Monroe

It seems the MS January updates are mostly important for Windows XP ... January 2014 Patch Tuesday kicks the year off with four 'Important' security updates Written by Ron on January 13, 2014 http://www.winbeta.org/news/january-2014-patch-tuesday-kicks-year-four-important-security-updates The January 2014 Patch Tuesday is upon us, taking place January 14th, and we are expecting to see four Important updates and zero Critical updates for various Microsoft software products. While this month's Patch Tuesday remains light, the most notable update will be for Windows XP. Windows RT and Windows 8.1 will not be receiving any security updates this time around, as the primary focus for the January 2014 Patch Tuesday will be for Windows XP, Server 2003, Office, and Dynamics AX. Windows 7, on the other hand, does receive one Important update, addressing elevation of privileges. This month's Patch Tuesday is set to take place Tuesday, January 14th. I just took a couple of paragraphs out of the small article. also ... Microsoft Expected to Patch XP Zero Day on Patch Tuesday http://threatpost.com/microsoft-expected-to-patch-xp-zero-day-on-patch-tuesday/103543 Microsoft announced Thursday that it plans to release four bulletins next week as part of the year’s first batch of Patch Tuesday security updates, none of which are rated critical. Despite the relatively light load, the patches do address a zero-day vulnerability in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 made public in early November. Hackers were actively exploiting the flaw in the ND Proxy driver that manages Microsoft’s Telephony API on XP via infected PDF attachments. Exploits work only in conjunction with an Adobe Reader vulnerability that has since been patched. found a little more XP news ... Microsoft preparing urgent patch to secure Windows XP as end-of-support draws close tech2 News Staff / 13 Jan 2014 http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/microsoft-preparing-urgent-patch-windows-xp-208380.html Microsoft is working on a patch for the Windows XP that will be released on Patch Tuesday to avoid attackers from completely taking over the affected computers, reports PCWorld. Late in November, Microsoft has issued a security advisory about the discovery of vulnerability in a kernel component of its Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Symantec now reveals in a blog post that the attacks have been active since the beginning of November. It arrives as a malicious PDF file with names such as syria15.10.pdf or Note_№107-41D.pdf. The blog post further says that “successful exploits will result in complete compromise of affected computers and patching of XP will make it less vulnerable.” The urgency for patching of XP comes as a result of Microsoft’s decision to end support to XP in April. It is in April at the Build conference that the company also plans to reveal the vision for its upcoming Threshold aka Windows 9 platform, which is likely to start shipping in April 2015.

DosProbie ... Registry Recycler seems to be a nice little program. I tried the portable version and it worked just fine on XP. I see the last update on Nov 1st included Windows 8.1 compatibilty. Changelog Registry Recycler 0.9.2.6 - 1st November, 2013 * Extended Uninstall Entries category scanning * Added auto Shutdown and Restart settings * Updated White List * Minor GUI improvements * Resolved ownership issue when scanning some registry keys * Added Windows 8.1 compatibility So everybody has a program to use. I mentioned EasyCleaner since it will work with Windows XP and older but Registry Recycler will do a registry defrag. thanks ...

Here's an older registry cleaner program that maybe some newer people didn't know about. I believe Fred Langa ... from his old column years ago, recommended EasyCleaner as a very safe registry cleaner for a novice to use. It is older, not updated since 2006 but it works and is much more than just a registry cleaner. A lot in this program ... it's free but listed as only for Windows 95/NT/98/Me/2000/XP. However, Major Geeks says "Windows All" so it is misleading going beyond Windows XP ... maybe it works, maybe not. Probably a registry backup with ERUNT would be in order before trying it out. EasyCleaner 2.0 by Toni Arts http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/easycleaner.html EasyCleaner is a small program which searches Windows' registry for entries that are pointing nowhere. Deleting these entries will speed your computer up. But as you already might know, deleting entries from registry can be dangerous for your computer, so it is wise to make a backup of your registry. On my computer, deleting entries which were pointing nowhere, speeded my computer up! EasyCleaner also lets you delete all kinds of unnecessary files like temps, backups etc. You can search for duplicate files and you can view some intresting info about your disk space usage! ToniArts may not be held accountable in any way if EasyCleaner affects your computer in a negative way. here's a list of some features: # Finds invalid registry entries - deleting them speeds up your computer up to 20%! # Finds duplicate files - deleting them will free disk space! # Finds all unnecessary files like backups, temps etc. # Very user friendly! # Shows some intresting info about your disk space usage. # Very customizable. # Uses only little amount of recources while running! # Huge help file which gives you every little detail about EasyCleaner! # And much more... also this site ... but it only lists up to XP as working. ToniArts EasyCleaner http://download.cnet.com/ToniArts-EasyCleaner/3000-2094_4-10529179.html EasyCleaner is a small program that searches through Windows registry for entries that are pointing nowhere. EasyCleaner also lets you delete all kinds of unnecessary files like temps and backups. You can search for duplicate files and you can view some intresting info about your disk space usage. You are also able to manage startup programs, invalid shortcuts, and add/remove software list.

