I have AVG Free and ZoneAlarm. They both say they are working correctly too.
I tried this procedure to no effect.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Windows Security Alerts - wrong information
Still more problems in Vista - it is just never ending. The security center assures me that my firewall and virus protection are not working - I just wish I could assure it they are.
I have AVG Free and ZoneAlarm. They both say they are working correctly too.
I tried this procedure to no effect.
I have AVG Free and ZoneAlarm. They both say they are working correctly too.
I tried this procedure to no effect.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight
Back in Gotham city, with possibly the best Batman villain ever. The film is the traditional Batman plot - an arch-villain tries to destroy the city (why isn't important). Batman to the rescue, who then has to overcome his own self doubt, his lack of trust in most of those around him, and the Gotham public in particular.
This version however has a nice addition to the challenges to be overcome. There are copycat batmen all over the place. Of course, these vigilantes need the real batman's protection as much as the rest of the citizens, if not more. It's a nice way to start the film, and like so many of the other little twists it caught me out. "What is this, Batman with guns - whatever happened to ZAP - KERPOW?" I should have been playing closer attention.
Was it me or does Batman's voice get deeper throughout the film?
It is a good action packed film, though some of the action scenes are filmed in too-much close up. This is a recent trend in films, and a very bad one, because the audience disengages with the film. Having said that, the relentless pace needs a few breaks.
The jokers "Do you want to know how I got this smile?" is already passing into the culture - such is the impact of the film.
Morgan Freeman is excellent as the Chief Executive, particularly when an employee discovers what Wayne Enterprises are up to. Michael Caine as Alfred is now the benchmark for the role.
My main problems with the film are its length, and its certificate. Just when you think its about to be over, the Joker recovers and causes even more serious mayhem - a standard now as plots go. From then on I was wondering how many more improbable escapes Joker might make.
In the UK the film is certified '12'. With the level of violence, and the darker themes, this is not appropriate. So the film becomes one more nail in the only useful part of the certification system - to help protect children from the excesses of adult life.
A good film, a good Batman, A superb villain. Heath Ledger is sadly gone, and this film stands as his brilliant last work.
Back in Gotham city, with possibly the best Batman villain ever. The film is the traditional Batman plot - an arch-villain tries to destroy the city (why isn't important). Batman to the rescue, who then has to overcome his own self doubt, his lack of trust in most of those around him, and the Gotham public in particular.
This version however has a nice addition to the challenges to be overcome. There are copycat batmen all over the place. Of course, these vigilantes need the real batman's protection as much as the rest of the citizens, if not more. It's a nice way to start the film, and like so many of the other little twists it caught me out. "What is this, Batman with guns - whatever happened to ZAP - KERPOW?" I should have been playing closer attention.
Was it me or does Batman's voice get deeper throughout the film?
It is a good action packed film, though some of the action scenes are filmed in too-much close up. This is a recent trend in films, and a very bad one, because the audience disengages with the film. Having said that, the relentless pace needs a few breaks.
The jokers "Do you want to know how I got this smile?" is already passing into the culture - such is the impact of the film.
Morgan Freeman is excellent as the Chief Executive, particularly when an employee discovers what Wayne Enterprises are up to. Michael Caine as Alfred is now the benchmark for the role.
My main problems with the film are its length, and its certificate. Just when you think its about to be over, the Joker recovers and causes even more serious mayhem - a standard now as plots go. From then on I was wondering how many more improbable escapes Joker might make.
In the UK the film is certified '12'. With the level of violence, and the darker themes, this is not appropriate. So the film becomes one more nail in the only useful part of the certification system - to help protect children from the excesses of adult life.
A good film, a good Batman, A superb villain. Heath Ledger is sadly gone, and this film stands as his brilliant last work.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Norton 360 v 2 - More problems - Disable the Network Address Check
Disable the Network Address Check
I use the hosts file to re-direct certain addresses, and therefor provide additional protection. Norton removes all that protection at a stroke.
