Of Gubenator Possums and Hitchhikers

Thanks to everyone for the nice email and comments about Arnold, who made an appearance in yesterday's post , Saltillo Flora and Fauna. There will be occasional reports and possibly some pixs, just understand that Arnold tries to run in stealth mode most of the time. He's a trip.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans - it's all over the web how Amazon.com has an exclusive trailer just out. Well, they want you to jump through hoops to see it and that just isn't nice web policy. So, if you want to see it without having to fill out registration forms, login, then do a painful search you can go to Waxy.org. It's a Quicktime clip. Dude was complaining about bandwidth problems so if I hear anything negative from the site, I'll kill the link. But try it out, you get to see Dent, Ford, Zaphod and more. Movie starts April 29th. I love these books!

Y'all try to have a better than expected day (thanks Ed Coffin for a great variation of a tired phrase).

"If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands."
-Dirk Gently

Saltillo Flora and Fauna

The weather has been pleasantly mild the past few days. My psychotic hawthorne bush is blooming. There's a huge wisteria in my front yard that has embraced a very old oak tree. Wisteria is a climbing vine that has purple-ish blooms in the spring. This one is so big my front yard looks lavender for a few days as it starts shedding.

Occasionally, a possum visits, stays a few nights, does his possum things and then disappears for a while. There's a large "woods" just to the north of me that is probably home or at least his point of origin. Seems he's plotting some type of possum takeover. He is of the genus opossumus germanicus austriabodicus. His name is Arnold.

The first time Arnold showed up, he kicked the neighbor's dog's ass, another neighbor's dog disappeared, the feral cats that prowled the ground amongst the trees became arboreal, and a herd of possums was seen trying to turn over a small car just two streets over. Arnold always flexes his muscles when cars pass by and it looks like he has a tattoo on one arm that says 'Mom'.

A friend ran into the house one evening saying she had just seen a gray pony climbing a tree in the front yard. Astonishment shone on her face. Somehow my telling her it was "just Arnold" didn't inspire any relief. Later that evening when she left I looked out the window and noticed her running to the car. She's finally answering the phone.

The other night I caught Arnold sitting in a chair on the veranda beside the grill with a pair of tongs in his lap. At first I wasn't going to bother him, but the snoring was terrible. In my best George Thorogood fashion, out the door I went. My appearance startled him and as he ran to the wisteria vine to climb the tree I think I heard him say, "ahii'll be back."

I'm worried. How did he start that fire? What was he planning to cook?

"Look alive. Here comes a buzzard."
-Pogo (aka Walt Kelly)

English??? We don't need no stinkin' English!

WARNING! WARNING! Hewlett-Packard tech support now speeky de pidgin angleesh. Yes, my favorite manufacturer of linear architecture PCs has followed the avenue travelled by most money grubbing jerks in big biz. Horror stories of customers are piling in about how they are being mistreated and basically irritated into hanging up the phone because they cannot speak Hindi. Well folks, Michael Dell and company had us doing this years ago. How does one overcome this issue? Pay extra and get your local labrat geek type to build a decent machine from scratch. Or quit bitching and accept what we have passively invited into our country. Big biz is trashing our ability to receive good service and we are the cause.

Printers become tarfu and people are online with HP for hours while their stooges in India read from scripts telling you how to resolve problems about a machine they probably have never seen much less used. A person that recently bought a Hewlett-Packard desktop had an issue with the modem not working if the unit's phone line is plugged into a battery backup. Lightning can definitely find a phone wire and tear up yo' stuff. The reason this customer is replacing his desktop is because of a lightning strike! And the no speeky angleesh people are basically trying to irritate him into hanging up after many phone calls and hours of wasted time talking to puppets that know nothing. He's mad as hell and not gonna' take it anymore. I've a feeling someone's ass at HP in the good old US will be sore when he finishes this quest to, at least, voice his outrage to someone that understands the English language. More power to you.

Next time you make a purchase find out if the service department is based in the USA. Ask if the techs are qualified and can speak intelligible English. Better yet, call the service department. Get first hand proof they are courteous and helpful. Quit supporting out of country service departments that are NOT prepared to handle their massive English speaking customer base. Get downright pissed. Enough is enough. What's your opinion?

"The first step towards wisdom is calling things by their right names."
-Ancient Chinese Proverb

Nanobots needed

Okay, I am serious. This time I mean it. No kidding around. This is cyber gospel. No, my mind won't change. When the present laptop on my bench goes out the door, my days of struggling with these devices are over. Also, when mine quits, it'll be discarded and replaced. The people that build laptops should do the service work. What amazes me is how they can get all those parts in such a small space and the device continues to work. Wow! Small, intricate devices are pushing me toward friedpie-itis. Enough! Now I need a refreshing beverage...or a room at an 'oldgeeks' home.

Saved beach house templates are being investigated to correct the ongoing "elephantitis text" problem. Construction signs are out and wear your hardhat if you visit the archives.

"When all else fails, there's always delusion."
-Conan O'Brien

Today stop and smell the flowers

After writing Blogger to inquire as to whether or not they might have an answer to the problem with text enlarging as you scroll down the page they immediately replied and said they had my question under consideration. Fighting this problem for almost two days has made my frustration evident. Having made several requests over the past years and receiving the standard answer of "not part of our realm", my haste in being critical in the last post is not fair. Hey, they provide this platform and I am grateful. Sorry about being snippy Blogger.

Steve Jobs is an idiot. Now he is spouting that all Windows users want the Mac OS X operating system on their PCs. You blithering buffoon, we have had that capability for years - it's called FreeBSD. Apple takes an open source operating system, makes it proprietary and acts like they've written the 'macdaddy' (pun intended) of all code and the less than 3% market share buyers believe this garbage. Hell, since they based it on FreeBSD it should be free! Read about it at ArsTechnica.

Considering buying an orchard product? Take a look at the article over at WiredNews. Seems that the Hollywood halfwits like Apples. This is NOT an endorsement group that I would want promoting my products. Apparently Melanie Griffith showed her butt in an Apple store demanding some weird iPod thangy. Levar Burton acted like a horse's ass as well. Shame on you Geordi. Egos abound!

Everyone have a wonderful Valentine's Day. Smell the flowers and enjoy the chocolate.

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."
-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The words grow larger!

Sorry about not posting this weekend, but there is a problem with the text growing larger and the comments went crazy on Friday. As you scroll down the size of the text just grows larger. Thanks to everyone that has brought this to my attention and I have been working on it since early Friday morning when it first appeared. After a Google search it has been found several people are having this problem and no one seems to have a solution. I wrote to Blogger and hope that they don't send their standard form letter saying it's not their problem. Yes, I was working on the page when this happened, yes I did make changes, yes I've scoured the web and Blogger help files, yes I've prayed for patience, yes I know this problem is very likely my fault, etc.

