What did you do Today 2018

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

I spent all day trying to get my PC working after the the W10 April Update last night. Completely useless this morning, just a black screen with no icons. Seems that the problem is a conflict with AVG (I seem to remember having an issue with AVG when I first installed the W7 to W10 upgrade). I followed the advice here and eventually it all seems to work again. My advice is: If you use AVG as your antivirus then remove it before the update.

Does anybody have a good free alternative to AVG?

Sheesh,

Rod

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Rod,

I use Avast and have no issues with any W10 updates.

Martin P

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Martin,

Interesting: According to my link above Avast is the major culprit. I've had all the W10 updates up 'til now with no problems but this April update is a major thing – takes several hours to install.

Cheers,

Rod

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

Posted by martin perman on 23/05/2018 20:49:47:

Lathejack,

May I ask the name of the engine.

Martin P

Martin.

The engine was partly dismantled before I started on it. The canopy and all cladding was removed and stored away, so I haven't seen a name plate for it, I will try and find out when I return to work.

Another chap has been in to work on the boiler, and stripped out all the old fire tubes..

………………The engine, complete with temporary rear axle, was then towed across the works to have the boiler flushed out with the jet wash.

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

I'm using ClamWin for two reasons.

1) I use it on the linux web/mail/ftp/firewall servers

2) The main two machines I use are running winders server (2008 R2 and 2012) and the likes of Avast, AVG etc. are expensive for the winders server platform.

Used to use Avast after the company stopped allowing employees to legally use the corporate Sophos license* and never had problems at the time. Clam hasn't caused problems either.

 

*I was in the IT dept. We had a policy, before we were taken over by another company, that we'd rather our users were protected against viruses than have them bring infected floppies into work or dial in with an infected machine.

Edited By Mark Rand on 23/05/2018 22:36:50

[Mark RandParticipant @markrand96270]

Posted by Lathejack on 23/05/2018 22:35:58:

………………The engine, complete with temporary rear axle, was then towed across the works to have the boiler flushed out with the jet wash.

Charles Burrel rapidly rotating in his grave!

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Windows Defender is actually pretty good. None of the main AV candidates are risk free. I won't ever use Avast again after they bricked one of my sons' laptops during an "update" and simply shrugged / ignored / did the slopey shoulders. He lost the whole installation.

None of them are foolproof and the "best AV" recommendation fluctuates constantly, whether free or paid-for. From time to time you are likely to get shafted by something nasty regardless of what you run if you run enough machines, so best to plan for it so you don't get badly set back. Ironically(?), my worst experiences so far have happened when "covered" by the likes of Norton, McAfee etc.

Murray

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Did my back in a couple of weeks ago humping stuff about, even trying to shave was agony and as for putting a pair of socks on…. well it was fun. Thought I'd really done myself in this time but it picked up after a week

Nearly there now and back sorting the garage, got to get my entire life into that space now things are changing

The nailgun did the board pretty quick and the oscillating saw did the extra wood shelving

I need a lot of shelves for small heavy stuff fast and found I could treble my shelf space with wood from B+Q

You get 8 planks for 50 bananas delivered and the quality is fine, each plank creates an entire new shelf which can support 4 jaw chucks and other weighty items

They can be knocked out if the bigger space is required

Maybe I'm going to make it after all…

[RobinParticipant @robin]

Posted by Lathejack on 23/05/2018 22:35:58:

………………The engine, complete with temporary rear axle, was then towed across the works to have the boiler flushed out with the jet wash.

There would appear to be a huge piece of Meccano stuck to the front of the firebox.

I always wondered how these things were made

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Ady1, I know what you mean about getting socks on. When my back plays up, I have a sockless week (or month) depending on how bad it is. Sometimes it has to be a trouserless week, I don't go out much when it's that bad!

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Sympathy with back trouble, when mine goes, which is much less often now I regularly see a brilliant osteopath, I am usually confined to bed, excruciating pain just trying to roll over, going to the bathroom is a major exercise, gradually roll out of bed and crawl, painfully, on all fours to the bathroom. When it starts to improve the stairs can take as much as 20 minutes to negotiate, first injured my back in the Air Force when I was 20 years old, had major problems ever since. Again sympathy to anyone with back problems.

