Free Republic

April 12 – save the date if you're a Windows or Samba file server administrator. Stefan Metzmacher, a Samba core developer, has discovered what sounds like a pretty bad security bug, and he says it will be patched on that day next month. The vulnerability already has everything it needs to make a big splash: a name, Badlock; a website, and a logo. Here's what we know from the site: On April 12th, 2016 a crucial security bug in Windows and Samba will be disclosed. We call it: Badlock. Engineers at Microsoft and the Samba Team are working together to...

I get threat:"Virus found Win32/Patched| object name: c\Windows\System32\rpcss.dll process name: C\Windows\Systems32\SearchProtocoHost.exe but when I try to remove the alleged threats, I get "file can't be removed because it's critical for operating system

The recovery of objects obscured by scattering is an important goal in imaging and has been approached by exploiting, for example, coherence properties, ballistic photons or penetrating wavelengths. Common methods use scattered light transmitted through an occluding material, although these fail if the occluder is opaque. Light is scattered not only by transmission through objects, but also by multiple reflection from diffuse surfaces in a scene. This reflected light contains information about the scene that becomes mixed by the diffuse reflections before reaching the image sensor. This mixing is difficult to decode using traditional cameras. Here we report the combination...

My video card took a dump and until I get the cash for another one, I hooked up to my computers onboard. What happens next is beyond my limited understanding? The computer will go through the whole boot process but then the monitor throws up a "Frequency Out Of Range" message and that is as far as I can get!? I can see everything as I boot .. the white lettering that says Bios F2 and Boot F10 and I also get that loading screen bar but then that dreaded message (Frequency Out Of Range) pops up!? Did I make...

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Georgia authorities are investigating the discovery of six loaded shotguns aimed at a food plot that were rigged to be fired through a network of Web-controlled cameras. The Augusta Chronicle reported the guns were discovered last fall on Georgia Power Company right of way in rural south Georgia. The set up was discovered by a utility contractor and it was reported to the U.S. Office of Homeland Security. The newspaper reported that a bulletin circulated by the Office of Homeland Security said it appeared that the rig was only intended for illegal hunting in an area known...

Justin Bieber uses 3% of Twitter resources at any moment. According to a Twitter employee—talking to designer Dustin Curtis—Bieber has "racks of servers dedicated to him. I'm sure this will excite his haters (hello 4chan!) even more. Updated Dustin confirmed to us that his tweet is not a joke. He was told about it by a Twitter employee. Since Bieber is almost a perennial trending topic, I'm not surprised. Still, and given the 180 million unique visitors every month, that's quite an achievement. What is really important, however, is this: Now, every time that whale pops, you will have one more...

It was first published 126 years ago and is respected the world over. But the Oxford English Dictionary will never appear in print again, its owners have announced. Instead, the 80 lexicographers who have been working on the third edition for the past 21 years have been told the fruits of their labour will exist solely online.   The OED has been available on the internet for the past ten years and receives two million hits a month from subscribers who pay £205 a year, plus VAT, to access it. Oxford University Press says the dominance of the internet...

Trains delayed by porn-surfing rail worker Published: 7 Apr 10 14:58 CET   A 52-year-old rail worker reprimanded two years ago for visiting pornographic websites at work has escaped with just a second warning despite repeatedly causing trains to be delayed in eastern Sweden. The Swedish Rail Administration's (Banverket) disciplinary board issued the follow-up warning in March after the signal operator's litany of workplace transgressions led to numerous delays at Gävle station.  In the two-year period since his porn habits led the administration's local computer network to become infected with viruses, the 52-year-old has routinely been summoned to formal meetings with his boss to discuss his...

I would like to know the pros and cons of LED vs LCD for:Desk MonitorsHome TV use LED monitors and TVs have both dropped in price and I am thinking of upgrading to a 24" monitor for my office and possibly also upgrading the home TV size.Appreciate the feed-back.Thanks

OK Freepers, here's a fun one. Installed Mint 8 Helena on a brand new out of the box Presario AMD Athlon II X2 240 Dual core w/ 3 gigs of ram. During installation it couldn't establish a wired connection. The only error dialogue I got was 'could not resolve archive.ubuntu.com The modem etc all work fine on my Presario with Helena. After installation it would try to acquire a connection with no luck. Please be patient with me as I am not linux or tech savvy at all. Many Thanks!!

