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Amazonsucks

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  1. Like
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from pilot35 in Core i9 Macbook Pro throttles so hard its SLOWER than last years i7 model.   
    Apple fanboys rationalized the iPhone 4 dropping calls and still bought it. Apple counts on their  logo doing all the talking. You could stick an apple logo on the worst knockoff and fanboys would still defend it and buy it at any price.
     
    You think theyre a trillion dollar company because they make quality products? Its because they use lowest bidder manufacturing(Foxconn) and sell at a huge premium.
     
    The kinds of people who buy this stuff know nothing about computers. Has been that way since Wozniak left Apple. 
     
    Most consumers are happy being fooled these days. Like Oscar Wilde said "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing".
  2. Like
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from rscustomwarrior in Cybersecurity help and quick reference guide   
    The discussion about cybersecurity is almost non existent on this forum so I thought I'd make a basic list of things to do, that people can point to if they're having, or trying to prevent having, cybersecurity related issues. Also after reading stuff about peoples' PC's being full of malware and all the news of hacking etc. I figured I might as well take a few minutes and write a post on it. Not sure if this is the best place to put it though. Oh well.
     
     
     
    Security Basics
     
    The first thing to do is follow and familiarize yourself with basic security best practices. By doing so, you can avoid most problems and mitigate the damage caused by any that can't be prevented.
     
    Never assume that your security setup is going to be 100% effective, and therefore assume that someone, somehow can get malware onto your system or that your password will be hacked in a database breach of some sort. If that sounds depressing, it's not that bad.
     
     
     
     
    Two Factor Authentication(2FA) Basics
     
    Use two factor authentication and two step verification for every account you can. The most secure 2FA is NOT to use the cell phone based text message code. Its unlikely, but an adversary who is an advanced persistent threat(APT), can intercept normal text messages pretty easily, and actually get into an account using such 2FA without the account owner knowing.
     
    That's why you should use a 2FA app like the Google Authenticator, which uses codes that expire every minute or so and constantly change. Other companies like Blizzard and Steam have these type of authenticators built into their apps or they have dedicated 2FA apps for mobile devices. Use them.
     
    Since no one can easily access the account if you have 2FA, including you if you lose your backup codes, make sure that you keep the backup codes off your device, somewhere safe. Like written down or burned to a DVD in a fireproof safe. That way, if your devices break, you're not locked out of your accounts.
     
     
    The second thing to do is make sure that you are running your computer in a way that does several things to minimize potential infections and mitigate any damage they might cause:
     
    • Minimize the use of accounts with high priveliges within your operating system(so don't have admin priveliges on every account by default or something like that).
     
    • Minimize the attack surface of your computer by not having a bunch of unnecessary programs that can be vectors for attack. For example, if you have some free program that has a bunch of ads in it that you don't use, uninstall it. Ad networks get compromised all the time and if you don't use it, don't have it active. The same goes for mobile devices too.
     
    • Always keep your software updated. Make sure that Widows Update is fully functional(malware will often disable it) and install all of the security related updates.
     
    • Get rid of commonly attacked programs that you don't need. If you have Java and Flash and you don't need them, uninstall them.
     
    • Use something that actually works for security software.
     
     
     
    Security Software
     
    Most conventional AV software, and a lot of unconventional antimalware software, is worse than just useless. It gives people a false sense of security, so they don't think a phishing link can affect them, or they think that visiting webpages with exploit kits in the ads won't affect them, and very quickly their PC will be full of rootkits. Some antimalware is itself a vector for malware to enter a system. PC Matic was called out relatively recently for allowing an attacker to take over a system.
     
    Its important to realize that AV test and comparison websites are also basically useless, much like synthetic hardware benchmark websites are useless. They don't represent the kind of threats that are actually faced today. A very common way to get the nastiest malware out there like a rootkit or a crypted RAT, is to browse the internet on perfectly normal websites that have ads(ad blockers don't stop this either), or a website that has been hacked, and has an exploit kit on it or in an ad being displayed.
     
