It's officially Leap day...wish spyware jerks would leap off the planet

Kephyr offers yet another manual removal of the Incredifind dungware. Windows Support Center has a section dedicated to fighting spyware called The Parasite Fight. SimplytheBest offers insight and help with malware.

I've spent time with Google and found many sights that pertain to spyware/adware. BTW, the Frogs on the Google title are cool (today is February 29th). There are many people that feel strongly about this invasion of privacy. Contact your members of Congress and raise holy hell. In the meantime download and install both Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware. There are links posted for both and even a button for Spybot. Just click and go make these two programs part of your defense. Be sure and update both immediately and use the immunize funtion in Spybot S & D. Also on the same page, check the three boxes at the bottom (be sure you are in advanced mode) that prevent malware from taking over your browser, etc. Just read the tutorial and everything will install fine. Ad-Aware? Use the default settings.

"In all large corporations, there is a pervasive fear that someone, somewhere is having fun with a computer on company time. Networks help alleviate that fear."
-John C. Dvorak

Incredifind and/or dungware removal

For those still having problems with Incredifind, please understand that the Pest Patrol link is manual removal only. There is no magic removal tool. Scroll to the very bottom of the page and follow the directions. It works.

Search Spyware-Guide.com

Or try using this search box to see if you can glean further information. I may post this as a permalink after some research. Please be very careful about spyware removal tools. Some so called removal tools are actually spyware! Please read today's post over at Southernphried about legislators getting involved in the death of spyware/adware. I really hate this bullsh--, don't you?

"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
-Albert Einstein

Spyware/adware sucks

Adaware, a great program that fights spyware/adware and is a free download, has been updating on almost a daily basis for several weeks now. If you don't update this program you will be flooded by nasties watching your every movement and reporting to slime so they can make your life miserable with popups, spam and God knows what else. Incorporate some type of prevention in your daily regimen of protection. Links are posted.

It's late. Going to crash now. Have great dreams.

"Remember, we're all in this together."
-Red Green

Google, MyDoom.F removal tools, laundry and King Cake

Wired has a really good post about things Google. This is a well written comprehensive look at the best search engine on the planet. It's nice that Yahoo is making strides in this area, but Google is the place to go for an intense search. Besides, I trust Google. Popups and spam seem to hover around Yahoo, yet they have made great strides with spam. If you are using their mail and still getting loads of spam, slow down. sign in and redo your settings.

MyDoom.F is running amok. One big difference between "F" and earlier versions - this one deletes files from your hard drive!!! Symantec has a removal tool as does Sophos. If you haven't updated your virus scan in the last 24 hours stop reading this and go do it now!! Then, run a scan!! Remember, this version deletes files from your hard drive. Heads up people; if you update your virus definitions and run a virus scan daily then the need for removal tools disappears.

Must finish this phase of laundry. Yes Rhonda, I separated the whites and used bleach (everyone needs a Laundry Witch). Verdana and Uncle Snake, the King Cake was awesome and I found the baby, LOL. For those good souls interested AVG, Adaware and Spy Sweeper posted new updates earlier today.

"Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months."
-Clifford Stoll

FAT TUESDAY ROCKS!

It's raining in New Orleans and at the beach house. It'll subside here later today, but looks like the 'Big Easy' will get even more rain. Can't wait to get the King Cake my daughter that lives in Louisiana had shipped yesterday. Everyone will have on beads today and that will be fun. Be neat to have Mardi Gras as a holiday. This time next year the SouthernPhried Krewe will be ready to par-tee down! LOL

Peace out and be casual today.

"It is hereby decreed that melancholy be put to route, and joy unconfined seize our subjects, young and old of all genders and degrees...that the spirit of make-believe descend upon the realm and banish from the land the dull and the humdrum and the commonplace of daily existence."
-public proclamation, Morgan L. Whitney, King of Carnival (Rex),1967

Liberal feeding frenzy...they're eating Clint Eastwood!!!

