Hey Bill, I'll loan you my Windex

If you use XP you need to read Microsoft restricts online activation posted at ArsTechnica this past Friday. I say again; this is detrimental to the computers users of the world and it certainly does not promote Microsoft integrity either. The Redmond gang thinks it can create more profit by withholding critical updates from people that have intentional and unintentional pirated copies of their software. This is a circus maximus. Malware will run rampant through the Windows computing community. Hate that this has become such a travesty for Microsoft, but, let's see, who created the problem?

Don't you hope that the newer version of Windows (codename Longhorn), due to be released in 2006, is a better written product? Everyday that passes people are finding FreeBSD, Linux and other alternative operating systems. Want FreeBSD? Go to freebsd.org and download it. Not only is Linux SuSE 9.2 slick, the Office suite INCLUDED is pretty awesome. This is a free download too! Microsoft wants to inconvenience you further by making you telephone them? C'mon, even the baboon boardrooms can understand why this is a problem!

"A computer terminal is not some clunky old television with a typewriter in front of it. It is an interface where the mind and body can connect with the universe and move bits of it about."
-Douglas Adams

Alternative animal control and operating systems

The evil thing that lives in the garage is back. Yesterday, while gathering trash it could be heard growling. Am thinking about trying to contract that herd of possums that was seen turning over a car two blocks over as 'hitpossums' (genus opossumus clamsaucesicus berettamus). If they are related to the local opossumus germanicus austriabodicus that uses the front yard oak tree as a vacation home, the critter in the garage doesn't stand a chance. You just don't mess with a possum that sports a 'Mom' tattoo. Yes, Dr. John, I am off the pain medication.

Google's Gmail service is down! First time a problem has been encountered with this wonderful, dependable email client. After all, it is designed and maintained by humans so some type of failure is to be expected. It can't be that bad a problem because Thunderbird just downloaded my unread emails. Rock on, Google.

Oh well, guess I'll wander back to the kitchen and do late breakfast then get busy. Cloudy and overcast here, but the day can be bright in spite of dull weather. After work finishes it's popcorn and movie time! There's always front row center seats at the beach house. Congrats goes out to Mudslingr and Beagle for a successful Linux SuSE installation. FreeBSD is just around the corner!

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."
-Tolkein

Please use the comments and flame on, my Apple nazis

If Steve Jobs ever, from some unGodly reason, shows up at the beach house I will bitch slap him right off the veranda and then kick his sorry butt all the way to the street. Can I please get a break from all the talk about the iPod? People! People! People! At best, this is a good mid-fi device. There are several more manufacturers making superior devices and not asking as much money.

One thing about Apple you can say is that they continue along the same line as far as making mid-fi technology and asking too much money. Their computers are not bad if you don't mind pay exorbitant prices for 2 year old technology. If you want to spend too much money, buy an average "MP3" sound device and be tied to iTunes for your downloads, please rush out and purchase one of the silly things. And yes, Applenazis, a Macmini purchase is being considered. It will be easier for me to part you from your money if I know the Apple operating system which they ripped off from FreeBSD.

Just did a Google search for Zen vs. iPod and got 121,000 hits. The few articles I read favor the Zen because of easy usage, dependability and sound quality. The final word? Never did like apple pie and may swear it off permanently.

"The nice thing about egotists is that they don't talk about other people."
-Lucille S. Harper

To sleep, perchance to dream

End of the month finds me rambling most of the night. Thank goodness it's Friday - only two more days of work this week. In three weeks there will be a trip to the Key Christmas tree farm for a few days of well deserved rest. Be great to see some life long friends that I have missed.

My Linux/Unix brothers seem to like triple booting. Thank you. That machine is just about wrapped up and will be returned to its network in the morning. Now that it's working properly, mine is next. Going to wait a few days before starting this surgery, two drives will be added.

Time to rest. Stay casual.

"When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?' I said 'No, I made a few mistakes.'"
-Steven Wright

Top Fuel Machine

When a plan works, sheer delight overwhelms me. After some discussion, cursing of hardware, vudu incantations, and consideration of purchasing a fully automatic weapon a fellow tech and I have taken his machine to a new height. Red Dragon owns a Dual AMD CPU - Gigabyte motherboard, one gig of screaming fast RAM, 320 gigs of hard drive, extreme mojo Radeon video card, Audigy 2 Platinum sound card and all of this is encased in a kickass custom Antec case supermodified by the Dragon which has a light show that equals the Stone Mountain thingy.

After deciding to take the hard drive space to 320 gigs from 240 we started talking about what to do with the space. RD had W2K, XP and we downloaded Linux. Yep, that's right. Three different operating systems on one PC. This was a clean install. The drive was partitioned from the getgo. Nice to be involved in the rebuild of a "big block" PC. There are fans spinning and whirring everywhere. This thing develops so much air pressure it'll suck the butt right off the cat if it gets too close. RD humbly refers to it as his desktop machine.

While booting, a utility called GRUB lists the different operating systems and you pick the one you want to use. Windows 2000 is so stable and familiar it had to be included. XP Pro is the latest greatest Windows version so it was installed as well. Linux SuSE 9.1 is an easy to install and configure flavor of Linux that rocks! FYI, Linux backgrounds are prettier than Windows so it is the default OS. Lot of scientific type study went into this decision. Now we just have to find a way to do the FreeBSD thang, LOL.

