Dartz wrote:Datadisk on a network server containing mission critical information.
RAID 0.

That's not a computer stupidity - that's a computer manager stupidity!

pwhodges wrote:That's not a computer stupidity - that's a computer manager stupidity!

Everyone thought it was RAID 1. It'd been misconfigured since purchase day by someone in a hurry.

And they didn't notice the difference in capacity? Sheesh!

pwhodges wrote:And they didn't notice the difference in capacity? Sheesh!

2x1tb drives in Raid0 look a lot like 2x2tb drives in RAID1.

Nobody in the company is IT. It was bought, configured by someone else and left to sit in the hope that it was configured right.

It seems like the shop we bought it off considered 'Configured with RAID' to mean, 'Configured in RAID0' rather than what'd be obvious for the purpose it was wanted for.

Shamsiel-kun wrote:If you value your privacy in any possible way, you should keep off Windows 10 forever.

You do realise that WinX is expected to be being used in businesses -- if MSFT were running a full-scale tap on every PC, that would sooner or later lead to a massive lawsuit against them. As always, follow the money.

But for the terminally paranoid, there are things like

https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking
https://github.com/W4RH4WK/Debloat-Windows-10
https://github.com/dfkt/win10-unfuck

already out there.

Mr. Tines wrote:You do realise that WinX is expected to be being used in businesses -- if MSFT were running a full-scale tap on every PC, that would sooner or later lead to a massive lawsuit against them. As always, follow the money.

Oh, but they took care of that by modifying the EULA (which nobody ever reads) accordingly. Also, there are suspicions that that new trade treaty (you know, the one with the secret text) with the US may contain rules that make all of this stuff legal in member states despite of the existence of local laws forbidding it. Yay for antidemocracy!

Also, the power of metadata is generally underestimated very much by the general public. No need to siphon the actual data off a system when you can use the metadata to reconstruct users' life in more than enough detail to reveal juicy or otherwise interesting stuff about them. For example, telemetry about the use of MS Word's dictionary could easily be used to deduct in what field a person is working, even if it is officially aimed at only improving user experience. It will likely include things like "which words are added to the dictionary by the user" and "which settings are used for autocorrect". Combining data from both of these may prove especially interesting, because depending on your workfield certain autocorrect options are a major pain in the behind, and therefore certain settings may mean you work in a specific field.
Harvesting the URLs of sites you visit (the reason certain file-sharing servies have banned Windows 10 users) may reveal a lot about you, too (hobbies, sexual habits, work relations, etc.).

There's been some interesting articles lately on what mere metadata leaked or officially released by smartphone apps can reveal about you, and some of it is fairly scary (e.g. "you visited your parents at insert-exact-address-here on that-day and that-time-to-the-second after visiting stores ABC and DEF taking the following route"). Makes me happy I own only a dumbphone.

The problem is that, aside from stuff that is obviously irrational ("aliens anal-probed me on the flight deck of the 23rd century Yamato"), the paranoid people were right.

Shamsiel-kun wrote:the paranoid people were right.

Were they? What untoward consequences have you suffered?

Shamsiel-kun wrote:Also, the power of metadata

[url]http://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2013/06/09/using-metadata-to-find-paul-revere/[/url]

Still, you're not following the money.

Also, just connecting to a cellphone network gives a location vs time history, even with a dumbphone.

If it's a matter of personal paranoia (which I'm beginning to think that it is) then that's totally understandable. People can worry about these things and it's not only their right to but it makes some sense. If it's a matter of a general risk or risk-vs-reward thing (which is what this sounded like in the beginning), then it's not even remotely in the realm of things to lose any sleep over.

Metadata collection isn't anything new, ever since storing stuff became cheaper than dirt, companies started saving everything. Was around way before Facebook but that was probably the first eye-opener, they knew what they were doing by collecting everything, and yes, people had no clue and accepted the EULA. Unlike the NSA mass collecting meta-data for survellance, this is a way to generate revenue. If they're giving away Windows 10 for free, that means *you* are their product, they're going to make money off of you and you get to use this service for free. None of this stuff is news.

