Thoughts of a Little Sinchen

Blog

  • Check ALL hardware BEFORE upgrading a part, Sinchen!

    Having decided to upgrade outdated PCs as good as possible for getting the most out of any generation I had to overcome a great fear of mine regarding messing with hardware: CPU upgrade.

    I avoid removing CPU coolers and CPUs because I’m always always worried of breaking something. Bending CPU pins, pushing too hard on the cooler, too little thermal paste, too much thermal paste, installing the cooler crooked, breaking plastic levers.

    I’ve installed CPU coolers a few times and successfully so far… but I never get used to it and avoid it. Avoided it too much.

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  • Keeping Broken IBM XT/AT For Sentimental Reasons [Partially Sinchen Rant]

    A wave of painful nostalgia just hit me hard. I have a few old IBM machines that do not work anymore. When I got them – the usual way: people tossed them because they were outdated old junk – many of them were still operational. That was about 20 years ago. Over time they failed. Especially the MFM HDDs are anything but reliable. It might be possible to recap the boards or even get replacement versions for the PSUs, but there is probably no way to revive that feeling of listening to a Seagate ST-225 hard drive in action.

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  • App Control for Business → Madness

    App Control for Business (WDAC – Windows Defender Application Control) is an extremely powerful function in Windows 10/11. When set up correctly this pretty much rules out that malware is able to start (or can easily achieve persistence). It can be configured in a way that even a user with local admin privileges becomes unable to change, remove or disable strict rules.

    This powerful kernel-mode feature comes at a price. The price is complexity and a steep learning curve. A steep learning curve has never discouraged me despite my serious concentration issues. Once I got into using Qubes OS I never really looked back. My real problem with WDAC lies in it’s complexity.

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  • The Downsides of Childhood and Adolescence

    Glorification of childhood can be found often. Usually the argument goes something like this:

    It was so great to be a child! No responsibilities, no taxes, no health concerns. School is much more pleasant than work. So much free time. Just playing and having fun!”

    Parts of this can be challenged on factual level (free time, school more pleasant), but I won’t even go that route. Unpacking this would be a waste of time.

    Any phase in life has pros and cons. What is so stupid about this way of childhood glorification is comparing the downsides of adulthood with the upsides of childhood while leaving the opposite parts out. Still the majority buys that and looks back to their own time as a minor with rose-colored glasses. Excessive nostalgia casts a distorting veil of self-deception over the memories of such clowns who oversimplify everything.

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  • Invalid Password! [Sinchen Rant]

    One of my long-term goal of maximizing my computer security. Since roughly two years I went from better-than-average settings to seriously trying to harden my operating systems as good as possible.

    As I mentioned previously, my Windows knowledge is pretty much stuck in the XP-era. XP isn’t quite representing the status of current Microsoft operating systems. When reading “Windows 11” many people instinctively think of telemetry, software bloat, Copilot, forced online accounts and all this rubbish. I’m more interested in the things under the hood. For example: Virtualization‑Based Security (VBS), Hypervisor‑Protected Code Integrity (HVCI) and App Control for Business. I needed a pretty recent device offering the hardware Windows 11 expects (TPM 2.0, CPU with IOMMU, Secure Boot using year 2023 certificates) to do experiments… without playing around with my mum’s computer.

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  • Let There Be Light!

    Don’t worry, I’m not becoming religious. After reading the Bible and the Quran… well… covering these nonsensical historic artifacts of human-made pseudo-literature is a task for another blog entry. No religion today.

    I mean it literally. I just wanted more light. Nonono! That reminds of what are allegedly Goethe’s last words, “Mehr Licht”

    Sinchen, stop writing nonsense and start telling about your failing battery powered LED-spotlight!

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  • About 3DS Browser Requests

    Every now and then a request for a usable browser on 3DS, including old series consoles, pops up on GBAtemp. This usually gets quickly dismissed with condescending comments (“Impossible”, “Don’t you have a phone?”) based on half-knowledge (at best). No, I do not think I’m fully in the know. I’m not a developer and am well aware of my limits! All I can say is that I got a usable browser running on a machine with a way weaker processor (Mobile Celeron 433MHz from about 1998/1999) with only 192MB of RAM. Having the whole Windows XP SP3 running in the background leaves very little memory for the browser.

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  • Sinchen Tried Using Chatbots

    Discussions about AI are everywhere since a few years. Enthusiastic supporters announcing the greatest breakthrough in human history as well as determined opponents proclaiming the end of the world. Both groups never get tired to repeat the ever same arguments.

    I gave chatbots a try in the last few weeks using Gemini, Copilot and mostly Lumo. You can’t comment on and can’t criticize what you don’t know. That’s why I also started looking into Android a few years ago. I finally made my peace with Android after getting used to GrapheneOS (and saw pretty much all my assumptions on stock Android versions confirmed from looking deeper into it).

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  • Windows “Device Encryption” With Automatic Unlock Is Not Secure Enough

    An easy explanation avoiding technical terms (until the box at the very end)

    The Short Version​

    If your PC meets certain criteria Windows encrypts your files automatically. This is good! But the way it’s set up by default has a hidden problem: the computer unlocks itself without asking for a password, and a copy of the unlock key is stored online on Microsoft servers.

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  • Windows XP Hardening?

    How about still using Windows XP? Simplicity, lack of bloat, lack of AI, support for old games. I’ve always loved XP. Of course it didn’t feel lightweight in 2002 when installing the first Windows NT version intended for home users. Way bigger than 98SE, more demanding than 2000 Professional and with a nauseating default theme that is as dysfunctional as the (then) newly introduced Start Menu. Over the years I’ve mastered switching off all crap on a fresh XP installation in very few minutes. Still in muscle memory to this day. Using XP gives me a nostalgic feeling just like the boot sound of a PlayStation 1 coming from the powerful speakers of a big CRT TV.

    In this entry I want to explore this classic OS from the perspective of security. This could be very short by saying, “There is no way to truly secure it.” Nevertheless I’ll try my best.

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