How to prevent gwx.exe from running

This affects Windows 7, Windows 8.x, and this post is only about the "Get Windows 10" nag message seen in the taskbar notification area.

04.04.2016 Update: Before even of this post, there have been more sophisticated efforts to keep Windows 10 from automatically installing itself on computers with Windows 7 and 8.x. Never10 is the latest effort. Computerworld article here.

• This post assumes, that the user already knows how to change file permissions and attributes.
• I wrote it from memory, because I used the below method on someone else's computer that had Windows 7 in it.

I won't vouch, that following the below steps will prevent drive-by installs of Windows 10, but in a computer I worked on, the nagging stopped.

There are also several updates that should be hidden, and which one would be smart not to install. Or, if they're there, to uninstall. Upon returning the computer, I instructed the user only to install critical updates from Windows Update, but not recommended updates.

* As Administrator or a user with admin rights, go to the location where gwx.exe is at;
* Go to its file properties and take ownership of the file. The default owner is TRUSTEDINSTALLER
* After that, change file permissions for all users so, that only you or the administrator can only read it.
* Repeat that with other executables in the same folder.

Writing to the file(s) should thus be forbidden, and also deleting it (them).

You or a designated administrator account should be the only ones who can change the file's attributes. I don't know, if prohibiting file attribute changes also affects changing whether rights to the file can be modified in the future.

In total, this should mean, that the file can't be executed and its attributes can't be changed by other users.

I also remember doing some changes at Windows Scheduler as to whether gwx.exe should run, and I remember disabling some of these items, too.

And then restart the computer. After that, the "Get Windows 10" notification did not appear anymore. #worksforme

Before there were computers in Estonians' homes

This article concentrates on the availability of writing equipment in people's homes in Estonia before Estonia's reindependence.

Until Estonia regained independence in 1991 from the Soviet Union, after which computers gradually began taking a foothold, most people relied on pen and paper, even in organisations. Everyone (if not most people) didn't even have a typewriter.

During the Soviet era, Latin-lettered typewriters were harder to get than typewriters with Cyrillic characters, and students at universities had to submit their works in Russian (at least major works).

And all photocopiers (Xerox and like machines found only in organisations) had to be accounted for to avoid widespread dissemination of 'dangerous' information.

And then there was Samizdat (lit. 'self-publishing' or 'Self-publishing House'), wherein people would retype and carbon-copy banned literature.

One of my schoolteachers told our class, that when she studied at school/university in the 1970s, then ballpoint pens were very fancy; everyone wanted and had to have at least one, and there were even special ballpoint ink vending places, where people would queue up for refills.

Fountain pens and cheap ink pens were widespread, and these were mostly used in schools by students. Specialized simpler fountain pens were used at school to train penmanship.

Rotary-dial telephones were very widespread well into the 1990s.

Usage share of writing equipment in Soviet Estonia. This is a rough estimate with no numbers, and covers the time period of 1980s – early 1990s. (Estonia regained independence in 1991.) As it was, unauthorised copying of software was rampant.

1. Pencils. — Well, these were everywhere. KOH-I-NOOR from Hungary was the definitive trademark for a plain "HB" (aka No2) pencil. No Soviet-/Eastern Bloc-manufactured pencil ever had an eraser on it.
2. Fountain pens (primary school level);
3. Ballpoint pens;
4. Cyrillic typewriters (always cheaper);
5. Latin typewriters — because these were harder to get and more expensive. Possibly because they were mostly manufactured in East Germany (DDR). "Erika" comes to mind.
6. Electric typewriters. Organisations of certain importance and up. I remember at least two in a specialised cabinet of a children's hospital. Very few people had these at home.
7. Photocopiers. Organisations only. All had to be accounted for.
8. Home computers (often DYI, 8-bit). Not particularly cheap. Printers were not sold, AFAIK.
9. General-purpose and school computers. Only 8-bit, and only in selected (favoured) schools. Prohibitively expensive for home use. The Soviet Agat and Estonian-made Juku come to mind. ELORG (a Soviet export organisation) put a $10,000 price sticker for just one "Agat" in 1984. (Oh wait, stickers were not widespread.)
10. Even some higher institutions of education and research used 8-bit computers, such as Pravetz (Bulgaria) and Robotron (DDR), but not limited to just these. I remember typing in WordStar 3.2 on a Robotron computer at father's workplace. Dot matrix printers were certainly there.
11. Anything above 8-bit was certainly found in universities and large organisations of importance, such as ministries.

