SoylentNews

I just uploaded the last item in "Yesterday's Tomorrows", a futurist essay by "the father of science fiction," Hugo Gernsback. In his essay, written in 1926, he describes the year 1976. Those of you who believe the guys who say the singularity is near or that death will be conquered within your lifetime should read it.

Futurists! Where in the hell is my flying car? Why are there no bases on the moon, like the futurists said in the 1960s we'd have by now? Why did no one see digital photography coming? Or phones in your pockets? Or the internet?

Gernsback sold electronic components, some of which he designed himself, yet didn't seem to understand "electricity, the mysterious fluid." He thought we'd be able to control the weather with it, and even more nonsensical things. He seemed steeped in the cult of Tesla, who had promised wireless delivery of electricity.

Coincidentally, Soylent News just mentioned a story about transplanting porcine hearts into humans, and the company's co-founder is a futurist. Of course, I left a comment about futurists.

I go into it in detail about futurism both in the book's foreword and the introduction to the Gernsback essay.

I notice a lot of heat being generated about privacy concerns and the uncontrollable features in Windows 10.
So let's "control" it . . . . .

______________________________________________________________________________

Here is a program:

Destroy Windows 10 Spying
(C) Nummer

This is a portable app that can block anonymous data being sent and remove apps that can't be removed the standard way.
It can remove Windows default programs that can't be removed under Apps & Features and more.

OPTIONS:

/win=destroyspy - execute disable spyware in Win10 in the hidden mode.
+removeapps - setting for the last argument. Not required. When you clean up removes Windows 10 application.
/win=cleanhost - run the program in stealth mode, and clean the hosts file.
/msbox=false - disable pop-up windows while the program.
/uac=disable - Disable UAC
/uac=enable - Enable UAC
/removeapps=all - !!! DELETE ALL METRO APPLICATIONS !!!
/explorer=default - When you start the Explorer, open the "This computer"
-spydomaintohosts - not in the hosts file to add spyware domains.
-disabletasks - do not disable spyware task scheduler.
-defaultphotov - not set image viewer Windows as a standard.
-disableprivatesettings - do not disable private settings.
-disablekeylogger - do not remove the keylogger.
/windowsupdate=on - turn on Windows Update
/windowsupdate=off - turn off Windows Update

Arguments can be combined. Example:
"C:\DestroyWindowsSpying\bin\Release\DestroyWindowsSpying.exe" /win=destroyspy +removeapps -defaultphotov /msbox=false
This command we execute cleaning up spyware, together with the removal of Windows 10 applications, but will not be used as a standard photo viewer.

!!!! ATTENTION! OPERATION delete all METRO APPLICATIONS irreversibility !!!!!
How to recover Windows Store http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-restore-windows-store-in-windows-10-after-removing-it-with-powershell/

HISTORY:

version 1.4.3:
* Fix BUGS
+ Full customization of the program.
+ Full disabling Windows Defender
+ Added shutdown utility updates Windows
* Now when cleaning up hosts file, the program makes a backup. It is stored in System32/drivers/etc/hosts.bak
- Removed domains of Skype hosts. YOU ARE USING SKYPE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK! ALL YOUR MESSAGES FROM MICROSOFT Skype will be at!
+ Added button surprise (just kidding).
* Added task to disable the Office 2016 espionage.

v1.4
* Fixed a bug, when added to the hosts of the same Domenti
* Changed the GUI
* XBoX now completely removed.
* The algorithm off jobs in the scheduler (now faster)
+ Added address to hosts
* Changed the principle of removing keylogger (deletes Now 100%)
* Using Edge and Windows Store without problems. They do not send data to the server M $ (they are added to the hosts)
* Now Windows Update does not send all the data on your computer, and sends only necessary to download updates.

version 1.3
* Fixed the bug of adding hosts in Windows 10 Home
* Fixed bugs work on x86 systems
+ Added Russian language
+ Added selection of applications that should be removed
* Fixes errors
* Other algorithms remove keyloggers.

version 1.0
* The program disables the task keylogger in Windows 10.
* In addition, it adds all the services of reception reports M$ to hosts file + disables advertising in Skype it.
* It removes the (optional) application on Windows 10 who are prevented many
* I think this can be completed. About bugs evading the topic, and putting a log.

