Comments, please

Why is it so hard for people to update and run antispyware programs? C'mon, really I want to know. Many hours of research have been dedicated to this horrible, horrible problem. Damn it all, why is it so difficult for someone to protect their computing environment from these evils? For years the beach house has been posting articles about taking care of business - updating and scanning your computer for malware. Spyware has been a VERY frequent topic here since the beginning. Spybot S&D, Ad-aware and Spywareblaster have been mentioned many times, yet people still fall victim to the supposed antispyware software that IS, yes IS spyware!

There are many links listed on this page and several colorful buttons that will help you download wonderful, free applications that prevent these creeps from invading your machine. Many hours have gone into building this site. So, I want to know. Why is it so hard for some seemingly intelligent folks to do the obvious and help everyone by protecting their computing environment? Way too many hours are spent on these problems at the beach house. There are other things that need doing, but removing spyware, reinstalling operating systems because of spyware malady, even formatting hard drives are devouring time.

Amazes me when Hamboni and Arnold, opossumus germanicus austriabodicus, get more email and comments than posts relevant to computing safety. Go figure...

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."
-Bertrand Russell

Kewl hardware tip and search function

Here's a solution for those that have overheating problems. It's a dime bracket that is utilized to attach a fan to a hard drive. Check it out over at Cheapbooks. Thanks goes out to CowboyNeal at Slashdot for finding this neat hardware utility. Bet this can be located on other devices with minor modification. David Tiberio came up with this neat idea and has given us a nice page with pictures and instructions. Very inventive and inexpensive.

Beagle and Mudslingr stopped by for a few minutes today and Beagle wowed me with the Local search function in Google. Had never tried it and she said she uses it all the time. Now I see why. What a handy tool to locate stuff in one's own backyard. Just type in something local that you are seeking (address, business, sports arena, school, etc.) and the town and state where it is located. It is pretty darn thorough. Looked up a business in Belmont that has an office in Boonevile and Google Local found both! Neat tool. Thanks Beagle!

"To a father waxing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter."
-Euripides (God blessed me with two!)

Needles n pins

Long day. It's so nice to know that Friday is just a few minutes away. Tomorrow's post will probably be late too. Rain and thunderstorms are predicted with a cooling trend headed this way late in the evening. My big fat butt has ripped out the stitching in one corner of the uber hammock, but my friend Gayle says she can have it repaired in the next week or two. Whew! Sometimes it's amazing what makes us panic. Hammock withdrawal is a horrible sight to behold.

"A man, Sir, should keep his friendships in constant repair."
-Samuel Johnson

Hope this is not too vague

Downloaded Microsoft Antispyware to two computers. Thanks Grasshoppa for the heads up and a great review over at SouthernPhried. It is a beta version so that means some bugs are possibly still being exterminated. Very easy to install and update, but please remember even though Microsoft tries to make it seem they aren't gleaning information from your machine this is not true. Don't believe it and don't trust them. If you run Spybot Search and Destroy on a regular basis then you've probably seen where many Microsoft programs are reporting in with lists of MRUs. MRU=most recently used files. Check out the Negligible List when Lavasoft's Ad-aware has finished a scan. Billy's gang is VERY interested in what you are doing. How about Word, Excel, Windows Media Player, Direct X, IE, even Paint and other Microsnoop goodies broadcasting info? They even want to know the last registry key accessed! Sorry, that's an invasion of privacy and absolutely none of their damned business! Ask me and I might even volunteer. Sneak around like some Osama worm and I will bow up. Back to the subject, this program (Microsnoop's Antispyware) has been around since the middle of February and no bruhaha has erupted. Another tool to add to an ever growing stash of weapons to combat the ass-inine spyware jerks although the Windows folks seem to be doing their share of poking around in OUR computers.

