CharlotteTheHarlot

These are all threads from hardcore veteran "Enthusiast" sites ... Windows 8 banned by worlds top benchmarking and overclocking site ( ExtremeTech 2013-08-19 ) Windows 8 Benchmark Records No Longer Accepted At HWBOT / RTC clock bug in windows 8 ( Overclock.net 2013-08-18 ) HWBot bans Windows 8 over RTC flaw ( Bit-Tech.net 2013-08-19 ) HWBot No Longer Accepts Record Submissions from Windows 8 ( TechPowerUp 2013-08-18 ) Windows 8 is broken (RTC) ( OverClockersClub 2013-08-18 ) Another excerpt ... Some more ... Only NuMicrosoft could figure out a way to break a most basic function of an operating system. We have always had problems with drift, crystals are not perfect nor are human engineered batteries and caps, but it was mere seconds lost or gained over many months and years. Microsoft has indeed surpassed all expectations now by creating an elaborate Relativity experiment even Einstein himself would marvel at. Place identical, equally overclocked or underclocked PC's side by side running Windows 7 and Windows 8 respectively and you have yourself a stationary case of the Twin's Paradox with no need of massive physical acceleration whatsoever to achieve time-travel! Someone in Redmond deserves a Nobel Prize.

Yes, this is a big story that is just breaking. Only a couple of places have it so far that I have seen ... Windows 8 PC benchmark scores banned from HWBOT database ( NeoWin 2013-08-19 ) Benchmarking Site Bans Windows 8 Results Over Broken Real Time Clock ( Maximum PC 2013-08-19 ) Thing is, it looks like it is not just Metro Look at the following video and you see it tested on the desktop therefore is at the Windows core itself ... What it looks like is that Windows is no longer referencing the RTC at all, and the reason given is that Windows 8 being installed on all manner of devices including those without a RTC means they are flying by the seat of their pants on all devices. In other words, it is another case where the OS ignores the desktop/laptop majority in favor of code optimized for mobile devices. Microsoft has been contacted but no word has yet been received. Perhaps we can now name this OS disaster Windows RTC I'll tell you what, this is going to be a big thing for several reasons. Supposedly Windows 8.1 Blew has already been RTM'd so they have missed that important window to include a bug fix for wide distribution. But even if they had caught it before RTM, there is no guarantee everyone is going to upgrade anyway. Furthermore, what the heck are they gonna say to administrators of expensive server editions running mission critical tasks? "Sorry" just ain't gonna cut it. It will take a couple of weeks to determine how far this mistake has percolated, how many core functions of Windows have been affected ( probably everything including timestamps of files and event log entries ). Even Xbox using Windows 8.x whatever may be affected. Frankly this is an unbelievable mistake, indicating testing by amateurs. Considering how the world was turned upside down by the various Intel bugs I don't see Microsoft walking away from this unscathed. For all practical purposes they have broken the nearly perfect reputation of NT as a bombproof kernel. And they did this by doing exactly what they were warned against - blending workstation, server and mobile into a single being. This is gonna be interesting indeed. EDIT: extra chars removed, added quote

Microsoft finally fixes Outlook.com issues; offers apology and explanation (Update) ( NeoWin 2013-08-17 ) Microsoft apologizes for Outlook, ActiveSync downtime, says error overloaded servers ( The Verge 2013-08-17 ) But how long was it? NeoWin finally provides some actual numbers albeit grudgingly and vaguely ... It looks like at least three full days for some users. If this had affected the other cloud thingie we would be calling it Office 362 ( and counting ) Dear Microsoft, please put the DRM back in Xbox One! Pretty please, - signed: a MicroZealot. Security stuff again ... NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds ( Washington Post 2013-08-15 ) NSA coughs to 1000s of unlawful acts of snooping on US soil since 2008 ( UK Register 2013-08-16 ) NSA Broke Privacy Rules "Thousands" Of Times ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-17 ) I'm still shocked by this. <--- See my shocked face? The reason I'm shocked is because they have all those safeguards, you know, judges and congress-critters and stuff. And they said: "Don't worry, be happy!". That's why I'm so shocked.