"We thank God for this award."
Los Lonely Boys, 2005 Grammy Awards

My name is Bill and I want you to have this copy of Mandrake

Microsoft started offering their "own" version of spyware blocker just a few weeks ago and now there is a Trojan horse called Bankash-A that is suppressing warnings, stealing online banking files, ripping passwords and deleting parts of the program. Yes, what Microsoft really needs to do is start hassling everyone about authentication and NOT let the security fixes flow freely. Yep, that'll really help matters. Hmmmm, a company that can't even write secure applications wants to verify authenticity? Right! Like they will stop the piracy by abusing innocent people and making a general mess of a situation that is almost out of control?

What gives at the house Mr. Gates built? How long have I preached that spyware is our greatest problem? How many times has it been mentioned these malware people should be hurled into volcanoes? Billy boy, you are the best promoter of FreeBSD and Linux on the planet. It is disheartening to see a company that has done so much for the computing industry fall by the wayside. Start at the beginning and work from inside. Deal with the current problem and accept the fact that XP will never be truly secure. Don't make the same mistakes with Longhorn (new Windows flavor due out in late 2006). Write secure code and quit abusing your public by withholding security fixes and encouraging the spread of malware. Is greed so important that you will jeopardize your position as leader in the world's foremost industry? Or do you just have your control-phreaky uniform on? Read about it over at CNET News.com.

What is your opinion? Inquiring minds want to know. Send an email or use the comments.
(Edit: Yes, I know the comments are tarfu - working on it
2nd Edit: Comments are back working, sorta', mebbe', halfway...)

"Don't like Gates? What if the industry had followed Jobs instead? People would be using $5000.00 plus machines with two year old technology and have to buy all peripherals at an exorbitant price from one company - Apple."
-Ashby Rhett Culpepper III, Esq.

Smooching? No tongue, please...

It is generally known that computer techs are just not a friendly or happy bunch. Most have the personality of a rock or, at best, a tree stump. Thank the Good Lord my friends that are geeksters and nerdlings are exceptions to this dictum. It amazes me that people will put up with the growling, gnashing of teeth and foaming at the mouth that happens as some techs enter the front door spouting forth their superior knowledge about things computerese. Poor sociopaths, such a sad lot.

In defense of all technotypes let it be said that most folks do not understand how much continuing research and study goes on in the life of someone doing computer support. 100% of all technicians that I know are forever seeking knowledge. Stop for a moment and ask yourself these questions, "Do I know how to convert a FAT32 system to NTFS?" or, "How do I work around an ipconfig in DHCP that won't release and renew the current address?" Now the most important thing about these answers is that if geekmeisters don't know the answers immediately, they certainly know where to find 'em. Some growl, some wail and moan, some flop in floor and scream 'God,why me!?!?' and other such babble; then some of us smile and realize that somewhere there is a solution. When you get right down to it, high drama is just not necessary in the theater of tech support.

The next time YOU screw up YOUR PC and YOU call a tech for support please help them keep smiling. Be nice. Remember, we didn't just pass by and ask to come in and work on yo' stuff.

"Work thou not on energized equipment, for if thou dost, thy fellow workers will surely buy beers for thy widow and console her in other ways."
-7th commandment for Technicians

Mapping, processing and updating

Have you seen GoogleMaps? Be sure and use the navigation tools in the upper left hand corner of the screen. I've looked around north Mississippi and found that this neat utility really zeroes in on locations. Nice tool that is very easy to use. How is it that Google is so consistent in taking an existing format and vastly improving it? R&D? Good staff? Leadership? Pleasant work environment?

IBM, Sony and Toshiba have combined efforts and developed a new chip technology code name 'Cell'. Some are wondering if this will be the one that really rocks the Intel (or Wintel, LOL) boat. These three companies are an awesome trio. It'll be interesting to watch. Motorola and the orchard bunch sure didn't storm the Intel waters with the PowerPC a few years ago as some speculated. Maybe this trio will actually produce a product worthy of the challenge. Read about it at Wired.

Windows Critical Updates? Just downloaded 7 new ones for Windows 2000. Might be time to check your machine. If you get the message about Microsoft wanting to verify your PC for authenticity be sure and tell them to download the "fixes" without verifying anything. Sorry, even though my Windows OS is legal I just don't like the Big Brother attitude they have developed. They are jeopardizing everyone's security. Write better authenticity code and quit putting Netizens in harm's way. More on the patches over at BBC News.

"Technology is like fish. The longer it stays on the shelf, the less desirable it becomes."
- Andrew Heller, IBM

Satan's minions

Please read this article if you use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer -> NewsForge. I think it is time we gather all the cretins writing and implementing spyware then throw them into a pit that contains 10,000 rabid skunks. Yes, Satan exists. Spyware is proof there is evil in the world.

"All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil."
-Percy Bysshe Shelley

New player in da house

After reviewing several alternatives, my choice in Media Player has changed. Due to using a dual processor PC with 1 gig of very fast RAM for almost three years my complacency with Windows Media Player had closed other doors. After some torture at the beach house by a PC with much less memory my preference is changing. Thanks goes out to Beagle, Mudslingr, and West End Deli Dude for opening my eyes to Musicmatch Jukebox. This is the download location of "free" version 9 which is tailored for Windows 2000/98 users and there is a 'click here' for version 10 which is the XP flavor.

Windows Media Player is an absolute hog. The computer that is presently on the bench has had a horrible amount of CPU usage while using Windows Media Player and the client was complaining about not being able to multitask. This provoked some web research and Musicmatch Basic has been utilized. This is a much more efficient player yet the constant nagging to upgrade will worry the piss out of a bullfrog. Default settings immediately let it take over many different file types which turned out okay, but the system tray icon had to go. After going into settings and turning it off it was decided to leave the desktop icon for a launching point.

The interface is about as straightforward as it gets. You can do wonderful vudu with this application like creating playlists on the fly, recording to CD, offloading to a portable player, etc. It does has the capability to gather info from the internet about music on your computer. There are skins available that will let one customize the look. Tag and track editing are easily done as is organization of tunes. MusicMatch is by no means a new application, but it seems I've been remiss in taking a 'hard' look at a very decent alternative to Windows Media Player.

All in all, this is a nice player. If the nagging persists a way will be found to stop it. Might even give in and try the upgrade for pay version; just don't like software that utilizes popups to try and coerce. If you are looking for a media device that uses very little resources this is an alternative that should be considered. The ability to build playlists on the fly is also very neat. Sorry it has taken so long to get around to looking at this software, but better late than never...

"Music is spiritual. The music business is not."
-Van Morrison

Lower than a snake's belly

It has been mentioned here that spyware poses a greater threat to computing than virus infections. Please read Rick Broida's article at ZDNet. The Watchguard chart is very interesting. Something has to be done about these thugs.