Have you updated Spybot S&D lately? How about Spywareblaster? You know the one that runs in the background from JavaCoolSoftware? Updated Ad-aware? They seem to update every DAY or so. Wait, have you even run the scans? No? Well some tech somewhere will part you from some of your money because of your neglect. People, these are high priorities in computer usage. If you don't do it, then don't bitch because YOU, yes YOU, screwed up your machine and need technical assistance. I know it's hard to prevent some malware, but we must make efforts and it's a good idea to let your congresspersons know you are unhappy with these thugs. Cast these creeps into live volcanoes, throw 'em to the sharks, Snidley Whiplash 'em to railroads, hell, feed 'em to the pigs! Society does not need such trash.

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
-Peter Finch as Howard Beale in Network (1976)

Moneypenny, is M in?

There's a new device sitting in front of me glowing red. It's kewl. When booting this machine my long complicated password doesn't have to be used. You just place your finger on the glowing red pad and the PC boots. It's Microsoft's Fingerprint Reader. Red Dragon picked it up at Sam's for under 50 bucks. You can have multiple users and it will work on those web sites that require passwords. Only downside is it requires XP.

Running an operating system other than XP? Take a look at the Targus Defcon Authenticator. It can be found all over the web for under $50.00. Most reviews are good and this unit has two USB ports. For some strange reason they leave XP Home out of their compatible operating system list . This is probably a typo mistake. But it will work with 98, 2000, XP Pro and even ME.

Several companies are making these devices and most of the major suppliers have them in stock. Some are wayyyy too pricy. My next experiment will be to see if the device works with Firefox. Probably won't. Doesn't really matter, the ease of installation and use just for signing on makes it a worthy device. Sorta' James Bond-ish.

"My apartment was robbed and everything was replaced with exact replicas...I told my roommate and he said 'Do I know you?'"
-Steven Wright

Merger, Skype, and Tishomingo

Clint Ecker says, "File this one under the 'stunned look of amazement' category." He's talking about Adobe acquiring Macromedia. If you are even into graphics and/or web development this has to make you wonder. Clint's article is at ArsTechnica. Let's hope Adobe doesn't get a case of Comcast-itis and slowly squeeze the life out of their best competition through absorption. Good article.

Anyone using Skype? This is a free service that is available for Windows, Linux and Mac users which let's you "phone" with your computer. Phone is the operative word here. You can actually phone someone's landline or cellphone for a FEE, so don't get too excited. Just wondered if any of the 100 million people that have downloaded this program visits with us. This is old technology with a new twist.

After a long week and weekend battling faulty a motherboard plus making a major change on the beach house network it will be nice to head to Tishomingo County for a few hours. Beautiful weather and a beautiful drive await. Nice day to ride in the Camino beast. If you need me today and can, Skype me on the cell. Later.

"If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it."
-W.C. Fields (shoulda' seen this while working on that motherboard)

Frag time at the beach house

Just now pronounced a machine dead. When it eats memory, a hard drive, a video card and the processor is so hot you can't touch it, replacement becomes necessity. Even a different processor warmed up quite nicely. It's an older PII PC and it had a great life. Now it has shed its cyber coil and is going to that cyberworld beyond. Glad it finally bellied up so I can quit thinking 'it's fixed now.' You win some, you lose some. Sorry KimW.

Upgraded my windows workstation. It's now XP-ing and has a 256m Nvidia graphics card. It's rock and roll time concerning Unreal 2004! C'mon LAN Party! There'll be a whole lotta' fraggin' going on! This machine ran the initial installation of Windows 2000 for a little over 3 years without any major problems. It has dual 1g processors, an Asus mobo, 1 gig of RAM, 10,000 spin SCSI hard drives, Audigy Platinum sound, 21 CRT, Logitech 5.1 speakers (8" sub!), DVDROM, DVD Burner, and is intergrated into the home theater system. Not the newest technology, but still has plenty of power.

Everyone have a casual Sunday.

"I am not the only person who uses his computer mainly for the purpose of
diddling with his computer."
-Dave Barry

Get the newest version of Firefox

This is the first Cybersouth post done with Linux SuSE 9.2. Blogger limits the tools that make for handy linking, italicizing, etc., but there's always HTML. Upgrading to version 9.2 helped me understand how to make the sound card work on this laptop. Now I have tunes in the background while chattering away. Nice.

