Update 2024-03-27: Greatly expanded the "Samples" page and renamed it to "Glossary".
Update 2024-04-04: Added 5 million mid-2011 posts from the k47 post dump. Browse (mostly) them here.
Update 2024-04-07: Added ~400 October 2003 posts from 4chan.net. Browse them here.
Welcome to Oldfriend Archive, the official 4chan archive of the NSA. Hosting ~170M text-only 2003-2014 4chan posts (mostly 2006-2008).
At least 150 million people had data stolen in a recent cyber attack. And there are hack threats looming. So what are the top 10 silly things that people do to compromise their security?
1. Your password is too simple
Fact: The more complicated a password, the harder it is to remember.
So many choose the easy way out.
Some people have passwords like 'password', or '1234567' or 'qwerty'.
Or it may be a dictionary word, or something that can be easily guessed, like your birthday or your spouse's birthday.
A good password should be a combination at least eight letters and numbers.
Have a mix of uPpeR aNd LoWeRCAse letters HeLps ToO.
2. You use the same password for every website
Yeah, we know, it's hard to remember one complicated password. So let's use it for everything!
This isn't very smart. It's just about as smart as keeping passwords in a folder called "Passwords".
You should at least create different passwords for sensitive accounts like your e-mail and internet banking account.
Convenience has a price. If someone figures out your password, they'll be able to log onto any site where you have an account.
3. You don't log out when using public computers.
It's funny when someone logs in as you and writes a silly message on your Facebook wall.
But trust me, it won't be funny when someone maxes out your credit card online.
It's not enough to simply close the browser window or type in another address.
If possible, shut down the computer.
"Logging out" is compulsory after you are done, like washing your own dishes. Please tell me you already do that.
4. You save your password on a public computer
I've done this only when setting up my accounts, and clicked "accept" and "save" all the way.
But this means that anyone who used the terminal can log on as you, and access your online data.
Disable this option so no one can log in as you.
5. You send sensitive information via e-mail
Okay, by sensitive information I'm not referring to the list of people with whom you've had intimate relations. I mean your credit card or ID number.
Even if your computer has a good security software, your recipients' computers might not have the same protection.
Don't take an e-mail as trusted simply because you know the sender. The sender information in an e-mail may be faked.
So who can you trust? It's a cold. hard world out there.
6. You enter unfamiliar Wi-Fi networks
I'm as guilty as you when it comes to leeching off free Wi-Fi.
But some networks can be the gateway to malware or viruses. These are called 'zombie' networks.
As an extra safety measure, you may want to turn off your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth when not using the functions.
Avoid things that advertise themselves as free, like "Free Internet. Just join for fun".
There's no such thing as a free lunch. Stay far away.
7. You click on unfamiliar links and attachments
Crazy as it seems, people still think it's a good idea to click on .exe files
Even if the email says you won a million dollars and have to collect your prize, resist it.
Even if a gorgeous babe says she wants to chat with you, don't click on her profile.
The creators just want your personal details.
Even web pages meant for the guidance and protection of customers have been mimicked by phishers to trick people into handing over personal information.
8. You don't have security software
Okay, the last time I installed such software, the computer took 15 minutes to start up and I didn't open any pop-ups, or stream videos, or do anything.
But security software is for just that - security.
These protect your computer from viruses and spyware, and include a firewall, which acts like a security guard, checking who enters or leaves.
Without it, your computer is vulnerable to threats.
9. You reply on your username and password alone to protect your online accounts
If you can use some sort of two-factor authentication, do so.
I admit, the security tokens look seriously uncool - I've seen one resembling a spaceship and another a calculator - but they are your best way to ensure your account is watertight.
Passwords alone are not enough to protect you from online fraud and identity theft.
10. You upload holiday photos online
Okay, Instagram-ers, you are the most guilty of this.
Boast about your every single bit of your holiday - from the airplane, your hotel room to the dessert you ate - you're basically telling burglars that you are not at home.
While many like sharing with their friends about that perfect sunset during their holiday, do remember that it's an open invitation for burglars to your home, even if your visibility and privacy settings have been adjusted.
Geo-tagging yourself on social media sites is another call for would-be criminals to target your house.
5 smart ways to clean up online
Every interaction on social media, blog, forums, and even searches can be traced back to us. But it's easy to be less visible online, if not disappear completely. To avoid a cursory look-up, here are some hints
1. Choose where you want to disappear from
Chances are, it's the big social media accounts. Anywhere that you log into using your real name.