In a related story, InformationWeek informs us about how some crooks are using spyware to exploit the recent Microsoft announcement they will ask for software verification to prevent piracy. There was a warning here three days ago about this problem! If you get anything from the "Windows XP Activation Team" please disregard it. This is an attempt by phishers to glean valuable information from you.

Here's a post from DVHardware. It's short, poignant and scary as hell. If you work for any of these creepy, slimeball spyware companies then you are sick. Get help. Start by quitting your job.

"I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed."
-Jonathan Swift

Attention, users of Windows...

Please click on Why, oh why, does Windows suck?. This was written by Caesar Fisher over at ArsTechnica and should be read by all that use Microsoft operating systems. Damn good stuff!

For the past 2 months a calendar has been sought for use in an office environment that will keep workstations informed of the schedule and prevent overlapping appointments. It will require an Apache module. Leave it up to the Mozilla people to create such a handy tool. Check it out; it's called Sunbird. Let me know what you think.

"They have computers, and they may have other weapons of mass destruction."
-Janet Reno

Worms and a part of the orchard

Yesterday it was mentioned that Microsmooze's attempt to stop piracy by denying security fixes to those rogues of the cybersea is a scary idea. Here are two new reasons why such action may prove foolhardy -> Microsoft hit by double whammy and Worm uses funny face to distract from danger. Find the evil cretins writing this stuff and throw them in a live volcano. After a few trips to the lava the rest of these jerks might see the big picture. Thank you CNET for being on top of these matters.

All you iPod users find a nice place to sit. You may want to find a commode or trash can because what I am about to tell you will probably make you sick. Napster to Go now exists. This means for 15 bucks a month you can download any, or even all the 1 million tunes available. Poor old Darth Jobs. Read about it over at Wired.

Today is an awesome day to read the tutorial included in Spybot Search & Destroy. And immunize, my brothers and sisters, immunize.

"He who does not punish evil commands it to be done."
-Leonardo da Vinci

Yesterday's quote applies to today's post

Eventually, every Windows computer at the beach house will dual boot with FreeBSD or Linux. Why? Microsoft has become suicidal. Their latest push to earn more profit involves cracking down on the pirated copies of their operating system thinking that people will rush out and buy legitimate copies of XP. They are going to do this by not granting the pirates the right to download security patches. Has Gates been talking to Jobs? Read about it at CNET News.

Everyday I see machines that are infested with spyware, adware, virus infections, trojans, popups, popunders, spam, etc. Because of greed, the house that Bill built in Redmond will intensify these maladies by making them even more active. This is not good policy and it will not be seen as such by those using legal copies. Are they looking for something to occupy their time until Longhorn arrives in late 2006? If that is the case - FIGHT SPYWARE!!!!

Piracy is not condoned, but there has to be a better way to overcome this problem. Putting Netizens in jeopardy is NOT an answer. How many times have I warned people about the BSA and the need to make sure your operating system is properly licensed?

It may be time for everyone to consider hugging a penguin or an imp.

"The typical Internet user receives an average of 17,000 email messages per year. Of this total, an average of one message actually contains useful information (it says: 'Disregard previous email'). The rest are porno ads, investment opportunities for morons ('Make Big Money Petting Kittens At Home!'), and jokes that were originally set in movable type by Johann Gutenberg."
-Dave Barry

A man has to know his limitations

Heard anything about crossbar latch? This is the technology that HP predicts will replace the transistor. Read about it at TechWhack. This will be revolutionary, in 6 to 10 years. Nanotechnology, here we come!

The computer arena and its users never cease to amaze me. Why is it that someone brings a computer to a tech with a problem they can no way in hell solve and then think that when they get home the machine should leap out of the box, wash the dishes, vacuum the floor, pet the dog and then stroll over to the resident desk and automatically connect to the internet? Then they are mad at the tech because he didn't deliver what they expected???

You know, if I was Emporer of the Known Universe it would be made law that everyone that has to have their computer worked on would automatically receive a free Jeep Wrangler. Alas, that position is not mine. So no free Jeeps here: Nor dog petting, nor jump out of the box and smooch the internet automatically. Good Lord knows that if a PC has been on my bench it has been thoroughly tested and will do internet. Humans are truly astonishing.


Y'all have a nice day out there...

"There is more stupidity around than hydrogen, and it has a longer shelf life."
-Frank Zappa

Top guys out of the country

Looks like AVG is more or less returning to normal. Several people called and said that their virus definitions were updating. Get ready folks, it'll bog down again a few days before the 15th when they actually do drop support on version 6. Please remember, this is a free antivirus program and one of the very best if not the best. Calm down, take your bitch hat off and be glad that Grisoft and company exist.

Gates is in Belgium smoozing the Belgianese, Flemish, Wallonians or whatever (very confusing country) and launching the new Search thangy which is basically a way for people to stay employed at Microsoft since Google left them in the starting blocks years ago. Jobs went to Hell and reported into Satan and they decided to drop the price of Powerbooks - slow walkin' slow talkin' son uv a guns. Yet, it must be admitted that the mini-mac for 5 bills is an attractive way to learn the Apple OS if you want to service their products.

Beware, Kevin Rose on The Screensavers reports that you should immediately upgrade the RAM in a mini-mac and that they use laptop hard drives because of the form factor. That means these traditionally slow machines are even slower. Not a good choice for a first time computer buyer that's for sure. Get an HP or Compaq; you can buy a complete system for the same price and they are good units. Even includes the monitor, keyboard and mouse - which has 3 buttons!

If nothing else update your Spybot S & D today. They posted several on the 28th of last month. Not running Spybot Search and Destroy? Why are you even here? Go to MajorGeeks, look under the spyware heading and download this program now! Peace out.

"A mind is not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."
Milton, Paradise Lost

Hamboni speaks

Greetings and salutations to all you terrestrial bound mortals. The magnificent and handsome Hamboni has once again wandered from the ancient bigfoot SCSI hard drive used as a door stop at the Saltillo Beach House. During my recent period of enlightenment many wonderful earthbound things have been discovered and my glimpse into the future shall be revealed - right now - they are listed below, you smellers of camels' fumes - yes below - arrgghhh! mortals!

1. In the very near future Apple computer will gain a 3.1426% market share with the introduction of the new mini-mac. When users discover that the necessary memory upgrade will use regular PC memory and not just the orchard variety, sales will skyrocket and Steviepoo Jobs will hang himself in an avacado orchard just outside San Diego. The flies will be turned off. Buzzards will commit suicide.

2. Hillary Clinton, aka Hildabeast, will be found in a compromising position at a Holiday Express just outside Buffalo, New York. It will be discovered she is one of those sickos that dyes her pet Yorkshire Terriers different shades of Taupe and Mauve. Wi-fi broadcast of pixs over the Yahoo Messenger will be her downfall.