Firefox, version 1.0.3, is now available. Highly recommend downloading this new version since there are major security patches included. The browser doesn't seem to have any apparent changes, but it's almost a gurantee we all need the security "fix." The spyware dungheads are working overtime to screw up our lives and that now includes Firefox. Also, AVG has an anti-virus flavor for Linux users. There are links in the list to the right.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
-Hunter Thompson (sound like the RIAA Nazis?)

Anonymous Apple Dude! We miss your comments.

Just think about a computer scenario in which Darth Jobs and the orchard gang would have control. Two year old technology at ridiculous prices? Nope. Give me Windows any day. Apple's idea of innovation is building a prettier case. At least, they were smart enough to steal FreeBSD and manipulate it into their current operating system - Alley Cat, Lion, Tiger, Feral, Panther, Garfield or whatever they call it today. Microsoft is forever striving to improve their products. They leave the case building to hardware people. Besides, the most popular selling software for an Apple is a Microsoft product! Office!

Come on Internet Explorer 7! Popunders are showing up in Firefox and spyware people aren't being exterminated quickly enough. To the live volcano with them, I say! Recently installed Linux SuSE 9.2 with the KDE interface on two machines (sweet!). KDE has a browser called Konqueror. It's a nice piece of software, but not the quickest player on the block. I haven't tried Opera, but some folks seem willing to pay for it. The free version has ads and that just plain sucks. Folks, if you know people in the spyware business, don't leave your doors unlocked. Thieves are easily tempted.

Have you Googled today? It's Leonardo Da Vinci's birthday and their banner has an appropriate theme. Just click on it and you'll find a world of links about this great scientist.

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."
-Mark Twain

New low for ISPs

After watching AOL for years and hearing horror stories about customer service my mind was made up that no one could be worse. WRONG! Try FortuneHiTech. HiTech my ass. Their tech is so low they'd have to look up to see a snake's belly. A client was transferring from these 'rocket scientists' to Comcast. I will not forgive Comcast for their butchering of TechTV and Brian Roberts (CEO) is a booger on the face of humanity, but their speed is awesome. They are having problems with the local fiber frame, but they will overcome. Ever since they pulled service from Tupelo and started handling it from Somewhere, Alabama, they've had problems. If you ever call and hateful Renee answers, hang up immediately. She may be Satan. Wait, back to Fortune LowTech.

After trying to remove their Family and Home Management software, it was apparent the only way this was leaving the computer was to call and get the "required" uninstall code and password since the account was not active (or format the hard drive). A phone call was made. Josh (who would not give his last name for fear that someone might call him at home - that's a real endorsement, huh?) informed us that no one was present that could provide the needed uninstall code, etc. He also said someone had called earlier with the same problem and he couldn't help them either. Seems there was no supervisor present that could take our call. Yeah, right! So, this computer sits there and ALL internet access is blocked due to this squirrelware provided by FortuneLowTech. Paul Orberson (CEO) should pay attention to the consuming public instead of counting his money. I've scoured the web and hit several links to find more about this problem. Seems they all lead to the same wimpy web site. Getting in touch with the BBB in Lexington, Kentucky, is a priority. This is where the lowtechs are based.

Stay away from these people. If you have service with them, God HELP you if you decide to terminate. These hedgehogs sure won't.


"To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice."
-Confucius
"To keep silent when we should protest, makes cowards of men."
-Abraham Lincoln

Patches? Not the 1962 Dickey Lee Song

Here we go again. BBC has news about more patches needed to protect your PC from the evil goons. One of these is even cross-platform (it affects more than the Windows operating systems). If you are running Internet Explorer, XP, 2000, 98, 2003 Exchange Server, 2003 Server, Works, Word, Messenger 6.2, etc., please read this brief, informative post.

Next time a Microsoft Nazi wants to raise hell with me because of my Firefox leanings, do yourself a favor - re-read the above linked article. On the same subject, please don't delete Internet Explorer just because you are using Firefox. You'll need IE. Besides, the association with AOHell makes Firefox suspect. The malware horses' butts are now working overtime to invade Firefox too. George Lucas has a movie coming out next month that is based on a similar theme; turning to the dark side.