OK ... good reading. I have come up with another possible meaning about the logo or phrase. My first two (mentioned earlier) are as follows ... #1 being sort of a blunt message to the British and King George or (#2) just a "general" message to the colonials for everyday life ... "Mind Your Business". However, after giving it some more thought, I know exactly what Ben meant by the phrase. Ben was famously know as womaniser in early Philadelphia and later during his stay in France ... but getting back to Ben being in Philadelphia, probably many were always wondering where Ben was headed ... or what Ben was up to after the sun went down (or didn't go down!) so we have "Mind Your Business" stamped on the coin. This just has to be the "real story" behind it !

Very interesting about the 1776 Continental Coin ... I never knew that. So what did old Ben really have in mind ... good question. I can see it having two meanings ... but I don't want to touch on politics, even from over 200 years ago. These coins or the logo should be minted again !

This is interesting ... remember the stories awhile back about the spook place being built in CA and how much water and electricity it needed to operate. Some people want to shut the supply off ... like that will happen but maybe there is hope for one "last stand". I agree with you JorgeA on your comment ... Our debt of gratitude to Edward Snowden grows on a daily basis. California Legislators Introduce Bill To Banish NSA Bipartisan duo wants to cut NSA's utilities, ban research at state schools and impose sanctions on contractors By Steven Nelson January 7, 2014 http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/01/07/california-legislators-introduce-bill-to-banish-nsa A bipartisan team of California state senators introduced legislation Monday that would prohibit the state and its localities from providing "material support" to the National Security Agency. If the bill becomes law, it would deny NSA facilities access to water and electricity from public utilities, impose sanctions on companies trying to fill the resulting void and outlaw NSA research partnerships with state universities. Companies with state contracts also would be banned from working with the NSA. "I agree with the NSA that the world is a dangerous place," state Sen. Ted Lieu, the bill's Democratic co-author, said in a statement. "That is why our founders enacted the Bill of Rights. They understood the grave dangers of an out-of-control federal government." Lieu said the NSA's surveillance programs pose "a clear and present danger to our liberties." "The last time the federal government massively violated the U.S. Constitution," he said, "over 100,000 innocent Americans were rounded up and interned." State Sen. Joel Anderson, a Republican, is Lieu's co-author. The California state senate has 40 members. "I support this bill because I support the Constitution, our Fourth Amendment rights and our freedoms to live in the United States of America," Anderson said. also ... from December New Legislation Would Ban NSA From Arizona http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/12/09/new-legislation-would-ban-nsa-from-arizona State senator says 'the NSA isn't welcome in Arizona unless it follows the Constitution' ...

OK ... always good to have more "news links" ... better chance that one link will have the truth while the others dish out the fluff! I've added the link to my list. This came from the link ... maybe it's getting into the food supply ... "We see radiation from ****ushima in soils in Southern California, especially our desert regions” — High concentrations in seaweed prevented harvest this year — Also found in cattle and chicken feed. Hope I didn't cross the line ... I did say "any government" since I doubt that any are completely truthful to their people. We are probably on our own. jaclaz ... I have been seeing the word dosimeter mentioned in my searching around. I think I have found a reasonably priced Geiger Counter with mostly positive reviews (a few negative) and two of those positive reviews were by engineers who don't seem connected to the company. One said this ... For an engineer working in the field, the standards for radiation detector are more demanding than those of "an amateur scientist" and this Geiger does the job well. I was somewhat surprised how accurate it is for what I have paid for it. Basically, it will measure up to 999 micro Siverts per hour. This is the same range as Inspector+ from SE International, or Rad Alert geiger counters. PRM-8000 range is slightly higher (about 2milliSv) while Monitor4 measures up to approximately 500 micro Sieverts per hour. The antique alarm clock or radium hands usually measure under 5 microSieverts per hour, well within the range of our most basic model. It is hard for me to imagine a consumer product that would measure over 1milliSieverts per hour. Case in point: effective dose of inhalation of 1 mg of pure natural Uranium is mere 0.2 milli-Sieverts, which is well within the range of this Geiger. The biggest issue is not just the range but also precision over the wide range of measurements. This is where RD-1212 impressed me the most and why I gave it 5 stars. Ever since I got it, I have been cautiously testing it in the field and around the plant where I know what the readings should be, and this little guy was accurate within mere 10% off our industrial equipment and often enough right on the spot. This is clearly a professional piece of equipment. Thank You guys! .... I'm still checking around and I have a second e-mail to the company, waiting for a reply to my questions. They answered my first e-mail very fast. ...