3. Mofat Nugent will create a new dirty bomb, literally. It will consist of a low impact explosive and massive smells of skunk musk mixed with camel dung. He has begun testing in certain regions. Some areas of Memphis, Tn., you just don't want to visit right now.

4. Nobel prize winners will reveal that Taupe and Mauve are real colors and not just some hoax created by a collaboration of dog hair dyers and interior decorators. They still won't release vital info on the particular part of the color spectrum where these two mysteries reside.

5. Elvis impersonator soldier of fortune paratroopers (please mortal ones, don't repeat this phrase too quickly) will raid the state of Massachusetts under the cover of bright sunlight and kick Ted Kennedy's fat ass off a bridge then educate the masses of the state that they are under the influence of drugs that Kennedy and his people have been introducing into the water supply for years. What else would make them vote for his lardbutt? The Hildabeast will protest.

6. After much research it will be discovered that since the Celeron CPU was introduced several years ago, all sanctioned races between vegetables have been won by celery.

7. The Hildabeast will announce her intentions to run for President. Her campaign slogan will be, "Get R Done!" Her theme song will be Fleetwood Mac's, "Never Break the Chain."

8. Larry the Cable Guy will be made a national hero for Hildabeast hunting!

May the bird of opportunity nest in your bouffant hairdo. This is Hamboni saying Peace Out!

"Please forgive us Slashdot, Neal Boortz, Larry the Cable Guy and vegetables everywhere."
-Dock

Patience is a virtue, an elusive virtue

Please, let us all gain clarity about an issue that has plagued some of us for the past several days. NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, at the beach house wrote or is responsible for AVG Antivirus. It is highly respected and utilized here, but please quit assuming it is somehow my responsibility because the people at AVG are flooded with last minute upgraders and therefore, the virus definitions are hard to download. It amazes me that when the beach house recommends a free utility of this magnificence that everyone assumes we are responsible, getting paid money (NOT!), are the whipping boy, etc. Stop your bitching and be grateful that Grisoft makes this super program available for free. After everyone gets through upgrading things will go back to normal.

This morning I arose early to try and download the virus definitions for about the 30th or 40th time. Finally, I uninstalled the beta test software version of AVG 7 and downloaded the newest AVG 7 Free Edition. It still hesitated and tried not to update the definitions. Finally they were downloaded. Now don't rush out and start uninstalling and reinstalling. This is mentioned because everyone should understand that we have to be patient and not do anything drastic. Some folks are not experiencing problems and good for them. The rest of us must be calm and give thanks that we've been able to use this great protection utility for years and at no cost! Sheesh! Things will be fine.

"If you don't like something change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."
-Maya Angelou

More on AVG virus definitions updates

The beach house laptop downloaded the AVG virus definition update last night around 11:00PM. Tried again on the desktop this morning and it's still timing out. As mentioned yesterday there is a mad rush for everyone to download version 7 thinking that version 6 expires February 1, 2005.

The expiration date is now February 15, 2005. Also, you will have to purchase AVG Server to protect any type of server. Unlike version 6 the newest variety wll only protect client type PCs. Also, AVG now has a version for Linux.

It's raining, there's a chill in the air and miles to go before sleep. Going to Tishomingo County for the day. Looking forward to a nice easy trip. Tomorrow will be spent working in the field. Tonight several machines shall be finished. Life's good!

"Have a better than expected day!"
-Ed Coffin

Can you name that trojan in 5 letters?

Tuesday of next week all support for AVG antivirus version 6 will stop. Version 7 is easy to install. This jewel of an application can be found at Grisoft, MajorGeeks, techspot, and several other sites. Update to this new version and enjoy an easier, cleaner interface that blows Norton's and the rest out of the water. Hey, it's FREE for personal use! (EDIT: AVG 6 support has been extended until February 15,2005.)

The virus definitions update is another thing entirely. Grisoft is being bombarded presently and the ability to get your daily dose of definition updates is tough. Just keep trying. Also, download late at night when traffic is not as heavy. After the mad rush is over this should clear up.

Smokin Joe got in touch and said he thinks he received a virus infection from an AVG update download. In the words of Homey the Clown, "I don't think so." There is a trojan infection that emulates the AVG virus prompt and the name is evading my feeble mind. Might be something like 'Nimda'(yes, this is a name of a virus infection). Probably need to mention that AVG is an antivirus program NOT a trojan scanner. Best I can remember Hijackthis was used to help remove this infection.

Merijn.org is a great site and has Hijackthis for downloading. If you are a newbie, don't bother downloading this tool. It is very powerful and through misuse can stop a computer dead in its tracks. Anyway, any input about the name of this trojan will be helpful. Best I can remember it was poorly written code and more nuisance than harm.

Have a casual day and remember to update and run your spyware protection software. Peace out!

"Worst computer virus ever experienced? - Misinformation."
-Billy Wobblynife

Join a club? Homey don't play that game

Why is everyone so concerned about Microsoft "stepping up" their anti-piracy voodoo concerning XP? Like, you think this is something new? You really have been able to download updates for your illegal copy of XP? Let's talk for a bit.

Windows 2000 is preferred here and XP is on my laptop which also dual boots Linux SuSE 9.1. Linux is what you will find me using on this portable PC most of the time. FreeBSD runs on an old Pentium 200mmx PC that is on this network. I run a dual Xeon server RAID 1 with a Netserver cabinet that is configured RAID 5. Also, there is a Windows 98SE machine on my network and there are two copies of 98SE in the original shrink wrap here for sale if anyone is interested. Soon, another Linux machine will be online, probably Mandrake. So what about piracy? I don't condone or condemn. If you are doing this then you are violating the law. If you don't have a licensed copy of Windows on your Windows machine then you are violating the law. People, be careful concerning this matter; especially small businesses. I've linked to horror tales of BSA rampages several times on this site.

This is the real world. No doubt that folks will use something for free. There is a lot of gray area concerning all this and clarity is not on the immediate horizon. My ability to work demands that I use Windows latest greatest computer mojo. This does not make me especially happy. My admiration for Mr. Gates changing the market still exists. Darth Jobs would only let the rich compute if his initiative had been followed. Still, Microsoft has some problems. They have become Orwellian with their authentication codes. So you can either pay MORE money for an Apple which is even a more closed computing society that has really no hopes of penetrating the market share any further until Steve Jobs is put in a home, or try open source.

FreeBSD is an awesome free download that has a neat Windows type user interface. If you start investigating, you'll find that many many sites on the web use FreeBSD. BTW, FreeBSD is Unix, not just Unixlike. There are many versions of Linux. Beware, Linux Red Hat was storming the market and making headway several years ago then greed-itis struck 'em. They went commercial. Does this remind you of what Benedict Arnold did in the Revolutionary War? This will most likely happen again with some other variety.

