JorgeA

So doesn't appear to be anything new. Cheers and Regards Thanks for looking it up, bphlpt. It's not new, but it was news to me. When I first read the description on the Business Week page, the fear was that they'd devised something special to perform breaking-and-entering into XP systems en masse (thus casting doubt on the idea that XP was "more" secure from NSA snooping than Vista or 7 which may have backdoors built into them), but this SOMBERKNAVE sounds like a pinpoint-type approach to get into specific targets. --JorgeA

@Charlotte: Uh-oh, check out this graphic and hover over the "SOMBERKNAVE" balloon in the lower right for the description of that program: I'll look into this further when I get the chance to. Maybe someone else will do it before me. --JorgeA

Cute video with the board-game theme. It did provide some insight into the process for me, thanks. But the narrator could have added: "And if investigators want everything about everyone who might ever become a suspect, they'll just bypass all of these procedures and ask the NSA for it." --JorgeA

A Windows bigwig expands on Microsoft's decision to take out, and then put back, the Start Button: Microsoft's Chaitanya Sareen gets candid on the evolution of Windows 8 [emphasis added] --JorgeA

Uh-oh, it looks like I'm the squishy moderate when it comes to the revived Start Menu! This is the big news of the day, making the rounds of the tech sites: Future Windows 8.1 update will finally bring back the Start menu Microsoft to bring back Start menu, windowed apps to Windows Microsoft reveals windowed Modern UI apps and Mini Start Microsoft changes its mind yet a-bloody-gain, shows off resurrected mini Start menu Start Menu Will Return In A Future Windows 8.1 Update, Microsoft Confirms Threshold Revealed: Microsoft Talks the Future of Windows Check out the articles above, they provide additional details, analysis, speculation, images, and videos. Oh, and tons of feedback in the comments sections. --JorgeA

Fantastic!! The Vista/7 Start Menu is still better, as I can click on Recent Documents and get, in fewer clicks, to projects that I'm currently working on. But this is definitely an improvement and it shows that Microsoft's finally listening to users (even if reluctantly). Thanks very much for telling us about this! With a little digging, I found the blog post where the image was given. It was by Terry Myerson and he says it's based on his keynote address at Build. About this screenshot he says: Already, a commenter is asking something along the same lines as what I wrote above: We shall see... For now, I'm just delighted that the Start Menu seems to be making a comeback. Now if they also bring back native Aero Glass and 3D UI elements (at least as a customization choice), maybe I can find a way to live with Metro apps cluttering up the Start Menu. --JorgeA

That began in 1994 and naturally was greatly enhanced since 9/11. Why on Earth would anyone even pretend to doubt that all the software companies ( PRISM! ) have done the same thing? The operating systems are compromised people! I'm keeping some Win9x and older systems mothballed, and won't decommission any WinXP computer ever again. Wise policy IMHO. For what it's worth, CALEA seems to be intended for the pinpoint surveillance of specific people, as opposed to the mass bulk monitoring that the NSA enages in. So it's not so bad, relatively speaking. Still, the means for intruding on people's communications is baked into all new tech, thanks to this law. Suffice it to say that Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson probably wouldn't have wanted to talk via VOIP or use e-mail to coordinate their plans, unless their notes were encrypted locally with software that had been written in, say, Spain. --JorgeA

Why The Microsoft Surface Just Died Last Week --JorgeA

Suspicion is growing that something similar may have been done with Apple OS's: Extremely critical crypto flaw in iOS may also affect fully patched Macs Security expert Bruce Schneier elaborates on this, and asks: Was the iOS SSL Flaw Deliberate? Security expert Steve Gibson points out that, [emphasis added] --JorgeA

Speaking of XP EOS and FUD, here's something I just came across: 2013 Microsoft Vulnerabilities Study If this report is representative of reality, then using a standard (not administrator) account on an XP system would protect against 96% of "Patch Tuesday"-type vulnerabilities affecting Windows and 100% of vulns affecting IE. Since this protection would operate all the time, then conceivably a standard account on XP is safer than an administrator account on Windows 7 or 8, given that those OS's remain exposed to the flaws that are fixed on Patch Tuesday until the fixes get released. --JorgeA