Screen Actors Guild Award show was last night. '57 channels and nothin on' kinda night so I left it on TNT. Lord of the Rings third entry, The Return of the King, won best ensemble in a motion picture which is their equivalent of best picture. Mr. Dude, Johnny Depp, beat out that worm of a human being, Sean Nancyboy Penn, for best actor. Charlize Theron won best actress. Renee Zellweger grabbed supporting actress and Mr. Susan Sarandon won best supporting actor; he's another worm. Idiot Alec Baldwin was onscreen at the beginning and I almost turned it off then. The major disappointment of the evening was seeing Clint sit at the table with Sean. Oh well, somebody has to be the pansy faction and the liberals elected themselves.

Got to run. Everyone have a magnificent Monday excluding Osama, the French and RIAA.

"I think we've all arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically."
Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) to Weatherby Swann, Pirates of the Caribbean

Eight days a week...is not enough to know I care

Ahhhhh, the taste of Odyssey coffee, the smell of bacon frying in the pan, the sun shining brightly, TechTV playing in the background and the day is still young. Duty calls so I will spend the better part of the day in the field trying to take stuff off my list. Maybe, just maybe, we need a new day in the week. I think it should be between Saturday and Sunday. Let's call it Casuday. Make it against the law for any business to open except the essentials and Wal-Mart; I've come to understand that Wally World is vital to some people and they'll die if the doors are closed (a shame). People that commit crimes on this day will be shot on site. People that bitch and whine on this day will be shot on site (me suggesting this? LMAO!).

This will be a good day for everyone to mow their yard, take out the trash, clean the garage, wash the car, wash the dog, bathe the cat, take down the Christmas lights, etc. On Casuday C-Spann will have to air Chuck Jones/Warner Bros./Bugs Bunny cartoons all day. This will, for the first time in history, make good use of said TV channel. While were at it, TechTV can not mention Apple computers all day. Make these things law. Husbands have to cook and bring coffee to the wives and the wives will smile constantly throughout Casuday (an equitable trade). The evil children that live at Wal-Mart will have to be polite and not run, scream, yell, terrorize. The parents of these evil children might even collect them and take them home! The parents that don't will be collected and shot on site. The grandparents of these spawns of Satan will be collected and shot on site. After a few weeks things will settle down and violence will be at an all time minimum. Yeh, that's it! That's the ticket!!

Okay, the pain medicine for my back is wearing off. I must go replenish so I can enjoy the day after Casuday. In the meantime everyone have a casual day.

"Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter which fork you use."
-Emily Post

It's not just an Elvis song

If you see this image in an email and are thinking about deleting it you are the victim of a hoax that seems to surface every few years. DON'T DELETE IT!!!! Microsoft Knowledge Base explains this in detail. For a friendlier explanation go to Snopes. This is a very good site that has been around for a while and just fun to check out on occasion. Be sure and put this page in your favorites; you'll probably need it again. Other names of the so called 'virus' are Bear virus, JDBG virus, JDBGMGR.EXE virus, yada yada yada. Please ignore this and go on about your business. Once again DON"T DELETE IT!!!! K, one more time DON"T DELETE IT!!!!

"Some things Man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google."
-Billy Wobblynife

Crawfishing concerning pomes and a new link!

I am human and make mistakes. Few days ago it was mentioned that apples just plain suck. This is wrong. The machines are actually okay machines, but please understand that they are slower and far more expensive than an up to date Pentium/AMD PC. The claim that they have the fastest computer is just a lot of barnyard material. It's very tiring to hear about these machines on TechTV when people that call in are even making comments on the air about the show time spent on a computer that is only 3% of the market.

Actually, I'd like to own one. This is strictly out of a desire to service the few local print shops, etc. that use them. I certainly don't want to get involved in the home Apple repair business. The reason most people avoid trying to deal with Apple at a service level is the cost of parts and the potential heart attacks that can occur when handing a client the bill. So, I will try to curb my distaste of Mr. Jobs and his pack of orcs. One question, why do Apple people email and cover their tracks? Just curious.

