Replies

Thanks for the article, Fred.

In about 6 months,
I’ll be moving OUT forever,
– from: Win XP (no more MS security updates as of April, 2014),
– to: Ubuntu Linux v.14.

Here are my 2 Pwd. Mgr. recommendations for LINUX,
which might help other people:

1) The great “LastPass” Pwd. Mgr.
has a Linux version.

I’ve been using it for years under XP,
as a Firefox addon.
So I’m ok there…

2) In the past,
I used “KeePass” in XP, another good alternative.

There are 2 Linux versions available, for “KeePass”:
[a] “KeePass for Linux”,
(created by the author of “KeePass” himself).
http://sourceforge.net/p/keepass/discussion/329220/thread/17d1bd26

“KeePassX”
(recommended by the author of “KeePass” himself).
http://www.keepassx.org/

If anybody has other Pwd. Mgr. suggestions **FOR LINUX**,
pls post here.

Many of us are preparing for April 2014,
to migrate from XP to Linux,
so preparing now is important!

Having bad Win Update experiences here,
with XP and W7 machines in our small business.
(user of Windows for decades…).

But now, it’s time to change our OS,
if we want to continue operating our small business.
Not “upgrade” to Win 8
…sorry Microsoft and “Windows Secrets”.
Why do we want to go from one MS-nightmare to another MS-nightmare?
That’s enough!

If the latest and previous BOTCHED Win Updates,
are not ***total convincing evidence***
to finally move AWAY from Windows
to either Linux or Macs,
I don’t know what will…

The reality is this is the _end of line_
not only for XP,
but for the MS-Windows monopoly as a viable, usable OS.
Unstable, insecure,
..and expensive to buy and maintain.

Pls, reason with me, for a minute:
we moved most (not all)
of our PCs to Linux Ubuntu and Mint.

It took ***less time*** to install Ubuntu / Mint Linux (15 min/PC),
than to “fix” all our screwed-up Win machines,
(and they are all still unusable after the latest Win Updates !).

Most apps running well under Linux = super-stable OS.
Users happy…

So, that’s what we are doing in practical terms,
about this needless MS nightmare.
We finally moved most PCs to Linux.

The bottom line, (in our case):

Our small business needs to get work done,
not spend countless hours fixing Microsoft Windows,
and their expensive and horribly botched OS mess.

We’d rather spend that time in OUR business…

I tried Disconnect.ME, but no go.

Fine effort
and a lot of press PR –
but IMHO,
Disconnect.ME is not ready for prime time yet.

Spent too much time
trying to make it work with some of the sites I visit,
ie: the DESMOS.com calculator at:
https://www.desmos.com/calculator

Most sites will load fine,
BUT
some legit sites will simply freeze my FF browser to a crawl,
then crash it,. (ie: DESMOS),
even if the site is “whitelisted”.

You can visit their Forum:
https://forum.disconnect.me/index.php?p=/categories/support
to see how many people are having real problems
with legit sites and
with Disconnect installed.
A real hassle….

My simple solution:
———————
I added this List to my AdBlock+ ext. in Firefox,
“EasyPrivacy”.
Just go to:
https://easylist.adblockplus.org/en/
and click on the second Item link:
“Add EasyPrivacy to Adblock Plus”.

Done!
It works flawlessly.
Hope this helps somebody.

Hi geistman,

Understand your frustration!

I believe it’s a general login problem
for many users, not only you.

I have the same login problem you have, too…

Any chance to share the “back door” URL you mentioned,
that allows you to login, w/o problems?

Geistman,

Had the same problem on an XP dktop
…and a possible solution.

Did you notice that their IT ppl.
changed the look of the values
in the ID/Pwd fields?

Before the “change”,
only the Pwd field used to show asterisks ****.
That’s the usual, right?

Now: BOTH fields show asterisks ****,
as shown in your image.

Possible Sol:
=======
_Carefully_ enter BY HAND – ie via your keyboard,
(not via any pwd Mgr. like LastPass),
first the Pwd field,
then the value of the UserID field.

In that exact order!
1st enter Pwd, only then enter the UserID…

Then,
press Enter or click [SIGN ON] button,
as quickly as you can (within 1-2 seconds!).

It sounds crazy,
but that’s the only simple way it works for me.
Believe me, I tried EVERYTHING before – a real pain!

Let us know if that worked f/you.

Yes, cavehomme – I do see your point,
and the need to run an AV on Ubuntu,
(as a precaution –
if you are using WINE to exec Win-only EXE files in Ubuntu).

Question is,
which Linux AV pgm is:
(a) really effective and
(b) EASY TO USE & maintain…

And finally:
(c) would the Linux AV,
scan & detect malware in a Windows .EXE file ?.
(remember, the Win EXE is running inside Ubuntu, via WINE).

Followed Dr.Who’s instructions (above), on
my DELL Optiplex desktop
*Dual Core* 6300 Intel CPU (~5 yrs old),
with XP-PRO-SP3.

Had better boot-up speed,
tks Dr.Who!

I recently upgraded this XP pc,
from 2 GB to ==> 4GB RAM,
(although XP properties only shows: “3 GB installed”,
CPU-Z shows all 4GB are installed ok).

