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No, they thought the desktop was some kind of special entity of the operating system that only the person currently logged on could access. They had no idea it was just a folder on the drive and the desktop an application that renders those files as icons.
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Not knowing the exact situation, I might still give them the benefit of doubt and assume they were using folder redirection. You can set up folders - and the desktop is a perfectly good candidate - to be rerouted to some server share. I'm not a domain policy expert, but I'd be surprised if it couldn't be done and that some organizations are doing exactly that today.
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dandy72 wrote: Not knowing the exact situation
They're idiots. That's the exact situation.
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That's a perfectly honest answer if I've ever heard one!
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Windows has Roaming Profiles which are copied back and forth when you log on or off. One issue my company ran into under XP was that the IE cache folders were in the user profile so the copy process would take forever.
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Roland M Smith wrote: Windows has Roaming Profiles...
Not by default it doesn't. If you set up the servers, Active Directory and Group Policy correctly it will have.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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That's not the policy I had in mind.
In any case - I remember that one very well - a few years ago, when MSDN still shipped on CDs/DVDs, they made the mistake at one point of installing 1+ GB worth of data to the roaming profile...which slowed down logins to the point where it rendered systems unusable. I'm a first-hand witness in this case.
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Lots of people refuse to believe me when I tell them that super-cryptic login password on your home PC is a poor joke if your computer is stolen (or seized by some authorities, if that is what you fear). I have had to open their PC and pick out the disk, then install it as the D: drive on my own PC (with my own login), and show them: Look here, I can read your files that you thought were secret because I couldn't log in with your password! I see their open mouths and the horror in their faces...
You can take some measures, such as using Windows' built in encryption of your private files. Once you log in, giving your password, Windows inspects it: Yes, that's what I expected, then I will decrypt your files for you. ... But Windows knew in advance all it needs to decrypt the files. If some FBI agent puts the disk with the encrypted files into his special-edition Windows, telling it: Now pretend that Joe Smuggler just has specified his login password, and go ahead: Decrypt his files for me, as you would for him! - then Windows has all the info it needs to do the job. My version of Windows won't accept an order to simulate a Joe Smuggler login, but I am sure that such versions exist.
In the IDE days, I had a hardware encryption device on the IDE cable, with a physical key (looking like a USB stick) that had to be plugged in when the machine was rebooted, then it could be unplugged and hidden away. In those days, the electronics were not fast enough to handle more than a 40 bit key, yet I consider that far more safe than today's BitLocker where Windows doesn't need you to supply a single bit of secret key: It will decrypt without that. It has all the information it needs to open up the disk. I never saw such encryption devices for SATA; maybe the FBI has made them illegal in the USA. They could be marketed in other countries, though!
Unless I have to supply a key that Windows doesn't know, doesn't save, the files are not protected against eavesdropping, period. In theory, Windows could have a keylogger and an analysis program that knows which applications are encryption programs, and save the password typed along with the file name in a secret database, but I am not that paranoid; I don't think Windows does.
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Marc Clifton wrote: how encryption protects your data when the computer is off is beyond me
When the power goes off, the decryption key field that is generated by the processor fan stops, and the HDD then loses the ability to decrypt it's magnetically stored data.
(With SSD drives, it's all down to little tiny Leprechauns who live in the SATA cable)
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: the decryption key field that is generated by the processor fan stops
Ah, that explains why I can never move a hard drive to another computer. The decryption key is specific to the unique quantum fluctuations of every computer's fan! 
As to Leprechauns, I always new there was magic in this world!!!
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Remind me to integrate this stuff into the drivers my 82C55 DIY IDE controller.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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OriginalGriff wrote: (With SSD drives, it's all down to little tiny Leprechauns who live in the SATA cable)
What did they do to the homunculus that used to have that job? You didn't cheap out and get the Leprechaun version, did you?
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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The manufacturers outsourced the work to Ireland years ago.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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The attack relies on the data remanence property of DRAM and SRAM to retrieve memory contents that remain readable in the seconds to minutes after power has been removed.
I was working with a video capture card (B&W) in the 80's. I had turned the machine off, pulled the card out of the slot and moved it to another computer, then booted that computer. Crazily, even after a couple minutes of no power, a good 80% of the image that had been in memory was still there and recognizable. We're talking minutes, not seconds, and not SRAM either.
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That's one reason why memory was so much slower back then. They used actual capacitors to retain the charge in the memory bit and apparently they had rather low leakage current so they could hold it for a while.
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Leakage current has always been minuscule but the surface of the CMOS, which is the source of the "parasite capacity" used to actually store data in DRAM dropped by a huge factor, so it became relevant.
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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How did you make sure the new boot didn't overwrote memory space? Also how did you access that specific part of memory?
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Hype!!
I found the only true guarantee for security here: OneSafe Software – Official Website – Utility software for PC & Mac
It makes your PC safe! But! I can see in the photos that it also makes Mac's safe! (Even if the ⌘-key is black.)
 What really bugs me is that frauds like this appear on big sites, in this case Yahoo!
They should really be able to maintain a minimum degree of advertising hygiene.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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megaadam wrote: What really bugs me is that frauds like this appear on big sites, in this case Yahoo!
Anything that appears on Yahoo! is suspect, IMO. In fact, Yahoo! itself is a big fraud!
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Grrrrrrrrrrrr[^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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While that may be true, I was spewing anger over the general phenomenon of malware ads on very big sites.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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It's not necessarily the size of the site that matters.
Just wait until your bank does it.
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megaadam wrote: What really bugs me is that frauds like this appear on big sites, in this case Yahoo!
They should really be able to maintain a minimum degree of advertising hygiene.
These days Yahoo will take anyone's advertising money.
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security author wrote: Simply locking your computer is not sufficient for encryption.
That's a terrible sentence leading to much confusion.
Almost positive author meant:
Quote: Locking your computer is not an effective security method (since files are not automatically encrypted).
Bad technical writing wastes so much time.
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