Meanwhile, for all those safe users "protected" by Windows Updates ... Microsoft Patch Tuesday: The '90s called. It wants its 'Ping of Death' back ( UK Register 2013-08-14 ) Microsoft botches six Windows patches in latest Automatic Update ( InfoWorld 2013-08-15 ) Microsoft pulls two of its Patch Tuesday security updates ( NeoWin 2013-08-15 ) I just love the idea of an ever-changing core codebase on my computers, don't you? NOT. This is why I leave Windows Update off and only visit it manually, only when I decide to. Seriously, with all the sloppy mistakes coming out of Microsoft over the past few years why wouldn't some errors also trickle out of Windows Update? Here are some examples ... Vista "Windows Ready" labeling controversy.Insulting customers with Vista Mojave Project, 'You're doing it wrong'Half-hearted Zune development and later cancellationAlmost flushing $45 Billion down the toilet on Yahoo!Blowing $6+ Billion on aQuantiveWin7sp1 Browser Ballot screwup resulting in $700+ Million fineMindlessly changing well-known Logos for both "Microsoft" and "Windows"Removing the Start Menu from Windows 8 and not restoring it despite worldwide criticismRemoving Aero Glass from Windows 8 RP, and not restoring it despite worldwide criticismIncluding Metro on Server editions of Windows 8Spreading the horrific Flat Colorless GUI across product linesRadically altering various product EULAs to thwart customer class-action lawsuitsFurther ruining MSDN and TechNet membership benefitsMetro naming fiasco with Metro AGWindows RT branding deception with ARM vs x86 IncompatibilityWindows 8 Mojave Project sequel, 'So easy, a child will show you how to use it'High profile and unprofessional Scroogle campaignOrwellian patent for in-home spying with KinectMajor changes to Office licensing affecting loyal customersSignificant Xbox screwups: Always-On, Always-Connected, DRM, no Optical play, HDD installs only, Kinect requiredSignificant Xbox screwups: No Resale of pre-owned, previous games Not Compatible, Xbox live security breachEU and China Bribery AllegationsSelling out Chinese citizens through Skype collaboration with Regime turning in customers using various keywordsSelling out American citizens complying with requests for customer informationWithdrawing Office 2010 leaving only the horrific Office 2013 availableMicrosoft creative director on Always-On console: #dealwithitBitcoin mining malware spreading on Skype at 2,000 clicks per hourKilling TechNet membership benefitsExposed as first partner in Government Spying programsIt's really been an incredible few years, eh? Simply stunning! And that list is far from complete, but it surely indicates a shift away from a stable professional outfit towards that of a blundering drunk weaving all over the road, banging into everything in sight. And you better believe that there is much more to come.

Windows XP's retirement could spark a hacker feeding frenzy ( PC World 2013-08-13 ) Lots of FUD-wielding security analysts putting their reputations on the line throwing out incredible numbers like our friend in this thread. These guys remind me of sports writers who live completely in the theoretical, charting the teams' strengths and weaknesses on paper every year and inevitably at the end of the season they got it 99% wrong. They seem to be he!! bent on pushing everyone into the Playskool Microsoft Tiles at all costs, and the FUD is thicker than the media reporting prior to Y2K. This time around though they will likely pay with their careers or at least their reputations because the Internet is now really up and running and their words will not get lost to the ages. So bring on those predictions of doom and gloom! Microsoft warns it'll hand out zero days for Windows XP ( UK Register 2013-08-16 ) XP Z: Microsoft scares Windows XP users straight with undead bug warning ( ComputerWorld 2013-08-16 ) Microsoft warns Windows XP users risk 'zero day forever' ( Mary Jo Foley ZDNet 2013-08-16 ) More on the Windows XP FUD. Interesting take on it at The Register article and especially the comments which explore the Microsoft blackmail aspect of the issue, that is, Microsoft is pretty much telling the hackers to wait until next year, then reverse engineer the new patches for Vista-7-8 that no longer work on Windows XP, and then use the information to discover the unpatched holes in Windows XP.

Seriously. They're completely full of sh!t. That's what it is. Like I've said, at best their numbers are representative of sheeple. Those that click on everything. These are all synthetic tests, automated with no user variables. Furthermore they are presumably running their devices facing the "internet" not a hardware firewall. They are using MSIE, probably MSIE6 in order to drag down Windows XP, and the dead-end firewall that shipped with SP2. In short, they could only fudge the numbers this bad by testing the worst case scenario a MicroSheep using MSIE with a software firewall. Anyone still doing this without a Gateway-Router-Hardware Firewall deserves it. Let Darwin sort them out. Ironically this FUD is not a indicator of a bad Windows XP or 2000, it is an indicator of Windows in general as delivered by Microsoft. Their solution after all these years is to strap-on piles of anti-malware to monitor your every move including every flashdrive you insert on an operating system most likely compromised by federal spooks. Screw that crap. Thanks anyway.

