Good to be back amongst the 1's and 0's

The effort last week to rid a Windows ME machine of CoolWWWSearch without formating the drive seems to have worked. Talked to the user yesterday and she said everything was normal. Much time was spent correcting this problem and a lot was learned. Every PC is different and sometimes it just makes good sense to format the drive and go from there. Does this frighten you? Have you backed up your critical data today? I suggest you do that, now.

No posting for 3 days; seems there was some incoherent mumbo jumbo even during the attack of the kidney stones last summer. Things have just been busy and some equipment had to be replaced. Then I accidentally pulled a cable loose from the back of my router and just found it this morning. Great to be back on line.

Visited with the Tishomingo County crew yesterday. Good to see Brenda, Sonya and Kim. Finally met Rocky and he had diagnosed a problem they were having with a DLink switch. Bearings are failing in a fan. It'll have to be replaced. Always nice to visit good people and be in a beautiful part of our great state. It rained while traveling there, but the drive back was nice. Just listened to the local weather smack and we have had over a foot of rain in the past 7 days. Frogs are strangling.

"If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into committees. That'll fix 'em!"
-Billy Wobblynife

Gayle, we'll miss ya'

My buddy Gayle is leaving Thomas Electronics. I really hate to see her go. She will be sorely missed. Her efforts to maintain good work flow have been a Godsend. I've listened to her aid customers on the phone and get them through crisis after crisis. Her ability to juggle and deal with grouchy techs yet keep a calm repose has been instrumental in producing wonderful customer loyalty. She's been a friend, a sister, even mothered us at times and she will be a joyous benefit to her new employer. Gayle deserves the grace of good surroundings. Her husband Butch is of the same caliber and is a fortunate man. Good luck and God speed, Sissy.

"Friends are those really neat people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer."
-Hilton D. Murphy

Yet more Spyware stuff (I need a cannon or vacation)

The second machine that had become infected with CoolWWWSearch was not a Windows 98SE machine. Come to find out it was an older HP Vectra (sweet) running W2K doing duty in a warehouse as the UPS shipping PC. Using CWS Shredder, Spybot 1.3, Ad/Remove Programs, and some other tools I am still reviewing, it seems to be better. The verdict is still out on both these PCs. Don't want to make any false claims and have said PCs show up re-infected. Granted, the fixes are slightly different and I admit doing this on purpose. Certainly don't expect an invoice to be released until we are sure that our efforts to overcome these horrible infections work.

Joseph C. Fratto, Jr. is a blithering idiot. Just days before Utah was about to vote out spyware, this bumbling fool granted an injunction to stop the passage of a great law. Wired News has the story. My intense dislike of all things spyware has not much room to grow. BTW, several articles have said that the maximum fine was $250.000.00 and come to find out it's $10,000.00 per invasion which is still pretty hefty. Avi Naider of WhenU is a damned disgrace to mankind too. Read this link and see our stupid officials and "citizens" at their 'best'.

When using the words -Real Player + spyware + adware- in a Google search it will produce 132,000 results. In all fairness when using -Windows Media Player + spyware + adware- the results are 63,000. DigitalMediaMinute has an interesting article about Real. You have to scroll down and find the article 'Real Bad Software' over at SpywareInfo to find more stuff about Real (be sure and read the EULA part). GeekGirls posted a really good article about spyware in general. Real and WMP are both mentioned. Hey, Google Toolbar admits to doing anonymous tracking without gleaning personal information and I am not too happy with even that. The Screensavers blew the lid on the Yahoo Toolbar/Gator/Gain association back a few weeks ago.

We are caught up in a world of machines reporting in to various entities about what we do cyberwise. This all sucks. If it shows up in a Spybot Search & Destroy scan it's immediately deleted from my machine! Especially Microsoft applications! My opinion won't change and I certainly don't want control of anyone's computer to change their browsing habits. I just eliminated KNOWN problems from a machine to make it run better and more securely. On a network in a business atmosphere absolutely NO ONE has any right to sneak in and drop this evil software on a machine. NO ONE!!

