmart about 45 minutes after the 6 pm opening on Thursday. Of course there were people everywhere ... the bad news was that there was this one very long line for electronics ... all the Black Friday electonic specials were in the produce dept of the store and there was yellow tape around to herd the cattle ... sorry, people into the produce area ... There are no food items for sale I guess till the onslaught dies down. The line was just too long to wait for some $7 flash drives ... I mean long ... so I left to come back later at 5am Friday morning. That's what I did last year, just went to Walmart at 5 am. There were no crowds of course ... but there were also no $7 flash drives ! I found a 32 GB $7 flash drive at Amazon ... actually $6.99. http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Frustration-Free-Packaging--SDCZ60-032G-AFFP/dp/B008AF380Q/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1448740504&sr=1-6&keywords=32+gb+flash+drives SanDisk Cruzer Glide CZ60 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ60-032G-AFFP by SanDisk List Price: $17.99 Price: $6.99 & FREE Shipping on orders over $35. As I post this they are still listed for $6.99 ... you can only purchase five ... I wanted six so I got five. There is also another San Disk 32 GB flash drive for $6.99 but some reviews say the first one seems to be a little newer and faster. The other one ... there does not seem to be a purchase limit on this model ... I put in 6 to buy just to see ... the order wasn't changed ... the top or first flash drive will go no higher than 5 drives. http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Frustration-Free-Packaging--SDCZ36-032G-AFFP/dp/B007JR532M/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1448740504&sr=1-1&keywords=32+gb+flash+drives SanDisk Cruzer CZ36 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ36-032G-AFFP by SanDisk List Price: $23.99 Price: $6.99 & FREE Shipping on orders over $35. Details ... I think this is the $7 PNY 32 GB flash drive that Walmart had for sale ... it's $7.99 at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/PNY-Attach%C3%A9-32GB-Flash-Drive/dp/B003YCOMG4/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1448740504&sr=1-2&keywords=32+gb+flash+drives ...

Just noticed that Walmart has a PNY 32GB Flash Drive on sale for Black Friday starting later today and into tomorrow (Friday) or I guess till they sell out. The price is $7 ... It's on page 04 of the 32 page ad. PNY 32GB Attache USB 2.0 Flash Drive Now $7.00 Reg. $24.98 https://blackfriday.com/stores/walmart/ads/black-friday ...

I had the quotes there ... I probably should have added the words "above" and "below" ... which I have done so. "Admittedly, Wade was not a chef but recognized as one of the top "food presenters". That was a term possibly reserved just for Wade as he was no doubt difficult to categorize. But his words stuck with me through out my life. Wade had his own coat of arms." The above words in quotes are from the article below ... "Remembering David Wade - the Rembrandt of the Kitchen" ...

bwcat, I don't have that file on my computer ... Director MX 2004 Compatible update Files for 10.4 in the System32\Macromed\Shockwave 10 folder ... there is no Shockwave 10 folder in the Macromed folder ... just a Flash folder only. I guess because I only use the Shockwave exe download that this is the case. When I go to a Shockwave test page ... it shows I have Shockwave installed. A flash and shockwave test page ... click on System Details on the left side. https://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cCorp.dspTest Test Your System This page helps you determine if your system has the basic hardware and software needed to run Gizmos. Your system meets all of our recommended requirements. You should be able to run Gizmos! System Details I went to another Shockwave test page ... Adobe and it says there is a new Shockwave version available. Adobe Shockwave Player Version 12.2.2.172 It's not at File Hippo yet so I don't know if it's already at the exe and msi links. ...