Dave W

[Trevor Crossman 1Participant @trevorcrossman1]

Posted by Muzzer on 23/05/2018 23:22:36:

Windows Defender is actually pretty good. None of the main AV candidates are risk free. I won't ever use Avast again after they bricked one of my sons' laptops during an "update" and simply shrugged / ignored / did the slopey shoulders. He lost the whole installation.

None of them are foolproof and the "best AV" recommendation fluctuates constantly, whether free or paid-for. From time to time you are likely to get shafted by something nasty regardless of what you run if you run enough machines, so best to plan for it so you don't get badly set back. Ironically(?), my worst experiences so far have happened when "covered" by the likes of Norton, McAfee etc.

Murray

+ 1 for the bog standard built in Windows Defender and all the other inbuilt security settings I gave up paying for the likes of AVG, Norton and the appalling McAfee several years ago and I have never had any problem and my computer runs faster too.

Trevor.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Ady1, here in NZ, and I presume in UK, you can get through your chemist shop a devise for putting socks on without having to bend over. You just thread the sock on the end, hang onto the handles, poke your toes in the end of the sock and pull.

Ian S C

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Finished the compressed air cooler for the Wolf Air 100

Photos and video to follow after I've installed the distribution plumbing.

Geoff – Crackers with Danish blue is lekker!

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Trevor Crossman 1 on 24/05/2018 12:43:41:

Posted by Muzzer on 23/05/2018 23:22:36:

Windows Defender is actually pretty good. None of the main AV candidates are risk free. I won't ever use Avast again after they bricked one of my sons' laptops during an "update" and simply shrugged / ignored / did the slopey shoulders. He lost the whole installation.

None of them are foolproof and the "best AV" recommendation fluctuates constantly, whether free or paid-for. From time to time you are likely to get shafted by something nasty regardless of what you run if you run enough machines, so best to plan for it so you don't get badly set back. Ironically(?), my worst experiences so far have happened when "covered" by the likes of Norton, McAfee etc.

Murray

+ 1 for the bog standard built in Windows Defender and all the other inbuilt security settings I gave up paying for the likes of AVG, Norton and the appalling McAfee several years ago and I have never had any problem and my computer runs faster too.

Trevor.

Murray is right about fluctuation, security products vary continually. Once upon a time Microsoft AVM was poor and McAfee excellent; today the other way round. Tomorrow could reveal another reversal. Otherwise excellent products depend on how quickly new virus signatures are detected and installed by the vendor. Or not.

The vendors themselves may be suspect. Is it remotely possible Kasperski might be used by Russian Intelligence to penetrate target systems? Or that the NSA work closely with Microsoft for similar reasons? Or that a vendor might be taken over by organised crime or incompetents?

Even good products vary considerably in what they do. A first class AntiVirus might not be good at blocking spam, phishing, or web abuse. A first-class anti-malware product probably doesn't provide a firewall. A browser security product may not protect email or Instant Messaging. Getting full coverage involves making more careful product selections than most of us have time for.

Most important of all, good security depends on how you use the internet. Trawling porn, gambling, violence, discount offers, fake news, celebrities, dubious social media, viagra, the Dark Web, extreme political websites and carelessly downloading stuff is far more dangerous than buying from legitimate sellers and participating in this forum.

If you're a risky user, or anyone else who uses your computer is, then you need hardened security. A corporate computer system typically uses combinations of different security products in layers. You might find Defender on all the Workstations; Norton on all the servers; and Kasperski on the Internet Gateway, plus a variety of other counter-measures carefully arranged to provide defence in depth. That kind of expensive architecture is entirely appropriate in a high-risk domestic system.

What do I do?

1. My use of the web is unadventurous and risk adverse. I am careful not to visit dubious websites, or share sensitive information, or to download dodgy software, and I always read the small-print.
2. I follow a written Security Policy based on a Risk Analysis that identifies counter-measures and forbids certain activities. (Like installing remote access software so that 'Microsoft Support' can dial in and fix all my problems!)
3. Linux is used for most tasks because it's less vulnerable than most alternatives. ( BSD is best but has limited applications, and Apple is good. By default Microsoft is vulnerable until you fix it, and some things can't be fixed unless you buy the professional edition.
4. Starting with the Router, my domestic system is configured to minimise the attack surface. This is done by disabling unwanted services, hiding, not sharing, minimising privileges, encryption, and activating available security/privacy features.