And now for something completely different: What is the cheesiest song you've ever heard? Click on the comments line below, fill in some name (be creative), post your vote for cheesysong and then click the publish button. It's easy and fun. Go ahead, it won't hurt. No one is tracking you!

"Confronted with the choice, the American people would choose the policeman's truncheon over the anarchist's bomb."
-Spiro Agnew

Stones and spyware

Okay, in last night's post I ended by saying sleep is just a shot away. That's an old expression that has several different interpretations. It is part of a Rolling Stones song, Gimme Shelter. This is also the title of a documentary which can be purchased at Amazon.com. Lyrics to the song? Go to OldieLyrics. To continue, there's no death wish here and certainly not any drug use other than the prescribed HBP meds. Actually, I was thinking about a "shot" of bourbon. Even passed on that and slept like a baby. So please put your mind at rest and understand phraseology bears different meanings. But hey, I do appreciate the email!

PCWorld is a good magazine about things computerese and their online site is full of great info, downloads, reviews, etc. Click on the link and you'll see their list of favorite anti-spyware downloads. Of course, Ad-aware, Spybot S&D, and CWS Shredder are the top three. There are links in the list to all three. Merijn's CWS Shredder is COOLWWWSEARCH REMOVAL. I will add his properly titled link soon as well as one for Spywareblaster, a great spyware PREVENTION tool. Concerning Spybot S&D and Ad-aware, please remember to either schedule or manually update these programs and use them to scan your PC, at least, twice a week. Don't know how to schedule Spybot S&D? Email me. Want to schedule Ad-aware? Get off that hip pocket or purse and buy the full version. Scheduling is not available in the free download. But hey, it's easily done in manual mode.

"Real folks face the music, even when the song's not likeable."
-Billy Wobblynife

This is a short one

Living the Mamas n Papas Monday. Long day, and missed posting early. Sometimes brevity works n especially when the bed is not far away. One of my fav new sites is TupeloForums. Check it out. Maybe wake u up!

Sleep is just a shot away.


"You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane.
You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind."
-Beatles, I'm So Tired

Tomes are casual

Visited Google today? There's a book in the Title Bar. This is recognition of National Library Week. Saltillo and Tupelo are fortunate to be part of the Lee-Itawamba Library system. The main facility, on Madison street in Tupelo, is a beautiful building with many books, tomes, periodicals, etc. They have an excellent broadband computer network that is available to patrons. Jan Willis is the Director and Lin Joiner is the IT/IS for these great facilities. Cindy, Elizabeth, Charity, Brian and the rest of the crew make visiting these great halls of information a casual, easy experience. Check 'em out at Lee-Itawamba Public Libraries. Not from here? Check out your local library; good chance they are online!

"It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish."
S.I. Hayakawa

Gimme peaches n pears

Well, it's apparent iPod is a success. It''s amazing people will buy these midfi devices. Apple will make millions, maybe billions, even gadzillions on the replacement of batteries at $100.00+ a pop. Creative's Zen Xtra has a button you push to release the battery cover so the owner can easily perform this task. This device has much better sound than the iPod and will use any media platform. You can even put data on it.

Any company that increases its profits 260% in one year with a very mediocre product is screwing the public. Read about it at ArsTechnica. BTW, the ArsTechnica people like Apple it seems. Sorry, I just don't like overrated, overpriced computers using two year old technology. Their machines are nice enough, but let's tell the truth; a new Windows machine for half the price will devour an Apple.

Time for coffee. We are in for a beautiful weekend weatherwise. Just hope it stays quiet around the beach house. Beagle, Verdana, Mudslingr & Uncle Snake - enjoy your visit, have a great time and please be careful. Wish you were here or I wuz thar.

"Come on you boy child, you winner and loser, come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!"
-Pink Floyd

Fight back, damn it!