Yup. --JorgeA

Philips Smart TVs wide open to Gmail cookie theft, other serious hacks Just wait 'til TVs come standard with a webcam that can look around the room. "Internet of Things," anyone? --JorgeA

Yeah, really. I sure hope MSFT knows what they're doing with this app. Seems to me that issuing a modestly priced app with just-enough functionality (including document editing) could serve as a marketing tool to interest iPad fans in graduating to more complete software, either on the tablet or when they sit down to do serious work on their real machines. But an "office" app that works as little more than a viewer is just annoying. --JorgeA

The story behind the image we all know... Man behind famous Windows XP wallpaper wishes he'd negotiated a better licensing deal --JorgeA

Microsoft quietly discontinues Surface Wireless Keyboard Adapter As Charlotte would say: Wait, wut? Here are Microsoft-designed and Microsoft-built doohickies made specifically for Windows 8, they're in control of the whole process, and even Microsoft itself can't manage to make them work together on their own touch abomination creation? And a year ago they had the nerve to blame the OEMs for supposedly dropping the ball on devices that would make the most of Windows 8... --JorgeA

Fallout from Microsoft's Windows 8 leak investigation: Microsoft to stop invading customers’ privacy Or they could just ask the NSA to peer into customers' e-mails for them -- no warrant necessary... --JorgeA P.S. WZOR's website is still down; though perhaps not the target of MSFT's attentions, he may have been collateral damage.

About Office for the iPad, from the March 27 print edition of the Wall Street Journal: --JorgeA

That's the bureaucratic version of p!ssing on someone's head and telling them it's raining! [...] Another day, another UI ruined. Oh, well... What's with this business of eliminating the visual distinction between tabs that are not currently in focus, and the surrounding window frame? The "not in focus" tab looks like a window title. --JorgeA

Very good, and incisive as usual. The description of a typical iPad user's hypothetical reaction is right on the mark: --JorgeA

Is that a bad thing? (Just asking.) Here's what I came across about it. --JorgeA

That's a bummer. But thank you for looking into it, this does seem to answer the question in the OP. Not all hope is lost, but as you point out there's a lot of homework to do first. FWIW, I ran an Eset scan on the smartphone, and it finished within a fraction of a second, reporting that it had scanned a grand total of 14 (?!) files. As there are obviously more than 14 files existing on the phone, I'll go in and see if there's a setting that needs to be changed. Or maybe the small total is related in some way to the limitations that you just reported. When I get the chance to, I'll visit the Eset forum and ask if this small total is normal/expected. --JorgeA

Claims to support Windows 98, but doesn't. So can we believe any of their claims? I guess you tried to install it on a Win98 machine? That would definitely make one dubious about their other claims, if this one is false. Looking deeper: According to one of the parent company's web pages, the Windows version was released literally less than a week ago as I write this. Maybe the Win98 part is something they're shooting for but haven't achieved yet. Still, that capability should be announced only when actually available. --JorgeA

I did (and still) want to know specifically if an Android phone can be scanned on a Windows PC. At first, when I started the thread, I wanted to know that because I'd spent some time looking into sideloading apps onto smartphones, and every discussion I'd come across talked about installing a file manager... but no one that I saw discussed how to install a file browser without recourse to the Google store. That question was left hanging. At the same time, though, I was undecided if I even wanted to install both a file browser and an AV app onto my smartphone, and therefore the idea of "scanning from outside" was a conceivable alternative. Thanks to your help , the issue of how to install a file browser was solved by the discovery of that F-Droid app manager. So then I had to decide whether to install, now three apps (the app manager, the file browser, and then the AV). I chose to be adventurous and took the plunge, what the heck. But I'd still like to know, from anybody, the answer to the thread question: It could serve as a "second opinion" on-demand scan, much the way that one might use (say) an AVG live CD as a double check on the results of a resident Kaspersky scan. --JorgeA

I just read about a browser called Aviator, by WhiteHat Security. Anybody here use it, heard about it, know anything about this browser beyond what's on their website? It seems to be based on Chromium. Wondering if it really offers as much security/privacy as it appears to promise. Thanks! --JorgeA

Great, now Google Glass can be used to spy on the user: Spyware app turns the privacy tables on Google Glass wearers --JorgeA