Linux has many flavors and seems that most people are leaning towards SuSE. Novell is interlaced in SuSE so I am somewhat worried about possible commercialization, but their SuSE downloads are free and fast. Novell also sent the beach house a copy of their Linux suite for free! Mandrake came out of financial woes and seems to be making a comeback, but they make it damned hard to download their free version. Been trying for several weeks now with no success. They want you to join some club and pay them money. Hey, I thought this was/is called open source? Debian is another Linux flavor that gets favorable reviews and SuSE is closely tied to Debian. Then there's Slackware, TurboLinux, etc.

So, why all the hoopla about Windows cracking down on pirates? This is NOT news. It's been with us for a while. If it goes against your grain, try a sensible alternative . Meanwhile, please remember nothing about this industry is written in stone. Always be ready for another twist in the wallet or purse. 'Let's talk for a bit' means the comments and email are available. Please voice an opinion.

"Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate."
Captain Jack Sparrow

Cross platform wireless networking - it's a hoot!

Glad to report to our orchard readers that the eMac included with the two Windows machines yesterday was actually fun to install. After using my Linux/Windows laptop to configure the router every machine was restarted and all devices performed without a major hitch. The Linksys wireless equipment was easy to install, as usual, and the Apple had no problem auto correcting to make nice with the router. Did get a broadcast signal from an adjacent Netgear wireless device located next door. Wow, wardrivers haven in Tupelo, Mississippi! Who 'da thought it? No, I will not give out the address. BTW, if you are like me and rarely see Apple computers here's a tip about eMacs: You open the CD drive with a keyboard button that is located at the top right corner, lol! That Steve Jobs, he's a real clown, huh?

Up late, up early. Many projects. Robin, the pixs are in the can and will be posted soon. Have a casual day.

"If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside."
-Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine

Evil hardware

Tape drives suck. I don't care if it is a DAT, Travan, some weird mumbojumbo cassette or reel cooked up by a psychotic goat that is doing tech support on the side - tape drives suck. Most don't actually work when it comes to restoring data. They also give you a sense of security, false security. These little darlings are expensive, require high maintenance, hard to install, quirky about even running, terrible to configure and are just a poor choice of backup. Did I mention that tape drives suck?

Use Google to search for alternative ways to backup your data. The price of dual layer DVD 'burners' has dropped and USB hard drive back up kits can even be purchased at Wal-mart. They sell a Seagate 120 gigabyte harddrive with the backup software, cables, nice case for around $150.00. Easy to install and just about as dependable as it gets. Even though the media for the dual layer DVD recorders is still expensive it will drop as has all media before it.

If your data is extremely valuable you might consider online backup. It will be in our area soon.

"Back up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse?"
-Lawrence Easley

Johnny, we'll miss ya'

A legend has passed. Johnny Carson died yesterday. Fox has a story about how Mr. Carson was still sending jokes to David Letterman on occasion. I always knew Johnny favored Letterman over Leno. There are many stories available on the net about Mr. Carson's demise. Try Google News.

While on the subject of late night, CBS-TV has a very funny page about the Late Show with David Letterman. You can go here and review all the Top Ten Lists, read funny stuff about the host and guests, etc. Always liked Letterman better than the 'chin'. Dave makes fun of everyone and everything while Leno has some built in prejudice against Mississippi and the South in general.

Monday, Monday. Sometimes it just turns out this way.

"Boy, I feel safer now that she's behind bars. O.J. & Kobe are walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the one woman in America willing to cook, clean and work in the yard and haul her ass to jail."
-Tim Allen, on Martha Stewart's recent incarceration

Photography and game consoles

Picasa 2 is completely free. Not free as in "time-limited tryout," not free as in "ads in the margins," not free as in "you will be assimilated into our mailing list," but really, truly, no-strings-attached free. You can download it right now from Picasa's Web site. (So how does Google plan to make money from Picasa, whose pre-Google version cost $30? The company says that will come later. Google does promise, however, not to get everybody hooked on Picasa and then turn around and start charging for, or taking away, features.)

The above comes from an article at CNET about how to manage your photographs. I hope everyone is wise enough to take advantage of this great program. Picasa rocks! Thank you Google for another great ++ for netizens.

Harley Dave is considering purchasing a new game console. What should he buy first? X-Box, Playstation2 or Gamecube? His PC has a 16 meg video card so a console will be a nice compliment to an awesome home theater system that has Onkyo THX, Polk Audio speakers in every corner, and a Sony Vega TV. Please leave comments and email. This is something that is needed at the beach house as well.

Work calls. Going to bid a home theater build, pick up a computer and then spend the afternoon relaxing and trying to capture some local color with the digital camera that will be uploaded here. As always, appreciate the emails and comments. Keep em' rolling this way.

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
-Ansel Adams

Gosh Bill, look at all them thar' siege engines!

Microsoft has been in the news lately. Wandering around the news world often finds me at the BBC site. It is short of amazing that they break interesting stories about things USA. For instance, Mr. Gates and company are very interested in your home theater experience. The article is Gates unveils his digital vision.

Still tripping along fighting popups, spyware and other garbage while using Internet Explorer? Please read this article at ZDNet. IE is losing more of the market share to Firefox which can be found at Mozilla.org. Before all the Windows Nazis start let me once again remind you that awareness has been obtained about the AOHell people being behind Mozilla. Yes, I know that AOHell owns Netscape. Yes I remember the first Browser War. All this considered, Firefox rocks! Try it, but by no means delete Internet Explorer. We may become victims of a plot to make us buy our internet browser. Just hope that Microsoft does something to make things better in this arena. Indications are not too good since the smarmy new popup blocker and spyware blocker they have basically suck.

Almost a year too late Microsoft has decided to get into the web mail plus large storage arena with Outlook Live. Everyone seems to be competing for this market now, but the definite winner is Google's Gmail. Don't rush out and start deleting Outlook Express or Outlook. This morning I installed Thunderbird, which is the Mozilla mail client and set up a POP account inside for Gmail. It works perfectly and was easy to install due to the awesome instructions on the Gmail site. They even have pictures! People, all this is FREE! I still have a few Gmail invitations if anyone is interested.

"Browser Wars? Stupid, just stupid. Each individual is entitled to use any 'appliance' of his/her choice. You don't hear people sitting around talking about how their central air unit is better."
-Ashby Rhett Culpepper, III, Esq.

It's Friday! Only two more days to work this week!

This has been a strange week. Monday evening the back gave out and the residual effects of medication had me in a purple haze for another day or so. After wimping about, work demanded my attention and still has me moving too fast. Lot of road miles this week.