File attachments in Android 2.3 and GMail

This post is about how to add attachments in GMail in Android 2.3.x from the file system.

Granted, many people are stuck with Android 2.3.x, so the post is specific to that branch of Android.

GMail app

This happened to me with the GMail app version 2.3.6 in Android 2.3.6 on a lower-end Samsung phone.

A few days ago (that was around 17.05.2015) I was trying to send two crash log files of a different app to its developer via Android's GMail app, and for some reason, sending the e-mail didn't work. I don't quite know why, and I lost the e-mail. One attachment was relatively small, and another was around 860 Kb (a bit large in some respects). I haven't investigated this issue online.

A day later, putting attachments in an e-mail in the Android GMail app and seeing that same letter as a draft in GMail on the web did work:
• If you insert attachments first in the GMail app, then do write some text into the message area, which unblocks the save-as-draft button; save the letter as draft and sync.

I haven't investigated how to do that in a browser in GMail, given that the GMail app method worked out for me.

Can't see Instagram in Firefox?

Trouble was, that Instagram and embedded Instagram pictures recently stopped loading in Firefox.
This also affects other Gecko-based browsers.
> If you want to skip the story, jump to solution.

While I also use NoScript on desktop Firefox, and on Firefox for Android, all the necessary instagram domains were allowed.

On the desktop, I'm mostly using Firefox 39.0.3, because it plays well with Flash. (There were no issues like that with other browsers.) First I thought, that this was because I wasn't using the latest Firefox. As this Firefox version plays well with Flash, I didn't want to upgrade to the latest version, because with the latest Firefox, Flash playback on YouTube is jerky since Firefox 40.

But the Instagram issue repeated, when I was also using the latest Firefox for Android. Initially I thought, that this was the fault of Instagram, and since I don't use Instagram or Facebook, I didn't think much beyond that. And for a month or so, I couln't resolve it.

But when Instagram showed in a different computer in the latest desktop Firefox (43.0.4) with the same extensions installed, I began to investigate again.

When reloading a random Instagram page while also watching the Firefox Browser Console, I found an error, which, in pasted form, looks like this:

05:16:59.308 An error occurred during a connection to instagramstatic-a.akamaihd.net:443.

Peer attempted old style (potentially vulnerable) handshake.

(Error code: ssl_error_unsafe_negotiation)
1

After some searching, I found the solution in a game forum.

SSL safe negotiation setting

Turned out, that when perusing the Privacy Settings extension of Firefox, I had turned all the settings to most secure, and among them turned on security.ssl.require_safe_negotiation. After I turned that off, Instagram showed again.

If you don't have the Privacy Settings extension installed, go to about:config and type in or paste security.ssl.require_safe_negotiation . The boolean setting value for it should be false. If not (if it's true), then double-click the setting or press enter on it to set it to false. Or right-click for context menu to Toggle.

Otherwise, the Privacy Settings extension is awesome, and I recommend it to everyone.

Whereas people who manage instagramstatic-a.akamaihd.net, should implement new-style SSL/TLS handshakes to keep their corner of the web safe.

So this was the issue that affected me.

NoScript

If, on the other hand, the above is not an issue, then you might be having NoScript installed to defend your browser from malware, and among other things, it's blocking Instagram domains, which means they're not in the whitelist. Jump to domains.

NoScript has a blue "S" button that shows the status of whether a page is completely blocked, half-blocked (content from other domains has been blocked, which is most common), or completely allowed.