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore."
-Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Following the Equator, 1897

Night of the Blue Screen of Death (or CoolWWWSearch should die)

This latest CoolWWWSearch (and other lame spyware) battle has been hard fought. After much manuvering in safe mode and DOS, installing and using various tools the Windows ME machine is finally running a virus scan. Spybot Search and Destroy, Ad-aware, Merijn's CWS Shredder and a few other arcane devices seem to have jointly reached a state of 'healed'. We'll see. On a vudu scale, 4 out of a possible 5 chickens were killed over this one. It may just be paranoia, but after Norton's finishes this scan more than likely I'll install AVG and run it one time just to put my mind at ease. It has done all the Windows Critical Updates finally. The BSODs have retreated for now.

This machine had Real Player and Webshots. These are two of my least favorite things you can do to a computer. Real Player has been associated with various spyware/adware down through the years and used to be extremely hard to remove from a system. Sorta like AOL, it never really went away. Webshots is a resource hog. Both of these programs are removed now. If anyone has more clarification, please contact and set me straight.

It's a Compaq Duron 750 with 128 megs o' RAM, 20gigs of hard drive and used every day, all day in an office environment. The user is savvy and thought the updates were being done. Thanks to the spyware jerks, misrepresentation of completed updates misled everyone. Honestly folks, it's time to find the location of the CWS creeps and kick their sorry asses. Wait, they'd probably enjoy that so instead get in touch with your local representatives and senators and express the need to enact laws that will put these people IN JAIL!!!!

Now that this episode is drawing to a close, there is another CWS infection waiting in the wings. This PC is a Windows 98SE flavor and it will probably take as much time to 'Frankenstein' as this last one. You never know. Please contact me if you need a more detailed description of the procedures used and mistakes made in removing this garbage. Hopefully, I'll have a better "map" after the next one. Also, anyone with input about 2000 and XP machines, please use the comments at least. The Cybersouth email addy is GMAIL so please feel secure in writing. Talking and sharing will help us all.

Beagle and Red Magnet team, thanks for all the aid and info. Y'all are da' bomb!

"Our morality seems to be only a check on the ultimate domination of force, just as our politeness is a check on the impulse of every pig to put his feet in the trough."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

EDIT: 5:45am - Remember that old saying, "Just because you're paranoid, that doesn't mean that someone is NOT after you."?????? Well AVG found 4 infected files blessed with Trojan Downloader.Agent that an up to date Norton's missed. Thought this might be of interest...

CoolWWWSearch Bites and VistaIIIMedia Rocks!!!

Visitors that are looking for CoolWWWSearch, Agent.BA, and Incredifind removal please look in the Links list. Also, read some of the posts from the past few weeks. There are other links inside various rants concerning these problems. Please email or comment about your results destroying these awful nuisances. Contact your local Congresspersons and raise hell that these clowns can dump this stuff on us.

It was inevitable that a PC would show up on the bench sporting CoolWWWSearch, several other various nefarious spyware infections, and have that 'wonderful operating system of operating systems', Windows ME. It is still being poked and prodded to see if it can be recovered even though I have permission to format and upgrade to Windows 2000. Inquiring minds want to know. Results will be posted and wish me luck. After running Spybot S&D 1.3 and an updated Ad-aware over 500 entries have been found.

At the other end of the scale I am now the proud user of 2 way cable modem internet. Hey Ricky! Man, the speed is phenomenal!!! VistaIIIMedia, again, my hat is off! The techs finished ahead of time and are diligently upgrading Baldwyn and Booneville. So nice to have good people doing a great job! Folks, y'all have my best recommendation for a really outstanding company that combines skill and knowhow with politeness and manners. Go VistaIIIMedia! Sign up everyone in your market area. You deserve it!

Gonna' go listen to the moaning of a CoolWWWWSearch infected poor old Windows ME machine. Everyone have a casual evening.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled."
-Richard P. Feynman

Early morning observations

Spent a lot of time yesterday mowing the yard. In and out all day long. It was not humid and the temperature wasn't bad. Did go to Lowe's and buy air conditioning stuff and lusted over the tools, etc. Went by and talked to Ray at Circuit City about technology soon to come. Then last night I went to bed at 7:30pm. Wanted to watch a special on History Channel and upgrade the OS in one of my machines. Sorry folks, I really needed the rest. Every once in a while seems I get past going and yesterday was one of those days.