It's hard to believe that a stupid, evil individual shot a football coach at a Texas high school. Here's an article that will start you reading about this sad, sad occasion -> KTEN. Gather up these creeps and the creep kids that go to school killing innocent people and KILL them all. Let God sort it out. They don't deserve to live. Enough is enough. If you terrorize then you MUST be the recipient of severe consequences. These goons are in the same league as Osama and that bunch. What about it America? Will you let these agents of evil keep killing your children and families or will you stop taking this abuse?

"If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War."
-George Washington

Letters, we get letters

Got an interesting email from Memphis Mojo. Basically, he feels that my trying to gain over 3000 hits in the next 7 days will not be accomplished by whining about Netgear and their horrible support group. Know what? He's right. My apologies to all that visit. Exhaustion will make one do strange things. But hey, can I whine with the best of 'em or what!?!?

Why over 3000 hits in the next 7 days? On April 14th, Cybersouth - from the Saltillo Beach House will be 2 years old. This has been a great trip for me. The whole gamut of emotions are apparent here. Life is never dull or boring at the beach house. Even the flamers have been fun. In a weird, strange way it's sad that the Anonymous Apple Dude has not stopped by lately. Guess I'll have to blaspheme his god, Darth Jobs. Anyway, 60,000 hits in two years is a lot for a simple southern boy that just pokes fun at some things and gets downright angry concerning stupidity and evil. Yes, I do believe people involved in the spyware business stand a good chance to burn in hell.

It's always fun when Hamboni shows up. I know the curmudgeons take exception to sophmoric humor, but Hamboni receives more email here than anyone except Arnold. Arnold is never too far away. He's madly in love right now so his antics have subsided momentarily. He's okay for an opossumus germanicus austriabodicus. He'll, "be bahk." Hamboni is making noises in that big foot SCSI hard drive being used as a door stop that he calls home which means he's not too far away from taking over the network for a guest appearance.

Time to hit the dusty trail. Miles to go before I sleep.

"The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances."
Martha Washington (George was a lucky man)

Netgear really sucks

Problems with Netgear - they seem to not care (14 days, that's two weeks). Please buy Dlink or Linksys. Many days since I contacted Netgear and they do not respond.

"Sometimes you just tire of dealing with jerks."
-Billy Wobblynife

It was a stark and dormy night....

Ever have that desire to post something to the web, but don't want the hassle of learning HTML or developing a webpage or weblog? Boy howdy do I have a plan for you. There's a site looking for new members and affiliates that might be of interest. It's called SouthernPhried. You can submit articles or ideas here or over at Southernphried. There's no guarantee, but everything submitted is reviewed by phriedites. Casual bunch. Very eclectic bunch. Fun bunch.

Have a better than expected day unless you are in the spyware biz; then I hope you get VD.

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection."
Anais Nin

Tab browsing is kewl

It's Monday and that means only 7 more days to work this week! Hopefully, this will be a week of accomplishments. Just put together a new PC for my work bench and decided to download a different theme for Firefox. It looks like Gnome which is a variety of browser that shows up in opensource stuff like FreeBSD and Linux. Used the 'latest headlines' bookmark and opened it up in tabs. This is really a nifty feature. Try it. There's a button just below the links list for Firefox. BTW, there's an article at Techworld that may make you even more interested in alternative browsers.

"How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate, they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to."
-George Orwell, 1984

Take advantage of a rare opportunity, set those clocks ahead today!

Just read a well written article over at ArsTechnica. Ken "Caesar" Fisher tells of the enormous profit being reaped by the prerecorded DVD firms. The big money movie moguls are full of it. Losing money to piracy a dire and grave problem? Hah! While visiting here take a look around. This is a polished, well written website that stays on top of the latest issues. It has great depth and many tips and insights for Netizens.

Google has increased storage space for all us gmailers from 1 gig to 2 gigs. Take that you spyware infested Yahooers. It's said imitation is the greatest form of flattery so that prompts me to think that Yahoo will double their present storage space which is 1 gig. Now if we can just get Yahoo to imitate Google and NOT use dungware! Remember, 31% of Claria's profit is from Yahoo and these are the folks that bring you Satan malware such as Weatherbug, Weatherscope, Precision Time, Gator, Gain, etc. Sorry, excuse my rant. Back to the subject at hand. You can read about the storage increase at Computerworld.