Time to admit something. This is hard, please bear with me. Really having a tough time telling this, stuttering on paper, oh damn! I touched an Apple this week! It didn't hurt, well, not too much. Actually it wasn't nearly as painful as some spyware infested Windows PCs. Somehow great satisfaction was found in asking, "How do I turn it on?" Darth Jobs cleverly hides the switch on the side, towards the back of the machine. Windows machine makers put the on/off button right on the front where chimps can even make 'em boot up wanting another security fix for IE.

The one I touched uses OS 10, which is based on FreeBSD. At least the operating system is decent. There's no desire to use Photoshop, make musical ditties or any of that other Apple crapple. Just be nice to have one and possibly service the 5 or 10 orchard varieties in this area. Bet they pay a pretty penny for those technohelp moments.

Oh well, time to go "abuse" Linux for a few minutes: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

"Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window."
-Steve Wozniak (father of Apple)

We're not Grinching around here

No doubt tech-types can be some of the most hateful, whining people on the planet. Some are downright disgusting in their snideness. Ever want to choke the life out of some 'puter type' that gloats because he thinks he knows how to speak Unix, C++ or some other kind of foo? Please rest assured that NO ONE knows everything and those that claim such ability are usually insecure paranoids. Yet, we are not all that way. Case in point -> Grasshoppa's post When will it end?... from yesterday over at Southernphried. Observations about AOHell and McAfee that are right on the money! Still laughing. Yes indeed, the "truth shall set you free."

Dave's Daily is a constant source of laughter. Good site that is diverse in humor. The Onion also has some strange, funny observations at times. And if you haven't visited JibJab lately then you are missing some of the best video clips on the planet. Remember, they hold nothing political sacred and offend Republicans and Democrats equally! Second Term cracks me up! Be sure and note what Clinton is reading.

"If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation, it would be the ability for each individual to learn to laugh at himself."
-Charles Schulz

Two awesome downloads

David emailed and needs some place to store his photos online and a good photo editor/organizer. Boy howdy, do I have some great news for you, Harley Dave ole' boy! How about 10 gigs of online storage? How about 10 gigs of online storage for FREE? Yes, that's right 10 GIGS! Check it out over at Streamload. Sign up is easy and the interface is very friendly. Get those pictures uploaded and let's see that Harley DynaWideGlide. You can edit those motorcycle pictures with Picasa. This is a Google property that was purchased a few months ago. It was a good program before, but Google, in their usual way, has improved it. And guess what? It's FREE! Hope this helps.

Now I must return to my work bench, finish two projects, shower and hit the pavement. You can bet I'll stop and use Linux SuSE for a few minutes though.

”Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.”
-Steven Wright

Linux rocks!

Well, after spending a night & day kissing the sky the flexiril is wearing off. During the day it was not a good idea to work on any client's PC so I tortured one of my own. My Toshiba laptop now dual boots to Windows XP and Linux SuSE 9.1. Sweet!! Grasshoppa says my geekfactor is way off the scale. His guidance helped me get this excellent flavor of Linux up and running.

Also visited in his shop a coupla' days ago and it's awesome. He is wireless, with mega toys, perfect workshop with the ideal bench, XM radio, and a beautiful home in a very quiet neighborhood. His Linux/Windows machine is an uber build with kickass case, lights, cables, etc. We used his external burner parallel port to USB to copy some files from an older laptop onto a CDR. Nice device. Hated to cut the visit short but had a 'fire' in Tupelo.

It's nice to have Linux again. Now if I can just put the FreeBSD PC on the rack and make it smooch the video card. All in good time...

"Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100 mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had."
-Linus Torvalds (father of Linux)

Nerdful Things, Star Wars and Hamboni

After several weeks of pitched battle with a HP dual Pentium Pro, 256 megs of ECC RAM, SCSI CD-ROM, twin 10,000 spin SCSI 9 gig drives it seems Windows 98SE is running stable. Finally installed the 98 CAB files onto the "0/C" drive and everything got happy. Now to the real task of installing the latest greatest version of Linux SUSE 9.2. It may not like the SCSI CD-ROM either. Hey, this just looked like a good place to have a working copy of Windows 98SE, you know the LiLo thangy.

Now to another arena of geekdom - STAR WARS!!! There is a Darth Tater version of Mr. Potato Head. Details can be found at Boingboing. Man, wish they'd had this out during the Christmas season - my shopping would have been much easier. Also, at least one of these will hang in the beach house closet -> StarWars Episode III T-Shirt. Did you know that there is a dude waiting in line at a movie theater in Seattle for the opening of Star Wars, Episode III, Revenge of the Sith? He has a blog!! It's called Waiting for StarWars. Info for the uninitiated - this movie opens on May 19, 2005.

Thanks for the emails and please keep 'em headed this way. Yes, I am still upgrading the 8 simple rules of computing and no Hamboni has not moved out; he still resides in the bigfoot SCSI drive that is now a door stop. The master of forecasting, prestidigitation, conjuring, mojoing n jujuing will be here to post his predictions soon.

Comments are always available for niceties or flaming...

"Size matters not! Judge me by my size, do you?"
Yoda--The Empire Strikes Back (may be the greatest understatement in all 6 movies!)

Sometimes it's a Donkey Kong world

Got an email from Kevin Rose. This was a blanket email to all subscribers of the kevinrose.com newsletter. If you don't know Mr. Rose from his work on The Screensavers show that aired on TechTV before Comcast bought and butchered it then you've missed informative, fun segments. He's a younger dude with a plethora of knowledge concerning things computerese. Always enjoyed watching his segments and then was delighted when he became cohost. Now he only does segments instead of anchoring the show.

Alas, my viewing of TechTV , now G4TechTV or something like that, has ceased since the goofballs at Comcast have decided to make it a foofoo kiddies oriented channel with plastic hosts and hostesses (forgive me Sara, Kevin, Yoshi and the other people from the old shows they didn't fire). These idiots don't realize that most of the computing world is not interested in a 24/7 broadcast of the California gaming scene.

Most of the geek/nerd types that I know have stopped watching and await the arrival of a new channel that will get back to computing in general. Believe me, there will be another. The technology industry is expansive. There is a niche in the broadcast arena that will return enormous advertising profits if they use the right platform concerning things techno. Geeks pay attention and can afford to buy large ticket items. We're interested in wayyyyy more than the next Nintendo, Play Station or X-Box.

Sadly, that board room of baboons at Comcast are busy fighting over bananas instead of studying the demographics of their viewing audience. They belong in a Donkey Kong world. Anyway, good luck to Kevin and the rest of the crew that survived the monkey driven purge.

"I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it."
- Dame Edith Sitwell

Edit: Center for Public Integrity has a brief history of Comcast, and lists all the apes that attend the Board of Directors meetings.

