What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate.51 Comments
- db113456, on 12/22/2007, -1/+48The article is incorrect to call this bricking, you need to damage the bios code to brick, this merely corrupts some files that are important to the os to function, a reinstall of the os would solve the issue.
- unluckier, on 12/22/2007, -3/+39It's an ActiveX control that allows an attacker to delete arbitrary files by visiting a web site with IE. You really consider this "bricking" ?
- allaboutdatiki, on 12/22/2007, -3/+36brick is the new crash? another reason to turn activex off and leave it off.
- luchid, on 12/22/2007, -3/+32ActiveX should have NEVER been invented. It's a transvestite of technology.
- scrumpy, on 12/22/2007, -10/+30Installing Vista bricked my HP. I didn't even need the internets.
- tunapez, on 12/22/2007, -1/+19With all the worthless bloatware loaded on them, it's a wonder it's taken this long to exploit.
No digg for sensationalist, inaccurate headline. - gquaglia, on 12/22/2007, -1/+16Buried, inaccurate. Computer is not bricked.
- supermanred, on 12/22/2007, -0/+14No. To "Brick" a peice of hardware, you must do something to it that prevents any sort of recovery.
For example, screwing up while flashing your product's firmware may brick it. You can then no longer flash the firmware any more. It is now basically, as usefull as a brick. Thus the term "bricking"
A virus ***** up your crappy HP laptop just means you have to cack the drive and re-install windows, which you were probably going to have to do in a few months anyways just to unclog windows. It doesn't BRICK it. - hpfreak26, on 12/22/2007, -1/+14... not that there's anything wrong with that...
- estvir, on 12/22/2007, -0/+11Except that you don't.
- inactive, on 12/22/2007, -0/+11Losing data isn't the definition of bricking, which was what he was clarifying.
- whyufail, on 12/22/2007, -0/+10Inaccurate use of brick. The one saving grace being that its in quotes.
- MioTheGreat, on 12/22/2007, -0/+8I love my HP Laptop, but I'd never ever run any of HP's software other than the finger print authentication software on it.
HP Updater? Bah. First thing I'd do with a new computer: Fresh reinstall of Vista. - yojiffyskippy, on 12/22/2007, -0/+7Carly Fiorina bricked HP a long time ago.
- conna, on 12/22/2007, -0/+6Bot farmers do not want to brick computers. They cannot sell them off if they are useless.
- supermanred, on 12/22/2007, -2/+8Slowly it is. A lot of people are now switching to Unix based OSes like Linux and OS X.
I'd call that a change in the world. - conna, on 12/22/2007, -0/+3I remember reading about how MS was researching ActiveX technology back in "96" I was sitting in the shack that housed the community washer and dryer in the desert town of Tucson. That and DirectX was suppose to change the world.
- umber2007, on 12/22/2007, -2/+5My cat bricked my HP laptop by knocking a bottle onto it.
- elfprince13, on 12/22/2007, -0/+3its not a bricking if either:
a) you can physically power it on
b) the user's data is still intact and recoverable - bodycoach2, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Not mine. Ubuntu Linux installed on mine. Runs way better than Windows XP home or pro edition ever ran.
- breakaway, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Another reason to not use IE more like
- Zaeyde, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Porkythepig.
LOL. - RaggTopp, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Lol...is Bricking going to become the new "Hacking."
Next thing you know, some celeb will DUI themselves into a wall and slip into a Coma and someone will say they got "Bricked." - techsticle, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Welcome to two days ago on Slashdot.
The machine is not bricked. Buried. - Rileyper, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2Shouldaboughtanorthwestfalcon
- inactive, on 12/22/2007, -0/+2So you mean to tell me people actually use those HP software update programs? lol step 1 when buying a laptop, is to remove all the crapware. I assure your printer needs a driver, and not a new software update every month.
- fkr3, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1The fingerprint software isn't HP it's third party.