Every time I re-install I have to remember how to do it, so here it is:
1: Run the check - and have it fix the 'problem'
'Tasks' ... 'Run Scans' ... 'Let me choose' ... click GO
deselect everything except Network Address Check
When the check has finished click 'More Info ...' it should say
Network Address Vulnerabilities Found : 1
Network Address Vulnerabilities Fixed : 1
2: Disable it
Now go to 'Settings' ... 'Security Inspector' and select the Network Address Tab. The hosts file should be in the 'Undo List'
Highlight it and click 'Restore Item to System'.
Repeat the scan above and get the messages:
Network Address Vulnerabilities Found : 1
Network Address Vulnerabilities Fixed : 0
Prevention is better than cure.
To get this added PROTECTION go to google and enter "mikes host file", or get Spybot Search & Destroy. In fact, get it anyway, its less trouble than Norton, and its only doing one job.
More Problems
The Norton Support person left Live Update running but unable to move forward. Eventually Windows complained that Norton was out of date, and the latest downloads were the very day he hadn't fixed the problem.
The error messages indicated a re-install. It is hardly worth looking really, that seems to be where all the error messages end up.
So I downloaded the Norton (partial) removal tool, ran it and re-installed. I think I have later virus definitions (it isn't easy to be sure), but live update doesn't apply all the updates.
Having adjusted the settings so I can see whats happening, running LUALL gives a list of updates to install. The offending Norton 360 Security updates can be deselected and the definitions applied.
LU1812: A program that was part of this update failed when it ran. This update was not applied. Click here for more information on this error.
The link loads into Firefox, my default browser, but the upload of the error won't work there. Symantec only know about IE. So I copy the URL into IE and let it do the upload. It then goes and gets all that the support guys think they need, and fails to upload it. Or that's what happened last time.
The search string they suggest ( "360 2.0 keeps giving same liveupdate error") doesn't provide any hits!
So looking at the forum, there are some things to try:
1) Tamper update off
2)There is an updater available.
3) http://service1.symantec.com/Support/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2005072716150213
There is an updater for Vista, this is what the support guy said he did last time. The document does not refer to Norton 360. I have run the updater for Vista anyway.
- still fails
I tried the re-register anyway - it succeeded.
For each of the above processes the start run for luall must be done twice. The first time always reports that another Live Update is in progress.
- still fails
and the failure is getting messier - the failure occurs quickly, but now live update goes on dioing something. IO occurs and the progress bar grows.
... ands further down the forums:
https://www-secure.symantec.com/norton/support/special/sa/frm/_result.jsp?said=lu_patch&productstyle=&prodid=
which gives:
It doesn't say it's fixed anything, and indeed it hasn't!
- still fails
5) So to http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20071203070434EN the description and process I've seen and done. That leads to this http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20071130124653EN the instructions to re-install Norton 360 v2. NOT HELPFUL.
So it is posted on the community, and we will see what happens http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=Norton_360&message.id=7093
I use the hosts file to re-direct certain addresses, and therefor provide additional protection. Norton removes all that protection at a stroke.
Every time I re-install I have to remember how to do it, so here it is:
1: Run the check - and have it fix the 'problem'
'Tasks' ... 'Run Scans' ... 'Let me choose' ... click GO
deselect everything except Network Address Check
When the check has finished click 'More Info ...' it should say
Network Address Vulnerabilities Found : 1
Network Address Vulnerabilities Fixed : 1
2: Disable it
Now go to 'Settings' ... 'Security Inspector' and select the Network Address Tab. The hosts file should be in the 'Undo List'
Highlight it and click 'Restore Item to System'.
Repeat the scan above and get the messages:
Network Address Vulnerabilities Found : 1
Network Address Vulnerabilities Fixed : 0
Prevention is better than cure.
To get this added PROTECTION go to google and enter "mikes host file", or get Spybot Search & Destroy. In fact, get it anyway, its less trouble than Norton, and its only doing one job.
More Problems
The Norton Support person left Live Update running but unable to move forward. Eventually Windows complained that Norton was out of date, and the latest downloads were the very day he hadn't fixed the problem.
The error messages indicated a re-install. It is hardly worth looking really, that seems to be where all the error messages end up.
So I downloaded the Norton (partial) removal tool, ran it and re-installed. I think I have later virus definitions (it isn't easy to be sure), but live update doesn't apply all the updates.