An instant solution is to just change your username and user URL, even if it's by varying the spelling. Alternatively make full use of the privacy settings available.
On Twitter, it's straight forward. You can decide if you want to be found via your e-mail address or even if you want your tweets to be public.
Facebook can manage who sees what and if you can be tagged.
If you use LinkedIn, then that will be a potential employer's first port of call. You may want to keep it.
Just make sure it's perfectly clean - nice photo, proper interests and glowing endorsements. Don't link to anything that will make you blush in an interview.
2. Remove attached alias
You may have the craziest user-name online.
But if it's attached to an e-mail address with your real name and details, then all your witticisms or arguments on forums can be found.
Where possible, unlink your primary e-mail address to your username.
Ask forum moderators to delete posts that can identify you.
3. Delete, delete, delete
If privacy and caution aren't enough, it's time to self-destruct.
You may want to save anything of great note from your social media first. Then push the button.
For some sites, it is that simple.
On Facebook, you will also need to do a search of everyone that has tagged you in photographs and remove the tags.
With Google, you can choose to just delete your Google+ account.
If you are very active on the Net and prone to signing up for almost everything, then quickly ditch every new meme distributing site that comes along or you will have a harder time disappearing.
There are sites such as AccountKiller, Web2.0 Suicide Machine and DeleteMe that help erase your Internet past.
4. Clean up thoroughly
Disappear from search results.
Search your name - using quotation marks - and make a note of where you appear.
Then it's a case of e-mailing polite requests of removal. You can request the search engines like Google and Bing to remove those hits, but this may need more legal reasons to work.
5. Stay off the Net and watch your friends
It's obvious but fairly simple. Don't log on to use search engines.
Create a fake e-mail address through which you do everything.
And you'll also need to keep tabs on your friends.
Make sure they know not to tag you again, especially on photos of that messy night out.
If 4chan prevents you from uploading an image because of a screenshot you took yourself and saved to a new file (a PNG, although a jpg of the same image worked fine in my case) does that mean my computer is fucked or just that 4chan fucked up?
Can't post anywhere due to captchas not showing up/not loading. Any ideas on how to fix it? I've tried clearing my cache, and switched from chrome to IE but it's still not fixed.
Known as China Operating System, or COS, the new operating system is said to be more secure than other mobile platforms such as iOS and Android. It was unveiled last week by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Liantong Network Communications Technology.
The operating system appears to be based on Android, despite claims from Chinese officials that it was developed completely in China.
COS is said to be able to support Java apps, HTML 5 websites and be compatible with more than 100,000 apps.
There are no COS phones for sales yet, but China Mobile and China Telecom are said to be testing devices.
First off, I will mostly be playing Valve games, HL2, Garrys Mod, Team Fortress 2, etc. My current desktop is 5 yrs old. This is a pretty cheap build because I don't need to drop 1000 to experience my games at highest settings. Sometime in the future I want to run N64 emulators.
I can run most games at high settings already. This hardware is a 120% improvement from my current desktop so I will notice a huge jump in performance. Rate it.
Made to Measure: Cost-Effective Software Engineering
Once upon a time, most software was little more than a few hundred lines of code dreamt up in a computer nerd's spare bedroom; Tim Paterson, who developed the first version of Microsoft's MS-DOS operating-system software, carried its code around in his head.
These days software is rather more complex. A typical word-processing software package for a personal computer contains 500.000 lines of code. Transforming Windows into Windows-NT meant writing 1 million lines of new computer code.
Such computer codes are not just written; they are 'engineered'. Developing complex software is both labour-intensive and time-consuming. A modern PC spreadsheet might take programmers two years to develop. ...
As well as paying $10 billion each year for PC software packages, American companies also spend up to $20 billion on customised software for everything from payrolls to production lines, with no easy way of knowing whether they are getting value for money. The traditional way of counting cost-effectiveness in software, working out each program's cost per line of code, works when comparing two programs written in the same language.
But try to compare two software projects written in different languages - there are now over 400 - and the technique falls apart. Source codes (what programmers actually write) have to be translated into machine codes (something simple enough for a computer to understand) before anything useful can happen.
A line of code in a modern 'high-level' language such as 'C' can contain ten or more times as much machine-code meaning as a line of Assembler (which is just one step from machine code). Some of the latest computer languages based on graphical icons are 70 times more powerful than Assembler. ...