When I lived in Florida in the early 80's for a few years ... before satellite tv ... when cable was all the rage with not too many stations even on 24 hrs a day. I enjoyed some of the cooking shows on at that time and there was this one show with a chef from Texas. One episode was all about baking a turkey for Thanksgiving in a brown paper bag in the oven. After seeing the episode several times I decided to give it a try ... it really worked and the turkey will bake faster to golden brown ... his time was 10 minutes per pound ... the steam in the bag cooks the turkey faster. You have to get a plain brown paper bag with no ink on it ... no ads. I went to Winn-Dixie and they had both the Winn-Dixie brown bags and plain brown bags ... so I bought two unused large brown bags and peanut oil. I had the directions written down. Anyway, I thought about all this a few weeks ago and decided to see if I could find anything about the show. I could not remember the name of the show or the chef ... I remembered his face and the fact that he always worked in the kitchen dressed in an ascot and jacket. I used to wonder how he didn't get all splattered with everything ... he must have had several jackets. The show was out of Dallas ... I could only remember Texas. His name was David Wade and I learned today he has since passed away ... in 2001. Also, he was not "really" a chef ... he was known as a "food presenter" ... I could not rember his name but doing a Google search I remembered him when I saw his face and the ascot and jacket. "Admittedly, Wade was not a chef but recognized as one of the top "food presenters". That was a term possibly reserved just for Wade as he was no doubt difficult to categorize. But his words stuck with me through out my life. Wade had his own coat of arms." The above words in quotes are from the article below ... "Remembering David Wade - the Rembrandt of the Kitchen" http://cravedfw.com/2014/05/20/remembering-david-wade-the-rembrandt-of-the-kitchen/ Also found this from a woman who saw the show in the 60's I guess ... I saw it in the 80's. This is the recipe ... "When my husband and I were newly married in the 60's and away from home for our first Thanksgiving I had no idea how to start a Thanksgiving turkey dinner. David Wade's cooking show came on TV and I took notes on how to cook my first Thanksgiving turkey. I have used this wonderful receipe each and every Thanksgiving for 45 years. Everyone raves about the moist and delightful brown turkey. Easy!!! Cooking time 10 minutes per pound - really!!!!! Use a 12 pound or larger turkey. Do not subsitute the peanut oil." Turkey in a Sack http://www.food.com/recipe/turkey-in-a-sack-442999 David Wade - The "Gourmet's" Gourmet Chef http://www.davidwadegourmet.com/#!about/ierjb So I take you back to days long gone ... before satellite tv ... to a chef or "food presenter" in Dallas baking a turkey in a paper bag. It really works and did work for me ... just for fun and to see if it really did work. ...

Acheron ... I will also save your msi download link. I already have the current version installed from October but I decided to download the version again from both the DL links provided by you and dencorso. I really have never downloaded from msi links ... just exe links. I noticed that the two downloads are different in size. The "exe" download is 12.5 mb and the "msi" download is 23.6 mb ... was curious why that is the case? Both downloads should be identical once installed ... a full version of Shockwave? Thanks ...

sdfox7 For some reason only the Shockwave full version seems to work on my setup. Years ago I tried the slim version but it didn't seem to work so I just use the "full version". dencorso ... thanks for the explanation and the link. So when I see that File Hippo has a new Shockwave full version ... I will just download it from the link you provided. ...

OK ... that's good to know. I had a feeling you posted the information for a reason. I would rather have that version ... With the FileHippo version I always have the Google Chrome toolbar and one other item with a check box ... I have to uncheck two boxes but the Google Chrome thing still seems to be installed. One of my registry cleaners will still find it and I remove it for good. RegCleaner 4.3 by Jouni Vuorio will pull it up even though it was not supposed to be installed, since I removed the checkmark. I'd like to know the exact link to that Adobe Shockwave download page so I can use that version from now on. I've been downloading the File Hippo version for years and always fooling around with those Google toolbar checkmarks. RegCleaner 4.3.0.780 http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/regcleaner.html Author: Jouni Vuorio Date: 01/23/2002 04:13 PM Size: 541 KB License: Freeware Requires: Win All ...

Not to take issue with anything ... I've been using this version since around October 27th. Shockwave Player 12.2.1.171 http://filehippo.com/download_shockwave/tech/ Title: Shockwave Player 12.2.1.171 Filename: Shockwave_Installer_Full.exe File size: 13.25MB (13,895,144 bytes) Requirements: Windows XP / Vista / Windows7 / XP64 / Vista64 / Windows7 64 / Windows8 / Windows8 64 Languages: Multiple languages License: Freeware Date added: October 27, 2015 Author: Adobe Systems Inc www.adobe.com ...