Having adjusted the settings so I can see whats happening, running LUALL gives a list of updates to install. The offending Norton 360 Security updates can be deselected and the definitions applied.
LU1812: A program that was part of this update failed when it ran. This update was not applied. Click here for more information on this error.
The link loads into Firefox, my default browser, but the upload of the error won't work there. Symantec only know about IE. So I copy the URL into IE and let it do the upload. It then goes and gets all that the support guys think they need, and fails to upload it. Or that's what happened last time.
The search string they suggest ( "360 2.0 keeps giving same liveupdate error") doesn't provide any hits!
So looking at the forum, there are some things to try:
1) Tamper update off
2)There is an updater available.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/norton360.nsf/0/4065bc926ae628226525736a0070b3e9?OpenDocument
This downloads a program called PIUpdate.exe. After this the LULALL takes alittle longer, but the result is the same.
- still fails3) http://service1.symantec.com/Support/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2005072716150213
There is an updater for Vista, this is what the support guy said he did last time. The document does not refer to Norton 360. I have run the updater for Vista anyway.
- still fails
I tried the re-register anyway - it succeeded.
For each of the above processes the start run for luall must be done twice. The first time always reports that another Live Update is in progress.
- still fails
and the failure is getting messier - the failure occurs quickly, but now live update goes on dioing something. IO occurs and the progress bar grows.
... ands further down the forums:
https://www-secure.symantec.com/norton/support/special/sa/frm/_result.jsp?said=lu_patch&productstyle=&prodid=
which gives:
| LiveUpdate Failed Patch Identification |
| Identify failed LiveUpdate patches |
| Automated Task Completed Successfully. |
| LuComServer version : 3.4.1.238 Patch error(s) found : 1 Failing patch(es):1223330807jtun_gear0304.x00.full.zip. |
It doesn't say it's fixed anything, and indeed it hasn't!
- still fails
5) So to http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20071203070434EN the description and process I've seen and done. That leads to this http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20071130124653EN the instructions to re-install Norton 360 v2. NOT HELPFUL.
So it is posted on the community, and we will see what happens http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=Norton_360&message.id=7093
On the Edge - Richard Hammond
Weidenfiled & Nicolson
isbn 13 978 0 85327 5
When a national TV star has a serious accident in the course of his work it is BIG news. That is how things are these days. The viewer builds up some sort of relationship with the person on the small(ish) screen. So Richard's jet car accident was a big deal. The newspapers and the TV and radio news not only reported his crash, but also to some extent his recovery. This book is Richards record, for public consumption, of that whole process.
I started reading this on our quiet weekend, and got a fair way through. It starts with Richard's childhood and gives you some idea why he turned out like he did, his family life, and how he ended up on 'Top Gear'. This is all very interesting stuff as autobiographies go, but it isn't the main point of his book. The point is the recovery from the accident. It was just another mad day of filming. Richard describes the 'car' as he normally would. I could hear him as I read the words. The preparations for the run, the description of the simplicity of the controls. His evaluation of the vehicle and the driving experience. The description of the accident is brief. His thoughts during it are also recorded, but obviously from his memories - after the accident. He is used to observing and recording his impressions and playing them back for the viewer, and the accident is recorded in a similar way.
Immediately after the accident Mindy (his wife) takes over the narrative. It is through her descriptions of the aftermath that we get a real feeling for the impact that such an accident has on those around the victim. At first just the worry, the narrow focus on the person you think you may loose, and the overwhelming shock of it all. All this comes through really clearly.
The recovery process is more prolonged, this part takes about half the book. There are some lovely scenes that portray the madness of it all, they should be funny, but because we have got to know Richard somehow, they are not. The escape from the hospital, the military style operation to move the family to somewhere quiet so that the recovery can continue should be a point of high humour - but we care, so it isn't. Mindy's passages about the family, and particularly the children make for difficult reading. They are well written, but hard to read, hard to get through, especially if you have children of your own, I suspect.
Towards the end where Richard and Mindy are both writing, and it is possible to compare what they were doing by putting the passages next to each other, the font is changed so that we can easily tell who is who. That is helpful, but that part of the book is still the most confusing. It would have been better separated into chapters, and some explaining used to help the reader through. The constant switches from Richard to Mindy and back again just serves to break both stories.