As far as general awareness, yeah it sucks that people aren't more aware, and sucks that more people don't care that this is happening and they don't care to care about it either, but that's good for business I guess. That gap is getting progressively wider as more technologies are being set free in the wild and people are less aware of the actual impact it has on their lives, privacy, or personal security. That thing with the Fiat-Chrysler uConnect being hacked recently (by my friend, that I posted about in the News thread) is a great example. A million cars were on the road and probably none of the owners/drivers realized that someone from anyone in the world can take over their car.

Additionally, still along the general awareness, is that the infosec community is horrendously bad about assessing actual risk. And not risk as in "look how much this breaks this" but a "how bad is this really, in the real world"? You find most people in the industry are heavily on either the side of "as long as it's not infrastructure or nation-state sponsored, it's not too bad" or the side of "everything's bad, people are jumping out of buildings", but very few centrists inbetween. The uConnect thing is a great example. People lost their shit that this was done on a public highway, when in reality, risk was really small, but for great gain, Chrysler release a patch/recall for 1.6 mil cars right away. The Windows 10 thing is actually Microsoft jumping into the meta data game *very late*, not to many's surprise. The general risk impact isn't non-existent, but it's really nothing the general public has any reason to lose any sleep over.

You're forgetting the equally important matter of philosophy and ideology. I have a right to privacy and internet providers tricking me into giving over all my data is unscrupulous given that the Internet is as essential to modern life as electricity and plumbing. When the government does it it's a heinous violation of personal sovereignty and a fundamental violation of the supposed principles it's founded on. I don't want to live in a society that assumes I'm a criminal and is constantly checking to see what I've done.

I have nothing to hide, so you have nothing to see.

My Google Chrome browser has suddenly developed an aversion to being connected to the Internet. When I'm offline it's perfectly happy and I can use it normally, but once I connect to something it instantly stops working and closes. I've tried resetting my user profile, checking the registry, making sure it's not being sandboxed, uninstalling and reinstalling a bunch of times, but nothing seems to work.

EDIT:
Furthermore, I tried using Chrome Canary instead and found it actually does work; the default Chrome application seems to be the source of the problem somehow.

I installed an Anti-Virus software so I could use my schools Wifi link. But it slowed my laptop down so much I had to uninstall it just so I could do my online homework. I've tried several different types and every time is just slows down and interferes with my coursework.

Can anyone here recommend an Anti-Virus software that meets my schools requirements but doesn't make my computer slow?

https://www.avast.com/en-us/index is good stuff.

You sure it's not the school wi-fi or your computer specs slowing things down?

Ray wrote:I installed an Anti-Virus software so I could use my schools Wifi link. But it slowed my laptop down so much I had to uninstall it just so I could do my online homework. I've tried several different types and every time is just slows down and interferes with my coursework.

Can anyone here recommend an Anti-Virus software that meets my schools requirements but doesn't make my computer slow?

Either Avast or Avira Free. Nearly two decades ago I found Norton and McAfee reliable but now they're terrible deadweight.

Eset NOD32 - the one I use myself, and the one which I turn to when others have failed. But if you're noticing the effect of installing there's probably something else wrong.

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And in other news (not stupid, actually), here's some guidance on sensible handling of passwords from the British government - from GCHQ, in fact. Debunks a few myths.

Somehow the wireless radio keeps turning off on my computer when I close it up. It's not a big deal, but it's kind of annoying and a reminder that this machine is three and a half years old and that I should probably start thinking of a replacement in the near future.

Just use Malwarebytes and scan regularly.

Trajan wrote:Somehow the wireless radio keeps turning off on my computer when I close it up.

Does it have a manual switch for the wifi by any chance? We have a rather craptastic Toshiba laptop that does, and people keep accidentally swiping it when they move the machine around.

I got a new laptop today, and I can tell already that there is a steep learning curve (I'm posting on my old machine). For example, I downloaded chrome, but I don't see it on my desk top anywhere. Where could it be? I'm going to try to learn how to use it, but it isn't going to be pretty.

Edit: I went back in and figured it out. Again, steep learning curve.

Bought a purpose built mechanical gaming keyboard. (G.Skill KM780 RGB with Cherry MX Brown switches.) Thing weighs a ton and it should since its mainly aluminium with a steel backing plate for the switches. A bit of learning curve I expect. Not only with the customization options, but learning how to type without bottoming the keys out, which is not necessary on a mechanical keyboard.

Still, overall I am quite happy with it so far!