jaclaz

It is more likely that he risks a rather steep fine, or several years in jail or both. Some (now a bit dated) references to Indian Law regarding elephants (JFYI) http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/ad031e/ad031e0g.htm BUT: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dura_lex,_sed_lex jaclaz

There are quite a few reports around of other software (or other Windows components) using BITS and consuming bandwidth, though I cannot find anything "definitive". JFYI: http://www.trishtech.com/2013/10/disable-bits-service-permanently-in-windows-8/ Another possibility may lie in the Registry, but hard to say if this http://smallvoid.com/article/winnt-bits-config.html still applies and/or if it is "respected" in new versions of the OS. Still, since it is anyway a "theoretical vector" for not wanted or potentially dangerous things (be them updates or not) in the example given above I would disable it. Unrelated , but not much , a few days ago I have seen a grown up woman cry like a child when (thoughtlessly) opted in for an iPhone upgrade while traveling (cannot say if the cause was a corrupt download through a "flaky" WiFI AP, the fact that she was lowish on battery or *something else*) however the net result was that she lost all her data, BTW she works in a software house and she did have a recent "Cloud backup" (or whatever is the Apple name for that), but for some reasons the iPhone was "bricked" and she had to wait until Monday to get to the shop and hopefully revive the thingie. Since she was traveling with her husband (that actually out of lazyness more than anything else opted out the same update on his "twin" iPhone) she was able to communicate nonetheless, and he had on his device most of her contacts anyway. jaclaz

Relax. One can disable it and re-enable it when he/she actually wants to receive updates. Consider the case of someone "on the move" with just a netbook or a tablet. Let's say that hypothetical work week is: leaving home on monday morningtraveling for business in rural areas ONLY covered by (say) 3G networksgetting back home on friday nightIt would make a lot of sense if he would not like to risk a crash (because of a "flaky" update while on the move (and with no backup available) or to consume ALL (or a LARGE part) of his 3G bandwidth on one of the stupidly larges updates pushed by MS (or other vendors). When he gets back home and can have a "real" internet connection, he re-enables the BITS service and Windows Updates and updates everything over the weekend (and in case of issues he has available backups, boot disks, etc.). jaclaz

Yeah, sure, nice one! . Just to show you how I personally think it differently : http://reboot.pro/topic/18792-if-anyone-is-up-for-a-challenge/ http://reboot.pro/topic/18792-if-anyone-is-up-for-a-challenge/#entry175985 For the record the minimum theoretical size of 97 bytes was reached by joakim : (though with quite a few caveats): http://reboot.pro/topic/18792-if-anyone-is-up-for-a-challenge/?p=176346 but I still stand by "my" 148 bytes version which is a tadbit more "universal": http://reboot.pro/topic/18792-if-anyone-is-up-for-a-challenge/?p=176408 And how the good MS guys are not particularly attentive to size of what they provide http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/145209-the-smallest-possible-size-of-bootsdi/ and, to cite again myself : http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/145209-the-smallest-possible-size-of-bootsdi/?p=933421 jaclaz

I will re-state, this time in a more blunt manner what was said here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/118119-patched-iosys-for-9xme/?p=768314 FDISK does NOT and canNOT "assign" drive letters. Under DOS and Windows 9x/Me drive letter assignment is AUTOMATIC and depends on ORDER of devices AND type of partition/volumes, along of set of "rules" that are documented. Here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/51978/en-us . The above points are NOT negotiable, besides being documented they have been tested and re-tested a zillion times by countless users and always found to be true, valid, repeatable (with the exception of "particular", "strange", possibly "wrong" setups as the one discussed earlier in the referenced thread and a few others that may need the "phelum" patch). Exactly because of this impossibility to assign drive letters with ANY of the included tools - call it "limitation" or "feature" of DOS and Win9x/ME - Letter Assigner was developed. The last character on each of the above numbered points is a full stop or period. Now, please read a few times the points 1. to 5. above, convince yourself that there is NO way to "assign" drive letters with FDISK if not -when possible - to make a setup in which the automatic drive letter assignment is the same as the wanted one, possibly using either the "wrong" standard IO.SYS (that might assign letters in a "wrong" order in a few cases) or the "correct" Phelum patched version (that will assign drive letters according to the rules also in those few "strange" cases), use LetterAssigner (which also has been in use since years with success), call it a day, and please stop beating this poor dead fdisk horse. jaclaz