Q1:
In the BOOT.ini tab (Advanced Options),
I specified “2” in the /NUMPROC checkbox,
since I have a “Dual Core” CPU.

It was UNchecked !

I guess my DELL XP was NOT using both cores,
before ….?.

—————————————-

Q2:
Above the: /NUMPROC checkbox,
there is a : /MAXMEM checkbox, and it is UNchecked right now.
If I check this /MAXMEM checkbox,
it shows “2048”….

Since I now have ** 4GB RAM ** installed,
should I check this /MAXMEM checkbox,
and set it to: “4096” ?

W/o my XP pc, bursting into flames…

Again,
these settings are all available
in the BOOT.INI, (Advanced Options) of XP.

@TINTO TECH:
thanks for that super-clear, direct answer!

Me thinks, you are an AWESOME professional.
(will keep that in mind,
if there is ever a tech support need in your part of the world).

btw:
your material is so good and clear,
that it really deserves its own thread.:D

Thanks!!

Virtual Box will definitely support what you want to do.

I normally run virtual machines the other way round (Linux guests on Windows hosts), but have run both XP and Win 7 on Ubuntu using Virtual Box. Spend a little time playing with the VBox configuration and read up in both the Ubuntu and VBox forums, but it really is quite straightforward. If you can master Ubuntu, you will have no problem installing and running VBox on it and XP inside that.

The easiest way to isolate the XP guest inside Virtual Box is simply to disable the virtual host network adapter. It’s a single check box under Network Settings in the VBox control panel and has the same effect as pulling the ethernet cable from the back of a physical PC. The XP guest will run exactly as normal, but it will have no connection to the outside world, except if you re-enable the network connection, setup shared folders, enable USB connections or storage pass through to the host disk subsystem.

Take your time to play with it – and come back here to ask if you need specific help.

Well Tinto Tech, a BIG thanks again
for your clear & specific answer to my question.

Besides, UNchecking (ie: disabling) the “Virtual Host Network Adapter”
under Network Settings in the Virtual Box control panel:

– which other Virtual Box Settings do you suggest I should disable,
in order to run XP in a “locked down” secure mode?
(XP as a guest OS inside the Ubuntu host,
where ONLY Ubuntu IS connected to the web, not XP).

thanks!
SF99

Thanks, Hemeloser.
Looking at “Gnome Commander“, right now…

Also, looking at Krusader and Dolphin.
Whatever makes your life easier,
(ie: untar files w/o terminal commands, etc)….

Well, you hit an important point there, F.U.N….
specially after April 2014
= no more monthly MS Security Updates for XP.
So, you can’t use XP to surf the net.
XP needs to be isolated….

Yet, many of us have XP progs we need to use,
with no good Ubuntu equivalent.

So, how to use XP in a Virtual Box, INSIDE Ubuntu.
But…without “exposing” the XP inside that Virtual Box
to external threats, via the Internet connection.

In this ideal scenario for many of us (after April 2014),
only Ubuntu would have Internet access,
not the XP inside the Virtual Box.

XP would only be used to run those critical win progs.
But w/o Internet access.

I don’t know if it can be done or even how.
Maybe, the subject of a whole new thread….

Can you run XP inside Virtual Box in Ubuntu,
without XP in the box having ANY Internet access ?

Thank you all, and in particular Tinto Tech
for your clear answers and patience.

Will follow your instructions with:
…. tar -xvwzf tiemu.tar.gz (via Terminal).

Will also try to “untar” the tiemu.tar.gz file,
using a GUI file mgr. such as Krusader or Dolphin.
Maybe it’s easier and a non-event.

Gonna miss my “Total Commander” file mgr. from Windows,
when I finally move 100% into Ubuntu (or dual-boot),
on April 2014.

That’s when MS stops the monthly Security Updates for Win XP
…so Ubuntu is my way out.

That’s why I’m try to find my way in Ubuntu,
a year ahead of time…:rolleyes:

SF99

Hi Jim,

Could you post in the TEXTreme page,
a link to the Help file document?
(so we can read it online,
w/o needing to d/l the zip file..).

-or-

show some concrete examples of using TEXTreme,
(in either your web page and/or in this Thread)?

Examples of using the “Move” option,
would be nice…

Thanks!
SF99

btw:
I like the name you gave it: TEXTreme…

…. since Linux can see and modify the other OS partitions, regardless of how Linux is booted or installed…

So, here’s my 2 questions to all,
if the above is indeed true:

My PC currently runs:
win XP pro SP3 32 _fully updated_.

IF I install UBUNTU (or Linux MINT)
as a 2nd alternative OS – in DUAL-BOOT mode:

Q1:
When I’m running Linux,
can any malware/trojan/etc. threat
“reach out” into my win XP partition, data and files?
(so that when I LATER boot into XP,
it can come back and bite me?…).

Q2:
How do I effectively and totally “isolate”
the XP and the Linux OS partitions,
so that the above threat,
does NOT happen?

I also want to know
a clear answer to rdforbes’ question, (post above mine).

Were the Hashed PWDS in your file
[a] Salted or
Not Salted….?

This is critical to know.