    An exploit kit will, without any user interaction, silently drop malware onto the target machine and the user will often never be the wiser. Most antivirus software will remain silent on runtime, and there are anti-detection techniques that assist the malware in evading detection(polymorphism, crypting, stuff like that).
     
    In my experience, the only consumer level piece of antimalware that has actual exploit mitigations(like the now deprecated EMET from Microsoft, but more effective and actually user friendly) is Malwarebytes premium. If you don't want to pay for it, you can get the permanent beta version of Malwarebytes Anti Exploit off their forum, and it has much of the functionality of the premium version's. Whatever version of Malwarebytes Anti Malware you use, make sure you go into the detection settings and enable the rootkit detection option before you do a scan, and for the first scan do a Threat Scan instead of a Hyper Scan.
     
    Normal program with premium trial:
     
    https://www.malwarebytes.com/
     
    Free permanent beta of MBAE:
     
    https://forums.malwarebytes.com/forum/126-anti-exploit-beta/
     
    There are a few other tools that can be run as second, and third opinion scanners as well. These are not full fledged antivirus or antimalware solutions, so don't think that they replace one.
     
    Interestingly, Malwarebytes bought one of the best ones and now runs it as well: Adwcleaner. Anyone who has had to fix browser hijackers knows this piece of software well!
     
    https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/
     
    Microsoft, of course, has their Malicious Software Removal Tool
     
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/malicious-software-removal-tool-details.aspx
     
    And the Microsoft Safety Scanner
     
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/intelligence/safety-scanner-download
     
    F-Secure has a good, small, free scanner as well
     
    https://www.f-secure.com/en/web/home_global/f-secure-online-scanner
     
    There are two other tools that everyone using Windows should familiarize themselves with:
     
    Process Explorer is basically an advanced version of Task Manager, which has Virus Total MD5 hash comparison integrated, meaning it will compare the cryptographic hashes of the processes running on your PC with Virus Total(owned by Google) database and show you a result in a column on your screen. You have to enable it, as well as "Signature Verification" which shows who the certificate signer of the software is.
     
    Make sure you go to File and Show Details From All Processes or do run this as administrator.
     
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer
     
    Autoruns allows you to see, and prevent, things from starting with Windows easily. It also has Virus Total integration that can be enabled in settings. Administrator also applies here.
     
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns
     
     
     
    System Repair
     
    After you have completely removed all traces of malware from your system, which if the tools listed don't do it, you should probably head over to Bleeping Computer or some forum like that where they have people who will step by step walk you through malware removal, you should run two built in Windows features.
     
    Open an elevated command prompt by searching for command in Windows Search, and right click the Command Prompt and click "Run as Administrator". Once you're in there, type in the following commands and hit enter afterward. 
     
    Note: you will need to wait for the previous command to finish running before going to the next one. Use the exact spacing that I use here:
     
    DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
     
    sfc /scannow
     
     
    Mobile Security
     
    A lot of people use mobile devices for banking and things like that nowadays as well. Not to mention that a phone or tablet will usually be the device that has the mobile authenticator app installed(as it should be), so it's important to keep those clean and secure as well.
     
    •Disable all the useless bloatware in your devices application settings. 
     
    • Disable "install from unknown locations" on for Android, don't root the phone.
     
    • Don't Jailbreak the Apple stuff and that takes care of most of the problem for them.
     
    • I would also enable Lookout Mobile Security and set it up correctly for Android devices that come with it preinstalled, and I install it on every Android device that I use that doesn't have it by default.  The free version is really quite good for mobile antimalware.
     
     
     
    VPN Considerations
     
    If you need a VPN, I would recommend using a VPN that's ACTUALLY a security/privacy product, and not a scam or data harvesting piece of malware itself. There was a good study a while back that I'll have to find about how many free "VPNs" were just massive security risks themselves.
     