Cannot say specifically in Visual Fox Pro, but a path has NOT a leading backslash, it begins with either the drive letter (followed by a colon) or the "special" "." or ".." directories for relative paths. jaclaz

... and - actually - it wouldn't take 400 Mb of updates ..... more like 1 or 2 Mb of stuff jaclaz

Sure, but the given link adds to it as known sources for this kind of issue: Whether or not APM is enabled makes a differenceUSB Connections Wake on” power settingsHidden “wake on” power settings (on Ethernet cards properties)Y-SB3 Logitech Internet KeyboardLogitech MouseWare 8.6Webstar DPX USB cable modemwhich represent, in my perverted mind , "almost *anything*". jaclaz

The tools used to flash have a switch that allows to "backup" or "save" current BIOS (which is however always advised before attempting to upgrade it). Whenever possible, you want to use a "plain" BIOS flashing tool, from a booted "clean" DOS or FreeDOS. jaclaz

It can be almost *anything* , like (examples): http://www.techspot.com/community/topics/xp-will-not-shut-down-but-restarts.140038/ Is it no that it crashes on exit and then restarts because you have set it up to restart? In any case that is one of the stupidest default settings, and you really should have it stop on a BSOD: http://www.pcworld.com/article/247392/my_computer_reboots_when_i_tell_it_to_shut_down.html Adobe apps have a tradition of crashing for *whatever* reason , maybe doing a new install of Premiere would not be such a bad idea. jaclaz

And - at first sight - a huge number of them are seemingly primarily directed at Server 2012 R2 (or however to functionalities that are more likely to be used in an "enterprise" environment). This on one side is good as it means that the "single user/consumer" OS is not affected by serious bugs, on the other hands it means that the Server version (which in theory should be a "rock") is more shaky than expected. All in all unless something relevant comes out it seems like the classification of "optional" was not so casual. jaclaz

Well, almost 400 Mb should contain *something* (besides the "fluff" ), it is very likely that it is simply a collection of a zillion small bug fixes that the final user would never be able to appreciate. But, wait a minute , if it doesn't offer any *meaningful* or *visible* new features and/or improvements, would that mean that a system before August Update had a zillion small bugs? Naah, unlikely, what would explain nicely why it is considered an optional update, could be that the zillion little bugs are so little or rare that only few users will have an actual advantage from the fixes, and the good engineering guys at MS worked hard all this time but (probably because what was actually included in the update was chosen by the good marketing peeps, which limited or removed the contents that could have revamped the Windows 8 usage paradigm, holding these "new things" for the "Threshold" release ) what they ended up with is a 400 Mb of "nothing that changes anything that the average end user will be able to notice/appreciate". jaclaz

Which brings us back to the good ol' way of numbering OS versions with Major.Minor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Releases jaclaz

Naah. System volumes may be tricky, but not "data" ones (and your memory is fading ). Here : http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/118119-patched-iosys-for-9xme/?p=768314 Now via Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20080509122247/http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/index.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080401085803/http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/Download.html jaclaz

I don't know , either the update has no actual "contents" or the "blogging team" (or whoever) have difficulties in understanding the meaning of the word "relevant" I mean if they managed to -having to choose among the most relevant "new features and improvements"- highlight these three ones: http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2014/08/05/august-updates-for-windows-8-1-and-windows-server-2012-r2/ I mean, WOW . I can understand how the 1.31% of Windows 8/8.1 users, which have it on a notebook without touchscreen and the whole 0.01% that have it on a desktop where the mouse has been replaced by a touchpad will be excited by these whole lot of (all three of them) new features. I am also sure that the large majority of developers of Miracast related hardware and software (all five of them) will be delighted. I am a bit perplexed at the impact of the simplification in Sharepoint Online on the vast numbers of customers that use it on a daily basis, for the first time if they check "Keep me signed in" they will need not to type in again their login credentials (an entirely new usage paradigm) and it may work fine for a few days until their "IT guys" will consider it a "security hole" and will disable the feature on Server side or via Group Policy (or whatever). And - at face value - that seems to me as a new feature or improvement to Sharepoint Online (and not to the WIndows 8.1 OS).... Hopefully NoelC, as an "early adopter", will be able to provide a quick list of thw actually relevant new features he will notice. jaclaz

https://medium.com/message/everything-is-broken-81e5f33a24e1 jaclaz

Sure , possibly Ubuntu jaclaz

JFYI, discussion about correcthorsebatterystaple and similar : http://www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=10675/ BUT, IF the password is actually stolen, it can be as "strong" (or "supposed to be strong") as much as you want, it will still be a stolen password, i.e. it will offer the same security as "Goofy" or "MickeyMouse". jaclaz