It is a very readable book, from one of our best TV personalities, describing a difficult period in his life. Mindy's sections are perhaps the most important, and perhaps communicate the experience better than Richard's, but then she is on the outside, just as we are.
isbn 13 978 0 85327 5
When a national TV star has a serious accident in the course of his work it is BIG news. That is how things are these days. The viewer builds up some sort of relationship with the person on the small(ish) screen. So Richard's jet car accident was a big deal. The newspapers and the TV and radio news not only reported his crash, but also to some extent his recovery. This book is Richards record, for public consumption, of that whole process.
I started reading this on our quiet weekend, and got a fair way through. It starts with Richard's childhood and gives you some idea why he turned out like he did, his family life, and how he ended up on 'Top Gear'. This is all very interesting stuff as autobiographies go, but it isn't the main point of his book. The point is the recovery from the accident. It was just another mad day of filming. Richard describes the 'car' as he normally would. I could hear him as I read the words. The preparations for the run, the description of the simplicity of the controls. His evaluation of the vehicle and the driving experience. The description of the accident is brief. His thoughts during it are also recorded, but obviously from his memories - after the accident. He is used to observing and recording his impressions and playing them back for the viewer, and the accident is recorded in a similar way.
Immediately after the accident Mindy (his wife) takes over the narrative. It is through her descriptions of the aftermath that we get a real feeling for the impact that such an accident has on those around the victim. At first just the worry, the narrow focus on the person you think you may loose, and the overwhelming shock of it all. All this comes through really clearly.
The recovery process is more prolonged, this part takes about half the book. There are some lovely scenes that portray the madness of it all, they should be funny, but because we have got to know Richard somehow, they are not. The escape from the hospital, the military style operation to move the family to somewhere quiet so that the recovery can continue should be a point of high humour - but we care, so it isn't. Mindy's passages about the family, and particularly the children make for difficult reading. They are well written, but hard to read, hard to get through, especially if you have children of your own, I suspect.
Towards the end where Richard and Mindy are both writing, and it is possible to compare what they were doing by putting the passages next to each other, the font is changed so that we can easily tell who is who. That is helpful, but that part of the book is still the most confusing. It would have been better separated into chapters, and some explaining used to help the reader through. The constant switches from Richard to Mindy and back again just serves to break both stories.
It is a very readable book, from one of our best TV personalities, describing a difficult period in his life. Mindy's sections are perhaps the most important, and perhaps communicate the experience better than Richard's, but then she is on the outside, just as we are.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Windows Vista Permission problems
Problem:
Files saved in 'public' (Vista) or 'Shared' (XP) are not accessible to other users. This is extremely annoying when the files relate to pictures uploaded from a digital camera, or backups of files in the same shared (or public) area produced by a backup application. You can tell the affected pictures because a preview is not presented.
Now the bad thing about this problem is that even Administrators cannot access the file, but fortunately they CAN change the permissions.
Investigation:
There must be some commands that will let me examine the permissions. The GUI is one of those 'way too small - non-re-sizable mini-windows'.
The thing to note that is not shown is that the group 'EveryOne' is included when it works.
Now to the command line:
The command is icalcs.exe, which I found from here. Directory entries (via dir) and attributes (via attrib) are the same.
Starting a command prompt with 'Run as Administrator' and running the command:
icacls 100_066*.* /T /C
100_0664.jpg NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(I)(R)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(I)(M,DC)
Everyone:(I)(F)
100_0665.jpg NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(I)(R)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(I)(M,DC)
Everyone:(I)(F)
100_0666.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)
100_0667.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)
100_0668.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)
100_0669.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)
Solution:
So, now I've a Command file "Acl_ForPics.cmd" which contains:
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(R)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "BUILTIN\Administrators:(F)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(F)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "Everyone:(F)"
Run from a directory prompt it will add all the access I require. Shouldn't have to do it, but something somewhere is not setting permissions correctly, so this is a fix.
The original permissions are left in place, they could of course be deleted (replaced).
I know of similar problems in other machines with executing from directories and installing into directories other than "program files" - I'll be looking at that over Christmas.