Hate I missed talking to both of my daughters on Father's Day. The Google thing was cute with Dad lounging in the hammock and the kids doing chores. Talked to my Mother yesterday. Nice conversation. Devoted some time to remembering my Dad. Gosh, he was a good dude! I miss him. Anyway, I'll talk to Beagle and Verdana later today God willing.

Friday, one of my buddies at a law office downtown made a killer chocolate cake and gave it to me. Thanks Ellen. My neighbor and friend Larry cooked fish Saturday night and brought over a plate of fillets, hushpuppies, fries and slaw. Ahhhhhh soooo good! Meal fit for a king. Thanks so much. Food is such a grand pleasure. Lisa and the Laundry Witch left a comment wishing a totally kewl Father's Day. Marti from Tennessee yahooed and we chatted.

So reassuring to experience good things in life when madness seems to multiply exponentially all around you. Helps me tolerate the evil, rude children that live at Walmart. LOL. Have a decent Monday!

"There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself."
-John Gregory Brown, Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery, 1994

CoolWWWSearch, Backdoor.Agent.BA and Incredifind.

The first Incredifind removal tip in the Links list has been changed. It is still a manual removal tip. Several virus/trojan scan sites now offer solutions to this malware. Please make me aware of any removal tools. These jerks should be thrown in front of a bus.

Here is an excerpt from a thread concerning Backdoor.Agent.BA. A-squared has also started a forum concerning this trash. Tom did remove the problem from a machine this past week after some research. Followed one of the formulas for changing the attributes of the file and deleting it. If I can find out any more it will be posted!

CyberTechHelp has more info on the CoolWWWSearch problem. Be sure and check out the Similar Threads section at the very bottom. Southernphried has a post from Thursday concerning this garbage. Beagle is diligently working on this problem as is Ashby Rhett Culpepper, III.

Do your Windows Critical Updates. If you have some "guru" telling you these are not important seek help elsewhere. For some unknown reason there is a faction that thinks there is no need to install these CRITICAL Updates. Do your Windows Critical Updates.

Use a browser other than Internet Explorer like Mozilla or Opera. Understand that Microsoft does not really give one big fat rat's ass about your online safety. They are aware of a security flaw that presently exists in IE and are not "fixing" it. Sorry Bill, get your people to do their job and quit writing such weak applications. I love Windows, but FreeBSD and Linux become more attractive every day. If someone ever finds a way to make popular applications run efficiently in an alternative OS, Windows will perish.

Please don't bother recommending OSX. Darth Jobs wants wayyyy too much money for those tired, weak orchard varieties. Such a sweetheart. Takes FreeBSD, which is opensource, codes it proprietary, and asks a fortune for it. Right! Expensive and antiquated machines are not the answer.

Download, install and use Spybot S&D version 1.3. When installing, do the registry backup, immunize, check the TeaTimer box and just deal with it telling you every time something attempts to change your registry. Use your head. If you are installing a program, the registry will need changing. Allow these changes. If you are surfing the web and see Keenvalue or CoolWWWSearch show up in the TeaTimer window, deny such changes. There are tutorials in English about Spoybot S&D on the site.

Learn to use Google. Research your problem. Share the results with others. If your machine is down, find the local library and use their PCs to help resolve problems. Be sure and disconnect your PC from a network when applicable.

The most important action one can take concerning these problems is to contact your Congressperson and encourage HARSH laws and penalties when dealing with any malware. IMHO, the penalty of death is too good for these cretins. If you have info please comment or email. I'll gladly post credit or keep identity anonymous if desired. Testing several applications and will let everyone know the results.

"Remember, we are all in this together."
-Red Green, Canadian TV philosopher

Mighty Hamboni Speaks!

Salaam ben dover and joys of greetings to all terran life forms. I am the Magnificent Hamboni, genie extraordinaire that lives in a large SCSI (pronounced scuzzy) hard drive that is being used by my master as a door stop at the Saltillo Beach House. My summons has been qualified to presto mojotate predictions of future events.

1. We will find out that the Wicked Witch of the West is indeed a real entity when her monkey men fly in and snatch John Kerry off a podium as he is leading a demoncrat political rally in Skullbone, Tennessee. She will announce to the world that she won't give him back because he is 'soooo butt-ugly that it helps keeps the gnats, mosquitoes and flies off her by just having him around.' So sad that Skerry Kerry will never follow the yellow brick road and meet the Wizard.

