Mar
30
Miscellaneous bullshit
Filed Under Ranting | 10 Comments
Up until Vista was released, Acer has been shipping out desktops and laptops with the system partition formatted as FAT32. Are you fucking kidding me?
Vista now *requires* NTFS, so Acer is forced to use NTFS like the rest of the universe. What the fuck is wrong with Acer? I also hate Acer's other divisions: ALi (who makes chipsets that are actually worse than SiS chipsets) and AOpen.
To top that off, Acer still uses Toshiba MK*GA* (such as MK8025GAS) drives in their laptops. Huge "fuck you" to Toshiba for having hard drives that fail so quickly and consistently (the bearings always dry out - it's a design flaw that's never been fixed) and one to Acer for using these pieces of shit.
What a shitload of fuck.
I'll be back later with some more gripes.
Edit: I'm back.
Why does Verizon Security Center install its giant, buggy product even when you already have Norton Antivirus (which is bad in its own right), ZoneAlarm, Spysweeper, and/or even more miscellaneous protection programs? It doesn't even check for other security software, or ask you anything. It just installs. Thanks, I'm sure my user needed to run at 10% speed (due to dueling antiviruses) and/or blue screen/hard lockup every few moments.
Why does Sony partition its hard drive into C: and D:, where C: is around 10GB or less and D: contains the rest, and then not explain to the user that they need to store files on D: because Sony screwed them over? Why didn't they move Program Files to D: so that, you know, a user can actually install software without running out of C: space? It's nice to have an empty 245 GB D: drive, but I really think my user should have been told about this retarded setup beforehand. Now he has to pay me to combine the partitions and undo all of the damage Sony did by setting it up this way. And for what? Partitions don't increase performance, they only serve to complicate matters for end-users.
Mar
12
HijackThis updated to version 2.0.0 beta
Filed Under Security, Software, Viruses | 8 Comments
We’ve waited a long time for this… At last Merijn Bellekom has finished a brand new version of his most famous program, HijackThis.
And that’s not the only bit of news about HijackThis. It seems that Merijn has managed to sell the program to Trend Micro. Merijn's own explanation is here.
HijackThis 2.0.0 beta is downloadable here.
Changes:
- AnalyzeThis added for log file statistics
- Recognizes Windows Vista and IE7
- Fixed a few bugs in the O23 method
- Fixed a bug in the O22 method (SharedTaskScheduler)
- Did a few tweaks on the log format
- Fixed and improved ADS Spy
- Improved Itty Bitty Procman (processes are frozen before they are killed)
- Added listing of O4 autoruns from other users
- Added listing of the Policies Run items in O4 method, used by SmitFraud trojan
- Added /silentautolog parameter for system admins
- Added /deleteonreboot [file] parameter for system admins
- Added O24 - ActiveX Desktop Components enumeration
- Added Enhanced Security Confirguration (ESC) Zones to O15 Trusted Sites check
Mar
5
Why are McAfee, Symantec and Norton vilified?
Filed Under Security, Software, Viruses | 7 Comments
Worldwide there is a tendency in anti-virus forums and anti-spyware forums to complain about the anti-virus products from McAfee, Symantec and Norton.
Why is that, you may ask? Yes, they are bloated, they take almost half a millennium to scan your system and they were about the last products that could flawlessly work with Vista. But then, there are hundreds of crappy or sub-standard products available on the internet and a program like RogueRemover will take on but a few of the worst offenders. So, why do we care?
The root of this problem lies with the fact that these companies have brilliant sales departments. We all know that a good salesman can sell anything to an unwary customer. And there are hardly any more customers unaware than those who reside in the computer procurement departments of large companies and schools. McAfee, Symantec and Norton are pre-installed in virtually every computer that finds its way into your company or school. No problem, no hassle to search and find the best possible anti-virus scanner. No, that problem has already been conveniently solved for them by the seller.
We, the real experts, know better. We like lightning quick scans, as less false positives as possible, an appealing GUI and a responsive staff that will take all our problems seriously.
So, why do we care? We care because we have the best possible anti-virus programs running on our own computers but we have to live daily with these programs that can't meet our own high standards.
It can be regarded as a form of mental torture that, in the end, makes us more mature and resilient. Regard it as a test and also as an ongoing incentive for other companies to keep developing even better anti-virus programs and anti-spyware programs.
And in the end who really cares? It's not our own money that is wasted on these programs.
edit by DjLizard: I'm filing this under Incompetence also :D