Just asking if any MSFN member actually owns a Geiger Counter? For many years I have wanted to get one thinking it might come in handy one day for checking food and just about anything, especially if a person has a family and just wants some first hand knowledge of what is going on. I feel the government (any government) can't be trusted to give us all the facts unless they get caught up in a lie or cover up, like Japan did with it's people. I can't believe an amateur would discover radiation on CA beaches ... the agencies have known for some time that this radiation wave was heading for the western coast of the US and Canada and they have to have been checking constantly on it's progress. They have satellites that can track radiation anywhere and they may have been dropping floating radiation detectors into the ocean between here and Japan to chart everything ... but it takes an amateur with his own Geiger Counter to alert people about something. Who can say if the radiation is from Japan or another source but it seems to be there. Something very strange about all this ... don't alert the Sheeple ! ... a good case for people to get a Geiger Counter of their own before they are "outlawed" and taken off the market. At one time you could buy a Geiger Counter from Sears ... it was in their catalog but it was a large hand held device, just like you see in old 1950's science fiction films ... today they are more compact and easier to carry around. There are many on the market but which is the best one to own ... anyone here own what they think is a top quality device? ...

Some further news from California about possible radiation ... like before some words may be "filtered" after I post this. Has Fukushima’s Radioactive Wave Already Hit California? http://www.infowars.com/has-fukushimas-radioactive-wave-already-hit-california/ Health officials confirm spike in radiation on San Francisco beach but have no answers Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones Infowars.com January 6, 2014 Predictions that Fukushima’s radioactive ocean plume would hit the west coast of the U.S. sometime in 2014 may have already come to pass, with a new video showing Geiger counter readings of background radiation at a beach in San Francisco over five times the safe level. Days after a YouTube video emerged showing background radiation at a Coastside beach reaching over 150 micro-REM per hour, Health officials in San Mateo County confirmed the spike but said they were “befuddled” as to its cause. However, officials dismissed the possibility that the readings could be linked to Fukushima radiation reaching the west coast despite forecasts by experts last summer that radioactive particles from Fukushima would reach U.S. coastal waters in 2014. The video shows a man measuring radiation readings at different spots on a beach south of Pillar Point Harbor. Background radiation in the areas immediately surrounding the beach are normal, but once the man approaches the water itself, the radiation spikes to at least 500 per cent safe levels and the Geiger counter’s alarm goes off. The man behind the video claims that on his previous visit to the same beach, radiation readings were 13 times the safe level. “In the following days, other amateurs with Geiger counters began posting similar videos online,” reports the Half Moon Bay Review. “The videos follow other alarming news last month that starfish were mysteriously disintegrating along the West Coast, a trend that has not been linked yet to any cause.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Public Health are now investigating the cause of the radiation and more information is expected to be released this week. While officials will almost certainly downplay the situation in order to prevent panic, it’s important to remember that genuine public health crises are virtually always preceded by government duplicity. TEPCO and the Japanese government have repeatedly been caught lying in their efforts to downplay the scale of the Fukushima disaster. In September it was confirmed that radiation readings around the power plant were 18 times higher than previously reported by TEPCO. After a tank leaked 300 tonnes of toxic water in August, groundwater radiation readings at the plant soared to 400,000 becquerels per litre, the highest reading since the nuclear accident occurred in March 2011. EPA officials in America also lied in the weeks after 9/11 when they told rescue workers and the general public that the air at ground zero was safe to breathe. According to insiders, EPA officials knew that the dust in the air was laden with asbestos but chose to cover up the truth, leading to at least 20,000 ground zero workers suffering debilitating illnesses and numerous deaths. Mainstream media outlets have also largely toed the line on Fukushima despite overwhelming evidence of a cover-up of the true scale of the crisis by Japanese authorities. Former MSNBC host Cenk Uygur was told not to warn the public about the danger posed by the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant during his time as a host on the cable network. Concerns that the federal government is preparing for some form of nuclear emergency have heightened after it was revealed that the Department of Health and Human Services has ordered 14 million doses of potassium iodide, the compound that protects the body from radioactive poisoning in the aftermath of severe nuclear accidents, to be delivered before the beginning of February. also related to the above story ... Health officials respond to beach radiation scare http://www.hmbreview.com/news/health-officials-respond-to-beach-radiation-scare/article_8c7e7fb0-74de-11e3-9c9d-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story Friday, January 3, 2014 Mark Noack An amateur video of a Geiger counter showing what appear to be high radiation levels at a Coastside beach has drawn the attention of local, state and federal public health officials. Since being posted last week, the short video has galvanized public concerns that radioactive material could be landing on the local coastline after traveling from Japan as a result of the 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Government officials say they are looking into the video shot on Dec. 23 and performing their own sampling of the beaches, but they have found no indication so far that radiation levels were hazardous. “It’s not something that we feel is an immediate public health concern,” said Dean Peterson, county environmental health director. “We’re not even close to the point of saying that any of this is from Fukushima.” First posted last week on YouTube, the seven-minute video shows the meter of a Geiger counter as an off-camera man measures different spots on the beach south of Pillar Point Harbor. The gadget’s alarm begins ringing as its radiation reading ratchets up to about 150 counts per minute, or roughly five times the typical amount found in the environment. Counts per minute is a standard way for Geiger counters to measure radiation, but it does not directly equate to the strength or its hazard level to humans. Those factors depend on the type of radioactive particles and isotope. Nonetheless, the video went viral online, gaining nearly 400,000 views in the last week. ... more at the link.