Files saved in 'public' (Vista) or 'Shared' (XP) are not accessible to other users. This is extremely annoying when the files relate to pictures uploaded from a digital camera, or backups of files in the same shared (or public) area produced by a backup application. You can tell the affected pictures because a preview is not presented.
Now the bad thing about this problem is that even Administrators cannot access the file, but fortunately they CAN change the permissions.
Investigation:
There must be some commands that will let me examine the permissions. The GUI is one of those 'way too small - non-re-sizable mini-windows'.
This is for one I can see | This is for one I can't see |
 |  |
Now to the command line:
The command is icalcs.exe, which I found from here. Directory entries (via dir) and attributes (via attrib) are the same.
Starting a command prompt with 'Run as Administrator' and running the command:
icacls 100_066*.* /T /C
100_0664.jpg NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(I)(R)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(I)(M,DC)
Everyone:(I)(F)
100_0665.jpg NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(I)(R)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(I)(M,DC)
Everyone:(I)(F)
100_0666.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)
100_0667.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)
100_0668.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)
100_0669.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)
Solution:
So, now I've a Command file "Acl_ForPics.cmd" which contains:
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(R)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "BUILTIN\Administrators:(F)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(F)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "Everyone:(F)"
Run from a directory prompt it will add all the access I require. Shouldn't have to do it, but something somewhere is not setting permissions correctly, so this is a fix.
The original permissions are left in place, they could of course be deleted (replaced).
I know of similar problems in other machines with executing from directories and installing into directories other than "program files" - I'll be looking at that over Christmas.
Dell I530S Video Drivers
I have been experiencing problems where the image on my MultiSync LCD 2070WNX would display adjusted off either the left or right of the screen, by about two centimetres. This left the 2cm at the other end invisible. The screen is connected through a Belkin keboard video mouse (KVM) switch. If the adjustment occurred while the screen was switched to the other PC the screen would report 'out of range' - and that was that. The only thing to do is press the power button, wait for the shutdown power off, and power on again, making sure the screen is correctly switched. This only happens through the switched VGA, not through the direct DVI on the other machine, so its either the switch (unlikely) or the video card or drivers (most likely).
When I had the network card problem with SP1 there was nothing worthwhile on the site, now there is lots. Dell have caught up a bit.
Intel G31/G33/Q33/Q35 Graphics Controller
Hopefully this problem, and the associated unnecessary restarts will now be a thing of the past.
When I had the network card problem with SP1 there was nothing worthwhile on the site, now there is lots. Dell have caught up a bit.
Intel G31/G33/Q33/Q35 Graphics Controller
| Release Date: | 10/10/2007 | |||
| Version: | 7.14.10.1322, A02 |
| ||
| Download Type: | Driver | |||
| File Format: | Hard-Drive | |||
| File Size: | 15 MB |
Hopefully this problem, and the associated unnecessary restarts will now be a thing of the past.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Norton 360 v2 - Live Update Error
At last the free upgrade, and it installed faultlessly on all three machines, now only a couple of weeks later the problems start again:
LU1812: A program that was part of this update failed when it ran. This update was not applied.
Installation failed, error summary...
LU1806: LiveUpdate downloaded all of the updates you requested, but all of them failed to install. Please try to get the updates at a later time.
and on attempting to 'chat' (why? - its what caused all the IE problems before)
An error occured processing your request please contact the administrator or try again. Parameter invalid: Kernel::Kernel::sik_short_desc. Error Description:Input is too long.
Now its all in transit to Norton, who only work in IE, so as a FireFox user, I have to cut and paste the URLs as well.
It's rubbish - still.
LU1812: A program that was part of this update failed when it ran. This update was not applied.
Installation failed, error summary...
LU1806: LiveUpdate downloaded all of the updates you requested, but all of them failed to install. Please try to get the updates at a later time.
and on attempting to 'chat' (why? - its what caused all the IE problems before)
An error occured processing your request please contact the administrator or try again. Parameter invalid: Kernel::Kernel::sik_short_desc. Error Description:Input is too long.
Now its all in transit to Norton, who only work in IE, so as a FireFox user, I have to cut and paste the URLs as well.
It's rubbish - still.
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