There is a new link posted -->My Adventures with Hypoglycemia. A very well written page with a super layout about a subject we need to know more about. Charles has done his research and presents us an attractive page that is full of information. The symptoms list for hypoglycemia is astounding. Be sure and check out the fun part of the site; This is True link and Which Classic Move Are You (Easy Rider here, LOL). This weblog is a good example of how it's done for those new to blogging.

Have to go smile while being abused this morning because a mechanical device has failed. Human nature never ceases to amaze me. . .

"A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ."
-John Steinbeck

May the port be with you

Love the fact that OSX is based on an open source technology. Virus writers don't fool with apple stuff because it's only 3% of ALL computer users operating systems. Windows is 90%. Linux, Unix, etc., is the rest. FreeBSD is the basis for OSX and is a great UNIX flavor with the exception of the apple twist. The source code for Windows may have been hacked and is out there, but 640+ megs? People, this is not revealing code. When the sissies start hacking Apple we are in deep doo doo.

Darth Jobs or Obi Wan Billy?

"Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable."
-Walt Disney

Mickey vs. Nemo? My money is on the mouse.

Browsing Slashdot, an article caught my interest; Darth Jobs & Disney (my title, not Slashdot's). It's from the Toronto Star and explains how the baddest worm in the apple is thumbing his nose at Disney. His association with Pixar is only enabling his desire to be a demigod. Apple nazis, please read the whole article and especially the last few lines. Hate to keep giving this guy press, but his hateful attitude may do him in again. I hope so.

Looks like the Comcast takeover of Disney is off. Did you know that Microsoft owns 7% of Comcast? Reuters has an indepth article. Funniest thing seen yet about this is the picture floating around the web where Mickey meets Clippy (the annoying paperclip in Microsoft Office).

The world of animation is creating waves. To think of all the joy placed in our lives by some of these films and then realize it has to be coupled with the shenanigans of hucksters is just not right. Go figure...

"No man is great if he thinks he is."
-Will Rogers

Is TechTV changing their format?

Did you know that TechTV has dedicated some of their shows to Home & Garden Television (HGTV)? At least it looks that way to me. Seems all Leo can talk about anymore is apples so I guess they are growing an orchard in the studio. Call for Help is all but useless except for worshipers of Steve Jobs. The Screensavers hour is about 30 minutes apple hoodoo. C'mon folks, this station's major stockholder is Paul Allen. Paul helped Bill Gates build the empire! Why are 90% of the computer users on the PLANET being force fed this apple drivel? Leo never misses a chance to take a swing at Microsoft. Yet, he's promoting a product that is made by a company that is run by a doofus that may be the antichrist!!!! Let's see, let's go on TV and offend the vast majority of computer users. Yeh that's it! That's the ticket. Yep, the abuse will endear them to us.

It's hard to believe that I drove to Birmingham just to meet Leo. All his books are on my shelves. Here's a person that is using a computer based on opensource technology (FreeBSD) that has been made proprietary (OSX) by Darth Jobs and his trolls. Not only that, the technology is old. It's old!!! AND SLOW!!!! Expensive is an understatement when talking about these rip offs that pose as computers. This may be the most overrated product in the history of mankind. Apples just plain suck. You apple nazis can take a flying leap too. Pseudo, plastic, pitiful pomes.

Hope TechTV gets a plate full of good old American competition. They might just cut that orchard down. Maybe save Leo from the dark side. Enough, must do something constructive and forget about this tripe.

"There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action."
-Goethe

Weather and Star Trek geekness

I sit beside a window that faces east when computing most of the time. Right now something rare is going on outside this window. It's snowing. Too warm to stick and accumulation in this area is rare. Be nice if we'd get snowed in a coupla' time a year. Snowed more often when I was a child. So peaceful and things slow down. Like, Robert Frost coming to the South staying for a few hours, stopping here...

Lord knows one doesn't need to venture out on the highways and biways when the weather is inclimate. Drivers are bad enough in this area when it's dry. Wish to God Mississippi would adopt a 'bear to right' law. Nothing more frustrating than to hit the left lane in a hurry and there's Grandma and Grandpa Moses out doing the tourist thing at 27 miles per hour. Many years ago I gave up speed; blood pressure and tickets weren't making it for me. Anyway, have to get out today because of work, but the snow will be gone and the looney tunes drivers will rip up and down the roads. Elmer Fudd comes to mind, "Beee vewy carefulll."

