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Socoder -> PC Gaming -> Hello, world, from my laptop |
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| Sat, 18 Nov 2006, 13:33 | |
HoboBen
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There was an obscure, hidden switch on the brand new family laptop, which we've now found, months later! Basically, it was the switch to enable the Internet! So, hello world from the laptop. I've tried out the few PC games we had on it, that were too modern for the big Windows 98 machine, and they rock! To do: Install all my Firefox extensions, and Linux! We're behind a Kaspersky firewall now. TBH, I prefer McAfee Security Center 6, as it complains less and still works better. I couldn't find the CD though. Installing all the security updates was a hassle, as well as a big joke, which I'll explain later. Internet Explorer 7 caused murder, so we reverted to v6 (not that we'd use it with Firefox here!) I hate Windows XP, but it crashes less. Toodles, The Hobo. -=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Sat, 18 Nov 2006, 13:50 | |
Scherererer
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Glad to hear that the internets have been turned back on! Security updates are a hassle, especially when someone like myself has to do it every single day on multiple computers. IE7 has been playing nicely for me though; even though I'm running FF2. Have fun on a WinXP machine, it does definitely crash less. I haven't had a crash on here that wasn't my fault  .
-=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus 
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| Sat, 18 Nov 2006, 15:30 | |
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HoboBen
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I've tweaked a little. It feels slightly more like home now. I got rid of the horrible way that the start menu is organised, too, and the never-ceasing notice that I have inactive icons, which have been hidden, have ceased. I've set up some rules for the firewall, so it complains less. I've also installed some decent software now, and by that I mean my archaic Adobe Photoshop 5.5. I'm going to download all the development tools that I need, like Maplet, the Gimp, Anim8or, etc, and e-mail my Devcrunch compo work to myself, to download on here. I would just connect to the network and grab it, but I'm too tired to remember whereabouts I find the bit of the firewall to allow connections to the big PC. I'm deciding that file access to this laptop (at least for now) is not enabled, because it isn't password protected and I haven't done the thing that stops neighbours with laptops (it's a possibility ;-p) getting free Internet access, but that'll be something to do tomorow. They cant access any computer's hard drive, and the router settings are password protected now, so it's not possible for them to lock me out of my own network, either, assuming that these oldies next door can even use a computer. ;-p I can see why so many spoof jokes are made about Microsoft software. One update, the "Malicious software removal tool", which I eventually downloaded for the hell of it, as it was reccomemended for my security, in theory means that Microsoft could tell it one day to delete Firefox, and it would do it, only alerting me next time I reboot what fiendish thing it has done. It's also able to talk back to microsoft about what actually is on your hard drive, so I think the firewall will deny that! It keeps pestering me with critical updates for Internet Explorer which apply when visiting nasty websites with strange HTML on it. Well, a) I use firefox  b) I don't visit these nasty sites c) The vunerabilities described would lead to exploits that the Kasperski security center would alert me to, due to the tempermental sensitivity of the program. (Any actions involving writing to files, the reigistary, or an internet connection, will be picked up) d) Basically they sneakily upgrade you to IE 7, but don't tell you that until it's already half way through installing it. Internet Explorer 7 just froze. The slightest hint from the firewall telling it to hang on while it checked it's rulebook to see if it was okay, and BLAM! Not that I'd ever use it anyway... Even so, I really dislike Windows XP. I'm getting Linux ASAP on here, and I'll just use Windows for Blitz, then Cobra soon. The hardware is nice though! It's "Windows Vista Capable", but that's not going to happen, ever! This thing came bundled with loads of set-ups for BT open world, AOL, etc... Which are going, and I'll be glad to see them gone. Internet Explorer seems bundled with Yahoo! toolbars, extensions, and homepages too... Yeuch. Now to add some Firefox dictionaries - I must have made at least a billion mistakes so far! Still, compared to Windows 98 (or at least the specs of it), this machine is luxury. I can't wait to stick Linux on it - it's only just fast enough on the big PC. One thing that I'll have to try now will be multiplayer games (both playing and writing - Oooh, age of empires II with my sister)! I haven't had two Windows machines before! I've still got to do up my grandfather's old one (so far a 128MB gfx card and a new power supply are still wasting away in it), but that'll come later. Happy, and running on Duo processors and some decent RAM, The happy, happy Hobo! -=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Sat, 18 Nov 2006, 15:44 | |
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HoboBen
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Bah, things still tend to crash/act buggy a bit. Not fatally blue-screening, though. Generally, just explorer ignoring me if I'm trying to do fancy things in the control panel, and only recovering as I hit the restart button!