During the past week several issues have arisen around the use of Netgear wireless routers. As mentioned in the previous post the techs at Dixie-Net have been a great boon in efforts to overcome problems with adding these devices to existing networks. Their expertise helped bring a network back online after several hours of frustratiing downtime. Part of the problem was some miscommunication with Bellsouth over telephone service, but Quinton and Eric sure helped us revive a Netgear router that lost its mind during the fiasco as well as resolving other problems. Thanks again guys! Nice people.

It has been 13 days since I contacted Netgear's support group about devices purchased less than a month ago. They have not answered. Since then I have written to the feedback on their site and even emailed their support asking that they just reply so I know that my numerous emails are not being ignored. Well, they are being ignored. After much research I finally have the email address of one of the Netgear board of directors and will send him copies of my unanswered communications if I do not get a response by tomorrow. Netgear came highly recommended and I actually use one of their wireless routers at the beach house. Sad to see them completely ignoring their customers. Hope they change. Meanwhile, you might look at the DLink or Linksys sites for networking and wireless equipment. Both of these companies respond to your needs and seem happy to help.

"The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual help. All therefore that need aid have a right to ask it from their fellow-men; and no one who has the power of granting can refuse it without guilt."
-Sir Walter Scott

Need a local ISP? Try Dixie-Net!

Started work at 3:20am yesterday and finished at 12:30 am today. Found out a LOT about Netgear routers and the dudes at Dixie-Net are the people that helped. Have had a support case at Netgear for 11 days now without a reply. They suck on support and I may publish the email interaction for those interested. Hey, love this product, but my support has not been good compared to my tech brother grasshoppa. He must have a firmer way to make them understand his dilemnas. Quinton and Eric at Dixie-Net absolutely rock. We had a major problem with a network and these guys hung in there and had manners helping me plus they have a great knowledge about hardware. They also speak excellent English. Nice to know that there are still good people out there willing to help. This client will keep believing in Dixie-Net from now on, as he should.

Tired and sleepy, must go rest now. Thanks again for great support Quinton and Eric!

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own."
-Benjamin Disraeli

Kewl site and chatter

Just a few shorts bursts:

Take a look at a kewl site ->TupeloForums

Cybersouth - from the Saltillo Beach House will be 2 years old on April the 14th. Please encourage everyone to visit. The hits are approaching 60,000. How's that for shameless begging?

Thinking about dropping the word Cybersouth and changing the name to Saltillo Beach House...any thoughts? Comments?

Hamboni is preparing a post and will be a "guest" soon.

Arnold was trying to use the grill the other night and a friend wanted to shoot him. Hey, they are smelly, nasty scavengers, but this one seems to have a manifest destiny. Besides, he stays out of site and keeps other critters away.

Have a casual day.

"A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."
-Aesop

Quality expensive? It's priceless...

On March 21, 2002, a computer was brought online that had been a dream of mine to create. It is still functioning and my favorite machine on the planet. It is in an Antec case, has an Asus CUV4X-D dual processor motherboard, two Intel Pentium III 1gig CPUs (slightly overclocked, LOL), 3 SCSI hard drives that spin at 10,000rpms, 1 gig of Memory (5.4ns), 128m Nvidia graphics card, Logitech wireless keyboard n mouse, 21" CRT, Logitech 5.1 surround speakers, dual layer DVD burner, DVD-ROM, Audigy Platinum internal sound which is linked to the home theater system, and other goodies. This is not the latest greatest technology and it is not as fast as the P4 machine, but it has been a stalwart on my network.

Why am I blowing? Read the date again. This machine has run for over 3 years on the original installation of Windows 2000! It has NEVER had a virus infection! That's not to say that they haven't tried to infect, but efforts to keep AVG up to date and DAILY scans have afforded not great protection, but super protection. The Spyware Wars continue and if my life takes me to a point that I meet anyone who works for CoolWebSearch I will go to jail for opening up a large can of whup ass. Anyway, through diligence and much research, evil goons that infect PCs with their malware have not been successful in bringing this machine down.