EDITORIAL: What happened to Windows Phone? ( NeoWin 2013-08-17 ) So what exactly will it look like when the NuMicrosoft fail begins to dawn upon the NeoKids? Well take a peek. Excuses, rationalizations, denial. Not quite yet an obituary, but a step towards closure nonetheless. Microsoft: After April 8th, Windows XP will have "zero day" exploits forever ( NeoWin 2013-08-16 ) HeHeHe! The latest and greatest fear-fest from the biggest group of children ever gathered in one place ( minus the two or three adults trying calm the little girls down ). Too many examples to even bother quoting, but so many of them expose their absolute lack of any knowledge whatsoever saying things out of instinct and emotion even though they are completely false. They even have a giant infographic, Microsoft-created naturally, to feed the sheeple talking points. One of the best ones is that Windows 7 is 6-times more likely to be infected than Windows 8 ! See here ... Ummm, it's got like 8 times the market share, so it's more likely 8 times as vulnerable. Math is hard! The truth is that Microsoft's greatest fear is that people might finally call their bluff, exposing the decade of FUD spread by these panty-wearing little girls to steer the sheeple into the upgrading and updating treadmill, and strangling businesses into expensive slavery contracts paying for placebo support. Hardware makers benefit, software makers benefit, Microsoft benefits, so-called security professionals benefit. I wonder just how much of the computer economy is directly driven by FUD from all these used-car salesmen? It's a tight economy right now, people are getting laid off daily, using security FUD to drum up new sales is crazy and borderline criminal because it will result in lost jobs to instead buy new computers to placate their fears. There is a real-life "yelling fire in a crowded theater" aspect to this. I really hope businesses and users tell them all to screw off. They are also worried that people might avoid switching from a pre-9/11 pre-Vista pre-Prism operating system to something new and government-compromised. Read that earlier article about Lavabit shutting down their service rather than being complicit in spying and now being threatened with prosecution for shutting down. It makes sense to me that there is pressure on Microsoft to get their "customers" onto something new and accessible to government spooks. This is what they famously term a tinfoil conspiracy theory.

Lavabit founder Ladar Levison raises $100,000 for legal defense ( TechSpot 2013-08-16 ) This has taken a strange turn now, with the hero who closed his secure email service rather than become a willing partner in customer spying ( like ~cough~ Microsoft ), being possibly threatened with prosecution for ... closing his secure email service rather than become a willing partner in customer spying ( like ~cough~ Microsoft ). Hence the defense fund. Welcome to fascism. Google now automatically encrypts all Google Cloud Storage data ( TechSpot 2013-08-16 ) I give them props for taking this step, it might help them stem the bleeding of customer trust, but I can't understand how this can be considered secure. First of all, it still isn't end-to-end encryption, it is only a middle step that secures data once it is uploaded and decrypts before it is sent back. The only people it will protect from are those with access to the cloud itself but the transit is vulnerable. Secondly, this does nothing against court orders and the like, something they will still probably cave in to. It's one step above doing nothing. NSA violated privacy rules thousands of times, leaked audit reveals ( TechSpot 2013-08-16 ) Well there's a shock. This is my shocked face. Color me shocked. Company halts bin spying program after public outcry ( NeoWin 2013-08-16 ) The UK trash can story. They say they will stop and promise to explain things much better on any future projects. They just didn't explain it well enough this time. For some real enlightenment check out all the comments by one of the NeoKids bombing the thread with excuses for this and all other types of spying and how it's just peachy keen! One of the dumbest sheeple ever to pollute a NeoWin comment thread, and believe me, that is really saying something. Even some of the other NeoKids are surprised.

Another VERY GOOD one! : jaclaz Agreed! TELVM is the thread winner!