-=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Sat, 18 Nov 2006, 19:16 | |
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hyruleknight |
heh, i never had those problems with windows 2000 but my dad does complain about XP on his office PC at work. but since i changed my laptop to only linux i don't have the problems with the OS locking up. just my CD and floppy drive doesn't work, also a bug in closing the lid. better report that to the ubuntu guys. i actualy fried windows, i closed the lid when i was re-partioning the HDD and it corrupted some windows files. you might have XP Home, it sucks compared to XP Pro. i had it and windows 2000 is much better and runs fine on average hardware. you should get BMax(best $80 i ever spent), it works on linux. i installed it in like 3 minutes with loggin into the site, downloading and installing the needed packages. you should try a distro of linux you have yet to use, i am going to try red hat on my desktop soon. -=-=- i like green haired girls... |
| Sun, 19 Nov 2006, 07:22 | |
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Scherererer
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Idk, maybe I'm just used to everything now, but I like xp. I think I might actually be transferring over to Vista soon (like, within the week). I'd recommend it, Vista should be very different and not to mention more stable. Plus it's pretty .
-=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
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| Sun, 19 Nov 2006, 08:06 | |
Jayenkai
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I'm using XP, but I think I'd honestly prefer to go back to Win2K.. I'd just rather not have my system die before I manage to install the 7,000,000 updates to make it half as secure as it is with XP!! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
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| Sun, 19 Nov 2006, 08:22 | |
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HoboBen
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 I think I might actually be transferring over to Vista soon (like, within the week). I'd recommend it, Vista should be very different and not to mention more stable. The GUI uses 64MB of graphics card memory! ZOMG no! ;-p to make it half as secure as it is with XP!!Apparently, an unprotected Windows XP machine connected to the Internet is compromised in 4 minutes. Windows 2k must be horrible then! Still, I'm getting used to XP. It's powerful hardware, so I'm still happy. you should try a distro of linux you have yet to use, i am going to try red hat on my desktop soon.Red hat is on my list, right after Damn Small Linux or Feather Linux on my fatter iMac. If you get around to it first, let me know how it goes. -=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Sun, 19 Nov 2006, 09:31 | |
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Scherererer
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This is the way XP was described to me by a friend, and i think it works: "Windows XP is very supple". If it weren't for the firewall included in SP2 (although weak), it still saved them from getting in a bad situation with their customers. Which is why now they've got all the Windows Live One Care and Windows Defender and Windows Firewall so that it ships less vulnerable. I put damn small linux on a thumb drive of mine. Its convenient to fix problems on a computer when you can't boot to windows. -=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
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| Sun, 19 Nov 2006, 18:23 | |
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hyruleknight |
not to hijack to topic but which linux distro should i try next? i am going to install one on my desktop and probably Damn Small Linux on a cheapo 128 MB PSP memory stick Feather or Red Hat? -=-=- i like green haired girls... |
| Mon, 20 Nov 2006, 05:05 | |
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mike_g |
I find windows XP quite alright. Its better than 98 in many ways. The system restore with XP has been very useful for me, you can get rid of unwanted changes made such as IE7 being installed XP's also far more stable than 98 since they got rid of DOS. I do hate how Microsoft tries to update stuff automaticaly for you. Not long ago I switched the auto update thing off in msconfig, so far it seems to have worked. @hyruleknight: What makes XP pro so much better than XP home? From what I heard its just a bunch of networking stuff that most people never use anyway. |
| Mon, 20 Nov 2006, 13:28 | |
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Scherererer
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@hyruleknight: What makes XP pro so much better than XP home? From what I heard its just a bunch of networking stuff that most people never use anyway. First and foremost, home can't join a domain which is a very important networking tool that is widely used. Secondly, it doesn't have a usable credential system, so you can't restrict access to files and folders on a network as easily. It also doesn't have the computer management console and many other goodies. Granted it gets the job done for most people... but not for me, its too watered down for my tastes. -=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
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| Mon, 20 Nov 2006, 13:43 | |
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hyruleknight |
also about the windows getting compromised thing, a linux system gets compromised NEVER!!!!!! hah, go linux -=-=- i like green haired girls... |
| Mon, 20 Nov 2006, 21:38 | |
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Scherererer
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because, all the people compromising windows are using linux.