Star Trek Enterprise was very good last night. This is the third season and they have not been the best incarnation so far. I didn't watch Voyager until 7 of 9 showed up which makes me part of the general consensus. TNG is still the best since the original and DS9 wasn't shabby. Enterprise is picking up the tempo. Now they just need to visit some of those strange new worlds and have some 'off ship' adventures. Jolene Blalock is a definite hotty. She plays a Vulcan and that whole concept rocks me. Check you local listings.

Must drink more coffee and get ready to work for a few hours. I've seen the Cheat's gold tooth. Live long and prosper.

"Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Thou art not so unkind,
As man's ingratitude."
-William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Cartoons, Cats and a Vulcan

Both my daughters live with cats. You don't own cats. They hang out at your place trying to escape (once out they proceed to howl n whine until you let them back in) and you feed them. They don't bark when strangers are in the yard and only a few that I 've met wag their tails. I am not a cat hater just neutral. This comic strip is about a strange cat and the name spoke to me -> Schrodinger. Be sure and read through at least to the one where the cat starts talking. Some of this is really funny.

Chili Judge is one of the funniest things I've found on the web. I even have a link posted in the list to this little ditty. Bruce Cameron is a funny guy and his site is fun to read. He also has a great newsletter.

Something about the Duel makes me laugh. My youngest daughter sent this to me last summer and I still go to it every once in a while to have a laugh. It's sorta weird, but funny. Love the chickens.

On the tech side, Start Up Control Panel for Windows 2000 can be found at Mike Lin's Page. This is a great substitute for msconfig. This is a young man going to MIT so leave a tip if you like his stuff. Sharp dude. Hope this helps.

It's Saturday night, Valentine's day and I am waiting for Andromeda and Star Trek Enterprise. I like T'Pol almost as much as 7 of 9. Everyone have a great smoochy/candified evening.

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
-Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Protection, Beach House Style

When on the web I generally use the PC where I am now. It connects to an Intel Fast Express 10/100 switch that is behind a DLink D-704 router. AVG anti-virus is updated every day at 5:55pm and the scan begins at 6:00pm. Spybot Search and Destroy along with Adaware and Spysweeper round out my first line defense. After visiting Black Viper's site I am using his formula for manipulating services. Great job Viper!

Kmail on my Linux machine was the email client and it is being replaced as we speak. The client will be the same or some flavor closely related. I do use Outlook on occasion. Email on this machine is always downloaded thru Mailwasher. Mail is gleaned from several servers. Web mail is used as well. I rarely open attachments and sometimes even phone people about them. NEVER will I reply to a "you HAVE to return this" or forward something in chain letter fashion.

ZoneAlarm runs at all times. I really don't mind its occasional query about programs trying to 'hit' the net. To me, there's a sense of security about seeing this happen. I use a very old popup killer on this machine that is no longer supported. It's called Popup Killer, LOL. Hey, don't fix that which is not broken.

My mornings start with Slashdot, Arstechnica, Google News, Yahoo News, etc, and my daily check of the state of Windows over at the Update site. During weekdays it is very difficult to contact me from 6:00pm thru 7:00pm. My virus scan is set to run at 6:00pm because I am usually in front of the TV watching The Screensavers on TechTV. If they get off on an Apple tangent I may get up for a few minutes and do something worthwhile besides listening to that malarky. Sorry, old and expensive orchard technology bores me. Most of the time I stay for Tech Live which is news oriented.

Building a SmoothWall proxy server may start today. I have the machine and the program. Really excited about incorporating this into my network.

No great voodoo going on here. This combination protects 5 PCs and virus infections have been thwarted so far. I have been hacked twice (my own fault ) with no real damage. I do shut things down unless they are being used.

