Develop Bugs

please provide basic review of functionality for newbie

HI,
I'm new to this forum and new to the phone, I've ordered mine.
Although I'm fairly tech savvy, I am a web developer, middle level technically proficient in VBA and so forth...
I ordered and decided on this phone because of the PDA, Organiser, pocket pc and of course the phone.. basically all that is advertised.
But i'm beginning to have serious and grave concerns.. can people of this forum enlighten me..
The importtant feature of this phone for me beside being a phone is:
1. can it competentnly and reliabley syn with outlook
2. is there any issues with Excel as I will be using quite a bit of this on the road...
I won't have time or inclination to mess wtih the code or add new stuff. as i need this phone for mission critical business needs and hence can't have it bneing unrealible...
i hope i havne't made the wrong decision to embrace technology (although I know some of the more complidcated features or nifty features may have isssues)....
is this phone worth while and does what it says it does? or have i wasted a lot money

It synchs brilliantly with Outlook (I'm synching at home with Outlook 2003 and at work with Outlook XP\Exchange), way better than any other smartphone - mainly symbian - that I've ever used.
The Excel is good (if not brilliant). It works as advertised. Whether it will be suitable for you depends on what you want to use it for. It doesn't contain all the functions of the full excel, though it always surprises me just how many of the more obscure functions it does contain (PMT is the most important function I use, and is included). However, if you are looking to use Excel for graphs and charts etc, then you are going to be disappointed.
Anyway, if you've ordered it, you usually get a 14 day cooling off period during which you can return for a full refund.

Excel isn't bad, but if you're working on advanced spreadsheets then you should definitely look at PlanMaker from Softmaker.de. This is a simply stunning package that is what Excel should be...
Cheers,
nick.

thanks for the review.. one other thing.. noise when hangs u
i've heard from other users that there is a notceable and unpleasant tone when it hangs up..
man.. the amount of issues that is raised, itrs so bloody scary, can this phone still be used as a phone?
some have raised issues of not receiving even a call or an sms...
this wholly defeatst he purpose of this device entirely!!
can people comment? under what circumstances does it not work, are many people messing with the phone with installing new software or what?

Well I am a heavy user of my XDAII. I use it for txt, voice call, excell, powerpoint, word, acrobat, games, and too much of the Windows Media.
I compressed the Video Karaoke VCD's or DVD's to my SD. I always sync with avantgo. I use Internet Explorer to view or approve transactions in our Office Linux Web based ERP solution wirelessly via bluetooth.
I still recieve my messages and calls so don't worry. But remeber, be a smart user. Since this is a Windows platform, you have to Soft Reset after openning a lot of applications or install the Omega One Battery Pack Software to end unwanted or running applications so that you do not have to perform a soft reset.
I hanged up 2x in my early experience with this device because I used up most of the internal memory. I learned my lesson now that all apps must be installed in the external memory.
I always made sure that I have 60 mb free of internal memory so that it will not hang anymore. This 60 mb free serves as the working memory of my running programs or apps.
Hope this info will be useful to you.

we're sending ours back - it is no good as a phone, and crashes too often

padgett said:
we're sending ours back - it is no good as a phone, and crashes too often
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 2 XDAII, 1 for me and 1 for my wife. We are both heavy users and so far no problems.
Are we just lucky or what?
Another thing if you only want a phone then this device is not for you. The XDA is an overkill if you only intend to use it as a phone.
For me I treat my XDA more as a Portable Personal Computer (Pocket PC) that happens to have a cellular phone capability.

Additional comments. If you are a comfortable user of Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP and understand the Operating System very much, then the XDAs is for you.
If you hate Windows and prefer Linux or Mac OS then you better use Palm Treo, Sony Ericcson P900 or 910i., or other Symbian OS.
Windows Mobile based Smartphones or PDA phones to me are for advance users who understand the system very much. Otherwise you will keep on complaining that it is hanging, crashing, slowing down, etc.
My wife also give me these problems before so I have to teach or train her how to understand the Windows System. Now she is on the advance type of user and does not give me headaches anymore.
Personally I have tried the Nokias, the Sony Ericssons, and the Treos. I was never satisfied by those devices as the applications were limited based on my usage and other interface in the office. I have to use 3rd party solutions just to make them work. Some of them specially the Nokias simply won't work.
In fact I work with Sharp and our Linux based PDA takes a lot of tweaking to work with our system and it has no GSM phone capability. So Sharp decided to switch to Windows platform so that Zaurus will sell.
Personally I will not exchange my XDA II or any Windows Platform PDAphones to other devices.
My XDAII easily integrated with our system without any 3rd party solutions. Remember we are using Linux in the office and the XDA II is connected to the system via bluetooth.

I have to agree with rayt, there are enough people around (myself included) who are using these devices day in day out without any problems (other than the occasional, well documented, bluetooth glitch) to show that the device is fine.
I really do struggle to understand the mentality of some of the people on this forum who have spent weeks and weeks complaining about how awful their devices are.
All they have to do is perform a hard reset and use the device for a couple of days in a clean state. If it doesn't crash anymore, then the problem was third party software or how it was set up. If the problem persists, it's a faulty unit and should be returned for a replacement. It's that simple. It's almost as if they enjoy being a victim!

