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Place you can talk about other things not related to autopatcher.
ChrisJ
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Former Members of Yore

Post by ChrisJ »

I was looking at the old forum archive, noticed some names and felt a bit of sadness (really), a few of them were people that I doubt remember me but I remember them. I hope they are doing well.

James A, Mike (guitarmike), Eric, dkdk (Italian forum)

James and Mike are the 2 I remember most, both knew AP very well inside & out, and they both helped me publically and privately when I was trying to create a script for myself. Too many tips & tricks to recall and all of my notes were lost in a drive crash, sucks. James left first, kinda out of the blue, I thought he was older than most members, and he was (?) having health issues. I hope James is in good shape, alive and well. Mike invited me to participate in a project he had going on, we IRCed alot, he had many activities (tech, music) but always found time to help me. I know he was a bit tired of the issues with the old forum when he was trying to keep it afloat, he told me he wanted out and hoped someone would keep it going, thanks Vman. I hope all is well with Mike, including his music. He's a good guitar player, saw a video of his band - smokin if rock with a heavy dose of guitar is your thing.

Eric was a really cool guy, a regular with the 2k scripts, forum mod I think, smart, and very nice to everyone. I think he was a gamer too. He, Blazing Angel, and a few others were forum regulars, if I'm not mistaken even as far back as the previous (x2) official forum which I can't recall the name.

I had an Italian friend (online) from another unrelated forum that I introduced to AP. When I found out about dkdk_it and his Italian forum with a section dedicated to AP, I told my friend, his English was difficult to read and I didn't always understand what he was asking. The short story, dkdk's forum was very helpful and I was again amazed at the scope of the AP project, how cool most associated with project are. There were a few exceptions to the rule :(

There are others but these members stand out. If anyone has a clue how these bygone members are doing I would like to know. I've looked at the current members list, found nothing :?: I suspect most of the new crew has little to no contact with those associated with AP back in the day :)

As another year ends, and a new year is upon us - Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
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Re: Former Members of Yore

Post by TheAPGuy »

indeed I miss them too. :(

but, Merry Christmas!
ChrisJ
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Re: Former Members of Yore

Post by ChrisJ »

ViroMan wrote:indeed I miss them too. :(

but, Merry Christmas!
Wonderin', did you ever make contact with Frank the owner of the old forum or did he vanish too without saying much? He had posted links to websites he had for personal stuff, don't remember the content (not the hosting site), last I checked, a few years ago, all were dead. He mentioned he had a Facebook page too???

The reason I mention it, from what I recall, the last 2 forums dedicated to AP were active, many users contributing error reports and new feature requests, a very robust user base. I still see a need for AP and can't figure out why some of these former members wouldn't stop by to at least say hi, maybe thanks for keeping it moving forward - IDK, this is a bit of a disappointment IMO :o
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Re: Former Members of Yore

Post by TheAPGuy »

I tried several times to get a hold of him, 3 email accounts, twitter, his web hosting is down, even his phone number goes no where. The only thing of him thats still left is autopatcher.com that gets auto paid and his twitter that sometimes has him posting in.
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Microsoft Goes After More Tech Support Scammers

Post by Whatacrock »

Microsoft Goes After More Tech Support Scammers

Microsoft has recently sued a US-based company for offering fake tech support services and even installing rogue software on perfectly fine computers using its name, and it turns out that similar efforts are now taking place across the entire world.
This time, Redmond is launching legal action against an Indian company called C-Cubed which allegedly “used and misused the Microsoft name and its registered trademarks without authorization in connection with the provision of phone technical support services,” as India Times writes.

“Many of these technical support companies are able to gain victims’ trust by claiming they work for Microsoft, are a Microsoft Certified Partner or somehow affiliated with Microsoft,” Microsoft said in a statement detailing the way these companies work.

“In some instances, once the tech scammer gains remote access to a consumer’s computer, they will use scare tactics — telling the consumer that if they do not pay for support services they will lose all of their files, suffer a computer crash, or risk the leak of personal identifiable information.”
How tech scammers try to trick you into paying for fake services
Basically, phone tech scammers are calling victims across the world and claim to be working for Microsoft or a company that collaborates with Microsoft in order to address a number of problems.

In most cases, the scammer asks the victim to provide remote access to their computer and once he gets it, he deploys rogue software that simulates malware infections and other technical problems.

Basically, in order to fix all these issues, the scammer asks for a small fee, which most of the victims agree to pay thinking that they're actually getting a service provided by Microsoft.

In many cases, the scammer also installs real malware that allows him to return at a later time and ask for a new fee in order to clean the local drives.

As usual, Microsoft recommends everyone to hang up on people offering tech support by phone and to never pay for services that are provided through remote control and in exchange for a fee.


http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsof ... 8698.shtml
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Why Do People Still Want Windows XP Second Edition?

Post by Whatacrock »

Why Do People Still Want Windows XP Second Edition?

Windows XP no longer receives support since April 2014, but plenty of users out there are still running it, and not only that they refuse to upgrade to a newer operating system, but they also ask Microsoft to launch a second edition of their favorite operating system.
While this is pretty much impossible to happen, since Microsoft has already started work on Windows 10 and launching Windows XP Second Edition would only mean a step back, it's interesting to see why exactly people want such an operating system in an era where modern technologies do not get well at all with a platform launched 14 years ago.

Posts all over the web, but mostly on Microsoft's Community forums, emphasize that Windows XP Second Edition is needed because users still expect to get an operating system that's still resource-friendly (and thus runs on older PCs too), comes with a familiar UI, and runs all apps out there.