LINKS:
.
Program Developer (Nummer @nummerok) - his Twitter Page:
        https://twitter.com/nummerok
.
Program Discussion Thread (in Russian, copy-paste text into Google Translate for English):
        http://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5054236
.
Program Sourcecode text pasted on online:
        http://pastebin.com/UfzVWKum
.
Discussion about Win10 spying features (in Russian, copy-paste text into Google Translate for English):
        http://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5054096
.
Direct download v1.43 from a file-hosting service:
        http://www.mediafire.com/download/ktdybvma28j38q2/DWS.zip
        (10.32 MB)
        (ZIP file contents: about_destroy_windows_spying.nfo | DestroyWindowsSpying.exe | readme_en.txt | readme_ru.txt)
        (Note: I don't expect the DL link to last forever so grab it while you can..)

______________________________________________________________________________

And here is another program:

Disable Windows 10 Tracking
(C) 10se1ucgo

INSTRUCTIONS:

Download run.exe
Right click on 'run.exe' and press "RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR"
Choose any/all of the options you'd like
Press "Go Private!"
You can read the output at the bottom to see if it worked.
That's it! You can read the license at "Info -> About"

HISTORY:

Current version is v1.5

Changes since v1.4
* No longer assumes C:\ is the system drive
* Tooltips!
* 2nd Telemetry key modification

LINKS:
.
Homepage:
        https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking/
.
Download Releases:
        https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking/releases/

______________________________________________________________________________

and here is a a collection of BATCH scripts and TXT information:

win10-unfuck
(C) dfkt

Remove anti-privacy, anti-security, and general nuisance "features" from Windows 10.
Before running some of these scripts, you probably need 'real' admin access on your machine.

To disable UAC and elevate your privilege level to 'real' admin:
    - Type secpol.msc in the Start Menu and press Enter.
    - Double click on Local Policies then double click on Security Options
    - Scroll to the bottom to this entry...
          User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin approval mode
          Double click that line
    - Set it to disabled then press OK
    - Reboot

! ! ! W A R N I N G ! ! !
Disabling UAC using this method will break all Metro Store apps until enabled again, and the computer restarted.
Also data-harvesting-services-removal.bat will be flagged as malware, since it tries to automatically alter the hosts file.
You can either allow it, or add the hosts manually via the data-harvesting-hosts.txt file

LINKS:
.
Homepage:
        https://github.com/dfkt/win10-unfuck

______________________________________________________________________________

And here is one of the best HOSTS file lists which attempts to totally blacklist Microsoft from your computer,
I did say attempts---read the comments!! There are 5,721 addresses in this list!! . . . . .

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Microsoft Hosts File Blocklist (updated Aug 12, 2015)
# http://www.angelfire.com/comics2/fatboy9175/MShosts.txt
#
# NOTE: In WinXP SP2 or later, adding these lines to the HOSTS file won't be fully effective thanks to
# Micro$haft's hidden rules in the "dnsapi.dll" file which override manual settings for certain M$-related
# domains. To completely block Microsoft out of your system, you will have to add these to a third party
# firewall, or hack dnsapi.dll, which I wouldn't advise unless you know what you're doing. You can open the
# dll file with notepad or a hex editor to see all the domains included in Windows' hidden whitelist.
# I recommend Acrylic DNS Proxy. It has its own hosts file that also supports wildcard rules, so instead
# of needing thousands of entries that end in microsoft.com, you can just add *.microsoft.com and kill em all.
#
# NOTE 2: Due to the intrusiveness of Windows 10's Bing integration, I have now included ALL of Bing.com.
# You didn't actually use Bing anyway, did you? :)
#

0.0.0.0 0.r.msn.com
0.0.0.0 2wa1musicmix.phx.gbl
0.0.0.0 2wa2musicmix.phx.gbl
0.0.0.0 2wa3musicmix.phx.gbl
0.0.0.0 2wa4musicmix.phx.gbl
0.0.0.0 10.ds.mrs.microsoft.com
0.0.0.0 16miig.bay.livefilestore.com
0.0.0.0 1554.ic-live.com
0.0.0.0 778802.r.msn.com
0.0.0.0 946878.r.msn.com
0.0.0.0 1000626.r.msn.com
0.0.0.0 1822333.r.msn.com
0.0.0.0 1847742.r.msn.com
0.0.0.0 1847753.r.msn.com
0.0.0.0 1847767.r.msn.com

[...]

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

So we see that the Windows DNS resolver can and will ignore the HOSTS file for some MS domains,
however some text I saved from a 2006 forum posting seems to indicate that you may be able to control this by tweaking the values of a Registry key!

Here is the forum posting copied word-for-word as posted:

"Well in a twisted way it is in your control, but more of an all or nothing
way. All these lookups ("Using XP") as an example are priority based. So in a
sense you could over-ride those priorities ("Not suggested") here is what I
mean....