Bassey said:
I have to agree with rayt, there are enough people around (myself included) who are using these devices day in day out without any problems (other than the occasional, well documented, bluetooth glitch) to show that the device is fine.
I really do struggle to understand the mentality of some of the people on this forum who have spent weeks and weeks complaining about how awful their devices are.
All they have to do is perform a hard reset and use the device for a couple of days in a clean state. If it doesn't crash anymore, then the problem was third party software or how it was set up. If the problem persists, it's a faulty unit and should be returned for a replacement. It's that simple. It's almost as if they enjoy being a victim!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! If your bluetooth glitch is hotsync or internet pass through, I made a solution for this. Go to this link at, http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=13387&highlight=.
I made a detailed instruction for the bluetooth. In fact my XDA is a virgin, meaning the OS is a factory original with 1.66.00WWE.
I dropped my XDA on the concrete floor 5 times already by accident so far no hang-ups except for external housing scratches.

rayt said:
padgett said:
we're sending ours back - it is no good as a phone, and crashes too often
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 2 XDAII, 1 for me and 1 for my wife. We are both heavy users and so far no problems.
Are we just lucky or what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey mate.....i dont think you are the only lucky one....most of the guys who have xda II are lucky i guess...and i am a heavy user of xda II as well i use alll the softwares on xda II and plus additional installled and many games installlled tooo....but i haven't faced any problem as yet with my xda II whether flashing the rom or crashing or something (TOUCH WOOD) so i guess you dont need to be afraid....IT DOES WAT IT SAYS.... !! and by the way.....i get heavy calls everyday and msgin is like freaked out tooo so no worries IF YOU HAVE AROUND MORE THEN 50% OF MEMORY FREE IN YOUR XDA II for it to run properly... !!
regards
jeetz

any more tips and tricks welcome! feeling better now!
Yes, thanks oh so much for all your comments and tips and tricks,
I'd appreciate anyone posting to give some advice on how to use this,
so as i understand, install only programs on external memory,
keep it clean, don't mess about too often and use soft reset or download a software as one suggested....
I was beginning to feel very worried, that htis is some large rip off given its a huge pie in the sky ask for a company to put together what everybody is now thinking.. convering pda, phone, pc.... i know they are trying to break grounds, but heck, the stories we here on this forum,
its like its a unmerchanable product.. and a class lawsuit should be preppared....
keep the tips going

if you know how to use desktop windows xp then you should automatically know how to use the xda II and as far as keeping it clean is concerned if you wanna really keep it clean then you should buy a sd or mmc memory chip and install your programs on that so that your pda remains with full memory and does not get slowed down and stuff....
regards
jeetz

Re: any more tips and tricks welcome! feeling better now!
ticc888 said:
Yes, thanks oh so much for all your comments and tips and tricks,
I'd appreciate anyone posting to give some advice on how to use this,
so as i understand, install only programs on external memory,
keep it clean, don't mess about too often and use soft reset or download a software as one suggested....
I was beginning to feel very worried, that htis is some large rip off given its a huge pie in the sky ask for a company to put together what everybody is now thinking.. convering pda, phone, pc.... i know they are trying to break grounds, but heck, the stories we here on this forum,
its like its a unmerchanable product.. and a class lawsuit should be preppared....
keep the tips going
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not an unmerchanable product! And a lawsuit must not be abused and unnecessary.
I have to remind that the product is not for everybody and I have to repeat again that it is intended for advanced users, Techie, or IT literate people.
You said that you were a web developer and in VBA. Now I want to ask you a question, can you name any Phone other than Windows powered that can run your VBA scripts? If there are any I will be glad to try them again.
I am not a loyal Microsoft User or Developer as I am also into Unix, Linux, and Mac OS. It only happened that my XDA solved my problems in the office without any 3rd party applications or tweaking.
I think this discussion is going somewhere else like what the EU government is doing to Windows. They sued MS because of the many funtionality and usefullness of windows like the antitrust case in the US.
Now tell me are you willing to buy the Windows Reduced Media Functionality because of what the government said so or are you willing to stand or go for a System that is complete and inovative at athe same price?
If you don't like it return it and don't insist on it. Buy another PDAPHONE device with a different platform like Symbian, Linux, or Palm OS and try your applications. Only then you will know that the Windows Platform is the right choice and is not a ripoff.
I sold my Nokias, Sony Ericcsons, and Treos as they did not work or fit for our systems in and outside the office.
The last 3 phones can't even perform my Hobbies done in VBA. These hobbies are satellite tracking, planet tracking, astronomy, and anything related to the solar system. These hobies run on my XDAs and my XDA tells me the weather conditin 5 days in advance.

Hacking WP7 - any REAL beginner guides?

