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PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

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Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#91

Post by passivate »

sp0rk wrote: post #58
romwell wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are aware that not all applications listen to the Internet, or need to, right? My audio editor (GoldWave) is from 2000. It works fine. I can't even think about what "security consciousness" would be on a software that runs locally and doesn't have (or need) accounts. Text editors fall into the same category.

If you load outside data into the program, it has the potential to be exploited. There is no shortage of exploits for editors, media players, etc. that only require the victim to open a specially crafted file.

Well, if you're facing a targeted attack like that, there is little you can do anyway. They will survey the hardware/software you use and find/purchase a vulnerability to exploit. Its always wise to treat any software (new or old) with caution.

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#92

Post by type0 »

shp0ngle wrote: post #33

One of the good things about Windows is the backwards compat. I know this particular code has been updated in 2021, sure, but in general, you can take binary from early 2000s and it will run on Windows 10 most likely. (OK, games and rich "multimedia CD-ROMs" from that era have problems, but it holds in general.) In linux, it kinda holds, because everything is open-source anyway, but binaries in general are not compat…

And Wine is better than Windows 10 for the use cases you are describing.

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#94

Post by romwell »

sp0rk wrote: post #85
tomc1985 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think exploit crafters are waiting around for you to load their random JPG into an old version of Paint Shop Pro? It's not like these exploits are one-size-fits-all

Waiting for victims to run your malware is not an active process. It requires no resources on the attacker's part beyond maintaining a server. Maybe it will connect to a server that has been dead for five years or maybe it's pointing towards a domain name that the attacker still maintains. Maybe instead of a trojan, it's a cryptolocker or old school destructive malware. I don't know why anybody would want to gamble w…

>Waiting for victims to run your malware is not an active process.

Except that's not what we are talking about. The old piece of software here is known to not be malware.

>I don't know why anybody would want to gamble with something like this.

Everything you do in life is a gamble. Everything is a risk.

And the risk of opening an external file in a common format that just happens to have a carefully crafted exploit for extremely uncommon, outdated software that you happen to use to open it is so, so, low, that the risk of the computer exploding in your face on power-up becomes significant compared to that.

Yet people aren't deterred from booting up their machines just because there was this laptop one time that did explode.

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#95

Post by livre »

shp0ngle wrote: post #33

One of the good things about Windows is the backwards compat. I know this particular code has been updated in 2021, sure, but in general, you can take binary from early 2000s and it will run on Windows 10 most likely. (OK, games and rich "multimedia CD-ROMs" from that era have problems, but it holds in general.) In linux, it kinda holds, because everything is open-source anyway, but binaries in general are not compat…

> Windows 10 still has 32-bit version, and it can still run MS-DOS code apparently. (Although 64-bit Windows apparently cannot.)

This is because Windows uses VM86, hardware virtualization that is only available in 32 bit (legacy) mode.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_8086_mode

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#97

Post by jhgb »

dw-im-here wrote: post #65
Pelic4n wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me tell you about my knives: -A swiss army knife that I always carry, for small fixes, opening packages & bottles (the scissors are amazing). -A small foldable knife for slightly heavier duty or eating on the go. -A bigger foldable knife for outdoors, camping, ang general purpose work. -A rescue knife I keep in an emergency kit, with cord cutter and glass breaker. -A huge chef knife for general cooking. -A small…

Do you use a different computer for each editing task too?

The VM/CMS approach to computing?

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#98

Post by devmor »

kreeben wrote: post #36
nerdponx wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sublime is still the most performant text editor I use. Its plugin ecosystem is not particularly healthy, but LSP helps bridge the gap with more advanced code editing tools. I mostly use it for quick edits, configuration files, etc. Sometimes I just want a break from Neovim I guess. I don't regret buying Sublime at all, but I do feel like some potential was wasted there.

For me, ST is still the only editor in the world that works with really, really large files.

Same here, it's my go-to editor for anything over a few MB in size, frankly.

Re: PSPad: A freeware programmer's editor for Windows

#99

Post by teh_klev »

open-source-ux wrote: post #87
teh_klev wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm using Paint Shop Pro 7 Same here, and TextPad from the same era still works (I occasionally try the version in my download archive saved back around 2001).

TextPad is still being updated and available for sale (the latest release was on 11 April 2021). It's even older than PSPad. Wikipedia says it was first released in 1992, that's almost 30 years ago. ( https://www.textpad.com/products/textpad/features ) I'm impressed by the longevity of both PSPad and TextPad and it's refreshing to encounter fast, native, nimble desktop programs.

I usually keep up with TextPad's updates, and also bought and paid for it and their other tool called WildEdit which is pretty neat. Also TextPad's ability to handle monster files was and still is quite impressive.
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