    I know that there are a few reputable ones out there, but the ones I always personally recommend are F-Secure Freedome(Finland) and ProtonVPN(run by CERN in Switzerland). Freedome has more security focused features like app scanning and malicious website blocking, but ProtonVPN has a completely free client that has unlimited data.
     
    https://www.f-secure.com/en_US/web/home_us/freedome
     
    https://protonvpn.com/
     
    You do need a free Protonmail account to use it, but if you don't have a Protonmail account you should have one as a more secure alternative to Gmail or Hotmail. It has 2FA using Google Authenticator as well so it can be fully secured like a Gmail account.
     
    Once you have your VPN of choice setup, make sure its working by going to:
     
    https://ipleak.net
     
    If you see your real IP or DNS with the VPN active, your browser is leaking, probably via WebRTC. There are various different ways to disable WebRTC depending on which browser you use. For example, in Chrome you need to type chrome://flags into the URL bar and disable the WebRTC stun header flag. 
     
     
     
    Basic Network Security
     
    For your home network and WiFi, make sure you change the default password and login name on your router/modem.
     
    Make sure you have remote administration off on your modem/router, and that it's off on your computers unless you need it to be on.
     
    Use Windows built in firewall! It's really the best one to use in Windows. Most of the third party ones are just an overlay on Windows Firewall anyway, and are useless.
     
     
     
    Things to Avoid
     
    Do not use software that does more harm than good like:
     
    • Registry cleaners or optimizers. They are worse than useless and can break things.
     
    • Driver updaters. They're mostly garbage and can break things. Just do it manually.
     
    • File managers. They're often loaded with malware.
     
    • "System booster" type software. Worse than useless and can have a bunch of malware as well.
     
    • Don't connect a bunch of IoT garbage to your network. It's mostly just going to be exfiltrating data from your network for companies to sell and market you junk.
     
  3. Agree
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from Lady Fitzgerald in Do NOT shop at Newegg this season   
    I will continue shopping at Newegg despite the shills and fake news.
     
    I will never shop at Amazon but thanks for the tip. Cant wait for Newegg's black friday deals. They never decline my American Express.
  4. Funny
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from 8uhbbhu8 in Do NOT shop at Newegg this season   
    I will continue shopping at Newegg despite the shills and fake news.
     
    I will never shop at Amazon but thanks for the tip. Cant wait for Newegg's black friday deals. They never decline my American Express.
  5. Funny
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from Belgarathian in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    You mean the Fiat currency thats worth less than the denim its printed on? I prefer gold anyway. I often take the toll roads by the way. Theyre faster and have better pavement. 
  6. Funny
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from yuh25 in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    You mean the Fiat currency thats worth less than the denim its printed on? I prefer gold anyway. I often take the toll roads by the way. Theyre faster and have better pavement. 
  7. Funny
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from yuh25 in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    Thank you for reinforcing my point that it is indeed theft. Men with guns coming for you if you dont give them money is usually called robbery to be specific.
  8. Agree
    Amazonsucks reacted to Darren in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    Kinda, NBN is pretty terrible though, but that's because NBN turned into political point scoring and one of the seven governments Aussie has had in the last seven years had dialled it back and ruined it. The operational challenges are also different, so they say.
     
    NZ is Crown regulated, but not owned. Crown put forward a tonne of capital funds for companies to build the network, in return, told them to only provide wholesale services to provide a level playing field - like you mention. This was critical and has really allowed us to be where we are today. Even the minority of build being given to other plays has helped with that, namely with getting Gig speeds earlier than planned.
  9. Agree
    Amazonsucks reacted to Drak3 in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    Internet in the majority of the US isn't free market.
     