Hi
I'm pretty sure this hasn't been covered off already - well - not to the level of detail I need anyway.
I came to the xda forums after a friend of mine suggested that there were hacks available.
It's clear that 'something' is available, but what I am not finding is:
A) A SIMPLE guide that shows us people totally new to phone 'hacking' how to do it, from start to finish, with minimal lingo and acronyms.
B) An clear and simple explanation on the different 'hacking' options available
C) The reason you would want to do it? From what I can see, the only benefit seems to be a few pointless homebrew apps that you can download - and for the risk involved...why would you chance it?
Don't get me wrong, tinkering in itself is the reason you would want to do it - it's fun - but I can't help thinking that the WP7 side of 'hacking' doesn't offer much reward.
Would really appreciate any advice/help/links with my questions.
Thanks

Did not know whether to bother answering or not but okay. First welcome to XDA, uhhh in easy laymens terms hacking is not for the inexperienced and it is not totally idiot proof so you should have some fair knowledge of the systems and what they do. Don't hack if you need a kindergarten book to explain it all out for ya simple as that. WP is closer too iOS than Android main point being it is the most secure as far as I personally care of the 3, and the system is just as smooth and fluid as iOS. No there are not alot of Homebrew available at the moment, but if you happen to have a phone able to be fully unlocked then you have the option to use many functions that were not available before.
Device specific is where you should such that search block is your best friend, nobody here is going to write a full guide to the whole forum section for every single new hack and crack that comes out. If you want to you are more than welcome.

Thanks pal
I'm ok with the concepts of hacking, just not specifically this OS.
I'm technically minded and do a lot of similar stuff elsewhere, but when it comes to the phone that I use daily, and comntracted for another 12 months with and have no experience with tinkering WP7 - Im slightly more nervous.
I guess my main issue was the d&h forum for WP7. Every sticky/thread is far too long and they all contain a lot of acryonyms that a new WP7 hacker wouldn't understand. So my forum instinct is to look for the sticky that says "start here - everything explained" - but there isn't one?!
It's almost like "where do people start if there is no starting point"?

As far as covering a good amount of info, this post is a good one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1299134
Don't really think there is a way to avoid all the jargon though, if there is something that isn't explained well it should be simple to find information to fill in the gaps. The terms used are very specific to the environment, so anything returned in a search would probably be relevant.
The most common homebrew option is Interop Unlock, Samsung models of phone are the easiest to unlock. This allows you to use native code that has not been wrapped in a tidy c# class.
The benefit of all this is that your phone is a full fledged computer that by default is locked down like an appliance. Developing additional homebrew apps allow you to get further phone customization out of your device, and therefore the most value out of your purchase.

I for myself thought about unlocking my device considering the risks involve. but I weighed the consequences. Thus, I end up now, having a fully unlocked HTC 7 Mozart with a custom rom. I am happier with my device now, I can do BT transfers, explore the folders within my device, install more applications than the usual apps/games from the marketplace, and tweak my device. One more thing, when my device was still running on stock rom, battery life is shorter, now I have 1.5x the battery life.
MY CONCLUSION: unlock your device's potential
as for the guides, yes it is not really like spoon feeding, but contents of the guides/tutorials are somehow progressive. one can learn from them, so that on the next development, we can do the "hacking" easier since we understood how the process goes. This is why it is called development. Cheers!

before i can give you advice on what hack that you can use, what is the name your device that way there are more specific hacks that we can talk about.

Hi
Thanks for the helpful replies.
I have a HTC Trophy. I'm doing the SD card upgrade next week to start with, so I can finally put all my music on it, so thought i'd look at hacking it at the same time.
Cheers
Sent from my 7 Trophy using Board Express

look at the HTC part of this guide, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1271963

lovenokia said:
look at the HTC part of this guide, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1271963
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like a good guide but how am I meant to know if I have a first or second gen phone....there's no definitive list?! And I can't remember what updates I have.
This is a nightmare - I'll give it a miss

check your processor, as far as i know, if your phone has 1.5GHz then it's a gen2, otherwise, it's just gen1

Let me at least give the "legitimate" talk about unlocking your phone:
For $99/year, sign up for a developers account with Microsoft (create.msdn.com). You can unlock up to 3 separate devices officially for app development. Then you can build and deploy all kinds of .xaps to your phone. To top it off, you can get the betas and early OS upgrades (had Mango almost 6 months before my friend got it from his vendor). Ultimately, you can even release your own apps to the marketplace for sale or for free.
sounds like, since this is a phone you use every day, this might be an investment worth considering. Its an easy and legitimate way for someone not too experienced with the phone's innards to get it unlocked and get exposed to how things work. Plus if you back up your phone vefore you unlock it, and something goes wrong, you haven't done anything thats voided a warranty. If the OS crashes, try returning to the "pre-unlocked" backup and bring it back to the store saying it crashed. They'll replace it. Nice deal, considering most Windows phones run around $500 to replace.
Now as for unlocking it via other means: maybe you dont want to sell apps. Maybe you dont really want to give microsoft a credit card for $100 every year. Maybe you want to just do more than a developer unlock will get you - like load a whole new aspect of the operating system. Or maybe you just dont want to pay to unlock your phone. Understandable, i suppose (though for MOST people, a developer unlock is more than sufficient). There are options, but they will require a lot of time and investigation (maybe even translation) to get it right, because the WP7 is new. The devices are many - its not like having a single hardware baseline to crack - like the iPhone. And to throw another monkey in the wrench, they did a full-fledged update to the OS not 6 months ago. So - no - not a a lot of "beginners" guides out there. Even for experienced people, an unofficial unlock is still a tricky feat. Take a look at the number of posts that have to do with phones randomly "re-locking" themsleves. Hell, I'm a legit developer and my phone "re-locked" itself last night. (turns out MS has a "lease" on deve unlocks that you need to physically update every year by un-registering and re-registering the device)
hope this was informative and helps.

