the_Monk

Reply to Keep Track of Your Network–And Who’s On It in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="OMG_pacov" reply="16" id="2976514"]Quoting the_Monk, reply 5In my opinion, the best option is to pay between $300-$500 and get an entry-level small/medium business network router. They come with better network management built-in, have intrusion detection software rules (which can be updated) and have procs and memory actually capable of handling some "preventative security" measures. I personally think that's a little overkill - there are some good routers in the

Reply to Recommend a gaming laptop in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

Anything [b]under[/b] $2,000 is not going to "last me a while, and have the capability to play games on high settings". Sorry. EDIT: I suppose I should rephrase that. Depends on the type of games but since you also listed "3D modeling" I'm guess they're not crappy little Facebook flash games...hehe

Reply to Keep Track of Your Network–And Who’s On It in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

I don't remember saying that everyone should have a $500 router. I [b]do[/b] remember suggesting that spending between $300-$500 on a router was (in my opinion) better than mucking around with software/firmware which "the avererage user" (to quote you) wouldn't really understand anyway whereas the $300 - $500 router would do a lot of that "protecting" without even so much as user [i]understanding[/i] nevermind inter

Reply to Keep Track of Your Network–And Who’s On It in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="Supergroverohp" reply="6" id="2976319"] Flashing to a DD-WRT firmware is something you do want to do, it will add a ton more options for securing and monitoring your network..... [/quote] ...and the proc/mem on that router can actually make good use of those "added features"? I mean when someone enables "SPI" or uses ALG-checking etc. you do realize that if the router doesn't have the proc and/or memory those "features" end up being largely useles

Reply to Keep Track of Your Network–And Who’s On It in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

another FYI.... One of my sons had a $60 (el cheapo) linksys router which he insisted flashing with DD-WRT. Later when he wanted to go back to a factory (linksys) firmware eventhough it looked like the factory-flash took there was always something left behind in the flash memory by DD-WRT so the factory flash never worked right again. He was stuck with DD-WRT on that router. Like I said just an FYI (<span style="text-decoration: un

Reply to Keep Track of Your Network–And Who’s On It in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

Umm Doc don't you mean [b]WPA2[/b]? WEP in all of its iterations has been antiquated and completely useless for many years now. For instance I can crack a "WEP-secured" network in litereally [i]seconds[/i]. [e digicons]O:)[/e] Attempting to crack a WPA-secured network however could take months if not years (depending on the type of key used, the beacon broadcasting setup etc. etc.) Also, Wireless watcher and pro

Reply to A quick thank you in Demigod Stardock Forums

For much of my time with DG you've been the public face of the community (at least here in the forums). Much appreciated pacov........ happy ub'ing! hehe [e digicons]O:)[/e]

Reply to Toshiba Satellite series problem in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="kona0197" reply="28" id="2972712"] The build quality is the same. I just have to settle for a cheaper CPU and GPU. No big deal for my uses. I've had plenty of notebooks that retail under $500 that hold up quite well. I think your assesment that anything under a grand is a waste is false. Spending more than an hour to diagnose is expensive? Sounds like you have very high shop rates. By the way even a $1500 dollar notebook can have issues. N

Reply to Toshiba Satellite series problem in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

Ask yourself two things. First on the notebooks that cost $1,500 or more is that additional money [i]all[/i] going towards "bells and whistles"? Or is build-quality, individual component quality increased as a result? Second, if the latter part of the first statement is even partially true, how adversly do you think sub-par build-quality and sub-par individual component quality affects a less than $500 notebook? Not worth the risk in my opinion and

Reply to Toshiba Satellite series problem in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="kona0197" reply="16" id="2972510"]$479 is expensive. Try living on a very limited budget.[/quote] I didn't comment to [b]your[/b] financial means. Being in the industry I can however comment on what constitutes a "cheap" laptop and $479.00 is a [i]very cheap[/i] laptop indeed. If you want quality and I mean [i]decent[/i] quality in a notebook look to spend between $1,000 - $1,500 ([b]superior[/b] quality meaning build-quality, individ

Reply to Toshiba Satellite series problem in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="kona0197" reply="14" id="2972485"]$479 isn't exactly "cheap".[/quote] Sure it is. I've never purchased a laptop for under $1,500.......might also be why I've never had any issues whatsoever. For instance, one of my notebooks which I purchased back in 2005 for just under $2,500 is still going strong. Of course since then I've doubled the RAM, put in a bigger HD and replaced XP with Win7 but th

Reply to Canadians have spoken against a metered Internet in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="Jafo" reply="16" id="2966489"] The art of not choking oneself to death whilst deepthroating your own foot and at the same time licking your Party's collective arse.[/quote] Wow......bit of a sick/twisted mind there Jafo?! ...now back on topic. [b]Zygwen[/b] hit the nail on the head with [b]reply #8[/b]. That is a pretty accurate depiction of how our system is currently working and