    It also ignores the fact that NZ doesn't have to content with the same land mass as the US does.
  10. Agree
    Amazonsucks reacted to Billy Pilgrim in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    Doesn't Monopoly kind of take away the point of a free market?
  11. Funny
    Amazonsucks reacted to airdeano in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    yeah, lets keep the topic of NZ and fiber not country politics as a whole.
    <-thread cleaned->
  12. Agree
    Amazonsucks reacted to mynameisjuan in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    I would say good job but New Zealand is literally half the area of Texas and about equal to Colorado. To fucking compare how the US needs to take note is a joke. 
     
    But people will still live in La-La land that everything can be overhauled and migrated in a snap of a finger with money.
     
  13. Agree
    Amazonsucks reacted to Drak3 in NZ fibre puts many countries to shame   
    Does it matter? Most of the "monopolies" are the result of idiotic government regulation.
  14. Like
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from dgsddfgdfhgs in How Long Did it Take For You to Get Knowledgeable on PC Hardware?   
    Been involved with computers for almost two decades. Theres always something new to learn.
     
    To know how to build a PC takes a few days to learn, but to know the technology landscape takes constantly researching the current and future technologies.
     
    If you can assemble Legos you can build a PC. But to know the intricacies of semiconductor engineering or network topology and architectures of complex systems takes constant study.
  15. Like
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from Origami Cactus in new methods of doing [school] work?   
    By repetition you mean, once you already have a fundamental understanding of the subject right? Thered be no point simply repeating knowledge to pass tests unless you fundamentally understand it. Unless the only goal is to pass tests to gain credentials... Usually those people get weeded out by a skilled interviewer when they apply for a job though, since theyre only good at passing tests and not thinking on their feet. 
     
    Incentivozing the memorization of facts to pass tests is a huge failure of western education. Its produced a lot of people who are over qualified on paper, but have no actual capability once they need to do something that requires originality and critical thinking to find novel solutions to unsolved problems.
     
    Maximum efficiency for studying should probably take time into account. I would think that finding information that allows for quick but fundamental understanding, either via a teacher or autodidactically, would be preferable to continuous and time consuming repetition.
     
    Unless one is training to be a sushi chef, athlete, mechanic or other manual dexterity based profession. Those kind of muscle memory skills can only be mastered by repetition but they are very different from academic studies.
     
     
    To the OP:
     
    Eliminate distractions. Eat healthy and exercise. Exercise is proven to help maintain cognitive ability throughout ones lifetime. Get plenty of deep sleep as well. You wont be able to remember shit if you dont get proper sleep. That means using the blue light filter, night light setting, f.lux or whatever, on your screens before bed so it doesnt disrupt your circadian rythm(via the suppression of melatonin secretion from blue light triggering the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells).
     
    People underestimate just how much cognition is affected by diet, exercise and sleep. At your age you should be the healthiest youll ever be and itll be easier for you to get that way.
     
    At 15 your brain also has amazing neuroplasticity, so if you eliminate distractions and take care of your body's physical needs, you can learn things so much easier than someone in their 20s or 30s.
     
    Also remember that not everything being taught is important. There's a lot of BS filler in school so refining it down to what you really need to know is important. Critical thinking skills and logic arent really taught in school(for various reasons) so you need to learn how to think and how to learn on your own, rather than simply thinking that an education is a collection of facts to retain.
     
    It also depends on what kind of learner you are. If youre visual, make sure to use visual tools to help, same for auditory or which ever method you find easiest to learn with.
  16. Agree
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from ARikozuM in Can you goto the gym but still eat craP?   
    Except that the body is actually more complicated than any rocket, although turbomachinery like liquid rockets isnt exactly simple either.
    You know the link between caloric restriction and longevity right? 
     
    I was 224lbs and 5'4" at 14. I dropped to 129 and 5'6" at 17. The only thing thats made me gain back weight was booze but i know thats detrimental and gonna kill me if i do it. People may think they can eat a ton of calories and just work it off but its not that simple really.
     
    Unless looks are the only concern. You CAN do it for looks but its still not good for your body, which someone readibg this should consider before doing it.
     
