Matt

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Posts posted by Matt

  5. Cheney Kept Cia Program From Congress, Source Says

    in World and Politics

    Posted

    Obama, on the other hand, is in a predicament: if he takes action against Cheney or any former CIA officials, he'll be compromising his (apparent) belief that we should put the Bush years behind us and move on, and setting a precedent that could come back to haunt him. On the other hand, if he doesn't take action he looks like he condones, or even supports, Cheney's behavior.
    I'd just let the Congressional Judiciary Committee handle it. Sure, the DoJ would pretty much have to get involved. I'd rather see action than looking the other way.
    I thought we learned ten years ago that symbolic impeachments are a bad idea.
    I dont think Cheney and Clinton fell into the same category.

  7. Cheney Kept Cia Program From Congress, Source Says

    in World and Politics

    Posted

    Telling folks in Congress what's going only gives them reason to hold chest thumping hearings, fly off on junkets or share the info with their pillow mates, whomever it is at the time.
    They have to be briefed or it's illegal.

    No one obeys these laws and no one expects them to be obeyed. I mean, Christ, if this story is accurate, we only know that this program exists because someone leaked the contents of a classified briefing to the NYT.

    Even still, the point isn't whether or not "anyone obeys these laws", or if it is necessary. The point is that they didn't obey it, info got out, and now its a problem. If the law is impractical, then they should change the law. Until then, if they're gonna risk something like this they have to be willing for this kind of result.

  8. Cheney Kept Cia Program From Congress, Source Says

    in World and Politics

    Posted

    Congress has NEVER been fully informed. That would kind of defeat the purpose of the CIA (and all the other acronyms).

    Doesn't matter. They have to be briefed. National Security Act of 1947

    SEC. 501. [50 U.S.C. 413] (a)(1) The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this title.
    I'm not sure I trust Congress anyway.
    (e) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authority to withhold information from the congressional intelligence committees on the grounds that providing the information to the congressional intelligence committees would constitute the unauthorized disclosure of classified information or information relating to intelligence sources and methods.
    Doesn't matter if you trust them. They have to be briefed or it's illegal.

  16. That Darned New Computer

    in Open Chat

    Posted

    Welcome to Vista! How do you like it? Not quite as bad as people make it out to be, eh?

    Most of the stuff I was looking for I either figured out or will eventually (I PREFER, for example, to have file extensions displayed, but it's not a high priority).

    Did you find how to do this?

    1. Open a folder or open explorer

    2. Click the Layout button (to the left of the Views button)

    3. Click Folder Options

    4. Click the View tab

    5. Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types

    6. Click OK

  21. (another) Pc Needs A Check-up[INACTIVE][RESOLVED]

    in Malware Removal

    Posted

    Everything looks good!

    Now we need to create a new System Restore point.

    Click Start Menu > Run > type (or copy and paste)

    %SystemRoot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe

    Press OK. Choose Create a Restore Point then click Next. Name it and click Create, when the confirmation screen shows the restore point has been created click Close.

    Next goto Start Menu > Run > type

    cleanmgr

    Click OK, Disk Cleanup will open and start calculating the amount of space that can be freed, Once thats finished it will open the Disk Cleanup options screen, click the More Options tab then click Clean up on the system restore area and choose Yes at the confirmation window which will remove all the restore points except the one we just created.

    To close Disk Cleanup and remove the Temporary Internet Files detected in the initial scan click OK then choose Yes on the confirmation window.

    • Download OTCleanIt to your desktop and run it
    • Click Yes to beginning the Cleanup process and remove these components, including this application.
    • You will be asked to reboot the machine to finish the Cleanup process. Choose Yes.

    Your using an old version of Adobe Acrobat Reader, this can leave your pc open to vulnerabilities, you can update it here :

    http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

    Please download JavaRa to your desktop and unzip it to its own folder

    • Run JavaRa.exe, pick the language of your choice and click Select. Then click Remove Older Versions.
    • Accept any prompts.
    • Open JavaRa.exe again and select Search For Updates.
    • Select Update Using Sun Java's Website then click Search and click on the Open Webpage button. Download and install the latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version for your computer.

    Below I have included a number of recommendations for how to protect your computer against malware infections.

    • Keep Windows updated by regularly checking their website at :
      http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
      This will ensure your computer has always the latest security updates available installed on your computer.
    • SpywareBlaster protects against bad ActiveX, it immunizes your PC against them.
    • SpywareGuard offers realtime protection from spyware installation attempts. Make sure you are only running one real-time anti-spyware protection program ( eg : TeaTimer, Windows Defender ) or there will be a conflict.
    • Make Internet Explorer more secure
      • Click Start > Run
      • Type Inetcpl.cpl & click OK
      • Click on the Security tab
      • Click Reset all zones to default level
      • Make sure the Internet Zone is selected & Click Custom level
      • In the ActiveX section, set the first two options ("Download signed and unsigned ActiveX controls) to "Prompt", and ("Initialize and Script ActiveX controls not marked as safe") to "Disable".
      • Next Click OK, then Apply button and then OK to exit the Internet Properties page.