Just noticed this article ... I don't use Chrome or actually know that much about it ... so it might have been already mentioned in another part of the forum. Chrome Has a Serious Security Flaw November 19, 2015 http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/11/19/chrome-has-serious-security-flaw.html?intcmp=hpbt4 Since Google launched the Chrome browser in 2008, it's built a reputation for speed and security not found in other browsers. While the gap has narrowed in both those areas thanks to improvements in Firefox, and Microsoft creating the new Edge browser for Windows 10, Chrome still has the edge in hacking contests. That's one reason hundreds of millions around the world have it installed on their computers and mobile gadgets. Unfortunately, a newly discovered security flaw might put that reputation in jeopardy. A Chinese researcher, Guang Gong, discovered the flaw after three months of work, and built a proof-of-concept he demonstrated at the recent PacSec conference. Using a simple game app with a bit of extra code in it, he forced the phone to call out to a special server and load up a webpage in Chrome containing malicious code. When the Chrome browser visited the webpage, a flaw in the JavaScript system let the page download another app that took over the Android gadget completely. That's scary, but it gets worse. Usually, attacks that lead to a full takeover of an operating system require multiple flaws, a number of steps and some user input to work. This attack does it in one go, which means as soon as the user installs a modified app, or visits a malicious page, it's over. The way Gong's attack works, any app could have the code calling out to a special server with a malicious page. Apps do that all the time for ads and other uses, so it wouldn't trigger any alarms in the Google Play store. That means slipping a malicious app through Google's screening just got easier. It isn't just Chrome, though. Other researchers are now worried that any third-party app that includes Google's version of JavaScript will also be vulnerable. Of course, the same flaw exists in the desktop version of Chrome, meaning hackers might adapt it to launch attacks against PCs and Macs. Gong says he informed Google of the flaw in August, but so far there hasn't been a fix released. Fortunately, Gong hasn't released the details on the flaw, so no hackers should have it yet. Considering it took him three months to find, it will probably be a little while before anyone else figures it out. Still, you don't want to rely completely on that to stay safe. Here are some things you can do. Switch your mobile browser to Firefox on Android and Apple, or go back to Safari on Apple. Be careful when clicking on links you get in email or text messages. Only click if you know where it's going and you trust the person who sent it. Get a security app that warns you about phishing links and malicious app downloads. ...

Who gets the ticket? ... in this case no ticket was issued. "In a blog post, the Mountain View Police Department said the officer noticed traffic backing up behind a slow-moving car in the eastbound No. 3 lane, near Rengstorff Avenue. The vehicle was traveling at 24 mph in a 35 mph zone. In this case," the post continued, "it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street, as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph." Mountain View: Google self-driving car pulled over 'for driving too slowly' By Jason Green Daily News Staff Writer 11/12/2015 http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_29110712/mountain-view-google-self-driving-car-pulled-over MOUNTAIN VIEW -- When one of Google's self-driving vehicles is pulled over, who gets the ticket? The passenger or the car? The question was asked across the Internet on Thursday, after a police officer stopped one of the gumball-machine-shaped vehicles on El Camino Real. In a blog post, the Mountain View Police Department said the officer noticed traffic backing up behind a slow-moving car in the eastbound No. 3 lane, near Rengstorff Avenue. The vehicle was traveling at 24 mph in a 35 mph zone. "As the officer approached the slow-moving car he realized it was a Google Autonomous Vehicle," the post said. "The officer stopped the car," the post continued, "and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways and to educate the operators about impeding traffic." In a Google Plus post, the Google Self-Driving Car Project appeared to appreciate the humor of the situation. "Driving too slowly?" the post asked. "Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often." "We've capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25 mph for safety reasons," the post explained. "We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets." As it turns out, the cars are considered "neighborhood electric vehicles" under the California Vehicle Code, and can be operated on roadways with speed limits at or under 35 mph, according to the police department's blog post. "In this case," the post continued, "it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street, as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph." So, no ticket, and the question of who would get it remains unanswered. "Like this officer, people sometimes flag us down when they want to know more about our project," the Google Self-Driving Car Project said in its post. "After 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that's the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we're proud to say we've never been ticketed!" Zandr Milewski photographed the car stop from an office building at 5150 El Camino Real in Los Altos. He was working on a project in a conference room when a colleague wandered in with news of what was transpiring outside. "We all immediately dropped what we were doing to go look," Milewski said. "It's not something you see every day." ...

At the bottom of the link in my last post there is a small article titled: Is it legal to fly my drone? Not too long ago anything was OK ... I guess if you could get it in air, it could fly ... now it has to be under 20kg ... around 44 pounds. I'm sure more changes will come and probably be needed with personal spying all the rage. Is it legal to fly my drone? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11986847/Drone-may-have-been-involved-in-suspicious-death-of-police-horse.html By Matt Sparkes The answer, in short, is 'yes' - with some provisos.The CAA admits that the rules and regulations around drone use are “evolving”, but this is the state of play at the moment: drones are classified as "unmanned aircraft", and the CAA is keen to point out that they are most certainly a type of aircraft and “not toys”. If your drone weighs over 20kg then you're out of luck - it's only legal to use it in certified "danger areas" such as Parc Aberporth aerodrome in West Wales. Even those using a drone weighing less than 20kg for commercial use – receiving payment of any sort – are required to seek permission from the CAA.To get permission you will have to show that you are “sufficiently competent”. This is less clear-cut than manned aircraft, which has a well-established licencing procedure. If your drone is under 20kg and you're not using it for commercial reasons, then you still have some rules to follow. Anyone filming with a drone for their own purposes must avoid flying it within 150 metres of a congested area and 50 metres of a person, vessel, vehicle or structure not under the control of the pilot.You will also need to fly the aircraft within sight. This means you can’t go above 400ft in altitude or further than 500 metres horizontally. If you want to exceed that, you’ll again need to seek explicit permission from the CAA.