    The more calories you intake and burn the more wear and tear on your body from oxidative stress. Its like a car. The more fuel you burn and miles you put on, the sooner it wears out.
     
    Or since we're on a computer forum, its like running Prime95 or Furmark and leaving your PC on max performance instead of using the DVFS features on the CPU and GPU. Only instead of oxidative damage or mechanical wear it would be electromigration.
     
     
     
  17. Agree
    Amazonsucks reacted to Spotty in Is 450W PSU enough for this system?   
    450W is more than enough for that system, but don't buy the Thermaltake TR2.
  18. Agree
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from dizmo in Can you goto the gym but still eat craP?   
    You CAN but you shouldnt. Being thin or even in shape is VERY different from being healthy. In order to be healthy you need to eat healthy food.
     
    You can look decent, be in shape and thin but still be in terrible health.
  19. Like
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from Xanthe_2871 in POLL: When using Google Assistant, Alexa, or other smart assistants, do you say "Please" and "Thank you"? (2019 Edition)   
    Real people actually buy that useless trinketry spyware?
  20. Funny
    Amazonsucks reacted to Drak3 in POLL: When using Google Assistant, Alexa, or other smart assistants, do you say "Please" and "Thank you"? (2019 Edition)   
    I'm not wasting time on virtual assistants that are only slightly more useful than Vista voice recognition.
  21. Agree
    Amazonsucks reacted to mr moose in How do you maintain your PC?   
    I run malwarebytes once a month and keep windows updated. 
     
    I just don't have any problems that would lead me to need software to do what windows already does.
     
     
  22. Informative
    Amazonsucks reacted to rcmaehl in DNS Debauchery - US CERT, CISA, and Department of Homeland Security declare emergency directive amid global DNS tampering   
    Sources:
    Fireye
    Cisco Talos
    US CERT Directive
    US CERT DNS Hijacking Report
     
    Summary:
    The US DHS, CISA, and US-CERT have issued an emergency directive to address ongoing incidents associated with global DNS infrastructure tampering. Multiple executive branch agency domains that were impacted by the tampering campaign.

    Quotes/Excerpts:
     
    My Thoughts:
    We truly are in the modern age with warfare occurring within our infrastructure and digital world compared to ground battles of last century. Data, credentials, and other information is being stolen and manipulated with no obvious signs, error messages, or warnings to the end user. I've been watching this since early January and will continue to keep an eye on it as events progress.
  23. Agree
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from LAwLz in Google’s Earth: how the tech giant is helping the state spy on us   
    Not really. Its well written, and anyone who is capable of reading what is readily available online from Edward Snowden, Thomas Drake, Mark Klein and Bill Binney already knows its true.
     
    If you dont know who those people are or what they disclosed about the illegal spying that has been going on literally for decades, you should probably get informed. If you think what he said is at all "tin foil hatty" you clearly havent been paying attention since the 2000s when Bill Binney, Mark Klein and Thomas Drake blew the whistle or 2013 when Edward Snowden did.
     
    And while the OP bothered to make a well written and detailed post, so you attempt to make ad hominem attacks against him. Why? 
     
    I honestly cant fathom how people can become so indoctrinated that they defend things like government spying reflexively. 
     
    Thats really what it boils down to: years of conditioning to make people reject facts by reflex. "Oh thats tin foil hatty" when you can literally read over a decade of leaks about the subject if youre on the internet, which you clearly are.
     
    You know what DOES seem really tin foil hatty to me?
     
    That a bunch of corrupt politicians who make themselves rich by serving  corporate interests and screwing over the average person, and a bunch of unethical tech billionaires, many of whom dont allow their own children to use the very products they created, have your best interests in mind. That they arent using you like livestock and that they dont need to keep you docile and ignorant so you will continue to serve their interests while you have the illusion of freedom.
     