I found exactly the same problem. Today I saw this post in the HTC Titan forum which helped me understand all the different unlocks that you hear mentioned on the web.
Hope this helped

Advantages and Disadvantages of ROOTING

What are the Disadvantages of Rooting ?
There are two main disadvantages to rooting and Android phone;
Rooting immediately voids your phone's warranty-Once rooted, don't try to bring your phone back for service or warranty work. You are on your own!
Rooting involves the risk of "bricking" your phone-In essence, a "bricked" phone is no better than carrying around a brick in your pocket. The phone is dead when it has been "bricked."
Other potential disadvantages, though less severe, are still worthy of consideration;
Poor performance-Though the intention of "rooting" a phone is to give the phone more performance, several users have found that, in their attempts to speed up the phone or add additional features, that their phones lost both performance speed and features. Remember that when you "root" your Android phone, you are making changes to the stock operating system.
Viruses-Yes, even phones can get viruses. A common practice that people do with "rooted" phones is to flash their ROM's with custom programs. Whenever you make changes to the code of a software, you run the risk of introducing a virus.
What are the Advantages of Rooting ?
"Rooting" your Android phone does afford you numerous benefits, including;
Running special applications-Superuser is an app that can only be run on a rooted Android phone. This allows you to control which apps have access to the "root" system. Another popular application that "rooting" affords is the ability to tether a computer to your Android phone so that the computer can access the Internet using the phone's data connection. Another program can allow your Android to be used as a WiFi Hotspot without having to pay your provider for the feature.
Freeing up memory-When you install an app on your phone, it is stored on the phone's memory. "Rooting" allows you to move installed applications to your SD card, thus freeing up system memory for additional files or apps.
Custom ROM's-This is the most powerful feature of "rooted" phones. There are hundreds of custom ROM's that can do anything from speeding up the processing speed of your phone to changing the entire look and feel of your phone.
Summary
The decision to "root" your Android phone is one that should not be rushed into. Though the allure of having an unlocked phone is powerful, having a "bricked" phone is, trust me, not very much fun.

CLOSE THIS THREAD!
you are condoning warez and should be banned
EDIT:
thank you for changing the thread,
post edited

akshay.bhat93 said:
Turn your Galaxy Y into a super power turbo
the rest is science
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

CALIBAN666 said:
whats that
are u sure u have permission for this confusin scripts.
all these u can downloading here and when an app like juicedefender is required than u becomes this from me:HAHAHA
I think its better u close this post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
caliban look at the first part of your quote and remove the 3rd party link the website since it is warez

deathnotice01 said:
caliban look at the first part of your quote and remove the 3rd party link the website since it is warez
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx bro,i have it totaly forgotten,but its done.

Explantion
Another program can allow your Android to be used as a WiFi Hotspot without having to pay your provider for the feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would u xplain these lines?? i lyk to use this feautre...

Basic Stuff
Advantage :Access to system files
Disadvantage : warranty loss

basic stuff: don't make any useless post. *ups...did I say that?*

akshay.bhat93 said:
Rooting immediately voids your phone's warranty-Once rooted, don't try to bring your phone back for service or warranty work. You are on your own!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, flash any stock ROM, do unroot and then reset your counter, Never had any problems with service centre this way
akshay.bhat93 said:
Poor performance-Though the intention of "rooting" a phone is to give the phone more performance, several users have found that, in their attempts to speed up the phone or add additional features, that their phones lost both performance speed and features. Remember that when you "root" your Android phone, you are making changes to the stock operating system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is also wrong, without rooting there would be no major development, and development indeeds boosts the performance. It never reduces speed, performance and features.
akshay.bhat93 said:
The decision to "root" your Android phone is one that should not be rushed into. Though the allure of having an unlocked phone is powerful, having a "bricked" phone is, trust me, not very much fun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Soft bricks can be restored quite easily. You would never get a hard brick by following xda posts, also if they dont have the knowledge to unbrick there are load of posts on how to and a whole community to help them.

you should have seen this thread before it was edited

Thread Closed:
1. Looks like some info is wrong.
2. We already have threads like this that give a lot more info.

Samsung Knox

Samsung KNOX?.....I remember there is a time AMD is very popular and very demanding not because its better than INTEL proc. Computer enthusiast go for AMD it's not because it is cheaper, its because they feel the freedom of doing something to enjoy, to explore, to over clock to the extent. Then Intel decided to sell unlock proccessor, and suddently intel market change. My point is not all people buy phone just to call and recieve call. they want to explore and have freedom to enjoy it to the extent, unlock it, put custom rom and develop. I feel they start taking away this freedom we had, as Doc say "Leaving Samsung won't get you away from Knox anymore. Google is going to begin using it in ALL android builds. Probably starting with Android"L". I know there's a lot of knowledgeable people on XDA who is enjoying and itching to break this barrel. We have to wait for this hope, i have faith.