That button is usually visible in the location bar, or accessible through Firefox's hamburger menu. (If the blue 'S' is not there either, click the green Customize button in the hamburger menu to see if the NoScript button is listed in the 'Additional Tools and Features' section.)

One can change NoScript domain permissions thus:
* Hover the pointer over the blue "S" button, which launches a menu with a list of domains. If the NoScript menu is very long, it has small up and down arrows for scrolling.
* To whitelist a domain, click on "Allow domainname.tld". Alternately, domains can be blocked by clicking on "Block domainname.tld". This can be done in one go for several domains.
* Once the cursor hovers away from the menu, NoScript will automatically reload the affected page (or pages in other tabs). If a page or pages don't reload (per custom settings), they can be reloaded manually.

For Instagram, the following domain names must be allowed:

platform.instagram.com
instagramstatic-a.akamaihd.net
www.instagram.com

The above are all third-level domains, because they contain three name components separated by periods/dots.

By default, NoScript shows only base second-level domains, such as instagram.com without the www and a dot. For most common users with NoScript, allowing instagram.com and akamaihd.net is sufficient.

Independence Day: Resurgence website and Firefox

A quick post: www.warof1996.com might not display in Firefox and other Gecko-based browsers.

The reason is that the site is based on WebGL, and Firefox blocks WebGL, if the GPU (video card) driver is out of date or does not support WebGL.

The solution in Windows is to update GPU drivers either through the computer manufacturer's website or through the site of the GPU supplier — one of Intel, nVidia, or AMD/ATI, but not limited to only these.

Thorough care should be taken to match the driver to the correct display adapter model.

If that doesn't work, the GPU is too old, or EOL'd.

I strongly recommend not to force Firefox to use WebGL, because this move can damage hardware.

The alternative is to use Google Chrome or Chromium, which probably uses a CPU-based workaround; but if either the graphics adapter or the CPU or both are too old, then rendering is unlikely to work, or is too slow.

> Explanation — contains minimum driver versions that support WebGL.

In addition, visit about:support in Firefox and the Graphics section therein, which also recommends the minimum driver version for WebGL (Direct2D, etc). The posting contains the same warnings about possible damage to hardware if Firefox were forced to use WebGL.

System requirements

This table is incomplete. I've only gotten to test the website on three computers (with some reservations), and gotten an external report about another.

PC	Hardware/software specifications
	CPU	GPU	RAM	OS	Fx	Chrome	Notes
ASUS K53SC notebook	Intel Core i3 2310M @ 2.1 GHz, dual-core	i:Intel HD Graphics 3000 d:nVidia GeForce GT 520MX	4 Gb DDR3, 665.1 MHz	Windows 7 SP1	Yes	Yes	Required driver updates: I had to upgrade both Intel and nVidia drivers through downloading them from their respective websites.
ASUS U46SV	Intel Core i5 2410M @ 2.3 GHz, dual-core	i: Intel HD Graphics 3000	8 Gb	Windows 10 (build unknown)	Slow	Not tested	Website opens, but performance is slow and jerky, and the fan began working intensely.
	d:	nVidia GeForce GT 540M
ThinkPad R60e (0657-3WG)	Intel Core Duo T2400 (Centrino)	Mobile Intel 945GM Express	2 Gb DDR2 (an upgrade from just 512 Mb)	Windows XP SP3	No	Slow / ok	Rendering was slow, but the site was usable. Chrome: 48.0.2564.109 32-bit; Blink 537.36 JavaScript: V8 4.8.271.19, (This version already announced that it's to be retired on Windows xp.) Instead of OpenGL, Chrome's default renderer in Windows is ANGLE, which translates OpenGL ES to Direct3D, as it has better driver support. Thus, results for Chrome can differ.
hp dv5204ea notebook	Intel Celeron M 410 @ 1.46 GHz	Mobile Intel 945GM Express	1 Gb DDR2, 266 MHz	Windows XP SP3	No	Too slow	While I did upgrade the driver, its version is still less than required: The latest Windows XP driver for this GPU is 6.14.10.4926 (15.02.2008), but Firefox wants at least version "6.1400.1000.5218".
PC	CPU	GPU	RAM	OS	Fx	Chrome

All this does not yet indicate much as to what the titular website's actual system requirements are. In notebook computers, the default video card used by any program in Windows is the integrated adapter, while nVidia software provides an option to launch programs using its own GPU.