If you look at this registry key on XP:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider

You will see ('If you have the defaults'):

DNSPRIORITY: 2000
HOSTSPRIORITY: 500
LOCALPRIORITY: 499
NAME: TCP/IP
NETBTPRIORITY: 2001
PROVIDORPATH: %SystemRoot%\System32\wsock32.dll

The lower the priority ("If found there") trumps anything higher. Problem is,
Microsoft is nervous with their domain names and would much rather trust DNS in
all cases, no matter what you would like your other domain names to resolve by.

So, if you were to use these priorities which are default they would work like
this in this case, minus Microsoft Domains:

1. Local DNS Cache
2. Host file
3. ICS ("Depending on if you use it") hosts.ics
4. DNS
5. Wins
6. blah blah blah

So imagine if somehow your DNS cache was hacked, and redirected Microsoft sites
to another IP, you would be SCREWED in that case without this code in place.
Since DNS cache is used prior to the host file based on the default
priorities."

-- EOF --

I've gotten tired of the Secure Boot madness, especially lately with Microsoft's memo to OEMs that they are no longer required to provide an opt-out.

I've written the FTC. Here is the letter I sent to the antitrust division as per their instructions:

Hello, I'm writing to report a possible violation by Microsoft Corporation, who has been abusing their standing with PC manufacturers (who need to comply to get the "Designed for Windows" sticker) to bully them into making it increasingly difficult to install a competitor's operating system on a standard PC.

Around 2011, Microsoft mandated that machines that ship with Windows 8 come with a feature called "Secure Boot" enabled. What this does, is on boot, it checks to see if the operating system was digitally "signed" by a trusted authority, in most cases Microsoft alone, and if not, the system completely refuses to boot. While until Windows 10, Microsoft mandated a feature to disable secure boot in the BIOS, with Windows 10 they have told manufacturers that this is no longer required.

What's important to understand is, that Microsoft has literally positioned themselves as virtually the only trusted 'signer' of all competitors' operating systems. All competitors must either hope that the PC will provide a method to disable this 'secure boot', or *pay* Microsoft, a competitor, to graciously allow them to run on standard PCs.

Prior to the secure boot feature, it was extremely easy to load any competitor's operating system on a standard PC. It took no workarounds or 'hacking' or fiddling with settings. It would simply install.

There are many different operating systems available for the PC, including but not by any means limited to:
Linux (which comes in literally thousands of variations, each requiring to be signed by Microsoft for secure boot), FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Haiku OS, Solaris, and even Android.

These systems have no technical limitation preventing them from being installed on these PCs, but rather
are now artificially forced to pay Microsoft to run on any PC with Secure Boot 'locked' on.
I have already encountered a Toshiba laptop that did not have an option to disable secure boot, and it was impossible to boot my preferred homemade Linux operating system on it as a result, since I cannot and will not pay Microsoft to sign it.

Microsoft has made unusually high requirements for them signing an operating system. It even goes as far to state that components they sign must not be of particular free software licenses.
In addition, it contains a threat to revoke certificates for OSes that have known security holes in the boot sequence code, an action Microsoft would surely never do to their own OS. (Windows)

Here is a link to their policies regarding UEFI/Secure Boot "signing":
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windows_hardware_certification/archive/2013/12/03/microsoft-uefi-ca-signing-policy-updates.aspx

I await a response and hope that we can continue to keep the operating system running on a PC as the choice of the consumer, not one particular operating system vendor.

You may call me at censored if you wish or need further information.

-Daniel Hopson

Today is a bittersweet day for me. My youngest is off to college tomorrow morning, and my nest will be empty for the 1st time in more than 20 years. We just got finished eating dinner and I cried for some time when I dropped her off at her mom's (actually, I'm still wiping away tears!).

I guess I'm done w/ being a parent. But I'll never stop being her Dad.

I'm really amazed at how I spend so little time at Slashdot now. SoylentNews just sort of seamlessly replaced Slashdot in my mind for whenever I would have gone there. My fingers know to type "so" in my browser bar now instead of "sl", and the rest is automatic. I still check in there about daily or so, but I have a lot less inclination to post.

Thanks, SoylentNews!

I think this song goes well with this entry.

When in 2011 when the OCD hit me for the first time, I had no hope at all. I expected to die soon, because life was such a hell, I couldn't imagine any other scenario. Otherwise, why so much pain? Multiple obsessions hitting me at once, sucking the joy from my soul. This isn't normal OCD. This is stuff that had me screaming for someone to kill me at one point, but I won't get into that. Here's a link that describes it.