Not as elaborate as it sounds! As security goes, my precautions are moderate and inexpensive. Seems to to be working. So far I've not detected a breach, though inspection of the logs reveals multiple attempts.

Am I 100% confident I'm safe? Absolutely not! The price of peace is eternal vigilance…

Dave

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Tried to fit a new tap on one of the water butts in the garden. Lo & behold the taps I had were all 1/2" and the old tap was 3/4". So had a bit of time on the lathe making a reducing bush. Made it an 1" longer that a standard bush to push the tap a bit further away from the butt. I made it so it had a decent flange on it so the rubber washer did not squeeze out when tightened. A bit of turning, drilling, boring and internal and external single point threading. Lucky that the flanged nut I took off the old tap was reusable so that saved me a bit of time.

SHMBO is gonna be pleased when she comes home and gets the watering can out. Must be some brownie points there. All in all a good day.

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

Until recently I put great faith in McAfee. For me it went right back to the early days when I had a subscription to Dr Solomons (remember it?) who used to mail me a floppy disc every month. Then McAfee took over Dr Solomons, and I stayed with them. Then, a few months ago, I got a virus – fortunately more of a nuisance than a danger – and I had to call out a local computer consultant. He used Malwarebytes, and I was amazed at the c…p it discovered on my hard disc. So that was the end of McAfee for me. I installed Malwarebytes. The experience has been good so far – touch wood. As Dave says – eternal vigilance!

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

got the Colchester refurb finished, slid into its new home, and wired up, Tomorrow is connecting up at the dis board end, and a test!

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I found two small green bottles today, on top of recently spread topsoil, there were also fragments of old china, glass and part of a whelk shell!

The bottles are pale green glass, different but similar with 'shear tops', clearly hand blown into split moulds. Ohe has a strange '2' on the bottom and the smaller one has a neat '126'.

They probably held medicine, poisons or some condiment.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Phil Whitley on 24/05/2018 18:17:21:

Nice

I think you need a bigger chuck…

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

As a fellow 'back' sufferer, one tip for sock donning, which does help a little (but doesn't do much for your dignity!!), is to lie on your back on the bed and bring your legs up to your chest – takes all the strain off the back muscles. One other note – my most recent spasm has eased almost to disappearance with the night-time use of a 'body pillow' or 'Dutch Wife'. Again, slightly 'out of the box', but if it works, who cares!

rgds

Bill

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Posted by Mike on 24/05/2018 17:37:48:

For me it went right back to the early days when I had a subscription to Dr Solomons (remember it?) who used to mail me a floppy disc every month.

I seem to recall a "Dr Soloman's Bulletin Board", from before the WWW came into existence as such – all terribly exciting stuff, BBS dialled up at 2400 Baud. I know I didn't imagine it (it was the 70s, not the 60s) but haven't seen any obvious sign of it when I've looked. Anyone else recall this?

Murray

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I remeber that! Looks like it got eaten by McAfee twenty years ago!

"After some previous tension between the two software products, on June 9, 1998 McAfee (then Network Associates) agreed to acquire Dr. Solomon's Group P.L.C, the leading European manufacturer of Antivirus software, for $642 million in stock.^"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_Solomon%27s_Antivirus

Neil

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Posted by Ian S C on 24/05/2018 13:04:09:

Ady1, here in NZ, and I presume in UK, you can get through your chemist shop a devise for putting socks on without having to bend over. You just thread the sock on the end, hang onto the handles, poke your toes in the end of the sock and pull.

Ian S C

I suspected such a thing may exist, I've asked in chemist shops with no luck, when I say I need it to stop me bending over their eyebrows go up. I wear slip on shoes but they are sometimes difficult to find, I suppose that's the vaguaries of fashion. I had a notion that an adaption of the hot dip wax used for coating new and resharpened cutters might be useful, might keep my toenails nice and sharp if nothing else. Dave W, yes, I've spent many miserable hours on the floor, nothing like dragging yourself along by your fingertips to make you appreciate the simple things. Amazing how many large spiders pop in to say hello when you're stuck on the deck, hairy buggers are just flaunting all their legs.

Dave

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Sock putter-onners are available, try your local wheelchair/mobility scooter stockist. They do work, but it's not as easy as they make out.

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