This machine? OS is W2K Pro, Asus CUV4X-D motherboard, 128meg Nvidia card (forget the model #), 1 gig of 5.4ns SDRAM, boot drive 9gig 10,000 spin SCSI, data drives dual 18gig 10,000 spin SCSI, dual 1gig PIII processors slightly overclocked, Audigy Platinum Sound Card, TDK CDRW, Pioneer DVDROM, ZIP 100, Antec case that has 9 fans total , 2 Jump Drives, etc. So this is not the latest greatest hardware, but it suits me fine for now. It keeps company with several other dual proccessor PCs one of which is a dual Xeon, with Raid 1 boot drives and a Raid 5 array of 6 drives in a Netserver cabinet. That's a story for another time.

Please remember, I scrape by making a living as a "puter tech." This network has come together over several years. There is a new PC in the planning stage that should be built in the next few months. Protection will be basically the same with the addition of the SmoothWall unit. Keeping installed applications and utilities up to date is the most important ingredient in this protection scheme. Pictures of some elements will be posted eventually.

Be sure and read Corinth Chris's latest post over at 'from the mind of a geek wannabe'; a link is posted. K, enough. Need some rack time.

"Who is Paige Fault and why is she screwing with my computer?"
-Billy Wobblynife

Incredifind Removal

Because of the traffic concerning this horror of horrors, I have added a link called Incredifind Removal. It is listed in the links down at the bottom and is in bold type. Clicking on it will take you to the manual removal brief posted by PestPatrol. Hope this helps.

Jammin' to the Hendrix/Mozart sound

Saving nickels and dimes sometimes pays off. Been putting aside a little here and there since this past November and made a purchase this past weekend. Had a get $10.00 off card at the OfficeMax and knew they had only one set of Logitech Z640 Speakers on the shelf. This was the only set in town and taking a chance they would remain shelved another week or two didn't seem feasible. An 8", yes eight inch, subwoofer, 5.1 technology, wall mountable, and the controls built into the center channel speaker for $79.95 SRP!! This is literally a lotta' bang for the buck. It's boogie woogie, rock n roll time at the beach house computer room! Unreal 2003 is a different game! Fraggin' in surround is awesome.

Visited with friends and fellow geeks Michelle and David the other night and heard another good set of speakers that are priced right. Creative Inspire 5.1 are nice speakers. Creative Labs, famous for their sound cards, has put together some speaker systems in various flavors. These were purchased at 'Wally World' for about the same money. They are attached to a PC that is being used as a media machine that will be intergrated into an awesome home theater system (THX no less!). Since the computer is in a different room David wanted good sound everywhere. Nice choice.

When it comes to PC speakers ole' Ashby Rhett Culpepper III has one of the ultimate combinations. Klipsch makes really awesome stuff. This is a really neat site and if you are even leaning towards being an audiophile spend some time here and look around. Transition is a bit slow, but the content is awesome. Look under Products/Multimedia/ProMedia to see their award winning speakers for computer systems. Granted, you won't find them at the local Wal-Mart for around 80 bucks, but these are the best I've ever heard. Ashby has an Alienware machine that sports an Audigy Platinum sound card and that doesn't hurt things either.

Always good to shop around. Having heard the Z640s before I had more or less made up my mind, but I did listen to a lot of different speaker sets. This was fun because of my love of things tech and music. Great addition to the 'booth of cyber'. It's nice to have everything connected to the home theater system too. Might suprise you at the inexpensive cost of doing that. More on that later.

[Added later: Ashby Rhett Culpepper III called and informed me that Sam's Club now sells Logitech speakers. I had just shopped them this past weekend. Bound for me to spend money and find the purchased item cheaper somewhere, LOL.]

It's early n I need another hour of ugly sleep. Have a casual day.

"An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger."
Dan Rather (1931 - )

Links? We got 'em!

Sorry about the misspelling of your name yesterday Robin of Nottingham, NH. Added the Saltillo weather link back to the list. It is second from the top. Thank you for helping me mend another error. When the page crashed due to slow upload speed the link list fubared. I will post the list of software/hardware you requested in a few days.