The Asus notebook with greater specifications falls below the threshold, whereas the Asus notebook with slightly lesser specs, an older operating system and updated video drivers shows the website nicely.

Synaptics touchpad erratic on Knoppix 7.x

The title is self-explanatory. I first discovered this issue with Knoppix 7.0.5 (IIRC), and it continued "well" into Knoppix 7.2 CD versions. I prefer to use CD versions of Knoppix, because of a lack of storage and download speeds. Yes! Mmh!!

Note, that to avoid fancy Compiz effects, I almost always use the no3d parameter at Knoppix startup.

The Synaptics touchpad is highly erratic (in Metacity), and until today, I had had nothing that would resemble workaround to make it less erratic. One of the symptoms in a browser, for example, is that text suddenly gets selected, and I can't release the selection. No, nothing helps. I could only use the keyboard to navigate, and LXDE/Metacity environments don't appear to have any keyboard shortcut to access the taskbar (start) menu.

Some of the workarounds:

1. An immediate workaround is to restart X from the console via restartx
   One can have a non-minimised terminal window (uxterm) ready in the background, and then use extant keyboard and menu commands to close active apps. Another is to use Ctrl-Alt-F1 to revert to the text-only console. Restarting X is not a longer-term solution, because the problem might return again.
2. Another is to fall back to Knoppix 6.7.1, which allows a stable pointer with the Synaptics touchpad, but this Knoppix release has outdated software (Iceweasel 6.0, for example).
3. Yet another in Knoppix 7.x consists of adding the psmouse parameter into the Knoppix start-up command-line:

   knoppix no3d psmouse.proto=imps

   The imps somehow changes the pointer input device. At least on my machine, the immediate effect was that cursor tracking (movement) with the touchpad became slower.
   While the terrible and annoying erratic behaviour was not there as much, it still kept being somewhat erratic in other ways, albeit less so, and in a more manageable manner. Then I discovered the following:
4. The thing is to never open the CompizConfig Settings Manager. — Because I noticed that it will start changing settings right after it's started or when a user changes settings on their own. That way, I have been able to evade issues that cause/d the pointer to misbehave so terribly.
5. 04.08.2018 update:
   At some point, I realised, that since the touchpad is misbehaving, it would be saner to use an external pointing device, such as a USB mouse (or PS/2, or what have you). That doesn't fix the problem, but prevents usage of the touchpad.
6. The issues crop up less, but even using an external USB mouse is not perfect enough for uninterrupted work. Disconnecting the external mouse from the USB port, using the touchpad for a short while to resolve the pointer hang, and re-connecting the USB mouse may help.
   
7. Then I got the idea, that perhaps I should disable the touchpad entirely, because I'd occasionally touch it by accident, and it interefered with the pointer driven by the external mouse, forcing the pointer to get stuck again.
   Here I got very nice instructions as to how to disable a misbehaving pointing device: The output of xinput --list with the pointing devices that X has identified:

   Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
     ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
     ↳ Logitech USB RECEIVER                     id=9    [slave  pointer  (2)]
     ↳ PS/2 Generic Mouse                        id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
     ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                id=12   [slave  pointer  (2)]
   

   • "Virtual core XTEST pointer" is the first, and should never be shut down, as it will cause X to restart, and lose any unsaved work.
   • Logitech USB RECEIVER is the wireless USB mouse. It's the first wireless laser mouse, and as such, the receiver is a separately mains-powered cradle that connects to the USB port.
   • PS/2 Generic Mouse. I can't tell, if it belongs to an external mouse, or is identified separately by X. Because it's not the external USB RECEIVER mouse, and not then touchpad.
   