Microsoft Censors OpenOffice Download Links ( TorrentFreak 2013-08-14 ) Microsoft DMCA takedown requests targeting OpenOffice ( UK Register 2013-08-16 ) Who the he!! ever thought this DMCA takedown crap was a good idea anyway? Google should have said screw you and indexed everything without a ROBOTS.TXT exclusion. In fact, even that is a pretty bad idea. If you don't want someone to see something it shouldn't be placed on a publicly accessible server in the first place. But the DMCA ex post facto nonsense is a bridge too far and is just asking to be abused. If you read the article you will see that Microsoft is just plain lazy, phoning it in with automated takedown requests using anything with the word Office in it. There should be severe penalties for these errors, intentional or not. Because their precious Office gets pirated from time to time people are expected to jump. Either make your software Pirate-proof or stop complaining. Mentioned these two stories a few posts back ... Microsoft's Outlook.com, SkyDrive and People services experiencing issues (Update) ( NeoWin 2013-08-14 ) Microsoft still dealing with Outlook.com issues with syncing email with mobile devices ( NeoWin 2013-08-15 ) I've noticed that NeoWin always reports these glitches in the Matrix but never seems to detail the length of time for the outtage. Now Paul Thurrott has a bit about this in his Short Takes: August 16, 2013 ... So it "went dark for millions" eh? ... For "a very long seven hours" eh? ... I must have missed that part at NeoWin because of all the tools who kept telling us "works for me" and "no problems here". Now I really wish that Microsoft had kept all the DRM in Xbox for the inevitable entertainment value when those servers go down or get overloaded.

Okay, I see what you are getting at. So it's the handling of locked files from Explorer that is important to you. Indeed this is a definite improvement should you find yourself in this predicament on Vista-7-8. To tell the truth I just hadn't noticed that in over 7 years now! Most likely because I try to avoid that dumbed down interface by just popping the disk into an XP system and doing file stuff unencumbered by the new GUI training wheels. After all these years since Windows XP came along ( which really stepped up the "locked" file enforcement compared to Win9x ) I just developed a habit of canceling the dialog, then de-selecting the locked file and repeating the copy and continuing. Windows has always been full of annoyances like this and you just compensate. Naturally this is not possible when you are copying folders full of files though. This is one of those classic +/- decision matrix where the question becomes: is it worth it? For example, if someone had asked me about fixing this locked file problem ( which is clearly ridiculous for "copy" but not "move" obviously ) I would have said, yeah, why not, fix your mess. But if they said that while they're fixing it they would also clobber the user interface, dumbing it down for the n00bs out there, I would have suggested they skip the whole idea and just leave it alone. The Windows 6.x GUI is another step towards Idiocracy ( Metro being a long jump ). I'm not against it, even sheeple need an interface, but not at the expense of everyone else. Fixing these little things would be great but not when they in turn give us that absurd file collision dialog designed by a committee of blind bureaucrats. They could have fixed this stuff and then provided tick box options to allow non-n00bs the ability to re-define these sorts of things back to sanity. It reminds me of when Windows XP gave us the crazy mathematical file sort ( treating filenames as values instead of labels ) which drove lots of people mad. Microsoft screwed this one up and users were forced to solve it themselves by creating the tick box preference through a REG script toggling between the file sorting methods ( here's what my own custom version looks like ). Naturally this cannot work if GUI functions themselves no longer contain the code that looks at preferences in the registry in the first place, and this is where Microsoft is headed.

Yeah, that Hal guy is a piece of work. He's a definite Softie or ex-Softie, perhaps Formfiller can confirm this since I see that Hal is mentioned over at TechBroil from time to time. Notably, the first and only place that Sinofsky showed up and commented at, the very next day after he was fired was at the Hal2020 site, see here. Other shills are also posting there like Peter not-so-Bright. I mentioned that Thurrott article over in the big thread. Quite a FUD-fest these shills got going. Apocalypse Now!

How about these folks? (Either or both.) How do they fit into the scheme? --JorgeA Haven't checked that out yet. Has anyone else seen it? Very difficult keeping up with these threads lately with all the outages!