There are 5 new links posted at the bottom of the list.

1. KarenWare is a really neat site that has some handydandy utilities. Karen has many neat pieces of freeware and she maintains a very neat, easy to navigate site. Nice to see folks that upgrade frequently. She has a good newsletter too.

2. How Stuff Works is a fun and informative site, but get ready to be annoyed by popups. Glad my machines are trained to kill them silently. At least they are not dropping spyware on our PCs.

3. Dr. Speed is actually Aluria Software. When you click on this link it will test the speed of your internet connection. Just that easy. The results will be listed at the top of the graph. Nice utility.

4. Warp2Search.net is a kewl site that has many sections and deals with things computerese. They've been around a while and have been featured on TechTV's Call for Help. Chris Pirillo over at Lockergnome highly recommends this site.

5. Lockergnome was lost in the crash of '03. It's back and if you haven't visited in a while please take a look at this tech savvy page. It has changed format and is wayyyyy betta! Chris did a stint hosting Call for Help last year. He is a geek's geek. This dude is maxxed on the energy buzz and needs to stay away from Starbucks. His drive is reflected in a well produced page.

There's been lot of traffic concerning Incredifind. If you are still having problems please email me or leave your comment and I will gladly pass on any information I've acquired about removing this horrible piece of dung.

Gotta' run. Later dudettes n dudes.

"No one wants advice -- only corroboration."
-John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

Babel Fish is in da house

At the bottom of the link list you'll find several graphic links. At the very top is Babel Fish (thank you Alta Vista). You click on one of the flags in the box and it translates this page into the appropriate language. So glad to see people from other countries visit here. Thanks Sal for the recommendation. Being a huge fan of Douglas Adams my language interpretation device had to be named Babel Fish. FYI, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy will be a movie. The casting is taking place now.

In the very near future there will be an article on how to install and set up Spybot S&D. Screenshots of the various pages will be included in the explanation of the setup procedure. Many people have asked for such and I hope to present something that is easy to follow and will help everyone get their personal confuser protected from the minions of darkness that produce spyware/adware. If this is helpful and people respond more will follow. Just installling Spybot and running a check won't get it. There are a few other necessary steps.

Robyn, I am working on a brief history (2 years or so) of protection here. There's no elaborate voodoo going on and my protection is freeware with a combination of hardware. Hopefully, SmoothWall will soon be incorporated into my network. Bear wif me a few mo days, please.

K, no whining from me today. . .that's a good thing. Everyone have a productive Tuesday and update your virus definitions before running that scan today. You are scanning every day now, right?

"We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language."
-Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Canterville Ghost, 1882

Need dreams n input

Got an email from Robyn wanting to know exactly what is being used here to ward off virus attacks, hackers, spyware, etc. Working on listing the hardware, software and schedule. May have it posted before the end of the week. That is, if the whine factor drops outta' warp. Links are posted for most of the software used and I believe in freeware. Yes, I do send donations on occasion. Thanks for the email and it would do my whining heart good to hear from anyone that will share their own defensive tools.

Am waiting for the meds to work and drift off. The frustration of knowing my own stupidity has kept me all but comatose all weekend doesn't help. Those that have a good back (spinewise) can never really 'fully' enjoy it because the value of being able to lift an item never becomes important until you do it and break into spasms. The conquest of putting my personal life back in order on Saturday and Sunday was very abruptly halted in midstream. A box of around 30 lbs. or so got my attention. This, coupled with knowing my diet has been broken due to no willpower, really sucks. Also ashamed that I've let the beach house become so cluttered and untidy. Now, to work in a few hours and spend the day acting like nothing is wrong. Let me just finish by saying whine, whine whine whine.

Time to go, the meds are kickin' it. And I need my ugly sleep.

"Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded."
-Goethe

'Enjoy every sandwich' and no, I am not related to Joan Rivers

Notes on the Grammy Awards:

1. The White Stripes guitar player/singer and drummer are really good. His singing brings to mind a cross between Axel Rose and the lead singer of White Witch, Ron Goedert (very old glam rock group that probably no one remembers outside of Mike Murphy and myself). Are the bass player and keyboard people as talented? How about the horn section?