   Follow the id= number of the device, and use that to enable/disable it with the respective console commands below:
   
   xinput --disble 12
   xinpute --enable 12
   
   — to shut off what one could think is the offending device. Instructions from here.
   
   Then again, disabling the TouchPad didn't work, and I was still stuck with a stuck pointer. Ugh.
   
8. 19.11.2018 update: Use a different window manager, such as twm.
   
   At first, I thought the erraticity of the Synaptics Touchpad to be because of LXDE and its use of Metacity. No.
   
   I'd somehow installed twm (Klaus Knopper gutted the CD-version of Knoppix 7.2 so much, that he omitted twm from it).
   
   Switching between twm and LXDE requires creating and then editing the local .xinitrc file, and then launching restartx to choose the correct window manager / desktop environment.
   
   In .xinitrc, the execution commands for twm and lxde are different: For twm, it's just
   
   twm
   
   ; For LXDE, it's
   
   exec startlxde
   
   For one window manager to be chosen via $ restartx, comment the other out with a hash # sign.
   
   And so I thought at first to be safe from the Erratic Synaptics Touchpad. Well, no. That still happened, but somehow less, and it was easier to escape the erraticity and non-responsiveness of the pointer. On the other hand, if the pointer did become sticky, I'd be stuck until I'd restartx, sometimes even via Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, if hovering over a terminal window in twm would no longer switch focus to it to allow retartx to happen. In console (as in, Ctrl+Alt+F1...F4), restartx would start, but wouldn't display. Ugh.
   
   But at least now I know, that it's the fault somewhere in the driver and how X handles it, and not directly with LXDE.

Nutitelefoni valimine (09.2015)

Ehk peamised kriteeriumid mobiiltelefoni mitte-telefoni funktsioonidele.

Kombineerida saab olemasoleva eelarve piires; heast poest on võimalik osta ka kasutatult, aga uurimistööd tuleb teha rohkem.

Omadused on toodud enam-vähem tähtsuse järjekorras.

• Kes on tootja. Tuumarelvi omavate riikide kaubamärke ma ei eelista ega soovita. Selliste riikide hulka kuuluvad näiteks USA, Hiina, India, Prantsusmaa, Venemaa. Ainsaks erandiks oleks Lenovo. kuid valik on mobiili-turul piisavalt kirev. Tuleb siiski tõdeda, et lõviosa tarbe-elektroonikast toodetakse Hiinas.

• Kui kaua kestab aku.

• Kas telefonil on FM-raadio. See on tähtis.

• Mälukaardi tugi. Juhuks kui telefoni sisemine mälu täis saab, sest on palju fotosid ja videosid; samuti kaardirakenduste andmed.

Füüsilised omadused

Mõõdud

• Kompaktsus — et kas telefon mahub püksitaskusse. Väiksemad seadmed mängivad siin rolli. Sest kui telefon ei ole vee- ja tolmukindel, peab ta halva ilmaga olema kuskil taskus, ning kasutada saaks kõnekomplekti.
• Ekraan. Diagonaali kui mõõteväärtust ma niiväga määravaks ei pea; vt. ülemine punkt. Küll võib tooni anda ekraani resolutsioon, kus suurem resolutsioon (pikselite arv) on teatud veebilehtede kuvamisel määrav siis, kui neid pole mobiiliekraanide jaoks sobivaks küljendatud.

Vastupidavus.

• Tugevdatud ekraaniklaas. Peaks olema vähemalt Gorilla Glass. Et kui seade kukub, jääks ekraan terveks. Mida suurem Gorilla Glass number, seda parem.
• Veekindlus on sobiv Põhja-Euroopa kliimas, sest siis saab telefoni kasutada vihmas või udus; näiteks fotode tegemiseks. Väiksem võimalus rikkiminekuks niiskuskahjustuse tagajärjel.
• Tolmukindlus loeb siis, kui tegutsetakse väga tolmustes oludes või minnakse puhkama lõunamaadesse, kus juhtub olema liivatorme. Arvestada tuleb selliste märksõnadega nagu ehitus, remont, puidutööstus (saepuru), liiv jmt.