OK ... I was puzzled for a few minutes after I posted this ... why the whole word was not printing out and decided it was being "filtered" somehow. I thought a moderator would look into it or at least confirm the problem. thanks

The radioactive debris from Japan has been starting to show up on the West Coast in 2013 ... have to think about swimming, eating seafood and who knows what else. US Government Orders 14 Million Doses of Potassium Iodide Paul Joseph Watson January 1, 2014 http://www.infowars.com/us-government-orders-14-million-doses-of-potassium-iodide/ The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered 14 million doses of potassium iodide, the compound that protects the body from radioactive poisoning in the aftermath of severe nuclear accidents, to be delivered before the beginning of February. According to a solicitation posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the DHHS asks contractors to supply, “potassium iodide tablet, 65mg, unit dose package of 20s; 700,000 packages (of 20s),” a total of 14 million tablets. The packages must be delivered on or before February 1, 2014. ... more at the link but this is from article ... "Last month it was revealed that 71 U.S. sailors who helped during the initial Fukushima relief efforts are suing the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) after they returned with thyroid cancer, Leukemia, and brain tumors as a result of being exposed to radiation at 300 times the safe level." another article ... Radioactive Debris in Pacific Ocean: Fukushima Radiation is Tearing up the West Coast of the US and Canada By Ethan A. Huff Global Research, October 28, 2013 NaturalNews Particularly on the West Coast of the U.S., a multitude of strange animal deaths, high radiation readings and other recent anomalies suggest that the Fukushima disaster is far from over. It is simply ludicrous, in other words, for anyone to suggest at this point that these Fukushima woes are dwindling, as fresh evidence suggests that quite the opposite is true. A recent report by Michael Snyder over at TheTruthWins.com highlights 28 signs that the U.S. West Coast is still being torn up by nuclear radiation from Fukushima. Many of these signs include strange illnesses and mass deaths among sea creatures and other animals, as well as high radiation readings from dozens of monitoring stations. “Every single day, 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima enters the Pacific Ocean,” writes Snyder about this one major sign. “That means that the total amount of radioactive material released from Fukushima is constantly increasing, and it is steadily building up in our food chain.” Radioactive debris mass the size of California still impacting West Coast Another obvious sign is the recent mass migration of radioactive debris the size of California across the Pacific Ocean. BBC News in the U.K. reported last year that literally millions of tons of radioactive debris had begun traveling across the Pacific Ocean, and that some of it had already impacted Hawaii and even the West Coast. There has also been a series of strange animal deaths recently, including masses of sea lions, sockeye salmon and other sea creatures washing up on the shore. Many of the polar bears, seals and walruses observed along the Alaska coastline have also been found to have major fur loss and open sores, both of which are indicative of radiation poisoning. also ... Fukushima Debris "Island" The Size Of Texas Near US West Coast Tyler Durden on 11/06/2013 http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-06/fukushima-debris-island-size-texas-near-us-west-coast