gmenik6 said:
Samsung KNOX?.....I remember there is a time AMD is very popular and very demanding not because its better than INTEL proc. Computer enthusiast go for AMD it's not because it is cheaper, its because they feel the freedom of doing something to enjoy, to explore, to over clock to the extent. Then Intel decided to sell unlock proccessor, and suddently intel market change. My point is not all people buy phone just to call and recieve call. they want to explore and have freedom to enjoy it to the extent, unlock it, put custom rom and develop. I feel they start taking away this freedom we had, as Doc say "Leaving Samsung won't get you away from Knox anymore. Google is going to begin using it in ALL android builds. Probably starting with Android"L". I know there's a lot of knowledgeable people on XDA who is enjoying and itching to break this barrel. We have to wait for this hope, i have faith.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do realize that the inclusion of Knox has nothing to do with trying to prevent rooting. It is security to prevent criminal hackers from getting all your banking and personal information off of your phone. Knox to date has also not prevented rooting. Even the phones with locked bootloaders and Knox have achieved root. The locked bootloaders are what prevent certain phone models from flashing non-stock based ROMs. If you do use your phone for more than calls and text then you should be happy they are trying to make them more secure for those uses. Will Knox slow down development....a little...as work arounds to the secure kernels and constant checks will take more time to get all the bugs out. Bottom line though is to stay away from carriers that lock bootloaders...that is the message you want to send. Push for them to offer unlock solutions the way HTC does for the 1% of community that is on XDA. Remember...security is meant for the 99% of phone buyers that know nothing about XDA or root...and for corporate and military contract sales.

KennyG123 said:
You do realize that the inclusion of Knox has nothing to do with trying to prevent rooting. It is security to prevent criminal hackers from getting all your banking and personal information off of your phone. Knox to date has also not prevented rooting. Even the phones with locked bootloaders and Knox have achieved root. The locked bootloaders are what prevent certain phone models from flashing non-stock based ROMs. If you do use your phone for more than calls and text then you should be happy they are trying to make them more secure for those uses. Will Knox slow down development....a little...as work arounds to the secure kernels and constant checks will take more time to get all the bugs out. Bottom line though is to stay away from carriers that lock bootloaders...that is the message you want to send. Push for them to offer unlock solutions the way HTC does for the 1% of community that is on XDA. Remember...security is meant for the 99% of phone buyers that know nothing about XDA or root...and for corporate and military contract sales.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just everybody knows, I don't think knox will not secure you phone from criminals. if not thousand hundred of people selling their phone everyday knowing factory reset and taking out sdcard will not leaved a trace, it's not true...I know you know that. And what I believed company protect their interest before consumer.

murayoshi said:
just everybody knows, I don't think knox will not secure you phone from criminals. if not thousand hundred of people selling their phone everyday knowing factory reset and taking out sdcard will not leaved a trace, it's not true...I know you know that. And what I believed company protect their interest before consumer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We are talking about criminals hacking your phone while you still possess it. Perhaps you are not aware of all the hacking and identity theft that has gone on in Android over the past years. Exploits would be forced onto your phone giving hackers access to much of your phone.

And in reality, if used as intended, Knox can protect the data stored in its containers. It is encrypted to DoD standards and if any tampering is detected it breaks access to those containers. Sure, any encryption can be broken, but it would take a very talented and determined hacker to first regain access and then break that encryption. It may not prevent hardcore industrial espionage, but it certainly will protect a lot of sensitive info from bring had by most identity thieves or from being inadvertently released to the general public.
Knox was never intended to secure the average users data. Its intended for use by security professionals in an Enterprise environment.
There are plenty of solutions already out there for people to protect themselves with, most simply just elect to not use it. Number 1 IMO would be simple common sense! Unfortunately, many replace this with ignorance and end up paying for it with increasing frequency.

DocHoliday77 said:
And in reality, if used as intended, Knox can protect the data stored in its containers. It is encrypted to DoD standards and if any tampering is detected it breaks access to those containers. Sure, any encryption can be broken, but it would take a very talented and determined hacker to first regain access and then break that encryption. It may not prevent hardcore industrial espionage, but it certainly will protect a lot of sensitive info from bring had by most identity thieves or from being inadvertently released to the general public.
Knox was never intended to secure the average users data. Its intended for use by security professionals in an Enterprise environment.
There are plenty of solutions already out there for people to protect themselves with, most simply just elect to not use it. Number 1 IMO would be simple common sense! Unfortunately, many replace this with ignorance and end up paying for it with increasing frequency.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work for DVD, that made me chuckle... If you guys only knew how incompetent the IT department is.
Sent from my Amazon Jem using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Shack70 said:
I work for DVD, that made me chuckle... If you guys only knew how incompetent the IT department is.
Sent from my Amazon Jem using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im assuming you meant DoD, right? And yeah....contractors....lol!
No offense to those who really do try and really do care, but man, it does seem like so many are just along for the government ride!

