.lnk files associated with another program

We came across the issue where the .lnk files got associated with Adobe. Here is how you fix it:

1. Click Start Menu, and then type regedit in the Start Search and press ENTER.
2. Browse to the following registry branch:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.l​nk
3. Click on the arrow to expand it and delete the sub-key named UserChoice.
4. Exit registry and reboot computer

“We weren’t able to connect to the store. This might have happened because of a server problem or the network connection timed out. Please wait a few minutes and try again.”

I was trying to connect to the Microsoft store to update my windows from 8.1 Preview to 8.1 and for the whole day i was getting:

“We weren’t able to connect to the store. This might have happened because of a server problem or the network connection timed out. Please wait a few minutes and try again.”

After some searching i came across this POST.

The extra step i had to do was click disconnect (even though I hit verify) and switch to a local account. Once I did that I went ahead and switched back to my Microsoft Account and everything worked. Even when i went to the local account it started working. 

Once again, Microsoft has the best error messages in the world. I'ts enough to drive you insane. I would never have known to look in that area as I've never even been to it before. 

I hope this helps someone.

Heml.is

Keep an eye out on HEML.IS. These guys are trying to make an encrypted IM for use on iOS and Android. I hope they can accomplish this.



UPDATE 5-12-16: Looks like the site has closed.

Mercury Browser for iPhone and iPad

I found a really good browser for the iPhone and iPad. Its called Mercury. It let's you choose your search engine (Duck duck go is one of the options), it has tabs and even a limited number of plug-ins.

I've been using it on both my iPad and iPhone and so far I have not been disappointed.

No More Privacy

Not that we really had any privacy, but at least you "hoped" comapnies would at least respect that your emails and personal data were, well, personal.

NOT anymore.


UPDATE 9-4-13: UPDATE. Looks like it was taken out of context.

Not the Internet I envisioned

Lavabit has shutdown due to pressure from the government. Read the article HERE. That article also mentioned Silent Circle shutting down their email service as well. 

The last couple months have been a very sad time for the Internet. The NSA is grabbing everyone's internet traffic without warrants and bullying ISP's and corporations for everything from phone conversations to encryption keys. In some cases they want ISP's to give them passwords for users. 

The NSA is saying they only touch (whatever that means) 1.6% of internet traffic. READ.

Mega says they are going to OFFER and encrypted email service.

This is not the Internet i envisioned when I first got online in the mid 90's. It was a wondrous place filled with adventure and amazing new things. For the most part people were willing to help, everything was free and no advertisements. 

As it got more popular you had people doing bad things on it, but like every good tool, it could be used for bad. I don't think the internet needs governments capturing all data on everyone. This does not make us more secure. It makes us more of a target. Especially for false allegations. We are becoming a police state and what disappoints me even more is that no one seems to care. 

I am hoping that the true internet community will find ways to keep us anonymous and evolve encryption so that is is easier to implement in things like emails and IM. I wish i was a programmer and I would do what I could to help.

In the meantime, start using programs like TOR and TAILS.

Another program that was just released is TORTILLA. I have not been able to get it to work on my system yet, but its an add on to TOR that will allow all TCP/IP and DNS traffic through TOR.

 

TOR Bundle Comprimised

It looks like TOR Bundle was COMPRIMISED.

To be clear, the TOR network itself was not compromised. It looks like a server was exploited to send malware to a version of the TOR Bundle (it uses firefox) that had a vulnerability in firefox.