Kaamera

Peavad olema:
• Autofookus — selleks, et pilt oleks selge. Isegi kui megapikseleid pole palju, on autofookus sama tähtis kui võimendi muusikariistale.
• Välk. Pimedas pildistamiseks ja ka sellisteks juhtudeks nagu Laulupidu või teised suured kontserdid.

Parematel ja kallimatel aparaatidel:
• Pildistabilisaator ehk OIS (i.k. Optical Image Stabilisation) — samuti selleks, et pilt ei tuleks foto tegemisel ise liikudes või telefoni liigutades udune/virvendav. Seadmetel, kus pildistabilisaatorit pole, aga on vaja suhteliselt selgemat pilti kui ise vajutades, saab kasutada kaamera viitsütikut.
• Tehnoloogiad pimedas või hämaras pildistamiseks. Võrdeline ka toas pildistamisega, kus nähtavast valgustusest tihtipeale ei piisa. Nokia Lumia 920, 925 ja paremad sobivad siia hästi.

Esikaamera
• Selfie-de tegemiseks. Isegi kui selfie-sid ei tehta, siis järgmine huvitav punkt oleks
• Videokõned. Skype vms suhtlusäpis.
  
  Siin jätaks ma valiku on vabaks, vastavalt eelistustele ja maitsele + järgmine punkt. —

Kaamera megapikselid

Nii põhi- kui esikaamera puhul sõltub megapikselite arv eelarvest.

Kui pildi detailsus pole väga tähtis, siis megapikselite arv ei oma samuti suurt tähtsust.

Eesti mobiili-operaatorite pakutavate odavamate nutitelefonide kaamerad on praegugi peamiselt 5-megapikselised, mis tähendab seda, et suurel osal seadmetest on autofookus juba vaikimisi olemas, ning paljud (aga mitte kõik) on ka välklambiga varustatud. Seega piltide kvaliteedi ja detailsuse alampiir on juba aastal 2015 piisavalt hea.

Määravaks muutub megapikselite arv siis, kui pildistada saab ainult kaugelt, aga tarvis on saada võimalikult detailseid kujutisi, näiteks spordisündmustel. Siin sobiks kindlasti 8-megapikseline või suurem kaamerasensor.

Selliste telefonide hinnad on viimasel ajal alanenud, ning odavama otsa brändide valikus on juba uusi 8-megapikselisi telefone, mille hind jääb alla 100€. Heades poodides on tuntud tootjate 8-megapikselise kaameraga kasutatud telefonid ka umbes 100€ või õige pisut vähema ringis.

• Opsüsteemi valik ei ole vähemtähtis: huvitavamate äppide jaoks on parem Android või Sailfish (toetab Androidi äppe), ning nendel saab käitada äppe, mis toetavad kasutaja privaatsust ja turvalisust.

Näiteks konkreetselt Gecko-põhise mootoriga Firefox töötab ainult Androidil (ja Sailfishil). Lisaks on Firefoxile saadaval NoScript, Adblock Plus ja palju muid turvalisust ja privaatsust parandavaid laiendusi.

Kui oma Android pole enam uuendatav ning hiljem ka sellel käiv Chrome lehitseja, siis eraldiseisvat Firefoxi saab pikka aega veel edasi uuendada. Firefox töötab siiani ka Android 2.3 peal. Selle Androidi versiooniga telefonid on tänapäevaga võrreldes suhteliselt nõrgad, kuid näiteks "Postimehe" kodulehe kuvamiseks vaikimisi Android 2.3 lehitseja ei kõlba enam ammu.

Teiste opsüsteemide puhul niisuguseid asju lihtsalt ei ole. Kui tavakasutajale privaatsus väga suureks mureks pole, siis sobib Nokia Lumia ilusti, sest Nokiate Carl Zeiss-i optikaga kaamerad on üle prahi.