Good info on KNOX, thanks

Payload Dumpers and Security (HIGH RISK)

I have been messing with these Payload Dumper execution files and have found them to be malicious, non-false positive. I have a highly secure position at a chemical company and our computer security apparatus has been dialed-up a notch, rightly so. I had previously found these executables to be quite handy but when messing with them today, after having not used it in awhile, I found them to have some suspicious behavior. My computer has recently undergone some upgrades in the security department and I'd like to share with the community what I have found. I'm sure many of you use these on a regular basis. I am posting the results from two popular locations from which these files are received.
The 1st: https://github.com/ssut/payload-dumper-go/releases (payload-dumper-go.exe)
Result: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file...87757940e9eed41428a9388dc05b25f04d7/detection
The 2nd: https://mega.nz/folder/vU00FZDa#PIEfjl5w5wonyNAwHW3FBQ (payload-dumper.exe)
Result: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file...cd8a7dd5067bd1384b074b121da5bc244bb/detection
I can't share what the anti-virus program on my computer came up with as it has some proprietary information sprinkled throughout but it's along the same lines as what is discussed on the links I shared. For example....in both instances the registry of the computer being used is being altered in ways that is absolutely meant for disingenuous motives.
I highly suggest if you have been using these, you remove them and scrubb your machine.

The first dumper is literally open source, just use the go files lol

Lossyx said:
The first dumper is literally open source, just use the go files lol
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I understand. Just because a file originates open source doesn't mean it can't be tampered with. I have a paydumper go file I downloaded last year that checks out, it's clean. What I obtained from both those sites today, did not check out.

The only reason I like XDA is the open source policy. I'm pretty sure there's nothing malicious with the payload dumper if you downloaded it from this site.. anytime you have files that can manipulate operating systems would throw up red flags with your antivirus.. So I say relax my Friend!

BobbyHoggatt said:
The only reason I like XDA is the open source policy. I'm pretty sure there's nothing malicious with the payload dumper if you downloaded it from this site.. anytime you have files that can manipulate operating systems would throw up red flags with your antivirus.. So I say relax my Friend!
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It did. There were never problems with either of those files in the past. I recently had to redownload the files because I thought I had deleted my original which I obtained late last year. The 1st one I downloaded was the one from Mega and it immediately had a hit when I tried to run it. I blow these things off all the time because there are so many false positives but I have had extensive training these last few weeks with my company's IT department in regards to the influx of malicious software. The Microsoft Exchange hack is wreaking havoc on companies like mine, which is Dupont. Hackers have been able to gain access to proprietary information on a scale that is unfathomable. I expected this reaction from the thread and that's understandable. I am telling you though, I spent several hours with both of these files. They both exhibited behavior that was not relative to its intended purpose. I forwarded both files to our IT's Security Analyst and he said it's not a false positive...for either. He didn't have time to perform any further analysis to see where and when it may have been tampered with. I don't think he gives a **** about rooting his phone or the XDA. I honestly don't think he gives a **** about life either but that's besides the point.
I don't think the creator(s) of the original file are at fault. I was able to dig up an older Payload Dumper and it was fine......newer downloads are not. I'm not trying to cause a stink or start an argument or anything. I would hope that if anyone else noticed something of this nature that they too would bring it to the community's attention.
I don't really have anything else to say about it. I wouldn't have wasted my time messing with any of this crap today if I didn't think it was important. Anything's possible. Take it or leave it.

For example.... https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...tole-credentials-escaped-notice-for-3-months/

djcrystals said:
I have been messing with these Payload Dumper execution files and have found them to be malicious, non-false positive. I have a highly secure position at a chemical company and our computer security apparatus has been dialed-up a notch, rightly so. I had previously found these executables to be quite handy but when messing with them today, after having not used it in awhile, I found them to have some suspicious behavior. My computer has recently undergone some upgrades in the security department and I'd like to share with the community what I have found. I'm sure many of you use these on a regular basis. I am posting the results from two popular locations from which these files are received.
The 1st: https://github.com/ssut/payload-dumper-go/releases (payload-dumper-go.exe)
Result: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file...87757940e9eed41428a9388dc05b25f04d7/detection
The 2nd: https://mega.nz/folder/vU00FZDa#PIEfjl5w5wonyNAwHW3FBQ (payload-dumper.exe)
Result: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file...cd8a7dd5067bd1384b074b121da5bc244bb/detection
I can't share what the anti-virus program on my computer came up with as it has some proprietary information sprinkled throughout but it's along the same lines as what is discussed on the links I shared. For example....in both instances the registry of the computer being used is being altered in ways that is absolutely meant for disingenuous motives.
I highly suggest if you have been using these, you remove them and scrubb your machine.
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I've worked for several top global firms and all their security does not like programs that can alter or extract information like what payload dumper can, similarly they don't like docx files yet are happy for zip's (password protected) containing very malicious files to pop through their security, I cannot vouch for all locations where you can obtain payload dumper but the one I use is not malicious.
The nature of the program is the problem, again I can't vouch for all of them, the GitHub one should be ok though.
I've got some more then adequate scanners here. I'll see if anything pops up, but I'm sceptical it'll find anything, also hoping it doesn't, but will share here if it does.