Spinetingling

Please look closely at this photo. What I want you to realize is the height of the wave compared to the height of the buildings. Also, please note that there are cars on the seaside drive. Prayer and donations are in order in spite of the leaders with agendas. Neal Boortz was right; the small minded idiots have tried to find the USA at fault concerning this horrific tragedy. Red Dragon and I are both Vietnam Veterans and are amazed at this NewsMax story from Tuesday. Look, I know these people need help, but their leaders need to be exposed for such politics. In such a regime, our efforts will never be recognized and the despots will take credit while our troops are put in jeopardy. Where and when does all this stop? Ever heard of the Monroe Doctrine?

Please pray for these folks and pray for some sanity on the planet. Thank you Jackie for the pix. Thank you RD for your sacrifices in Nam.

"When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have."
-Stephen Hawking

Testing 1,2

After trying to post 4 times today this is simply a test to see if problems have been corrected. All day I've heard people talk about how slow the internet has been and was in such a rush to complete tasks that I didn't have time to stop and check it out thoroughly. Seemed okay to me though. Have a great weekend.

"The problem with disrespecting web engineers is that they will come after you with dull blades and hammers."
-Billy Wobblynife

Short whine

Sorry about being out of commission today. The Flexiril helps an aching back, but also makes one sleep deeply. Since I am able to stand upright once again things will be back snafu tomorrow. Getting older sometimes sucks, but it still beats the alternative. Time to go back to sleep. Later...

"Old age is no place for sissies."
-Bette Davis

And now a few words about passwords

Passwords. You need them. They need to be secure. Even Microsoft agrees. Here's a great article about it -> Creating Stronger Passwords. The Advanced Laboratory Workstation System site is all about Unix, but the policy concerning passwords is good -> Selecting Good Passwords. This is actually a user friendly article written by Unix people! Don't let this title mislead you -> Why you shouldn't be using passwords of any kind on your Windows network.

Can passwords be cracked? Yes. I've never met a Windows machine that was secure from a full frontal password shredding attack. On occasion, I use a Linux program to undo nefarious passwording or just to open a machine where someone has simply forgotten the worded key. No, I will not give you this program. Don't ask, it's not for sale and if you are tech savvy enough to do such things then you have this tool in your possession. Please remember that Windows 98 and 95 have no real password security.

Hope this helps you secure your PC. If you connect to the internet, you need a GOOD password. If you are on a network, you need a GOOD password. If you often visit speakeasies and other such joints, please realize that prohibition has been repealed. That last is a joke... get it? No? Nevermind. Guess I watch too many old movies.

"If you have any trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how it's done."
-Scott Adams

iosdt.exe mui malo!

Ryan from Mexico emailed asking about a Trojan. It's iosdt.exe. This can be deleted while in safe mode after turning off restore before you reboot. After deleting everything named iosdt in safe mode, reboot in normal mode and turn restore back on if you like restore running in the background. Some folks turn it off and leave it off. This Trojan doesn't seem to drop hacks in the registry, yet. That can change at any time. Hope this helps , mi hermano!

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
-Mark Twain

Book banned and browsing

CNN is at it again. They are breaking a story about two Mississippi libraries banning John Stewart's book, America (The Book). What they failed to bring out in the headlines of this smear is that Wal-Mart banned it a while ago. It is a humor book and has some nudity in it and the libraries policies are to open all volumes to the public. This is stupid to make such a fuss over an irreverent dude like Stewart. Just don't read it. I won't. And by the way, CNN please keep finding all the horrible things about Mississippi. Maybe it'll help some liberal demon to stay out of our state. We're doing just fine and certainly don't need the Turner/Fonda bunch meddling in our affairs.

If you still use Microsoft's Internet Explorer as your browser please read this article about the three security holes. There is even a link to a test that can determine if you have problems. Can someone tell me why these problems keep showing up almost on a daily basis? It worries me because the AOHell/Netscape people will find a way to sell us "opensource" Firefox and Mozilla. I think Netscape continues to exist just to do that! Sour grapes even after winning the lawsuit.

"But I am far from presuming to direct the reading of my fellow citizens, who are good enough judges themselves of what is worthy their reading."
-Thomas Jefferson

Twisted

Well, I've slipped. One of America's worst enemies is the damned liberal news media. Let's see, an enlisted man received 6 months in the brig (that's jail to civilian types) and a reduction in paygrade because an Iraqi 'said' he threw his cousin off a 10 foot bridge. Doesn't matter that there was no body and others testified that they saw the guy swim ashore. Let's punish someone serving his country under conditions of war because he was trying to kill the enemy? What the hell is wrong with people? Oh, that's right - Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt broke up after 7 years of marriage and that probably is most distracting. Yep, a soldier gets undue punishment and two Hollywood halfwits break up with great fanfare. Where is that next newsjunkies anonymous meeting?

"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."
-George Patton

What if Hitler and a vampire had children?

Do you own a small business? Do you use computers in this business? Then you need to read the rest of this article and realize the potential of your business being closed down because there are some nazi like organizations after you. Shades of Big Brother? This is not paranoia, just information that you need.

Enter the BSA. The Business Software Alliance is a group that randomly goes around checking to see if your software is licensed properly. What provoked this expose is an article over at ArsTechnica by Caesar Fisher. Okay, this article won't scare you that much. Just plain to the point reporting as Caesar and the ArsTechnica people always do when informing us of important issues. Good site. But the next piece of info should scare the holy s--- out of ANY person in business that has not addressed this issue before now.

First published in August of 2003 this tells about the grim adventures of a business owner and his unfortunate dance with the BSA. Check out Rockin' on without Microsoft. Ahhhhh, you're back after reading that little ditty and possibly quivering because you don't exactly know what you have in the way of Windows and other software? My money says this has now become ULTRA important on your list of things to do - find out if all your software is straight up and not hinky in any way. Remember this, you are to have an individual licensed piece of software for each and every computer unless otherwise specified and that doesn't mean just hiding in a drawer or filing cabinet. It better be on its respective computer. Yes, you can buy extended license privileges from people like Microsoft so on and so forth.

Frightening? Hope so. Personally, I think ALL software should be open source and not for sale. But, this is the real world and that just won't happen. In the mean time keep these Hitlerites out of your business and away from the door by being legal. Then consider alternative Operating Systems and platforms. Why do you think my links list is all about freeware? Going to find out about your PCs? Good. Now if we can just find a way to rid society of all these pigs like the BSA, RIAA, spyware jerks, and other terrorists...

"The weak are the most treacherous of us all. They come to the strong and drain them. They are bottomless. They are insatiable. They are always parched and always bitter. They are everyone's concern and like vampires they suck our life's blood."
-Bette Davis

Hep me! Hep me! Am lost in the orchard

Anytime someone wants to compare the sound of an Apple iPod to a Creative Labs Zen Xtra please contact me. Having done this with several different types of music my faith in the Zen is unflappable. TechTV even admitted that the Zen sounds better and there is a plethora of iPods on that set. Here's another interesting article about Apple iTunes. Why the dislike of iPod? Same Apple tune over and over again. It's not really that bad a product. It's just plain mid-fi. Also, way overpriced and wait until you have the joy of shelling out for that battery replacement. Click on the link above and maybe it will help you understand.