Still using my cellphone from 2004 so I'm a little behind the times and knowledge dealing with "smartphones" ... could a person maybe use a "fake" e-mail or a disposable e-mail like "10 Minute Mail" ... 10 Minute Mail Your e-mail address will expire in 10 minutes. http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html Would a person need it more than ten minutes? That might solve not having to use your real e-mail or maybe just a junk e-mail. ...

I read this story yesterday but I'm sure Charlotte or JorgeA will be able to find more information dealing with it. Nothing is safe anywhere, even if you live in the "back woods" minding your own business ... thinking "just me and my Wi-Fi" ! NSA Can Hack WiFi Devices From Eight Miles Away http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/30/nsa-can-hack-wifi-devices-from-eight-miles-away/ The NSA may have the ability to intercept data from around the world, but we now know that it has some impressive (and intimidating) equipment for snooping on nearby targets. Security guru Jacob Appelbaum told those at the Chaos Communications Congress this weekend that the NSA's big box of tools includes Nightstand, a custom device that can compromise WiFi networks for the sake of inserting spy software. The Linux-powered device can exploit Windows systems from up to eight miles away; it's unlikely that you'll catch agents wardriving in the parking lot. Nightstand may not see significant use today given that it dates back to 2008, but its existence suggests that the NSA also has newer, more advanced WiFi surveillance gear at its disposal. .... there isn't too much more on the subject, if it's true. Maybe our crack spy news team can find more. They find many links to everything.

Thanks DosProbie for the clarification on CCleaner. I didn't think it actually cleaned all flash cookies after searching around in Google, it is supposed to clean some flash cookies but probably not all. I don't depend on it, that's why I was searching around for a good flash cookie cleaner as a separate program ... I like the program that I posted about, when I have Javascript turned off in the K-Meleon browser (or other browsers) many flash cookies can show up in a very short time, sometimes there will be just a few but sometimes there are a lot of "strange" looking things in the view window. I check frequently with Flash Cookies Cleaner to get everything out while I'm online, I have a shortcut in the Quick Launch section. The maker claims that it removes every Flash Cookie from your system. I can't be 100% about that also ... but it does remove everything in the view window. I feel better that I can easily check for flash cookies and get rid of them. ...

Reading up a little more on Snapchat, just in July (2013) they were valued around $800 million and in four months (Nov) $3 billion and the company has never made a penny in revenue. However, some on Wall Street think $4 billion would be fair ... for a company with zero revenue or profits. Maybe they can get another billion or two ... man, why couldn't I think of putting a company or something together that will probably never make money or a profit but still be worth $3 billion? What other "billion dollar" no profit companies are lurking just around the corner? Maybe it will all work, people went crazy over "tulips" in the 1600's! Tulip Mania http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

Yes JorgeA ... you are so right ... It just gets worse ! I was reading all this earlier but I figured you or Charlotte would bring everyone up to speed on the latest news. This part is crazy ... "The NSA calls this method interdiction. At these so-called "load stations," agents carefully open the package in order to load malware onto the electronics, or even install hardware components that can provide backdoor access for the intelligence agencies. All subsequent steps can then be conducted from the comfort of a remote computer." What other stuff is being "carefully opened" and being resealed?

Here, Here ... I'll drink to that ! Wonder how the company stock will do in 2014 as the active numbers drop and really young people now ... as they get older, just never sign-up. I find this interesting in the article: WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the number one way to send messages, say the researchers, while Snapchat has gained in popularity in recent months by allowing users to send images which “self-destruct” after a short period on the recipients phone in order to maintain privacy. Snapchat claims that 350 million images are sent every day, and reportedly recently turned down a $3 billion (£1.8 billion) acquisition offer from Facebook. Co-founder Evan Spiegel, who lives at home with his father despite an estimated net worth of $3 billion, last month told The Telegraph that “deleting should be the default”. ... turning down an offer of $3 billion? ... take the money and run, enjoy the short life we all have on this planet. Always something "new" on the horizon to sink your ship !