Reply to Liability, Hackers, Security and losing faith in the System: What’s The Answer? in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

My quote below addressed same. [quote who="the_Monk" reply="8" id="2961483"]Holding companies more responsible is only one part of the problem. Once companies realise that they can't really guarantee client data safety, they will be faced with removing certain services, is that something society will be happy with? Less services? For that reason I predict there will come a time where society will have to decide, less individual freedoms (meaning someone somewhere will exercise som

Reply to Liability, Hackers, Security and losing faith in the System: What’s The Answer? in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

I do IT and specifically networking and security for a living. The problem with bringing "security" to the internet is that the internet was designed with a "barn-door open" concept. When the stalls were built all over the field how does one now build a barn over top to protect them all? I see absolutely nothing in the internet-[i]security[/i] landscape changing at all until we start to [i]control[/i] (at a router/network level) what and where

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

I see Lightstar. Fine. You want this discussion-vein to finally end so you can stop being bored? Done. Thank you Daiwa and a few others who actually posted here for the purposes of good discussion. The rest of you........sorry your intellect wasn't challenged and you were so bored. Maybe next time! Have a nice day everyone.

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="gmc2" reply="119" id="2957668"]the_Monk, Diawa and myfist0 have all provided enlightening arguments for social responsibility, and yes, I do believe that we as a society (US) have a responsibility to provide an environment to raise our children to be respectful and responsible. We're not doing this, we've done nothing to alter the cycle of piss poor parenting. The current solution is to leave it up to the individuals or allow each state to mandate what is acceptable. We ne

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="DrJBHL" reply="112" id="2957603"]Quoting the_Monk, reply 95We are all culpable in everything that happens in this world since we as the individual are part of the whole. Fundamentally wrong. A bushman goes berserk and kills a baboon in Zambia in a sadistic manner. Conclusion? The Inuit in Alaska and the Mongolian horse tender share equally in the bushman's guilt. On what planet? There are varying degrees of "involv

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[e digicons]:rofl:[/e] Doc, I have a [i]concept[/i] now? I happen to live in Canada where some of those social "programs" I was describing earlier have been implemented and are working just fine. One can actually see the differences being made (in some of the programs) on a day to day basis (other programs have longterm outcomes so it becomes harder to see small gains). Further, in the same post where you suggest my posts are "utopian concepts" you also sugg

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="108" id="2957494"]You're assuming that directing 'real effort towards change', a thoroughly nebulous concept, will 'effect change' that you consider to be positive. I can't change you. Programs won't change you. Only you can change you. Programs won't change the way the chips fall unless they are rigged to favor some and disfavor others. We've tried 'programs' for the last 50 years and I can&#3

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="100" id="2957447"] We have a fundamental philosophical disagreement here. You can choose to accept a degree of culpability for the actions of your children if you wish, but that's voluntary - you cannot ask or expect others ('society') to accept any such culpability for the actions of your children. What would you propose I do about the actions of your children? How is declining to accept culpability for the actions of others equiva

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="96" id="2957430"] With that I fundamentally disagree. It's entirely counter to the notions of free will and individual autonomy, which define freedom of, and responsibility for, action. An argument can be made that we share culpability for inaction in certain circumstances, but not for the actions of individuals.[/quote] When those actions are being perpetuated by our offspring/children then yes we do share in the culp

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="DrJBHL" reply="94" id="2957415"]Why is it that umbrellas seem to open just after the rain happens to justify it? [/quote] I think a more accurate depiction of Rogue Captain's post would be "why is it that umbrellas seem to open [b]just before[/b] the rain happens to justify it?" [e digicons]:typo:[/e]

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="90" id="2957402"]I suppose we're closer to agreement than not, Monk, but I don't agree that 'society' is culpable or that any sort of top-down societal 'fix' is either possible or desirable, the latter because it let's us off the hook too easily. [/quote] We are all culpable in everything that happens in this world since we as the individual are part of the whole. Again, I wasn't advocating a "top-down

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

No of course on cannot [i]only[/i] use outcome alone as judgement of method however it is [u]usually[/u] a fairly good indicator of whether certain methods were even attempted or not. It is truly unfortunate that there are so many cases where even as you put it "love done right doesn't always work". Also, while there may be countless ways to "do love right" I think it can be agreed the ways I pointed out regarding how one could go about doing so could

Reply to lulzSec Hacks Arizona Police: Now the Angry Gamers Have Gone Political in Personal Computing Stardock Forums

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="82" id="2957343"]Separating 'celebrations', as you call them, from the argument, the ethos reflected in your position is arguably at least one reason lulzSec exists. The notion that perpetrators of (insert bad/criminal behavior here) deserve some slack because someone else failed to prevent their behavior is so pervasive that 'prevention' is something of a conundrum. There is a point where 'focusing on prevention' becomes enabling.