I found a spark of light in this pitch black from a youtuber whose whimsical little videos made me feel the first bit of joy in several months. I subscribed to her, HiHiAkafa, then subscribed to her new account HeavenSoulTrance, and finally AkafaXD. She suffers from what appears to be depression, and seems to be a furry. I don't mind of course (how can I, I sometimes think of myself as "the white rat"), and I always found her videos quite adorable. Point is, she posted a video not long ago explaining that depression was preventing her from working on her art. I was one of those who gave her encouraging comments, which she appreciated. It appears that hasn't done any good.

She's erased everything on her last youtube account AkafaXD. The profile picture is glass shattering in a black void.
All that glorious art, lost. All her adorable animations, gone. A piece of me, a piece I integrated into my fondest memories, gone.

I managed to save some of her videos luckily, because I loved her work so much I had downloaded them from YouTube prior to her account wipeout.

I've made an archive of the handful of videos I had on hand, on my secondary server. http://gieba.universe2.us/rememberakafa

I just hope she stays safe.

The first Republican primary debates will be "legally" available online only to Fox News cable subscribers. Assuming you don't have TV access to the debate and are bored/interested/depraved enough to want to watch live, look for and post streams in the comments. They are sure to be clamping down on livestreaming services like Periscope, but others might escape notice. Twitter real time search is a great way to find these kinds of links and generally a good source of entertainment during these sorts of live events. Here's the Fox News schedule:

• 5pm ET: First (kiddy pool candidates) Debate
• 6pm ET: Online Pre-Show
• 9pm ET: Primetime Debate
• 11pm ET: Online Post-Debate Show

Jon Stewart's last episode of the Daily Show will start at 11pm ET and will last 52 minutes.

The candidates making the cut for the main debate were Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich. Seven candidates who did not qualify were invited to participate in the 5:00 PM forum; these were Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Jim Gilmore. Because of a rule-change announced by FOX one week before the debate-invitations went out, Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore will participate at 5pm despite averaging below 1% in the five selected polls. (Former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson was excluded from the 5pm tier, along with other relatively-unknown candidates who did not meet the updated invitation-criteria of "consistently being offered to respondents in major national polls as recognized by Fox News.") The five selected polls were conducted by Fox News, Bloomberg, CBS News, Monmouth University, and Quinnipiac University.

I made this as a journal because I didn't want to subject all of Soylent to it, especially since Fox News is not making it easy to watch the debates.

Keep in mind: Republican debate drinking games are dangerous.

I got the big karma ding on this comment today. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things on the site, but has anyone else seen the spam mod option abused?

Working with arch (through the antergos installer) is pretty nice so far (and learning the i3wm is nice: educating with cool, lol)(actually, it's reminding me of the days of installing macmillan red hat 5.2, where i had to mess extensively with config files, especially to get X working).

Got my i3status bar to correctly show that my VPN is working (had to do some googling, as well as finally seeing i'd left off double quotes, to make it work).
Pacman is quick (VERY quick) and easy, and pamac-manager makes it easy to include AUR packages without adding it into your config file.

So far, really enjoying i3, but have included plasma (for k3b) and the default gnome just as fall-backs in case i need to do something that i don't know the command for (yet).
Am pleased with my set up, and with deja-dup to backup, i may keep this setup as my stable, and use my other partition to play with distro-hopping.

Currently watching Black Sails (episode 1, so far) while playing minecraft... (sad that it was bought by Microsoft, though). Will not be installing windows 10 to try my 'free' minecraft win10, lol. That kind of free is too expensive! :)

It turned into a beautiful thing. It's full of illustrations, plus photos of the authors and covers of the magazines the stories were printed in. It has the first use of the word "astronaut", the cover story of the issue of Astounding that is said to have ushered in the "golden age of science fiction, A.E. van Vogt's first published science fiction, a few other firsts, and five stories that are printed from cleaned up scans of the magazines. There are biographies of all the writers in the book.

I usually encourage folks to read the stories online or check a copy out from their local library, but not this time. The printed book is head and shoulders better than the electronic versions.

There are stories by Isaac Asimov, John W. Campbell, Murray Leinster, Frederik Pohl, Neil R. Jones, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., A. E. van Vogt, Theodore Sturgeon, Poul Anderson, Phillip K. Dick, Frank Herbert, James Blish, Lester del Rey, Jerome Bixby, and a futurist essay by "the father of science fiction" Hugo Gernsback.

It will be a little while before the HTML version is available, since they're not done yet, but I'll post them as I finish them. Meanwhile, there is a PDF, an ePub, and an AZW3 posted for free download.

Yesterday's Tomorrows