2. In the very near future Michael Moore will be found lavishing in the luxury of a French whore house. There will be no interviews; reporters will not be able to approach because of the smell. He will come out of the closet as an abuser of small rodents. The ACLU will drop his membership and the ASPCA will take him to court for tongue kissing mice.

3. Hilary Clinton will soon publish her counter-memoirs and reveal that she is actually the Antichrist.

4. Barbra Streisand will bitch slap Hilary in public. As Babs is taken away she will scream, "You biatch! Quit stealing my official titles!"

5. A combination of opensource software coders from the Linux and FreeBSD camps will produce a new script that will reside in all web pages. Anyone publishing spyware or writing virus infections will be neutered by the on-off switch on their PC. When asked about the choice of switch the coders will start screaming, "all your base is owned!!", as they spray each other with shaken bottles of Mountain Dew and Jolt Cola.

So nice to spread this joy amongst the earth-plane inhabitants. Until the next time please remember that denial ain't juz a river in Egypt.

"Step away from the door stop! Slowly."
-Billy Wobblynife

Web garbage that needs taking out

Okay, I've had a discussion about my vehement attitude towards Netscape. It's not Netscape that is found distasteful. It's AOL. AOL hijacks the web from you and tries to keep you in their little trap. They are one of the first pieces of malware to hit computers. Get a real ISP (99% of them are local). MSN, PeoplePC, etc. are not much better. AOL owns Netscape. Hey if you are a Netscape coder and are helping the Mozilla bunch then my hat's off to you. At least you are trying to contribute to the 'light side of the force' even though you work for the bad guys. If it's opensource - I am interested.

We are still trying to find more tools to overcome the CoolWWWSearch barnyard material. Did I mention that Merijn's site which is dedicated to CWS eradication had the CoolWWWSearch flaming email redirected to his site? Apparently by the CoolWWWSearch sissies? What sleaze. Several people are viewing different fixes for this garbage. IMHO, the CWS buffoons should all be gut shot and left to die. Beagle and Ashby Rhett Culpepper, III, over at SouthernPhried are involved in finding someway to stop this cyberpestilence. Please let us know if you have any suggestions, ideas, fixes, etc. Also, if you know the physical location of the CWS plant, we want that information too. Along the same line if anyone knows the location of the eUniverse/Keenvalue/Incredifind Home Office let us know and we'll post the addy here.

Time for Aeon Flux. Later.

"The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief."
-William Shakespeare, Othello

Spyware/adware? OUTLAW ALL OF THEM!!!

There is a recurring theme that is present at Cybersouth. Protect yo'self! If you are not running a good spyware/adware smasher start today. New versions of hideous malware show up all the time. If you are not running an anti-virus program I hope you saved the boxes because you need to return your computer to the point of sale and go buy a nice pad and pencil, good calculator, nice address book or daytimer, large book of stamps, video phone that conferences, mp3 player, great 35mm camera, etc. Be very careful about what program you use to stop spyware and virii. McAfee is outright worthless. I think a requirement to work in their tech support is to speak very bad English. A fellow tech told me yesterday he updated a McAfee protected computer, ran a scan and then uninstalled it. After installing Norton's antivirus on the same computer he "only" found 1281 infected files. Do you understand? Can you open those eyes and see? Don't use bad programs!!!

Spybot Search and Destroy site is timing out due to high traffic. This indicates a desire for this program. Posted an alternative download site last week called TUCOWS. I will not put them in the links list because the first thing they do when you go there is drop an advertising tracking cookie on your PC. Of course downloading, installing and running either Spybot S&D or Ad-Aware will remove it. Anyway, these programs are available at several sites for downloading.

Using a new program called Spywareblaster (the javacool one). This is strictly a protection program and does not scan for infections. It resides on your PC and stops the dung from installing. The verdict is still out. They do updates and this is a good sign. Please, please be very careful about what programs you use because some of them, even the non-free stuff, ARE spyware!!! Most of the freeware stuff will accept donations or have upgrades that cost minimal amounts. If you like them, donate! I did.

So far, Mozilla is doing a good job. This might be a way to introduce yourself to opensource software. The download and install are painless and it can reside on a machine beside IE. I do recommend making it the default browser for a few days. Nice to surf the net and see absolutely NO popups. You can always go back the the security flawed Internet Explorer. Don't know that I will. We'll see...