The times change fast ... I still like e-mail. Young users see Facebook as 'dead and buried' Matthew Sparkes 27 Dec 2013 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10539274/Young-users-see-Facebook-as-dead-and-buried.html

Just to refresh the news about a "possible" new K-Meleon browser on the horizon, or as new as can be going into 2014. Since my last post, things seem to be falling into place ... many people coming up with solutions for a better KM browser. This was just posted by adodupan under the thread: Re: Anyone still using kmeleon? He's talking about a "fully functional browser" maybe sometime in 2014. http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?1,125632,page=7 Posted by: adodupan Date: December 27, 2013 01:05AM Dorian, i wrote code for right click in xul files. Code still needs some finesses, but it works. Problem that i can not solve is the problem with nsIPromptService. For example, in config.xul file context menu opens with no problems now, and all commands are executed, except when it is necessary to open a new chrome window (nsIPromptService). One more problem, youtube clips do not play as expected. If you can solve these two problems, we have a fully functional browser. Regards to all There are many people involved ... read the lasts 15 or so posts (page 6 and 7) before adodupan's post leading into Dec 24th. Guenter from Germany has posted on Dec 25 what I think is "Christmas - Holiday" greetings in 100 languages (+ or -) ... I was counting them and lost count near the end ... very close to 100. Fred sent a greeting from Switzerland ... these are also project contributors. I just thought anyone liking K-Meleon and not having been to the KM forum lately might like an update ... a lot going on over there.

More alarming news about the Target mess and encrypted personal identification numbers (PINs). "The hackers who attacked Target Corp and compromised up to 40 million credit cards and debit cards also managed to steal encrypted personal identification numbers (PINs), according to a senior payments executive familiar with the situation. One major U.S. bank fears that the thieves would be able to crack the encryption code and make fraudulent withdrawals from consumer bank accounts, said the executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the data breach is still under investigation." Exclusive: Target hackers stole encrypted bank PINs Dec 24, 2013 http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/24/uk-target-databreach-exclusive-idUKBRE9BN0L420131224 ... more at the link, I just pulled out a few things from the story. Target has not said how its systems were compromised, though it described the operation as "sophisticated." The U.S. Secret Service and the Justice Department are investigating. Officials with both agencies have declined comment on the investigations. The attack could end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars, but it is unclear so far who will bear the expense. While bank customers are typically not liable for losses because of fraudulent activity on their credit and debit cards, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Santander Bank said they have lowered limits on how much cash customers can take out of teller machines and spend at stores. Security experts said it is highly unusual for banks to reduce caps on withdrawals, and the move likely reflects worries that PINs have fallen into criminal hands, even if they are encrypted. "That's a really extreme measure to take," said Avivah Litan, a Gartner analyst who specializes in cyber security and fraud detection. "They definitely found something in the data that showed there was something happening with cash withdrawals." BREAKING THE CODE While the use of encryption codes may prevent amateur hackers from obtaining the digital keys to customer bank deposits, the concern is the coding cannot stop the kind of sophisticated cyber criminal who was able to infiltrate Target for three weeks. Daniel Clemens, CEO of Packet Ninjas, a cyber security consulting firm, said banks were prudent to lower debit card limits because they will not know for sure if Target's PIN encryption was infallible until the investigation is completed. As an example of potential vulnerabilities in PIN encryption, Clemens said he once worked for a retailer who hired his firm to hack into its network to find security vulnerabilities. He was able to access the closely guarded digital "key" used to unscramble encrypted PINs, which he said surprised his client, who thought the data was secure. In other cases, hackers can get PINs by using a tool known as a "RAM scraper," which captures the PINs while they are temporarily stored in memory, Clemens said. The attack on Target began on November 27, the day before the Thanksgiving holiday and continued until December 15. Banks that issue debit and credit cards learned about the breach on December 18, and Target publicly disclosed the loss of personal account data on December 19. On December 21, JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank, alerted 2 million of its debit cardholders that it was lowering the daily limits on ATM withdrawals to $100 and capping store purchases with their cards at $500. On Monday, the bank partly eased the limits it had imposed on Saturday, setting them at $250 a day for ATM withdrawals and $1,000 a day for purchases. (The usual debit card daily limits are $200 to $500 for cash withdrawals and $500 for purchases, a bank spokeswoman said last week.) On Monday, Santander - a unit of Spain's Banco Santander - followed suit, lowering the daily limits on cash withdrawals and purchases on Santander and Sovereign branded debit and credit cards of customers who used them at Target when the breach occurred. Santander did not disclose the new limits, but said it was monitoring the accounts and issuing new cards to customers who were affected. The largest breach against a U.S. retailer, uncovered in 2007 at TJX Cos Inc, led to the theft of data from more than 90 million credit cards over about 18 months. ...