Obviously, keeping old hardware alive wouldn't be the smartest decision for Microsoft, as PC shipments go head to head with Windows sales, but that doesn't stop Windows XP users from hoping that a revamped version of their OS would see daylight.

“Windows XP SP2 would be a gold mine”

A post published on the Microsoft forums in 2014 sums up what users think about this proposal:

“That's a fantastic idea. And don't change the interface. And feel of it. Plus make old software and games work on it. Give it the latest Direct X. People would definitely buy it. I certainly would. But we know Microsoft is too dumb to realize they have a goldmine in a XP2 version.”

“I bet all the IT people would upgrade too. I would like it to have visual styles and be able to change the colors. I always keep my fingers cross on a second XP version. Gates is back, he should think about it. There should be a petition for it. I can't stand Windows 7. Tried it, hated it.”
18 percent of PCs still running Windows XP
According to statistics provided by market research Net Applications, Windows XP continues to be the second top operating system worldwide with a share of 18.26 percent in December 2014, while Windows 7 continues to lead the charts with 56.26 percent.

As you can see, Windows XP is losing ground at a really slow pace, which isn't quite the best news for Microsoft, but there's no doubt that all Redmond's hopes are on Windows 10.

The new operating system is expected to see daylight in the fall of 2015, and that is the moment when more users could migrate off Windows XP, thus causing a new massive PC upgrade that would also help the PC industry boost shipments and thus recover at a faster pace.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Why-Do-P ... 9120.shtml
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ChrisJ
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Re: Former Members of Yore

Post by ChrisJ »

ViroMan wrote:I tried several times to get a hold of him...
Ok, thanks for responding :(
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Surprise! Adobe Flash has a security flaw on Windows, Mac an

Post by parkd1 »

Well, it's been a week since we've heard about a security vulnerability in Adobe Flash -- that's like a lifetime in terms of this program. While the application is slowly receding, it's far from dead and that means users have reason for worry. Of course, using Flash at all is a general concern -- it's a highly targeted platform for attackers.

Now Adobe is issuing it's latest warning, this one for "drive-by attacks". The flaw is technically known as CVE-2015-0313, though that moniker does little good for the end-user. What people really need to know is that the problem has been found to be used on the web.

"We are aware of reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild via drive-by-download attacks against systems running Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows 8.1 and below", the software maker claims.

So, what to do? Well, for starters try to avoid using Flash -- a tall order in many cases. However, Adobe hopes to have a patch available sometime this week.

In the meantime, you can keep an eye on this Adobe site for further updates. Otherwise, we'd recommend crossing your fingers, praying or whatever you choose to do to ward off evil.

http://betanews.com/2015/02/02/surprise ... and-linux/
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Re: Surprise! Adobe Flash has a security flaw on Windows, Ma

Post by Whatacrock »

Flash Player plagued by third zero-day flaw in a month, but updates are coming

Adobe Systems warned users that hackers are exploiting another unpatched vulnerability in Flash Player—the third one in the past month—to infect computers with malware.

There are reports that the vulnerability is being actively exploited in drive-by-download attacks that target systems running Flash Player under Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox on Windows 8.1 and below, Adobe said in a security advisory published Monday.

The company plans to release Flash Player updates that will address the flaw later this week.

The vulnerability, which is tracked as CVE-2015-0313 in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures database, affects Flash Player on all supported platforms: Adobe Flash Player 16.0.0.296 and earlier versions for Windows and Mac OS X; Adobe Flash Player 13.0.0.264 and earlier 13.x versions; and Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.440 and earlier versions for Linux.

Adobe credits a security researcher from Trend Micro and two from Microsoft with reporting the flaw to the company after they found it being used in attacks.

The vulnerability was exploited in malvertising attacks—exploits loaded through malicious advertisements—that were observed earlier this month on popular video sharing site dailymotion.com, according to Trend Micro.

“It is likely that this was not limited to the Dailymotion website alone, since the infection was triggered from the advertising platform and not the website content itself,” said Peter Pi, a threats analyst at Trend Micro, in a blog post.

“We have been monitoring this attack since January 14, and saw a spike in the hits to the IP [Internet Protocol address] related to the malicious URL around January 27,” Pi said, adding that most of the users who accessed the malicious server were from the U.S.

Adobe released two Flash Player updates over the past two weeks—Flash Player 16.0.0.287 and 16.0.0.296—in order to fix two other vulnerabilities that were being actively exploited via malvertising. Such vulnerabilities that are used in attacks before a patch is available are known as zero-days.

The previous two flaws, identified as CVE-2015-0310 and CVE-2015-0311, had been integrated into an attack tool called the Angler Exploit Kit.

An initial analysis suggests that the new CVE-2015-0313 exploit was also used in attacks launched with Angler, “due to similarities in obfuscation techniques and infection chains,” Pi said.

However, an independent researcher known online as Kafeine, who tracks exploits kits and found the recent Flash Player exploits in Angler, believes the latest attacks might be the work of cybercriminals using a different tool called the Hanjuan Exploit Kit.

Regardless of the tool used to exploit the new vulnerability, users should take precautions until Adobe releases patches. Malicious advertisements are difficult to block because they are launched through legitimate advertising networks and appear on popular, trusted websites.

Users should enable the click-to-play feature in browsers to prevent plug-in-based content like Flash from running automatically without their explicit consent. They should also keep their antivirus programs up to date, because Adobe shares exploit samples with security vendors so they can create detection signatures.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2878792/ ... oming.html
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Re: Surprise! Adobe Flash has a security flaw on Windows, Ma

Post by DesertJerry »

Flash Player 16.0.0.305 released
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