The death toll rises ... Drone may have been involved in suspicious death of police horse Police are appealing for the owner of an unmanned drone involved in an incident with one of the force's horses to come forward. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11986847/Drone-may-have-been-involved-in-suspicious-death-of-police-horse.html 10 Nov 2015 Police are seeking the owner of a drone that may have been involved in the death of a police horse. Fimber, a 14-year-old horse who joined West Yorkshire Police in 2004, died after he vaulted the fence of his paddock and collided with a wooden post after appearing to be spooked. Officers later discovered a radio-controlled drone at the site near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, after it was spotted by a police helicopter crew. The owner of the Walkera Runner 250, which costs about £200, is now being sought by the force after the incident in October. Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson said: ''We have reviewed CCTV footage which shows Fimber bolting seemingly in reaction to something nearby. This resulted in him being seriously injured and led to his death. We cannot discount that this drone was involved. ''There is a possibility that Fimber was reacting to the drone landing nearby or being close to him when he bolted with tragic consequences. ''We know he was used to the helicopter taking off and landing nearby and by the nature of his training would be used to loud noises, which tends to suggest it was something unusual that caused him to react. ''I am very keen to hear from anyone who has any information that could assist us in tracing the owner of this drone.'' Mr Atkinson said he did not want to detract from the pleasure people get from flying drones but said flying next to such a site was totally inappropriate. ''Clearly flying one near to an operational police location such as Carr Gate, where the helicopter is regularly taking off and landing, is not appropriate and could have very serious consequences,'' he said. ''I want to appeal directly to the owner of the drone to come forward so that we can bring this matter to a conclusion.''

Thanks JorgeA and jaclaz, I hadn't realized that MVPS had made the change from v127.0.0.1 to v0.0.0.0. After reading your post from yesterday I had decided to keep using 127.0.0.1 with XP but I've been using the other version. Seems to be working OK. ...

I saw something like this years ago for a hosts file ... I didn't look into it, I think it had zeros. I have a question about a hosts file being a 0.0.0.0 version or a 127.0.0.1 version. Which one is better or works better? I use the MVPS Hosts file. ...

dencorso ... thanks for your reply. I was just wondering since the Office 2007 updates that show up every month for Office 2000 are perhaps just some sort of security updates and also since I am "offline" when I use Office 2000 ... are the monthly updates really that necessary? I will continue to save and apply them ... my real concern is doing a system backup to a DVD ... I am still able to get all the contents onto one DVD but with the Office 2007 updates showing up every month ... my availabe space left on that DVD gets less and less ... one day in the future it will take two DVDs for a backup and the second DVD will have very little on it. I just did a system backup last Sunday and I keep track of the DVD space used and one of these times the program is going to say ... 2 DVDs will be needed ... right now I am getting the message ... "6 CDs or 1 DVD" are needed for the backup. I don't want to waste a second DVD for just a small amount of backup information. The XP computer backup done last Sunday seems to be perfect (near 100%) as I have found no mistakes so far ... I clean with five registry cleaners over and over and other cleaners also ... flash updates, shockwave updates, host file updates and many updates are applied at the time of the backup ... of course within a day or two there are newer updates showing up but that's OK ... at the time of the DVD backup everything is as good (perfect) as I can make it. After the backup has been burned to the DVD then I check everything on the computer to see if anything was missed ... some junk files ... the registry cleaners find nothing and just going around using my checklist. So I guess I could make this last backup my "Factory CD" ... like what once came in a box with a new computer ... as long as I don't discover or find any mistakes, forgotten items or junk files that were missed over the next few weeks. I will then only have one DVD and can keep adding the Office 2007 updates as they come out. I need to save some space on that DVD in case I might want to add some new software one day. If I need to use that backup later to fix or repair some damage ... then I can just reinstall all the Office 2007 updates after October 2015. I want to keep any future backups (if I do any) to that one DVD and not be wasting for the most part a second DVD. ...