IDC: 300,000 Microsoft Surfaces shipped last quarter ( NeoWin 2013-08-14 ) An analyst may have worked out the actual sales numbers for Surfaces for the last quarter. According to him, in the calendar Q2 2013 Microsoft actually shipped only 300,000 total, of which 200,000 were Pro and the remaining 100,000 were the ReTard Edition. At that phenomenal rate it will take 5 quarters or 1.25 years to sell a single million Pros or 2.5 years for a million RT models. Contrast that to the 14.6 million iPads sold last quarter ( that's the same timeframe ) and the problem for the wannabe MicroApple is clear: 300,000 versus 14.6 million. Ain't never gonna happen. HTC reportedly dumping Windows Phone to focus on Android instead ( NeoWin 2013-08-14 ) Ruh Roh. One of the few non-Nokia "partners" is bailing on WP. That leaves just Samsung and Huawei I believe. Considering that Nokia itself is practically on life support it is stunning how big a gamble that Windows Phone is. It really looks like Ballmer and co. were at a roulette table and pushed all the chips onto a single number ( with three other small corner bets ). Microsoft Healthy Computing - Aug. 13, 2013 ( Microsoft 2013-08-13 ) Microsoft: 85 percent of US PC workers are uncomfortable at their desk ( NeoWin 2013-08-14 ) Today's Joke Of The Day. What we have here is a Microsoft slideshow about Ergonomics, an elaborate ad for their latest keyboard and mouse. Check it out, it's only eight slides. Anyway, I just had to make a graphic about it ... ( Original Photos: 1,2,3,4,5,6 )

Microsoft's Outlook.com, SkyDrive and People services experiencing issues (Update) ( NeoWin 2013-08-14 ) Microsoft still dealing with Outlook.com issues with syncing email with mobile devices ( NeoWin 2013-08-15 ) Another cloudy day for MicroSheep. Once again it's Outlook and SpyDrive. Now if they can just work Office 364 into the mix they can be awarded the Darwin cloud Trifecta. Add in another like Xbox Live and we'll get a Superfecta. Not sure if there is a common term for a 5-way, but if there is we can use it for when Skype joins the other four. Security and related ... Hacker targets Houston family's baby monitor ( ABC News 2013-08-13 ) Baby monitor hacked, child verbally assaulted ( NeoWin 2013-08-15 ) Details are lacking but it looks like a case of a sheeple consumer device being easily compromised, as can be expected. The sheeple hook up the baby webcam and then look at a webpage from a computer to watch the camera feed. I suspect that the website hosting the webpage itself was "hacked" ( or they guessed the simple password ) but it really can be almost anything as the cause. Maybe uPnP was the culprit as we have known was a weak link for over a decade now. Hopefully this one will be explained in more detail later. Online Ads Could Create 'Million Browser Botnet' ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-15 ) Researchers demonstrating how plain old HTML and JS are flawed, but in fact it is the browsers themselves. Just for once I wish these so-called "security professionals" would stop worrying about getting their name in an article describing yet another theoretical exploit and instead do something useful like carefully test their exploit against a slew of different browsers, operating systems, antivirus software and router firewalls and then report the d@mn results. What happens now is that everyone scrambles to add some fix to their currently released browser or OS and the treadmill continues spinning but the vulnerability ( or durability ) older browsers and operating systems are ignored in favor of FUD to drag them into upgrades. They are all pretty much in collusion if you ask me. EDIT: typo

You can either do that ( Quicktime or whatever plugin ) or select one of the other options to route the file to a local already working media player like WMP or GOM or VLC. I personally stopped doing this a while ago and just download them instead with "save to disk". This way I don't have them playing automatically anymore, and have the option to cancel the download if I change my mind. So I kinda changed Opera from being a media player into a more tamed file downloader. The main point is that Opera at least gives a plethora of options through that dialog. That was always their main strength IMHO.

I get your drift. Personally I think the cloud with respect to storage privacy is over, toast, kaput. My idea of a wise use of the "cloud" is only for stuff I don't mind losing, nothing private, and in fact best used for stuff to be publicly displayed like funny images on Imgur. No private photos, nothing with EXIF or telltale iinformation obviously. The links I keep posting for Mega and Pirate Bay ( so far, hopefully more to come ) are getting into something new. And judging from the shutdowns we have recently seen they may be the only folks working on this - secure P2P communication, stuff that is temporary and never stored ( or stored undetectably ). So yeah, forget the cloud storage aspects and let's see if progress on secure P2P picks up again. The concept of two people securely communicating is the worst nightmare of all governments and their agents. That's why this is going to be difficult. I think they will stop at nothing to prevent it's development and use. This is the bane of government, people talking behind their backs, plotting to "destroy" them, or even just voting them out. They cannot have that. And to think we used to make fun of 3rd world dictators for preserving their own power.