    @ZacoAttaco
     
    Yes Edward Snowden, Bill Binney, Thomas Drake, Mark Klein and a few others have been blowing the whistle on this for over a decade. Snowden probably is the best known and PRISM is actually really tame compared to the rest of what was disclosed. 
     
    If you do some digging youll find that none of what the OP said is far fetched or tin foil hatty at all.
     
    Here's a video from 11 years ago about it.
     
     
  24. Agree
    Amazonsucks reacted to Dabombinable in King of Bottlenecks! Intel 9th Gen.   
    Just remember that the chipset is pretty much the lowest end version sold mainstream by Intel, and kind of lacks a lot compared to other chipsets, eg:
    DMI Gen 2.0 instead of 3.0 (far lower bandwidth between CPU and PCH) Only 6x PCIe lanes, all gen 2.0 Only 4x SATA ports Only 2 channels, and 1x stick of RAM per channel Only 4x USB gen 3.1 ports No ability to use PCIe storage (eg. m.2 NVME) I think only the vomit box OEM will be buying these motherboards, because even next to B360 based boards its terrible:
    https://www.pcworld.com/article/3268063/components-processors/intel-motherboard-z370-vs-h370-vs-b360-vs-h310-8th-gen-cpu.html
  25. Informative
    Amazonsucks got a reaction from Xanthe_2871 in Why I think Google Home spying on you doesn't really matter.   
    Except all of those are false premises.
     
    • You may be spied on and tracked in public constantly, but that doesnt mean that you normally would be in your home, or other peoples' private residences or even businesses.
     
    Why continue to normalize it instead of doing what you can to stop it or minimize it?
     
    • Hackers can usually pwn complex systems, but IoT garbage is exponentially easier to hack because its designed to be disposable junk targeted at ignorant consumers. Its very different from REAL hardware that professionals use.
     
    And you shouldnt "live in fear" but you SHOULD take reasonable precautions and use security best practices to avoid having your bank account drained.
     
    With all the documented vulnerabilities in IoT gadgets like those LED WiFi bulbs that allow complete access to the network they are on etc why would you make it easier? 
     
    • "They" cant watch you unless you have "smart" BS devices for them to actually hack either. At least not in your own home. So thats just a blatantly false premise. You can stop them to a large extent. Saying that you can't is just FUD and fear mongering that makes other people give up too. What is the motive for spreading that fake news?
     
     
     
    So here's my take. Assuming such a complacent attitude about that just makes it worse for EVERYONE.
     
    You, and others who WILLINGLY buy hardware spyware like Google or Amazon trinkets that are pretending to be Jetsons futurists are making the world a worse place through your behavior and buying practices.
     
    Imagine if people were generally informed instead of uninformed and made better buying decisions? The market forces would cause companies to make different products. They only make this insecure IoT garbage because people willingly buy it. If people stopped buying it they would be forced to change what they make. Its basic economics.
     
    The defeatist attitude is the same mentality that allowed Walmart and outsourcing to China to make the west weak. Its the same mentality that has allowed Amazon to destroy so many ethical companies even though they are a scumbag company that sponges off the taxpayer.
     
    Adopting a defeatist attitude and assuming "everyone else is doing it so i will too" is always a race to the bottom. Its objectively destructive and exactly the path that has led civilization into every dark age throughout history.
     
    It is the same type of nonadaptive mentality that poses an existential threat to the continued existence of our species. So i ask you:
     
    Why do you WILLINGLY contribute to a system that you know is unethical, instead of doing what you can to destroy that system?
     
    Also, is the purpose of this thread positing a real question or simply looking to justify a position you know is unethical?
     
    You have apparently already made up your mind that you and many others are nothing but livestock for the ruling class of tech billionaires. Are you attempting to see how many others have the same attitude?
     
    Or are you actively attempting to convince and persuade other people that they should also adopt the same complacent, defeatist attitude and buy IoT spyware gadgets?
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