And yeah a fresh install of the OS on any vendor machine is a very good idea. - SundayTrain, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1xactly! One of the first "Brick" terms was applied to the linksys routers where updating or replacing the instruction set was not possible unless opening the boards and clearing the cmos manually. DD-WRT circumvented this after disassembly in the instruction set. "Brick", however is not a true term as all r/w sets w/ i/o can be re-written. Only on non-if/rp chips which cannot be re bit are truely bricked.
- mlerner, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1Not mine. I wiped out the copy of Windows, the recovery partition and installed my own copy.
- Darmichar, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1It's on an HP laptop or desktop. So their going to lose all those 'FW: FW: FW: OMGZor'Z You've got to see this!!!!' email's they've been saving. BFD
- Klepto21, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1More Info on porkythepig:
http://www.anspi.pl/~porkythepig/ - Dylan16807, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1A silly name is enough to lose all credibility with you, someone who uses LOL and :D in the same sentence?
- KloroFormd, on 12/22/2007, -0/+1There's no need to block ActiveX with Firefox, it doesn't support it in the first place.
Nice try though. - neseus, on 12/22/2007, -2/+2shouldaboughtamac
- Extraneous, on 12/22/2007, -1/+1Yay sensationalist crap.
This isn't bricking in the least. Still recoverable. Data, OS and all. - fkr3, on 12/22/2007, -3/+3You're right but HP laptops are not crappy. HP makes great laptops. HP makes great computers.
- Boondoggle, on 12/22/2007, -1/+1falcon northwest. That and $8000 will get you a nice heavy laptop.
- Rileyper, on 12/22/2007, -1/+1...Format...recover...problem solved!!!
- meridian300, on 12/22/2007, -2/+2Sheep.
- SundayTrain, on 12/22/2007, -1/+1humpy, HP does make good laptops, as well as any outsourcer putting together parts from different vendors offering the $$ price. Honestly my fav is Acer. they go for the 1st place trophy in Asian parts. Completely the same equip in high end comps sans video and ram. I love acer because the hwid and drivers coming from asia are rebranded yet can have greater extensibility in drivers especially if you choose to run a non windows O/S. Go generic = generic drivers, which = greater support! The only drawbacks are the SD media port and cam. For example, on a DVD basis ..Pioneer, Sony or Coby? Acer is the Coby of Pc's. I have never been able to make or write a driver to work w/ Ubuntu except for a few models of Quickam.. And yes, My Zune 30GB works great in Kubunyu,Ubuntu and Red Hat! I/O encr pt4 aholes! Email me if you need help! - Guardian-SundayTrain
- giggl3, on 12/22/2007, -1/+0Yeah this is old news, I read about this exploit 2 days ago before it was posted on milw0rm. This is old news and a very easy fix for this is to deny ActiveX such as using NoScript addon for firefox...so basically you're an idiot if you are a victim of this..
- KloroFormd, on 12/22/2007, -1/+0My friend bricked his IBM laptop by spilling bong water on it while watching Metalocalypse.
- humpy, on 12/22/2007, -3/+2No, they're pretty crappy.
- KloroFormd, on 12/22/2007, -1/+0@fkr3:
IMO, HP laptops are average, and HP PCs are sub-par. - SundayTrain, on 12/22/2007, -3/+2Right on unluckier, No more ring zero, OLE, drag n, drop = hack for the kiddies! It's inevitable and the exploits of calling activeX funct's are rampant! SUDO, Ms!!! Ms will inevitably move toward the X perms....It's a known issue from day 1 vs. the ROI (Dev) on userability...
- HimThatSpeaks, on 12/22/2007, -5/+1Wait, you mean they are not bricks! And therefore can be bricked? I always considered them bricks. That is how the term "craptop" was coined.
- luchid, on 12/22/2007, -14/+1If it's able to download and run whatever unsigned code it can download, then yes. You can pretty much do anything once you've accomplished that.
- luchid, on 12/22/2007, -18/+1Yes, losing your vital data is nothing. pffff....
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