Hey TELVM ... that's good! I like those commercials. I also wonder if JorgeA uses IE 8 that much ... there are so many other browsers available.

JorgeA ... I can't be of much help with IE 8 ... I really don't fire it up very often, only to get my monthly XP updates. I use K-Meleon 1.6 as my main browser and Qt Web as a backup browser. I had Firefox and Opera also installed and removed them earlier today. Going to go with this setup for awhile. Still in learning mode with Qt Web. This is my current UA that I just put into KM and Qt Web earlier today. Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:25.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/25.0.9.9 Browser: Firefox 25.0.9.9 Run on: Windows 7 Device: Personal computer ...

Since User Agents have been mentioned ... here's (there are many) a couple good sites to get information on what you're putting out on the web. Also, if you are using Proxomitron (as I do) then you have to temporary place it on Bypass to get a true UA reading. Proxomitron will ID you as using Windows 7 with the Sidki filter set, even if you are using Windows XP or Windows 98SE. User Agent Details http://user-agents.my-addr.com/custom_user_agent_lookup-ua_string_analysis_checker_tool.php?i=30383&u=_Mozilla_4_0_compatible_MSIE_6_0_Windows_NT_5_1_ Just paste UA in the space ... also user-agent-string.info http://user-agent-string.info/parse ... just to add about the Qt Web browser which I mention briefly in an earlier post. It has a large amount User Agents available but you can just add the one you like under Custom and it stays as a permanent User Agent till you change it ... not going away when you close and restart Qt Web. I'll post the link again if anyone wants to check it out further. If you go into Edit - Preferences - Advanced you will see many User Agents to pick from under Internet Explorer (5) / Opera (2) / Chrome (1) / Firefox (6) / Safari (11) or you just paste the custom UA you want to use. Qt Web Portable Browser http://qtweb.net/ ...

So where are we headed with all this ... Google has a spy program that almost rivals the NSA ... haven't they built huge data centers to "store" everything they collect and now they have become a military contractor. Are we headed for the "The United States of Google"? I'm looking for an underground cave home ... just too dangerous to be on the surface anymore !!! "Many of Boston Dynamics’ robots have been developed with funding from the US Department of Defense’s research unit, Darpa, making Google a military contractor, at least for now."

Anybody looking for a dual-pane file manager might like to check out 2xExplorer. It's an older program from 2002 and works only with Win9x/NT4/2000/Me/XP. I use it on my XP setup and just like the look and feel of it and it's free of course. 2xExplorer v1.4.1.12 2xExplorer is a free, lightweight Norton Commander type (dual-pane) file manager for Win9x/NT4/2000/Me/XP, fully shell-integrated. Easy navigation and loads of tools make it a good replacement for Windows Explorer, for the advanced user and the novice alike. MAIN FEATURES * Dual pane layout with extra tree in a dockable pane * Internal text editor (and RTF/HEX viewer) * Thumbnail preview pane for images, HTML, office documents * Lightweight folder synchronization * Advanced FileFind command * Automatic building of batch files (e.g. for mass renaming) * Loads of keyboard shortcuts * Integrated ZIP file management (for winXP) * Printing of folder contents and other statistics * Wildcard-based filters * Split & merge files * Create hard links (NTFS) * Copy pathnames and preview images * Optional single-click activation 2xExplorer Home Page http://netez.com/2xExplorer/ There is a newer version called xplorer² but I like the older 2xExplorer version myself. The download link for 2xExplorer v1.4.1.12 is on the lower right side under Downloads. ...