2. Man, Prince still rocks! And Beyonce has impressed me once again.

3. Will somebody please tell me what is living on top of Christina Aguilera's head? Her performance was really good, but that 'doo' needs a mercy killing.

4. The beach house harbors no real fans of Celine Dion, but even with technical difficulties she was a trooper and sang a tribute to Luther Vandross without monitor (those earpieces u see em all wearing). Tears were in my eyes.

5. Sting still rocks. His tribute to the Beatles with Dave and Vince? Awesome! Glad to see them play their instruments. He also sang Roxanne and it was tremendous!

6. You'd think that a major network like CBS could get the "audio" right for a program of this magnitude. NOT! Volume was constantly up and down, and forget the 5.1 dolby digital. Sad sad sad. Let Fox do it next year. BTW, Fox is the ONLY decent TV news channel.

7. Okay, it's official - I've turned into my father. Robert Randolph and the Family Band were awesome. They play and SING! Just don't get Outkast (sp?). They're rap right? Best acceptance speech for the night tho' (their first anyway) - and I quote, "thank you."

8. Warren Zevon and Bruce Springsteen won. There is some justice.

9. Sarah, you did a good job singing "Fallen", but please hire someone to dress you. Your ass can't be that wide.

10. The tribute to Mr. Zevon was awesome. I can name everyone that was on stage. Eclectic group. Warren would have liked that. Find "Tenderness on the Block" and listen to it. Your life will become better.

"Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence."
-Robert Fripp

If the phone doesn't ring, it's me

One of my friends from Mexico emailed laughing about the cold and rainy weather here. He's right. Wonder how hot it will be there in July or August? No doubt it'll be cooler here. So much for the weather report. {Note: Babel Fish will be installed next week for those visitors not using English}

I get so tired of writing about spyware. Please browse the archives and read the rants about spyware and how to protect your PC. Hey, all of you jerks that work for the Gator/Gain/ Claria/whatever your name is today, meet me at crossroads in Tupelo, MS., around 11:10am. Be sure and stand in the middle of the intersection. Oh yeh, don't pay any attention to that train whistle. Just don't have the energy to work up a scalding rant towards these cretins today. Almost every day I find a computer on some business network INFECTED with Precision Time, Date Manager, Weatherbug/scope, etc. C'mon people, wise up! It not only snoops your computer, it will migrate to every machine on your network! Spyware is Peeping Tom Technology that is invading your privacy at the speed o' light!

I am hiding today. It's time to let go of the world and take some time out. Many things need attention and have been ignored because of the workload. It's time to go make the bed, carry out the garbage, finish the PCs on my bench, make a spinach salad, lust over some high carb food like pizza or garlic bread, watch some TV, not answer the phone for a while, take a nap and read a book. Everyone stay safe and mi hermano, enjoy the pleasant weather - summer is coming, LOL

"All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain."
-Roy Batty: Blade Runner

Thursday early ramblings

Slashdot posted a link to this interesting MIT article, Ten Technologies that Refuse to Die. Did you know that there is a laser turntable that plays old vinyl records? Great Googly Moogly, that excites me, but not to the tune of $10,000.00! If you are into things tech this is a kewl post.

K, I despise emails that say, "send me out to 5 friends or you don't love Jesus." My personal salvation is in the hands of Christ and depends on His forgiveness/my actions NOT the opinion of another human being that needs to worry about their own saving graces. Chain letters also drive me up a wall. Need I even mention some Nigerian trying to get gold out of the country? Yet I am soliciting your participation in this petition, EFF: RIAA Petition. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is defending our digital rights. Go read about it and then sign it. Help send the RIAA nazis on their way. Deport them to Mars.

Mailwasher.net is an awesome site that I have mentioned several times. This super-duper utility helps rid one's PC of SPAM mail. Been in use here for a year or so and helps keep my mailbox free of this stuff. Go read about it, download it, READ THE TUTORIAL and ease your email. Don't whine if you screw something up. No sympathy, no quarter. It's never failed me and installed with great ease (READ THE TUTORIAL!). There's links posted.