      [*]ATF Cleaner - Cleans temporary files from IE and Windows, empties the recycle bin and more. Great tool to help speed up your computer and knock out those nasties that like to reside in the temp folders.

      [*]MVPS Hosts file replaces your current HOSTS file with one containing well known ad sites and other bad sites. Basically, this prevents your computer from connecting to those sites by redirecting them to 127.0.0.1 which is your local computer, meaning it will be difficult to infect yourself in the future.

      [*]Please consider using an alternate browser. Mozilla's Firefox browser is fantastic; it is much more

      secure than Internet Explorer, immune to almost all known browser hijackers, and also has the best built-in pop up

      blocker (as an added benefit!) that I have ever seen. If you are interested, Firefox may be downloaded from

      Here

      If you choose to use Firefox, I highly recommend these add-ons to keep your PC even more secure.

      • NoScript - for blocking ads and other potential website attacks
      • McAfee SiteAdvisor - this tells you whether the sites you are about to visit are safe or not. A must if you do a lot of Googling

      [*]Keep a backup of your important files - Now, more than ever, it's especially important to protect your digital files and memories. This article is full of good information on alternatives for home backup solutions.

      [*]ERUNT (Emergency Recovery Utility NT) allows you to keep a complete backup of your registry and restore it when needed. The standard registry backup options that come with Windows back up most of the registry but not all of it. ERUNT however creates a complete backup set, including the Security hive and user related sections. ERUNT is easy to use and since it creates a full backup, there are no options or choices other than to select the location of the backup files. The backup set includes a small executable that will launch the registry restore if needed.

      [*] Recovery Console - Recent trends appear to indicate that future infections will include attacks to the boot sector of the computer. The installation of the Recovery Console in the computer will be our only defense against this threat. For more information and steps to install the Recovery Console see This Article. Should you need assistance in installing the Recovery Console, please do not hesitate to ask.

      [*]FileHippo Update Checker is an extremely helpful program that will tell you which of your programs need to be updated. Its important to keep programs up to date so that malware doesn't exploit any old security flaws.

      [*]Please read my guide on how to prevent malware and about safe computing here

    Thank you for your patience, and performing all of the procedures requested.

  22. Hijackthis Log[INACTIVE]

    in Malware Removal

    Posted

    Download TFC to your desktop

    • Open the file and close any other windows.
    • It will close all programs itself when run, make sure to let it run uninterrupted.
    • Click the Start button to begin the process. The program should not take long to finish its job
    • Once its finished it should reboot your machine, if not, do this yourself to ensure a complete clean

    Please open Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.

    Under the Update tab, click Check for Updates

    • If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
    • Once done, return to Scanner and select "Perform Quick Scan", then click Scan.
    • The scan may take some time to finish,so please be patient.
    • When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
    • Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
    • When disinfection is completed, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart.(See Extra Note)
    • The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
    • Copy&Paste the entire report in your next reply.

    Extra Note:

    If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove,you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts,click OK to either and let MBAM proceed with the disinfection process,if asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately.

    Then, Go to Kaspersky website and perform an online antivirus scan.

    1. Read through the requirements and privacy statement and click on Accept button.
    2. It will start downloading and installing the scanner and virus definitions. You will be prompted to install an application from Kaspersky. Click Run.
    3. When the downloads have finished, click on Settings.
    4. Make sure these boxes are checked (ticked). If they are not, please tick them and click on the Save button:
      • Spyware, Adware, Dialers, and other potentially dangerous programs
        Archives
        Mail databases

    [*]Click on My Computer under Scan.

    [*]Once the scan is complete, it will display the results. Click on View Scan Report.

    [*]You will see a list of infected items there. Click on Save Report As....

    [*]Save this report to a convenient place. Change the Files of type to Text file (.txt) before clicking on the Save button. Then post it here.

    Also, please scan with OTL as you did before and post me an updated log.

    So, please post back the MBAM, Kaspersky, and OTL logs.

  25. Do You Use Twitter?

    in Web

    Posted

    No, I don't use Twitter. I don't plan to use Twitter.

    In my opinion, Twitter is only reasonable for celebrities or other public figures. I can understand people wanting to "follow" what Shaq or Obama or Pete Wentz are doing today--and only for the "die hard" fans who need to know everything about that person. Not really for me, but I get why it would appeal to some. However, I don't think anyone cares at all what I ate for breakfast. I think its just a stupid trend.

    I also find it ironic that television or internet companies are using twitter. If I want to follow MSNBC, I'm not going to follow them on twitter.com I'm going to follow them on msnbc.com or the MSNBC channel. Same goes for digg, slashdot, cnet, or any other publication.

    I think its a fad that will die once people realize "woah, I don't really care what my friend got at McDonalds today." or "hey, RSS feeds from my favorite news source are better than Twitter feeds."