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way."
-Mark Twain

I've heard the call of the lawnmower...and am ignoring it

It is hot in the Deep South. And humid. I have the day off and am trying to motivate my lazy butt to the lawnmower seat. Spent the morning catching up on things cyber and installed Mozilla and Firefox since Microsoft is letting their Internet Explorer browser hang out there with a known security flaw. Mozilla just keeps getting better. Some great advantages. Popups seem to disappear. Page transition seems smoother. It takes up less acreage on the screen. The tools are way casual. The built in IRC client and Download Manager are sweet. Still need to watch for flaws. Here's the Mozilla link.

Everyone stay cool on this hot humid Wednesday.

"Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet."
-Roger Miller

New nasty written by a creep and possible cure

Ran into a new Trojan Horse today. It's identified as Trojan Horse BackDoor.Agent.BA. This thing is nasty. Worked for several hours trying to remove it and Tom thinks he has it defeated. Haven't talked about it at length, but will tomorrow morning. There is a string of discussions about this spawn of scum over at Computing.net. The jerk that wrote this targeted AVG users and so far AVG has not acknowledged the virus or any problem. It will be interesting to see how they handle this dilemna. Just arose from a flexiril stupor and am anxious to see the solution. I'll definitely post when I know more. Meanwhile. don't delete your AVG. That's what this creep wants. Let's see if our friends in Europe come up with a workable solution and let me talk to Tom to see if he did magic. BTW, don't worry about whether you have it or not. AVG will keep telling you over and over. Hate to see such an exploit, but this has happened to Symantec (Norton's) several times. Will follow up tomorrow!

Going back to the couch and rest my weary back. Hate being wimpy, wambly, wombly. Later my fellow nerdlings.

"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."
-Isaac Asimov, from 'Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations', 1988

Back up? We don't need no steenkin' backup!

Finishing a computer repair that started several weeks ago. Belongs to a nice person and she learned how to back up her data when we did a partial recovery for the purpose of gleaning important data. When was the last time you backed up your important data? Don't know? Don't know how to backup? Learn. Most new computers come with a CD-burner type device. Great backup tool. Read your manual and click the help button. Don't come crying to me if you lose precious data such as baby's first steps pictures, final composition of the next great American novel, copies of the best tunes written since the Beatles, critical work data, etc.

Mike Lin has a great backup tool called RapidBackup. If you don't like Microsoft backup try Mike's. If you have a CD-burner use the program that came with it and copy to CDRs or CDRWs(they can be overwritten 1000 times). The most important thing is to get a copy of that which is valuable off that personal confuser and somewhere safe. Most will ignore this and wonder why it can't be recovered when they crash their computer the NEXT time. So, if you don't follow my suggestions it's OK with me. Just don't whine when you accumulate 3 or 4 bench hours of time in attempts at recovering data. Not backing up is a very expensive mistake. This is not a warning, it's a statement of pure truth.

User, n. The word computer professionals use when they mean "idiot."
-Dave Barry

If Ms. Manners shows up, I'll kiss her on the mouth

Thank you Laundry Witch and CMT gang for the nice comments. I had just about decided to kill the comments section because no one was using them. I need input! Talk to me. And I did get hugged yesterday. Nice to know that some people do understand geeks are human.

You arrive at a jobsite where someone has done something to their PC then they turn their anger on anything or anybody including the computer dude/dudette. This is beyond stupid. This is dumbass. Someone has taken the time, rushed to your aid and you start off being pissed at your 'cybersalvation' for the moment? Oh yeah, might mention that the next time your computer dude/dudetter is needed they'll remember your childish fit and may put you at the bottom the list or not even show up.

Sometimes computers do "strange" things; CDROMs stop working, fans burn out, power supplies fail, etc. But, these "strange" things are rare. The vast majority of the time the user has done something to gum up the works. The vast majority of the time the user lies about what has happened which creates a larger bill because of the time spent in diagnostics. Just tell the truth. Admit that that cute Weatherbug was so neat you decided to put it on your desktop. Right, with the Gator in the background chewing up your machine and broadcasting all your personal information to God only knows what nefarious entity and tracking your every move. Ever walk around the streets naked, with no makeup and a dead cat around your neck? Makes about as much sense.