... and you have also a Vista license "lying around", and you have not a 7 license "lying around" ... jaclaz

And I agree with you on this . But it is well possible that the "more" was that they needed to find a way to spare a few dollars of royalties without getting US$ 10 of additional income, or - even better - manage to get a whole additional US$100. IF this was the plan, they succeeded at it (at least with you ), but still, making your otherwise perfectly legal and payed for license not activated and providing no way back likens the matter to asking for a ransom. jaclaz

Often news reports are incorrect, but IF the article is correct, it says: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/raju-crying-elephant-new-home-article-1.1893552 Also http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/seize http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cease jaclaz

Hopefully, but traditionally unlikely/improbable. IMHO, the complete failure of Windows 8/8.1 has not been - incredibly - severe enough. The good MS guys have not yet fully perceived how they have a complete design flaw and they are trying to patch it as opposed to either (their chioice) create a new working UI or get back to the good ol' one. I have seen the other day on TV a documentary about a (much respected) German scientist testing a newly designed "hybrid" TIR (18 wheeler in the US) in which he implemented a "drive by wire" technology (which is good) BUT decided to remove the steering wheel and pedals replacing them with a sort of joystick with brakes activated by three fingers of the left hand. The only issues in the test was that he couldn't brake (and steer) properly/accurately. Technically , there are two ways to survive a storm First one is to (boldly) stand in the midst of it, attempting vainly to mitigate it's effects using an incredible amount of survival tricks, second one is to stay in a safe place and wait until it passes (or move to somewhere else). I believe that the second approach leads to being more relaxed and less tired (and/or wet) when the sun starts shining again, and the sun will shine equally above both kinds of survivors. jaclaz

Which is good, though jaclaz needs to disagree with you on this: MS could in theory be sued for this, but it would be necessary to prove that MS intentionally put a too weak protection or however did not exercise the normal, expected, diligence in protecting access to the software, and that this behaviour caused a loss in royalties. Suing for damages instead of the one(s) that cracked a protection, the ones that put the protection on the product because it is inadequate would be an interesting legal exercise , similar to the case where someone leaves a car parked with doors open and keys in the ignition and the car is used by a minor (or however someone not authorized or not licensed to drive the car) and it is involved in an accident. But what if the car was started without the keys? Could you sue (say) Mr. Ford or Mr. BMW because the ignition can be operated by cleverly using a bent hairpin? jaclaz

Yes, possibly you have been misinformed. Or you have fallen victim of one of the zillion senseless FUD spreading articles by MS shills , you know, like : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2068300/windows-xp-holdouts-3-reasons-you-must-upgrade-now-yes-now-.html On supported hardware (i.e. where a proper XP driver is available), a USB 3.0 device connected to a USB 3.0 port, with the proper USB 3.0 driver properly installed will transfer data at USB 3.0 speed. But however there is some truth in the XP being actually slower in benchmarks than Windows 7 (which does not automatically mean that Vista will behave exactly like the latter) as actual results may vary greatly on specific hardware (and "quality" of drivers) and may be affected by differences in other OS subsystems/caches and what not, see: http://www.passmark.com/support/usb3loopback_benchmark.htm jaclaz

Actually the "real" issue (besides your misadventure, which is IMHO proof of a rather serious bug) is the procedure that seemingly changes your original Windows 8/8.1 key to add a "feature" (which essentially is nothing but an "add-on" or a "same-party program) that is "crazy". Imagine that if you want to repace as an option steel wheels with alloy ones to your car the procedure is removing engine and transmission and remounting them, after having re-flashed both the ignition computer and the navigator. It simply makes no sense. (though to be fair I seem to remember that on some cars changing a burned xenon lamp needs to have the car computer register the change ) jaclaz