dladz said:
I've worked for several top global firms and all their security does not like programs that can alter or extract information like what payload dumper can, similarly they don't like docx files yet are happy for zip's (password protected) containing very malicious files to pop through their security, I cannot vouch for all locations where you can obtain payload dumper but the one I use is not malicious.
The nature of the program is the problem, again I can't vouch for all of them, the GitHub one should be ok though.
I've got some more then adequate scanners here. I'll see if anything pops up, but I'm sceptical it'll find anything, also hoping it doesn't, but will share here if it does.
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I appreciate someone else showing some interest in this. Trust me, I shared your skepticism initially. That's why I spent some much time verifying my initial results before posting anything about it. Ultimately, the biggest red flag for me was coming from the security software my IT department has recently installed on our systems. Without going into too much detail it allows you to run an exe in a mock VM of your current environment. The results from both of those runs were surprisingly different, even though they should have the same exact objective. The Dumpers, in both instances, went well beyond their realm of file expansion (understatement).
My IT friend said this morning there's always the possibility the file/process was corrupted after downloading it, one of the least likely scenarios but still a possibility....which just lead me to conjure up a million more questions for him. Needless to say, I won't be using that laptop again until after he takes a look at it.

djcrystals said:
I appreciate someone else showing some interest in this. Trust me, I shared your skepticism initially. That's why I spent some much time verifying my initial results before posting anything about it. Ultimately, the biggest red flag for me was coming from the security software my IT department has recently installed on our systems. Without going into too much detail it allows you to run an exe in a mock VM of your current environment. The results from both of those runs were surprisingly different, even though they should have the same exact objective. The Dumpers, in both instances, went well beyond their realm of file expansion (understatement).
My IT friend said this morning there's always the possibility the file/process was corrupted after downloading it, one of the least likely scenarios but still a possibility....which just lead me to conjure up a million more questions for him. Needless to say, I won't be using that laptop again until after he takes a look at it.
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I worked for the IT dept at those companies i mentioned and the vast majority of these flags were indeed not malicious, but it was the very nature of the potential intent that these programs could be used for.
Sort of like a piece of wire being compared to a garotte, it's obviously just a piece of wire but the potential is still there and virus scanners normally have a field day.
Like I said, pop it in a zip file and the same scanners will do nothing, try some docx files, especially over email; McAfee had a meltdown lol. It's funny to me but irritating to the end user.
Also was helping a neighbour move over a tonne of soil and concrete today so I didn't have a chance to do any scanning, but judging by how my body feels now I think tomorrow I should be ok to certainly won't be moving much tomorrow, I'm broken.
What are they using to scan btw? Is this the virus sweep program they're running or the actual antivirus? Or on demand scanners?

dladz said:
I worked for the IT dept at those companies i mentioned and the vast majority of these flags were indeed not malicious, but it was the very nature of the potential intent that these programs could be used for.
Sort of like a piece of wire being compared to a garotte, it's obviously just a piece of wire but the potential is still there and virus scanners normally have a field day.
Like I said, pop it in a zip file and the same scanners will do nothing, try some docx files, especially over email; McAfee had a meltdown lol. It's funny to me but irritating to the end user.
Also was helping a neighbour move over a tonne of soil and concrete today so I didn't have a chance to do any scanning, but judging by how my body feels now I think tomorrow I should be ok to certainly won't be moving much tomorrow, I'm broken.
What are they using to scan btw? Is this the virus sweep program they're running or the actual antivirus? Or on demand scanners?
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We had been using McAfee since I started, in 2011....switched to Eset. It is either a slow roll-out or a trial....I'm not sure. Anyone that's received any type of major software upgrade or hardware upgrade has had the antivirus switched as well. The VM exe mock-up is my favorite thing though. That's separate from the antivirus software. It's just a tool we can download and use to test things we'd like to install that aren't in the software bank. This is where the alterations were picked up. Either file had different alterations. The one from Mega attempted to alter inbound/outbound rules for the firewall. I re-downloaded the one from github using my laptop running Kubuntu, transferred the file to my GDrive and ran the scan on it again. This time it came up clean. The Mega file continued to come up with malicious behavior. Needless to say I'm just not going to use my work computer again until my buddy looks at it Monday. I wasted way too much time messing with this. It was interesting at first but now I'm just annoyed....lol...because I wasted so much time.
Thank you for engaging me on this. I appreciate you taking time to look at it too.

djcrystals said:
We had been using McAfee since I started, in 2011....switched to Eset. It is either a slow roll-out or a trial....I'm not sure. Anyone that's received any type of major software upgrade or hardware upgrade has had the antivirus switched as well. The VM exe mock-up is my favorite thing though. That's separate from the antivirus software. It's just a tool we can download and use to test things we'd like to install that aren't in the software bank. This is where the alterations were picked up. Either file had different alterations. The one from Mega attempted to alter inbound/outbound rules for the firewall. I re-downloaded the one from github using my laptop running Kubuntu, transferred the file to my GDrive and ran the scan on it again. This time it came up clean. The Mega file continued to come up with malicious behavior. Needless to say I'm just not going to use my work computer again until my buddy looks at it Monday. I wasted way too much time messing with this. It was interesting at first but now I'm just annoyed....lol...because I wasted so much time.
Thank you for engaging me on this. I appreciate you taking time to look at it too.
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That's quite unusual for a company to allow that, it's great lol.
As with the mega file, how have you downloaded it? As a zip or a standard? Try to get the files as just the raw payload dumper exe and folders.
My browser blocks the downloading from mega sometimes when I choose standard download instead of zip

dladz said:
That's quite unusual for a company to allow that, it's great lol.
As with the mega file, how have you downloaded it? As a zip or a standard? Try to get the files as just the raw payload dumper exe and folders.
My browser blocks the downloading from mega sometimes when I choose standard download instead of zip
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Raw, no zip. Is there an antivirus that you're aware of that excels in weeding out false-positives? Doing a search on something like that is a waste of time. You get bombarded with suspect information.
My IT buddy looked at the a little more. Ha said the Github file was fine but be said the Mega folder I sent him attempted to trigger a crypto-miner malware install. He said the file had been altered from its original state. He hasn't responded with details yet. He just said it looks to have been recent and poorly done. I'll let you know if he says anything else.