Hope Thursday is a day of fulfilled expectations!

"Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live."
-Mark Twain

Adolphus Busch would not have been proud this past Sunday

Las Vegas Review Journal has an interesting editorial about the halftime fiasco during the Superbowl shindig. It reflects my sentiments. Not a long tirade not even a rant, this article sums up some of the existing problems with society today. We have turned our backs and the thugs and gangsta' rappers (can you really classify this as music?!?!) are taking over mainstream media. Sorry folks, this is not even close to cute, it's downright trashy. Quit making criminals and sociopaths heroes. Stop being vulgar. Don't endorse such foolishness. The vast majority doesn't appreciate this stupidity. Budweiser, pay attention. No more farting horses, that's just gross!

Up since 3:30am working on a computer that has had a new hard drive fail within two weeks of install. It's a Maxtor 80gig/7200rpm. I always recommend Maxtor when using IDE since IBM bailed from the hard drive arena. Alas, drives will fail. Nice thing about Maxtor is they usually die within the first 30 days or so or last for years. Anyway, I am sure the client will be disappointed, but such is life. ALL hard drives have the possibility of failing at any given moment. It amazes me that they can implement the technology period! I happen to have 15gigs to loan and the actual cracking of the case was more trouble than the hard drive install. I've quit crying now.

Got to go finish formatting. Everyone have a great Wednesday and leave comments telling me how you feel about the Superbowl halftime hoopla.

"I don't know all the certain words to word it."
- Vanilla Ice, on why he hired a ghostwriter for his autobiography

Media Monkeyshines

What a hoopla about the Janet/Justin halftime whoop-tee-doo! Can I get a 'stop it n get a life' for the media folks? Let's see Budweiser had a dating out of species (a monkey and a young woman) commercial, a graphic horse farting commercial and a dog bites a man in the crotch commercial. All this aired during Prime Time Superbowl-la on the CBS-TV network Sunday night. Wonder how many millions of children across the world saw these up close and personal commercials, yet the media wants to harp about a long shot that was hardly noticed? The dirty dancing was way worse, although my ex-wife trained me to accept this style of dancing and any movie that has Patrick Swayze in it. No one has even mentioned the bumping and grinding, just the long shot of a millisecond worth of bare breast. Believe me I was watching!

Wish the media robustos would quit trying to find fault with everyone and everything. Oh well, that's what you get when you put a bunch of bleeding heart liberals (probably demoncrats too) in the center ring of a 'circus'. They just don't comprehend the world. Hell, they don't comprehend period! K, am outta here. Going to see if I can find a Michelob to drink this evening and an elephant or a giraffe or a rhino or a water buffalo or a lioness to date...

"Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey."
-The Beatles

Incredifind - come get you some!!

There's been some email and activity about removing Incredifind. This is hideous malware that will actually change your DNS, etc., settings to prevent you from removing their parasitic tool bar and it also will misdirect your browsing. Boston University has a really neat resource group that helps students and faculty solve internet problems. This "fix" is a good way to start repairing your Incredifind problem: WINSOCK2 FIX. The site seems to have no objections to people outside the university visiting so I hope this will help some of those that are trying to overcome the rape of your PC by Incredifind/KeenValue. Pest Patrol also has some tips and ideas. This is a good site that is highly recommended by the TechTV bunch. Be sure and catch the ants crawling across the title bar. Seems like they should have Dave Mathews singing in the background. Anyway, hope this helps. I've had to format a PC because of this malicious junk and hope these links will help someone intervene and get rid of a very horrible piece of spyware/adware. Also, to all the jerks worshipping at the KeenValue/Incredifind altar of Satan, I challenge ANY of you perverts to a 10 round public boxing match and will contribute all proceeds to charity - just to get a chance to give you the ass beating you deserve!

"And so, may Evil beware and may Good dress warmly and eat lots of fresh vegetables."
-The Tick