Sometimes I really do love my work.

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."
-Ben Stein

Buffett, blenders, bananas and beasties

My garage looks like rabid pigs live in it. It smells. Efforts to gain an advantage on whatever lives out there keeping the area in disarray have been to no avail. While working on the door opener unit my brief glimpse of the mess was downright depressing. I NEEDED another refreshing beverage. The door still won't do the electrical up/down thing.

This year there will be cookouts, lan parties, general carousing, much Buffett celebration and casual lounging under the stars. MC may have had 'hammertime', but the beach house has 'hammocktime'. Does anyone know where some of those neat I Dream of Jeanie pants can be purchased? We are talking about using crushed rock and stone for the patio area and may even get the roof up this year. Shoot, the roofing stuff has been in the shed for two years.

Banana plants are needed. Yes, and let's get Mastodon Ears, why fool with the Elephant variety? How about some parrots and monkeys? Yes! And to balance things out a humongus walrus in honor of the Beatles!! We can name him GooGooGaJoob or Bob. Yes! Yes!! Exotic animals at the beach house! I like it! Bet Jacko would let go of that neverneverland giraffe for a paltry amount. Lord knows he's gonna' need some coinage. We can capture those garage pigs, roast them up Emeril style on the grill and have cajun ribs! BAM! Kick it up a notch! Oops, too much Barq's Root Beer. That sugar; it's a helluva' a drug...

Must go get coffee and check on the opossumus germanicus austriabodicus that is moving my garbage to the curb. What is he doing with my trashcan? Please wait, BRB. Oh yeah, that tattoo on his possum arm is definitely 'Mom'. Just verified that while wrestling the can away from him. Hiss, hiss to you too, Arnold!

"Now is the time for all good men to come to."
-Pogo

A tape deck is attacking and I can't get up

It feels like Jerry Lawler and George Foreman have spent the past three days and nights taking turns slamming me on the mat, punching my lights out, etc. Please, please, please don't buy tape drives for backups. After a check at several local retail businesses, it has been found that USB hard drives are less expensive than tape drives. These easy to install hard drives are a far more dependable way to preserve your valuable data. Easier to use too. Purchase a pair. That way you can always have a secure backup offsight in case of fire, theft, etc. Backing up data should be a law. Prayers will be appreciated.

One more item -> I support Free Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad Day.

"Fatigue makes cowards of us all."
-Vince Lombardi

The Gonzo Journalist has left the building

Hunter Thompson is dead. He took his life in the same way one of his heroes, Ernest Hemingway, did: Death by shotgun. Being a conservative it may suprise some of you that there are actually books at the beach house by Thompson. He made me laugh. The 'Fear and Loathing' movie was extremely strange and funny. Bill Murray was the lead in 'Where the Buffalo Roam', also a good movie based on Hunter's adventures, and Johnny Depp was Raoul Duke in 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. Most photos depicted him wearing a hat and smoking through a long cigarette holder and that theme is reflected in these two movies. Check the Rolling Stone archives.

His 'Hell's Angels' book from 1966 was written at the expense of a severe beating. Thompson was known for his liberal use of imagination and drug consumption. Not an author for the young and impressionable, but an extremely fun to read dude for those that can take all the drug hoopla and liberal rantings with a grain of salt. Thompson ran for sheriff in Pitkin County, Colorado, and lost by just a few votes after campaigning for drugs to be decriminalised and Aspen to be renamed Fat City. His Republican opponent had a crew cut, so Thompson shaved his head and often made mention of 'my long-haired opponent'.

Got a friend having a hard time? Be human, do the aid and abet thing.

"Is death the last sleep? No...it is the last and final awakening."
-Sir Walter Scott

Pass the spray starch, please

Red Dragon sent a link to a really kewl site. It's Vectorsite aka Greg Goebel/In The Public Domain. There's neat info on aircraft, space flight, computers, physics, etc. The Asimov Project is also really kewl. A nice easy to navigate page with a googol of stuff for yo' mind.

It's late, I'm tired and the ironing isn't done. Outta' here.

"My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint."
-Erma Bombeck

It walks, it talks, it slides on its belly like a penguin

Recently, there was a post here titled My name is Bill and I want you to have this copy of Mandrake. Microsoft's recent attitude about witholding security fixes thinking it will stop piracy just won't fly. Such action will only spread malware everywhere. This is bad on many levels. Looks like my opinion is shared. The girls and boys over at big blue are dropping a large chunk of change into the Linux realm. The article is at Information Week and the title is IBM Boosts Linux Desktop Efforts. The lead link about this was originally from BetaNews, but the Microsoft animated ad embedded in the middle of the article was so annoying I ditched it. Placed there on purpose? Who knows?

Ahhhh, Saturday morning. That means there's only two more afternoons to work this week. Must coffee up, collect my fuzzy thoughts and hit the techhelp boulevard for a while. Enjoy the weekend!

"If you build a better mousetrap, you will catch better mice."
-George Gobel

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