Technical Questions

[beagle]

so, you would disregard the advice to do a dynamic upgrade?

Unless you have a separate external firewall I would disregard it personally.  Not that I'm an expert on upgrades; it's an item of faith for me that part of the joy of a new O.S. is the pleasure of throwing away the whole of the old rubbish and starting again.

According to this it's optional.  It should get the important stuff on subsequent runs of Windows Update once your new O.S. is going.

Alternatively that link tells you how to download them in advance.

[Griffin NoName]

Yes. Not concerned about windows update - happy to do that myself anyway. I've eliminated all other reasons why XP might not install or leave me with an unbootable system etc etc so I think the risks with dynamic are not worth the hassle.

Since the modem driver may need upgrading, I'd rather do that in my own time - have disk - rather than have everything grind to a halt unpredicatbly.

Thanks for link.

[beagle]

It's probably a bit of a trade-off.  If you do dynamic you could be exposed firewall-wise while it downloads, and if you don't there will be hundreds of updates to collect through Windows Update afterwards, especially if your installation CD is pre-SP2.

You could download the cabs manually, or us restrictive rules in your ADSL router's own firewall (but you probably need a computer to control that...).

Might be worth downloading the latest cabs first and sticking on cd in case of emergencies.

[Griffin NoName]

The upgrade pack is SP2. But thanks.

More likely is if I upgrade my BIOS I'll need to re-install XP

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Nah! I've updated my BIOS several times without having to reinstall the system, in fact the system didn't even blip (provided that the IRQs remain assigned in the same place which should be the case).

[Griffin NoName]

The machine boots into Windows XP fine - it all seems a success. So far. As far as it goes; everything seems to be intact. Mind, I have nothing attached to the machine yet. Planning to see how many new drivers I need tomorrow.....

It's sooooo slow as I run out of energy before the machine does. I'm going for the longest simple upgrade class Olympics.

[Griffin NoName]

Todays questions relate to power cords and fax cables.

Question One

I was about to ditch the new printer power cord - not the one with the transformer, the ordinary one that connects the transformer to the power point because the new printer power cord must be the shortest I have ever seen in the entire history of electricity - (so that's how they can bring the prices down on printers) - and wouldn't reach between two siamese twins let alone the printer and the sensibly close by power point - and I have a decent length power cord spare.

So I was comparing the two cords. No visible difference. Same diameter core etc.

My spare cord is marked 6/250 13 Amp and has a 13 Amp fuse in. The fuse has never been changed.

The new printer cable is marked 10/250 and has a 10 Amp fuse in.

Both have moulded plugs.

Why would the spare be marked "6" ( as in 6/250) ?

Question Two

The printer has a fax function. The cable supplied to connect the line is described in the instruction book as different to normal telephone cables (although it looks identical) and the book goes on to state that using an ordinary cable to connect the line will damage the printer. What? I've never had this problem with other fax machines. What is the "difference"?

[The Meromorph]

I believe the 6 and the 10 are AWG sizes (wire guage) of the internal wire, and the 250's are the voltage ratings of the insulation.

The 'telephone connector' for the fax might be a crossover vs. non-crossover cable thing...

[Griffin NoName]

Thanks Mero.

Today's question is essentially Microsoft, but applies to any security software I guess.

I am interested in the apparent logical inconsistency of all the panic-inducing red alarm signals telling one to get the latest updates, particularly during initial installation to a fresh system, while all the time one is downloading and installing them one is connected to the internet and apparently unprotected.

Does anyone know if these/which products are sensible/intelligent and block access to everything except the updates download site when undertaking this task?

(I think my objection is to the red. I wish they'd keep that for deep trouble, rather than warnings. maybe I'll start a campaign for purple).

[beagle]

Microsoft used to be bad on this because they seemed to assume you were installing it offline or behind a company firewall.  Think they're better these days, though it's always best to do as much installation as possible with the network cable out.  OneCare is inclined to show red all the time you don't have the latest stuff. I think it downloads it in the background then switches it in atomically, so you're "probably" all right.  Have noticed that you really need broadband for it though, as the downloads are a bit large for dial-up.

If you go somewhere like www.sysinternals.com you can download various natty utilities to show network activity, or you could scan yourself with  Symantec or Trend free firewall scans, or attack yourself with nmap or similar.

The Linux equivalent sin was supplying tons of freeware utilities with known security holes on their installation media.  When I was a Linux newby with the inclination to install everything in sight on the CDs the bearded ones would patiently explain the concept of minimal installs, and how of the four FTP servers provided three were in the CERT top ten "mad things to put on your machine" list (not sure that was the official designation they used).

[Griffin NoName]

Huh! Onecare won't BEGIN to install without the upgrades. It's the first step.... plug into internet... get upgrades.... else terminate......that's what irritated me. I suppose it may be possible the install utility on the CD and allows one to get around the auto install functions somehow, but frankly I have better things to do with me time than find out how. IDIOTS.

Microsoft haven't heard of minimal installs. They advise stopping services !!  Grrrr. Why start them if not needed......

It's auto installed .NET - more insanity. How many people (realistically) actually need .NET ?

BLOAT BLOAT BLOAT BLOAT 

[beagle]

I suspect OneCare turns on the ordinary XP firewall before it starts downloading, but you could always turn it on manually.

It's auto installed .NET - more insanity. How many people (realistically) actually need .NET ?

You mean you aren't champing at the bit to try all those groovy .Net 3.0 technologies like WPF, WCF,  WF,  Silverlight etc?

I'm shocked.  I  bet you program in FORTRAN don't you?

[ivor]

I dislike Microsoft but .Net rocks.

[Griffin NoName]

Oddly, I have noticed I don't need FORTRAN to internet shop     - nor to post nonsense on forums.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

BTW .NET is required to install certain driver utilities now, like ATi display control center. .NET may seem like a bloat but if most applications were using it all the problems with dlls and the registry would go away very quickly.

Other thing: I notice your concern for security during a system install, but unless your IP has been logged and it is under constant and systematic attack, plus, you are connected directly (no router), I don't see a big risk installing while plugged in. If you are behind a router, you may want to disable any NAT ports that go to the concerned IP but that is if you aren't using DHCP on the router (which is the usual). Still the risk is quite low.

Or perhaps I should be more concerned about my security?