This part is unclear to me, you had countless copy/move restarts on WinXP or Win7? Please describee what happened in both OS's so I can understand it. I also don't get what you mean by "access problem"? File is locked? File is corrupt? How would Win7 allow you to copy either of those? Thing is, you're not supposed to be able to copy locked or defective files through the GUI, it is supposed to break. I haven't noticed Win7 doing away with this error checking. These files are best copied with special tools anyway, sector-wise if need be. Personally I think the incredibly increased use of aliasing with symbolic links makes for a much tougher job at the file level in Vista-7. Not to mention the dumbed down user interface making use of libraries and other abstractions. For example, if you hand me a Win7 NTFS system disk to clean up or remove a virus from, and I can either stick that drive in an XP or Win7 machine, I will choose XP because of less added fluff and to be able to get the job done very quickly. This is because the GUI isn't programmed to work against me. Neither GUI is perfect obviously, but Explorer really took a dive in Windows 6 with the dumbing down of hiding much more stuff, and that stupid full-row select.

Windows ReTard Edition ... Class action lawsuit filed against Microsoft over Surface RT sales ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 ) Microsoft Hit with Class Action Suit for Allegedly Hiding Poor Surface RT Sales From Investors ( Maximum PC 2013-08-14 ) Investors Suing Microsoft Over Misleading Surface RT Info ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-14 ) You can just imagine how this one is going over at NeoWin! Boom or Bust: A closer look at the state of Windows RT ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 ) Philosophical glimpse into the NeoTard minds. You will need to pry RT from Dot MetroTard's cold dead fingers. Office 364 ... Microsoft signs up New York state's 120,000 government workers for Office 365 ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 ) Oh yeah, that was a tough sell. Signing up our corrupt NY State government who are always willing to flush our tax dollars right down the nearest toilet. The Competition ... ZTE to start selling ZTE Open Firefox OS smartphones in the US and UK Friday ( NeoWin 2013-08-12 ) Unlocked for $79. Non-Android, Non-iOS, Non-Windows. Let's hope this starts a trend. EDIT: added articles

IDC says sales of touchscreen laptops were overestimated ( TechSpot 2013-08-12 ) IDC: Sales of touchscreen laptops to be lower than expected in 2013 ( NeoWin 2013-08-12 ) Microsoft May Have Overestimated Demand for Touchscreen Laptops ( Maximum PC 2013-08-13 ) Well done analysts. Well we can't just blame them since they are working from a statistical disadvantage. Just imagine if Microsoft would release the truthful numbers for Surface and Windows 8. Then you might be able to get a really accurate analysis. Windows 8.1 9471 includes detailed tutorials and other enhancements ( NeoWin 2013-08-12 ) Ah, one year on and the Redmond bureaucrats have decided to include help and tutorials in Microsoft Tiles. There is of course the natural digression in the comments ... Liar. There were discussions alright, mostly about what took them so long to release a 32-bit non-crashing mulitasking OS in the first place. Other discussions about PnP. This "big lie" is all about his mental rationalizations in order to deal with the worldwide outcry against the Playskool toy he so loves. He rationalizes that there must be some magic reason since he himself cannot possibly be wrong. That reason? Everyone else is afraid of change of course. But his lies are transparent because in other comments he talks of graduating college within the last couple of years making him about 22 years old now so he was around 4 years old when these alleged Windows 95 controversies occurred. This 'Tard never even saw USENET and is a classic generation Xbox baby. The sad thing about that generation is that their parents were so spoiling and irresponsible that they never taught them to tell the truth and never punished them for lies. Xbox again in the news ... Microsoft: Xbox One can still work without Kinect sensor connected ( NeoWin 2013-08-12 ) Xbox One will work without Kinect, gamepad to support PCs in 2014 ( TechSpot 2013-08-13 ) Microsoft Confirms Xbox One Will Function Without Kinect ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-13 ) Poll: How long before Microsoft releases a non-Kinect version of Xbox One? ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 ) Official rumors say you can simply disconnect the Kinect and proceed normally. Maybe. But at least it's clear that Microsoft has been really busy altering the Xbone thanks to that unexpected pressure from competition from Playstation. Visit the NeoWin comment threads to witness the ongoing meltdown and anger that this competition has wrought. Microsoft confirms no voice-chat between Xbox One and 360 ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 ) Some huge technological problem that even Microsoft cannot overcome? Heck no. The old system was Messenger based and the new one instead uses their patented spook agency approved Skype. But don't worry, text messaging is still functional!