djcrystals said:
Raw, no zip. Is there an antivirus that you're aware of that excels in weeding out false-positives? Doing a search on something like that is a waste of time. You get bombarded with suspect information.
My IT buddy looked at the a little more. Ha said the Github file was fine but be said the Mega folder I sent him attempted to trigger a crypto-miner malware install. He said the file had been altered from its original state. He hasn't responded with details yet. He just said it looks to have been recent and poorly done. I'll let you know if he says anything else.
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Trend micro has a virus identifier which has been pretty good.
Malwarebytes (on demand not AV) had always grabbed things.
But for false positives, they're not really false. The nature of the application if identified to be able to modify something else in a particular way should really be flagged, most the time they're harmless but I think I'd rather know that not know.
Once you think it's safe just mark it as such, you could rely on other peoples experience but I'd like to decide myself.
I've been away from that particular part of the job for a while but you can get scanners that work pre OS which are a lot more reliable but for singular files I used to use some software and I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it. I've got it on a stick somewhere, I'll have a look for it, but it's superb and hasn't let me down

I am using the 2nd payload dumper. But since it's not running as administrator I guess if anything It can only wreak havoc on the current user profile. And since I am using a strict firewall, it cannot connect to the internet either. In addition to that I usually use sandboxie on Windows to sandbox those applications.

dladz said:
Trend micro has a virus identifier which has been pretty good.
Malwarebytes (on demand not AV) had always grabbed things.
But for false positives, they're not really false. The nature of the application if identified to be able to modify something else in a particular way should really be flagged, most the time they're harmless but I think I'd rather know that not know.
Once you think it's safe just mark it as such, you could rely on other peoples experience but I'd like to decide myself.
I've been away from that particular part of the job for a while but you can get scanners that work pre OS which are a lot more reliable but for singular files I used to use some software and I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it. I've got it on a stick somewhere, I'll have a look for it, but it's superb and hasn't let me down
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I think that was the idea behind having access to the mock up exe VM environment. I guess the thinking behind giving us access to it is it allowed us to take it one step further. The antivirus gives you a result of what it could do....then we use that and this is what it will do....IT Security was my 3rd choice in life. I went for Meteorology...ended up working in the chemical industry and made my way from there....there was once a fork in the road once, where someone offered me an inroad to a life changing entry level IT Security job and I was in the midst of the interview process for DuPont. We had all the certificates worked out that id require to get in and everything. It was a tough choice. I made the right decision, I think.
Was that software you're talking about Farbar?

"I have a highly secure position at a chemical company"
I sincerely hope it's not in the IT department
All of these "positives" are generics, probably AI detecting the executable as malicious because by its nature it is designed to unpack intercepted firmware updates. This is exactly the kind of thing that sophisticated (eg supply chain attack/nation-state-backed) malware would do.
Plus the heuristics of the name "payload" and "dump[er]" very likely trigger more vigilant/deep inspection

brashmadcap said:
"I have a highly secure position at a chemical company"
I sincerely hope it's not in the IT department
All of these "positives" are generics, probably AI detecting the executable as malicious because by its nature it is designed to unpack intercepted firmware updates. This is exactly the kind of thing that sophisticated (eg supply chain attack/nation-state-backed) malware would do.
Plus the heuristics of the name "payload" and "dump[er]" very likely trigger more vigilant/deep inspection
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My position is not in the IT department. Don't troll me for bringing up a valid security concern for the community as a whole. If you had read through the thread you'd see what was researched at and what @dladz and I discussed. I had a verified reason for raising suspicion. Condescension is the weakest form of expression on XDA. Please don't disrespect me or anyone else. It makes this place miserable. It's why I hate posting here. Ridiculous.

Hey I can certainly respect you raising your concerns, its made me double check my stuff. That being said have you raised your concern with XDA or any other developer site? If so what was the reply? I would appreciate if you would let me know and again thanks for bringing this matter up!

BobbyHoggatt said:
Hey I can certainly respect you raising your concerns, its made me double check my stuff. That being said have you raised your concern with XDA or any other developer site? If so what was the reply? I would appreciate if you would let me know and again thanks for bringing this matter up!
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My computer is being looked at by IT. I'll be sure to update on any findings.

BobbyHoggatt said:
The only reason I like XDA is the open source policy. I'm pretty sure there's nothing malicious with the payload dumper if you downloaded it from this site.. anytime you have files that can manipulate operating systems would throw up red flags with your antivirus.. So I say relax my Friend!
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most of the time it is returning a false positive.