-=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
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| Tue, 21 Nov 2006, 08:21 | |
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hyruleknight |
that is probably true, they don't want to screw their pwn computer. but i just want to find some of those guys and beat them down for making viruses -=-=- i like green haired girls... |
| Thu, 30 Nov 2006, 14:13 | |
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TheMadProff |
Use a Mac, no Viruses!!!!! And DONT with a capital D upgrade to vista. Microsoft have this thing where they can't be bothered to beta test their software, so they give it to the public for free till its released. If your going to upgrade, wait at least a year, two would be better before you upgrade. Or you could just get a mac -=-=- ''It works, but I'm not sure why it works...'' |
| Thu, 30 Nov 2006, 15:03 | |
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HoboBen
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I love my mac - but neither linux nor macs are actually immune. Near enough, though! -=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Thu, 30 Nov 2006, 19:00 | |
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hyruleknight |
it is just that viruses are made to attack windows computers and thus make it near impossible to effect linux or OS X
-=-=- i like green haired girls... |
| Thu, 30 Nov 2006, 19:10 | |
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Scherererer
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no, makes it completely impossible to effect Linux or Mac's. In reality, Mac and Linux systems are more vulnerable than Winodows systems, its just that nobody cares enough to be hacking them. Just think about all the anti-virus and firewall protection that you don't even have to bother to have on a Mac or Linux box.
-=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
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| Fri, 01 Dec 2006, 02:06 | |
JL235
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It's not that Microsoft don't bets test, that's a ridiculous notion. They do however (like the majority of producers of large software) release their software with known bugs. I personally love XP on my new pc, it had millions of problems on the old machine, one being that certain updates caused it to crash. XP Pro is A LOT better and a lot more stable in my experience, but XP Home is running beautifully on my pc. Although Pro has this external registry access thing on by default, which you should turn off. |
| Fri, 01 Dec 2006, 10:54 | |
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HoboBen
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In reality, Mac and Linux systems are more vulnerable than Winodows systems Can you provide a reference for this, please? -=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Sat, 02 Dec 2006, 12:45 | |
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Scherererer
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Think about it though ben, they don't have a lot of the safeguards because they don't need them. Nobody cares enough to hack one. Since a lot of servers run on Linux, i'm sure they have a lot better security; but the main reason anybody hacks is to destroy windows because they hate microsoft. I know bill did a lot to people, but at this point, its time to move on.
-=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
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| Sat, 02 Dec 2006, 13:06 | |
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HoboBen
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he main reason anybody hacks is to destroy windows because they hate microsoft Well, maybe in the old days where hackers were seen as noble crusaders and the greatest programmers in the world, but nowadays viruses, spyware, hacking, etc is huge money. Maybe it is because windows is used by more people that some people can make money knowing everyone will be using this OS, whereas Linux flavors may all require different ways to exploit. I still think that Linux and macs, as they are, are more secure, even if everybody used them. But, Linux I think will always be the most secure because of it's open source nature. It's like in real life - mutations and variations in different species stop disease affecting everyone, whereas a field full of genetically identical cows (Windows) will all die of the same thing, e.g. just one virus. As long as Linux flavors continue to adapt, change and mutate, maybe they'll never be able to be targeted, never mind how secure they are. Even if everybody used Linux, as long as different distributions spread, there's the "herd immunity" part. I still think that if 99% of the population used OS X / Ubuntu, we'd still be safer. Maybe I'm just stubborn. Anyway, can't be bothered to proof-read right now, so please forgive any existing non-nonsensical sentences, flawed arguments, lies or contradictions. -=-=- blog | work | code | more code |
| Sat, 02 Dec 2006, 13:36 | |
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Scherererer
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Anyway, can't be bothered to proof-read right now, so please forgive any existing non-nonsensical sentences, flawed arguments, lies or contradictions. such as the double negative "non-nonsensical" (just teasing)
-=-=- YouTube Twitter Computer Science Series: Logic (pt1) (part 2) (part 3) 2's Complement Mathematics: Basic Differential Calculus
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| Sat, 02 Dec 2006, 14:16 | |
HoboBen
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; - )
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| Sun, 03 Dec 2006, 08:30 | |
power mousey
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HoboBen, I'm really looking forward in getting a laptop next year. With the laptop...of course I like and want to play some games and watch some Dvd movies now and then, but primarily for programming, animation, and digital photography. what do you think about an Apple laptop? or even a PC one but with Linux on it?? cheers, power mousey |
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