5 ms·

absolutely! came here to say just that. also the excellent book "windows internals", which is kind of like the bsd red book, or the magic garden svr4 book, but

by a-dub 4y ago

absolutely! came here to say just that. also the excellent book "windows internals", which is kind of like the bsd red book, or the magic garden svr4 book, but for systems derived from the windows nt kernel. but perhaps his best work is this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/bluescreen https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/blu... a screensaver that produces a realistic blue screen (kernel panic) for the version of the operating system and kernel that are installed, along with a simulated reboot that lands back into bsod as an infinite bootloop. extra bonus points because it also creates fake disk activity (for the era of hdd lights and hdds that made noise) for extra realism during the simulated boot.

stavros 4y ago
I remember trying to install that screensaver yet always having it crash my system, for some reason. I did wonder how a screensaver can crash the kernel, until I remembered what it's supposed to do. I was embarrassed for quite a while after that.
px43 4y ago
Also IMO it's best to avoid his fiction books, Zero Day etc. It's been about a decade since I read it, but it was the first book I've ever read where I felt uncomfortable with the level of detail the author went to when describing the breasts of every female character. The random awkward sex scenes thrown in for no reason was a weird choice. Most importantly, there's also a complete lack of understanding of the underlying motivations behind both Islamic terror organizations, and cyber crime groups. I love a ton of things that Mark has built, and I'm glad he's out living his best life. According to the Amazon reviews, a ton of people loved the book, but from my perspective Zero Day is a rare miss.
- weatherlite 4y ago
  People like breasts and random sex scenes though, see Game Of Thrones. He was trying to write for the average person I guess....
- dcow 4y ago
  Actually fascinating. I had no idea. I'm curious if I'll have the same opinion as you after giving this one a read.
- eru 4y ago
  > Most importantly, there's also a complete lack of understanding of the underlying motivations behind both Islamic terror organizations, and cyber crime groups. Compare https://www.gwern.net/Terrorism-is-not-about-Terror https://www.gwern.net/Terrorism-is-not-about-Terror
omnibrain 4y ago
> a screensaver that produces a realistic blue screen (kernel panic) for the version of the operating system and kernel that are installed I used this one at work for some time. Until I came back from my lunch break and got told by my office mate that he helpfully rebooted my PC because it had crashed in my absence.
aoetalks 4y ago
Re: the screensaver: > Note: before you can run Bluescreen on Windows 95 or 98, you must copy \winnt\system32\ntoskrnl.exe from a Windows 2000 system to your \Windows directory There be dragons

by a-dub 4y ago

stavros 4y ago

I remember trying to install that screensaver yet always having it crash my system, for some reason. I did wonder how a screensaver can crash the kernel, until I remembered what it's supposed to do. I was embarrassed for quite a while after that.

px43 4y ago

Also IMO it's best to avoid his fiction books, Zero Day etc. It's been about a decade since I read it, but it was the first book I've ever read where I felt uncomfortable with the level of detail the author went to when describing the breasts of every female character. The random awkward sex scenes thrown in for no reason was a weird choice. Most importantly, there's also a complete lack of understanding of the underlying motivations behind both Islamic terror organizations, and cyber crime groups. I love a ton of things that Mark has built, and I'm glad he's out living his best life. According to the Amazon reviews, a ton of people loved the book, but from my perspective Zero Day is a rare miss.

weatherlite 4y ago
People like breasts and random sex scenes though, see Game Of Thrones. He was trying to write for the average person I guess....
dcow 4y ago
Actually fascinating. I had no idea. I'm curious if I'll have the same opinion as you after giving this one a read.
eru 4y ago
> Most importantly, there's also a complete lack of understanding of the underlying motivations behind both Islamic terror organizations, and cyber crime groups. Compare https://www.gwern.net/Terrorism-is-not-about-Terror https://www.gwern.net/Terrorism-is-not-about-Terror

omnibrain 4y ago

> a screensaver that produces a realistic blue screen (kernel panic) for the version of the operating system and kernel that are installed I used this one at work for some time. Until I came back from my lunch break and got told by my office mate that he helpfully rebooted my PC because it had crashed in my absence.

aoetalks 4y ago

Re: the screensaver: > Note: before you can run Bluescreen on Windows 95 or 98, you must copy \winnt\system32\ntoskrnl.exe from a Windows 2000 system to your \Windows directory There be dragons