IT/IS, sysadmin, tech types are not a warm bubbly bunch as a general rule. Most I know don't tolerate abuse. So, the wise thing to do is to be nice. I know this absolutely kills some of you, but using good manners is becoming a lost art and is much respected by someone that's elbows deep in your machine. Grit your teeth and be polite for a few minutes. It's an effort that'll do ya good.

K, the flame is out. Everyone has a totally awesome, stupendous, magnificent Saturday.

"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

Small, late post

Have you hugged your IT/IS , sysadmin person today? They need it and so do you.

"You screwed up your personal computer and I was not even around?, Now there's a concept..."
-Angel coercing a confession out of a deviant

Mozart and Pink Floyd are my brothers

Well, I finally purchased a nice MP3 player. This was after much surfing, inquiring and shopping. Decided on a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra. Long name for a small white and silver device that holds 30 gigs of music, or pixs, or data. Self-justification was that it will hold data and can be used to transport large files. Right now it is receiving a large bank of music. Really nice leather case came with it as well as all the cables and charger. The ear buds are actually comfortable and it sounds like a symphony hall! The battery is easily changed and can last up to 11 hours! And I don't have to download music from Apple to make it play. It's also several dollars less than the iPod it competes against. He He He, Ha Ha Ha, Darth Jobs still won't get any of my money! Mowing the yard, jogging, riding a bike, spending quality time with my hammock, etc., are going to be even more fun! Truly, I am a child with a new toy. Rock on, my fellow geeklings.

"The trouble with real life is that there's no danger music."
--Jim Carrey from The Cable Guy

CoolWebSearch? These people are trash.

Beagle has found a way kewl site that is dedicated to the eradication of an especially nasty piece of spyware. Merijn.org is a nicely tailored site that is helping folks rid their personal confusers of CoolWebSearch barnyard material. These people are so nasty they redirected their flaming email to the Merijn site just for aggravation. I believe the CoolWebSearch scum need to suffer. Why do we let such evil, vile, twisted sickies exist? Lightning can strike in strange places. SUPER PROPS to Merijn for a great site!

Please find the Against TCPA button and click on it. You really need to know what is coming down the pike concerning our freedom and security. There are some really strange things happening. Check this site out, please.

Will someone please use the comments? Just click on the word comment and post something. Be sure and leave a name of some sort. Everyone other than spyware clowns have a terrifc Tuesday!

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

Spybot 1.3? Install away!

The question has come up as to whether or not Spybot Search & Destroy version 1.3 can be installed on top of version 1.2 (thanks Robin). Yes. I installed the latest greatest on two of my windows machines running version 1.2 and had no problems. Please remember that you do such things at your own risk. If you don't know what to do or are unsure, pay a professional. This is all but mandatory software anymore because of creeps like eUniverse, CoolSearch, Claria/Gator/Gain/CMES II or whatever they have named themselves today. Personally, I think all employees of these companies should be banished to the inside of an active volcano.

The response of leaders throughout the world concerning the death of President Reagan is tremendous. Even some demoncrats are acting humane. Nice that Thatcher and Gorbachev will be in attendance for the services. President Reagan was a great man and a great leader. My favorite for sure.

"He will be sorely missed."
-Billy Wobblynife

My head hurts, my feet stink n I don't love Elvis

Okay, I know Parrotheads see the plagiarism. Anyway, it's time to take aspirin, shower, and put on some rock music or TechTV and forget about the most recent PC that has possessed my workbench. If you ever run up on a sho' nuff allinone PCCHIPS GFXcel motherboard immediately cross yourself and flee the room. These things are a threat to mankind's sanity everywhere. Someone musta' decided, "I'll make the worst PC mobo ever." If anyone has a clue...no wait, I don't really want to know anymore about this thing. Time to button it up and return it to the owner. Just never did fancy Satan hanging out at the Beach House.

Time to go see what G4techTV has done to the latest episode of The Screensavers. Everyone have a Super Sunday. Please pray for the Reagan family in their time of sorrow.

"A resolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil is so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible."
- Thomas Hardy

Virus? Bad!! Music? Honkin' !

There's yet another virus on the prowl. Korgo. Like Sasser it only needs you to sign on to the internet to propagate. If you downloaded and installed the 835732 patch from Windows Critical Updates then you are protected. This is the patch that was posted on April 13,2004, over two weeks before the Sasser problem. So if you were Sasser infected, you probably have the patch (or still have the virus!). Wish I could get my hands on the nancy boy that wrote this barnyard material.