Survey finds one in six consumers act on spam by Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service About one in six consumers have at some time acted on a spam message, affirming the economic incentive for spammers to keep churning out millions of obnoxious pitches per day, according to a new survey.Due to be released Wednesday, the survey was sponsored by the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG), an industrywide security think tank composed of service providers and network operators dedicated to fighting spam and malicious software.Eight hundred consumers in the U.S. and Canada were asked about their computer security practices habits...

I have a .VOB file, from a DVD, from which I would like to extract 10 minutes. I am using Avidemux, but find the documentation to be virtually nonexistent. I have a really simple objective: extract a continuous 10 minutes from this original .VOB file. IF this were an audio file, and IF I were using Audacity, the process is simple: I would highlight the section of audio. Then I would - "trim" the audio outside the shaded area - save the result as a new file Or, I could - copy the highlighted section - open a new file...

The line between what's real and what's not is thin and shifting, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has decided to explore both sides. Boldly going where few government bureaucracies have gone before, the agency is enlisting the expertise of science fiction writers. Crazy? This week down at the Reagan Building, the 2009 Homeland Security Science & Technology Stakeholders Conference has been going on. Instead of just another wonkish series of meetings and a trade show, with contractors hustling business around every corner, this felt at times more like a convention of futuristic yarn-spinners Onstage in the darkened...

Hi everyone, I tried installing a Java applet onto a website today, but the applet seems to be non-functional - a white box with an X in the upper left corner appears. I check, and have a recent version of Sun Microsystems Java installed and running on my PC. Is there some critical piece of enabling code that I'm forgetting? Thanks, TQC

Every household in the country will be guaranteed access to broadband internet, according to a draft report by Lord Carter on the future of the telecoms and media industries.Lord Carter, the communications minister, will propose a "universal service commitment" to broadband - akin to the guarantee offered on postal services and fixed-line telephones - that by 2012 would provide minimum download speeds of 2 megabits per second to every household that wants it, according to people who have seen a draft of his report, entitled Digital Britain. Such speeds enable people to watch video online, including the BBC iPlayer.The...

Sitting patiently before your computer as it boots up could soon be a thing of the past following the discovery of a new basic type of electrical circuit by electronics heavyweight Hewlett-Packard (HP). According to the basics of electronic theory, there are three fundamental elements involved in the function of a passive electrical circuit, namely resistors, capacitors and inductors. However, after four decades of searching, HP scientists are now claiming to have found a potentially significant fourth element. The Hewlett-Packard research team, led by Stanley Williams, has this week announced it has proven the existence of the “memristor” (memory resistor)...

The Speedos that could be just a bit too speedyBy MARK FLEMING - More by this author » Last updated at 21:42pm on 29th March 2008  A revolutionary bodysuit that British swimmers hope will help them power to medals at the Beijing Olympics could be banned.  The skintight Speedo LZR Racer costume, which was developed with help from Nasa scientists, has been worn in 16 world record-breaking swims in just six weeks since its launch, and now swimmers are clamouring to try it. But the sport's governing body is worried that, because it apparently helps swimmers go faster, wearing...

eBay scripting trick used to boost seller ratings Shockwave redirection ploy in mystery auction attack By John Leyden → More by this author    Published Tuesday 18th March 2008 17:04 GMT Hackers have been caught using a malicious scripting scam in an apparent attempt to boost their rating on eBay.An auction for a 4WD car on eBay.co.uk featuring the ruse was brought to our attention by Reg reader John early on Monday. eBay pulled the auction on Monday afternoon but The Reg has this screenshot.The auction for a 2007 Range Rover Sport HSE offered a car valued at £40K for...

Identifying Manipulated Images New tools that analyze the lighting in images help spot tampering. By Erica Naone   True or false? The tool used above spots whether an image has been manipulated by modeling the lighting in the image based on an analysis of visible surfaces. To analyze an image, a user indicates the surfaces to consider using contour lines (shown above in white). The system checks for inconsistencies in the way that those surfaces are lit. Credit: Micah Kimo Johnson, Hany Farid Photo-editing software gets more sophisticated all the time, allowing users to alter pictures in ways both...

Japan to strip Internet for illegal downloaders: report  TOKYO (AFP) — Japanese companies plan to cut off the Internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files in one of the world's toughest measures against online piracy, a report said Saturday.Faced with mounting complaints from the music, movie and video-game industries, four associations representing Japan's Internet service providers have agreed to take drastic action, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said service providers would send e-mails to people who repeatedly made illegal copies and terminate their connections if they did not stop.The Internet companies will set up a...