I'd like to personally thank the crew at MJR & Co. for their assistance in helping me shed the Whiny Boy sub-superhero costume earlier this week. Y'all is de bomb! The coffee is perked so I'm outta here and headed to Tishomingo county to aid and abet my Paden buddies.

"Man always travels along precipices... His truest obligation is to keep his balance."
-Pope John Paul II

Dark side of the Force

U.S. citizens have won another round against a group of Satan's minions known as the RIAA. Red Dragon sent an article from PCWORLD that tells how the courts have once again rejected an appeal to force an ISP to turn over their customer lists to these evil creeps. If you purchase recorded music then you are putting money in the RIAA coffer. Stop it! And don't pirate music! Send emails to your favorite artists and encourage them to sell their stuff on their own web sites. Let's choke the very life out of the music nazis that keep prices up and are busy terrorizing people. Remember, they prosecuted a 12 year old girl. They tormented an 80 year old couple and laughed about it in the courtroom. These folks are as low as the spyware people and that is LOW. Thanks RD for a great heads up from a good publication.

Darth Jobs is at it again. Apple is suing website ThinkSecret for leaking info about their upcoming under-$500.00 Mac slated to arrive at your local orchard in the near future. Reuters has a good article about it. People, who really cares about Apple? This is just another goofy antic from Steve Jobs. Keep this in mind, Apple makes it almost impossible to replace a battery in the wayyyyyy overated iPods and then charges $100.00 when you send it back to them for the new battery. But hey, if you want 2 year old technology on a slow machine from a company that can only penetrate 3% of the market because they are so overpriced, by all means go buy an Apple computer. At least Jobs had the good sense to finally "steal" a decent operating system (new Apple OS's are based on FreeBSD). Good luck to the folks at ThinkSecret.

"He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils."
-Francis Bacon

The cape and tights are on

Yesterday was frustrating. Arose at 1:45am and started work. Returned 3 PCs to a network and one decided to go fubar concerning the video after sitting on the bench purring like a kitten for hours. Then the car loaned to me by a very gracious friend decided to rebel. After an extended period of crippling down the side of the road and much consulting it was determined that there was water in the gas. In the process of moving 4 workstations around my back decided to go tarfu. There's a laptop on my bench that is in pieces for the 4th time and it is laughing at me. Finally received a message from IBM after the 3rd email that told me to call them about an allinone Netvista PC and, from the signature, it is indicated my use of the English language will be to no avail. Had to cancel several appointments which means the workload today will be heavy.

On top of all this people kept calling running up my cell phone bill with chitchat and other things that can be resolved by email - cybersouth@gmail.com. Folks, it's the first of the month after Christmas holiday and the inevitable struggle with receivables and payables is upon the beach house. My ability to walk upright and stress from the vehicle problem are non-relenting factors that hinder my usual cheery "can do" attitude. Wish things would return to a snafu state. Please don't make me take the phone off hook again. Today I am WHINY BOY...sub-superhero fighting depression, chaos, a bad back, high blood pressure, age and high phone bills. This is a plea for prayer, extreme weight loss (the bad back/hbp thang), and phone calls 9-11pm. Now the question of the day -> Do you think strong coffee will overcome the drowsiness brought on by Flexiril?

"The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation."
-Bertrand Russell

Sometimes it feels like my head is banging against the desk...

Want to install Ad-aware, but afraid you might not do it correctly? Would a step by step, easy to read online tutorial help? Think screen shots of each step with actual pictures of each step will make things easier? Then go to Bleeping Computer and use this awesome utility to help install a great protection program that is a free download!

Installing Spybot Search & Destroy scare you? Not sure on just how to accomplish such an installation? Try going to Bleeping Computer. Great info on a great download that's free (donate something - even 20 bucks will help keep them around to continue helping all of us!) Once again, this is a super tutorial with pictures and step by step instructions.

This site is performing a great service in posting easy to read instructions on how to use many resources available. So check out http://www.bleepingcomputer.com. BTW, if you decide to create an account BE SURE and read their privacy policy. I chose not to create an account at this time. Still, there's great info here.

If you are not running and updating a good anti-virus scan EVERY DAY, please seek help. If you are here without some type of virus protection then you are crazy. Please remember, running McAfee antivirus is the same as NOT running an antivirus program. Download the free version of AVG antivirus. Here's the installation guide in Adobe Reader PDF format -> Reference Guide. Okay, okay here is where you can download a free version of Adobe Reader which will enable you to view this PDF tutorial.

IMHO, most folks are too lazy to download such tools. Most folks don't even bother to update. If you don't update then malware will infest your machine. Frankly, there are more important things that need attention than fighting the creeps that clutter machines with this trash. Help out your tech, guru, IT/IS, sysadmin, etc. by updating and running these programs. Please.

"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
-William Faulkner

Super fun thing and sobering glimpse at security

Was just over at Beagle's live journal and took this quiz. It's a hoot! Try it, you'll like it! (Post your score in the comments section)




Think my rant yesterday about parachuting terrorists is just a case of extreme paranoia? Read what the CEO of VeriSign has to say about the matter at CNET News. Charles Cooper wrote the article and it tends to make one shudder. What's that motto? Be prepared?

"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."
-Arthur C Clarke

Satan and wimps are for gun control

Back a few years ago in mid September some fanatics took control of several aircraft in the name of Allah, and proceeded to crash into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field. This group of terrorist bastards are burning in the deepest bowels of hell and I wish we could reincarnate these criminals and slowly kill them again and again day after day. They killed more people than the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor in WWII. Now all the sissy liberals in San Francisco want to ban handguns. Idiots! Read about it over at Fox News. Radical Muslim terrorists may parachute into your neighborhood at any moment trying kill YOU in the name of Allah. Are you prepared?

I will pray to my merciful, loving God to give me the strength to stop reading news other than technical. Now it's time to make sure rounds are chambered in the weaponry.

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."
-Ghandi.
"He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one."
-Luke 22:36

2005 and still alive

Truly, there is no rest for the weary. I have to find a nice cave or a small parcel of land somewhere in deepest, remote Tishomingo County. After refraining from drink and trying to find peace with a good book, it's next to impossible because the fireworks bozos are at it full strength. Solitude and quiet are out of the question. Trying to read Jimmy Buffett's new novel, A Salty Piece of Land, within this melee is absurd.

Guess I'll fade into the night eventually. Happy 2005 everyone, except the spyware people and other terrorists.

"If you are a terror to many, then beware of many."
-Ausonius