Like Aerosmith? I do. A&E is running a two hour special this weekend on this durable rock group. I've seen it twice. Tune in and find out that Mr. Perry, Mr. Tyler and the rest of the group are busy being good guys. Neat to see mega stars act human. Honkin'...

While driving thru downtown Saltillo on the way to Tupelo last week I noticed two bucket trucks and one bucket van that were under amplifiers owned by VistaIIIMedia. This does my heart good knowing that 2-way cable modems are not too far away.

For more info on the Korgo virus try OverclockersClub. For info on a great rock band go to Aerosmith.

"We don't use our middle finger as much anymore."
-Steve Tyler

Link to a great Powerpoint Presentation

Be sure and catch Ashby Rhett Culpepper III's latest post at SouthernPhried. Fabulous, Ashby, fabulous! This site will have an official launch the first week in July. There will be prizes. Like, way kewl Phried-ite T-shirts. This has been an effort of many people to put together a free tech-help site that speaks fluent southernese. Red Dragon gets credit for the neat name. ChynaMoon and Beagle did the logos (ChynaMoon also did the Cybersouth title banner) and everyone has participated in building a fun, informative site. Mudslingr has become a HTML phreaker trying to keep up with our HTML goddesses. Uncle Snake helped with the Dixie Piggie Pix and Grasshoppa developed "Ask the Geeks." Everyone has made marvelous posts. Great site from a great bunch if they'd just run that dock vudu character off!

South will not rise again...it never fell in the first place!
-Billy Wobblynife

Spyware/adware creators? Let's turn them off, permanently!

Received several emails concerning actually getting to Patrick Kolla's site to download Spybot. Here's some alternatives: TUCOWS, MAJORGEEKS, CNET DOWNLOADS. Beware that TUCOWS will drop an advertising cookie on your computer immediately. If you install Spybot 1.3 or Ad-aware, either program will rid you of this annoying popup magnet. TUCOWS is a very old site that offers freeware and shareware. I hate they have resorted to adware, but it is easily overcome and there is some satisfaction in obtaining the program from their site that stops this junk. Be sure and download from the state nearest you. MAJORGEEKS is just a slick site. Sometimes they are very busy so be patient. CNET DOWNLOADS is an old site that started using some kind of voodoo download manager they try and push on you just a few months ago. Haven't really researched it, but I suspect some type of tracking barnyard material. It's a sorry state of the web when we have to forewarn people of all these evil nuances. Oh, if I just had one day as Ruler of the Known Universe, the population problem would see great resolve and many spyware/adware, virii writing nancy boys, etc. would disappear!

Have you updated your antivirus definitions today? Do you have your antivirus program scheduled to run every day? Did you upgrade from Spybot Search & Destroy 1.2 to version 1.3? Have you run Ad-Aware today? When was the last time you defragmented your hard drive? Hope within the past month. When was the last time you ran a ScanDisk? Again, hope within the past month. Emptied that temp folder lately? Sorted out your cookies in the past few days? If any of this is a puzzle, please, please email me and I will gladly help. Or better yet, click on one of my SouthernPhried links and do the 'Ask the Geeks' thangy. Protect yourself.

"The quiet conscience is an invention of the devil."
-Dr.Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

New Spybot is an 11 on scale of 10

If you look over to the right there is a list called links. In this list is Spybot. There is also a Spybot button below the list. It's blue. If you are not running Spybot Search and Destroy click on the link or the button and download this program! If you are running version 1.2 uninstall it and download and install version 1.3. It's worth the trouble. Version 1.3 installs some really neat features and helps you set up the program correctly. Please read the donation part of the program. Patrick Kolla has given us a wonderful program that really aids in fighting spyware/adware. Send him some bucks. I did.

We had a great Saturday night and the Skargs were dying left and right in the Unreal Tournament LAN party. What a nice, easy evening. Good food, refreshing beverages and great friends. I appreciate each and every one of you. So nice to mingle with intelligent people that are striving to be happy and productive. Those of you that were absent missed a pretty good feedbag. Hey, I ate ribs and potato salad for breakfast Sunday!

"Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one."
Robert E. Lee