Security and related ... Lavabit's Ladar Levison: 'If You Knew What I Know About Email, You Might Not Use It' ( Forbes 2013-08-09 ) Lavabit email service abruptly shut down citing government interference ( UK Guardian 2013-08-09 ) Lavabit founder: 'If you knew what I know about email, you might not use it' ( NeoWin 2013-08-10 ) Lavabit founder comments on closure of encrypted email service ( TechSpot 2013-08-12 ) More on the latest big story. In fact this is probably the most important thing to be exposed since the original spy leak. You need to read between the lines in these articles especially the quotes from these guys who cannot speak freely. What it all means is that the worst case scenario, the so-called "tinfoil conspiracy theories" that are always labeled as such to tamp down worries and criticism, have all been exceeded. The governments are in fact all in collusion, they are all unrestrained, and have no upper bound to avoid. They have penetrated every square inch of the technological space and consider it theirs for the taking and no-one shall get in their way. The sheeple better wake up before it is too late. Mega to fill secure email gap left by Lavabit ( ZDNet 2013-08-11 ) Mega's Kim Dotcom accelerates efforts to build secure e-mail service ( TechSpot 2013-08-12 ) I said it before, this is gonna be the next growth industry. The ZDNet article goes into some detail about just how tough secure email and messaging really is to implement. Let's all hope for lots of new research here. Pirate Bay Celebrates 10th Anniversary With The Pirate Browser ( Maximum PC 2013-08-11 ) The Pirate Bay releases 'PirateBrowser' to circumvent censorship ( TechSpot 2013-08-12 ) The Pirate Bay launches PirateBrowser', designed to avoid online censorship ( NeoWin 2013-08-13 ) It used to be pretty easy to figure out who wore the white hats and who wore the black hats. Anyone else seeing the difficulty now? Stores Tracking Shoppers Using Phone Wi-Fi Signals ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-12 ) UK Firm Tracking Users' Cell Phone Choices via Trashcans ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-12 ) London Calls for Smartbins to Stop Collecting Data ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-13 ) Nothing to see here, move along! Sniffing smartphones, kinda like Google sniffing access points. As one commenter pointed out, governments hate competition which is the only explanation for the hypocrisy of getting worked up over Google and others doing what they are already engaged in. It's a brave new world.

Note that this goes well before Vista or XP, and if true, would cover versions of Windows all the way back to 98FE. (I read somewhere, but now can't find it, that this key was introduced in 95 OSR2.) We'd have to start using Windows 3.x... or Linux. Comments? Insights? Well that's the first I heard of that I think. Those last few rollups for NT were in 1999 which definitely precedes the Whistler XP tree in 2000. Though some are saying that preceding Whistler was Neptune and that it was a direct predecessor. If that is true, than sometime around 1999-2000 a big change was seen with Neptune-Whistler, quite similar to the Longhorn-Vista change, which is quite suspicious to me now. Ordinarily I would just say that it was the bureaucrats changing direction again perhaps realizing that WinME was dead and making the big 9x-NT switchover. But since the spying leaks and the absolute proof that Microsoft is in bed with the spooks, well, it does seem to question the purity of XP and 2000. Will have to start to study these things a little closer now.

Yep, DNS was not available and direct IP Address also failed. Not just a DNS issue. I checked the Twitter and Facebook MSFN sites, nothing was posted. Funny thing was that I actually checked for a thread at RyanVM but did not find one Friday night and Saturday, that one was started Sunday I think.

Check this ... Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Downloads > MIME Type > Audio/mpeg Click "EDIT" see if the extensions list includes: mp3,mp2,mpga,mpeg,mpg,m1s,m1a,mpm,mpa,m2a make sure the main selection is : use plugin

Security related ... Store a copy of your keys in the cloud with "KeyMe" ( TechSpot 2013-08-09 ) And for the next great idea in security, I give you KeyMe. No, not software keys, but real physical house door keys. You scan them into photos and store them online and then you can get physical keys made from the scans anytime you want. What could possibly go wrong here. NSA considering automation, reducing admins by 90% ( NeoWin 2013-08-09 ) As one commenter put it, this is to reduce anymore Snowden incidents and water down all the bad publicity, nothing more. More on that huge story from yesterday ... E-mail provider linked to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden closes ( TechSpot 2013-08-09 ) Silent Circle Follows Lavabit, Shuts Down Secure Email Service ( Tom's Hardware 2013-08-09 ) Lavabit, Silent Circle close over governmental pressures ( NeoWin 2013-08-09 ) I think we can see that behind the scenes our "government" is busy protecting us by removing any semblance of privacy options available to us. It's a brave new world.