You can run Norton's if you like, you can bow before XP voodoo, you can go buy a cheap computer, you can download the Yahoo Toolbar and chance spyware, you can ignore Windows Updates, you can let Ad-aware and Spybot S&D go for weeks without updating, and you can brag about crap like AOL, Apple and the rest. Let me know when you have 3 years of positive computing with equipment that works. Peace out...

"It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary."
-Sir Winston Churchill

Backup

You finally purchased a DVD burner and have found that making archival copies of your precious DVDs is not possible through the software that came with your unit. You've heard the clamor being made by the goons at RIAA and MPAA, but still choose to think that your purchases were made with your hard earned money and they belong to you, not them. Okay here's a way to back up yo stuff. It is best to have some form of Nero software and then go download DVDShrink at MrBass.org. You click on the word mirror in the first paragraph at the top to download the program. Put this page in my favorites or bookmark it. You will refer back to it most likely since the tutorial about how to use the software is excellent. Don't deviate, follow the directions. There are screenshots of how the program looks at different stages. After gaining this neat piece of software go back to MrBass.org and look around. You may want DVDDecrypter.

Legal? Who knows? Morally right or wrong? Hey, they are my DVDs and I am NOT selling any copies whatsoever. Just wanted to store the originals. I will have to buy my third copy of The Matrix very soon. Wish these things were a bit tougher. By no means am I encouraging piracy. Any opinions? Anyone with knowledge as to the actual legal ramifications of backing up your stuff? On the old The Screensavers show back when TechTV existed, Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose talked about the early incarnations of these very programs so it can't be that bad. Also, DVD recorders are wonderful when it comes to backing up precious data that resides on your computer.

"If it wasn't backed-up, then it wasn't important."
—System Administrator's motto.

Peter Cottontail is casual

It is Easter and I hope that all the kids get to participate in egg hunts. Yes, I know this celebration is also a pagan ritual, but did you have a Christmas tree this past season? Okay, shut up about pagan rituals. Nothing wrong with fun, especially when it comes to children. You discuss your beliefs with Almighty God and I'll do the same. He'll sort it out.

How is the actual date of Easter determined? Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon on or after March 21. The moon was absolutely beautiful the past few nights. Today is rainy, overcast and a bit chilly for a spring day, yet it's great to be alive and in Mississippi.

While on the subject of rabbits n such one of my favorite movies has to be mentioned, Harvey. This is one of Jimmy Stewart's best, made in 1950. It is timeless and a hoot to watch. Elwood P. Dowd is most casual.

Please remember the true reason we celebrate this day. Prayer helps. Remember our troops, loved ones, and the suffering. Gratitude and forgiveness might do ya some good too.

"1 cross + 3 nails = 4 given""
-Easter Math

Go ahead Melinda, read the quote first

Techno advice of the day -> don't install Linux SuSE 9.2 on a 200mmx CPU machine. It'll run, but it's slow. As usual, my ability to make a soundcard work in any flavor of Linux has failed miserably. This one has a legacy ISA Soundblaster CT1350 and most any operating system will see this old, reliable pumper of tunes, bells and whistles. But me? Installing it on Linux? Nope! Using 192megs of 72pin ECC RAM on this machine and have decided it is an excellent platform for a new FreeBSD install. Anyway, just a geek having fun between chores on a lazy Saturday. Peace out!

"There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them!"
-Richard P. Feynman

What's your favorite color?

A new site, which is a great example of what a blog can become, has been found. Go check out GeekBlue. While looking around for goodies to include in the next Home Theater project this site was discovered. They review all types of equipment. Very neat, concise stuff. Did you know that there is a cordless phone that has a range of 30 miles? How about a universal remote control that requires no batteries? Read about these neat items at this site.

Have you ever wanted a Bible that includes different versions? Try BlueLetterBible. Really nice site that is tuned to those of us that believe in God. Just put it in my Firefox Bookmarks Toolbar. This even has the Vulgate and it's in Latin! Suprise! Suprise! Sargent Carter!

Time to work on the El Camino beast. Enjoy Good Friday if you are off today and if working, protest!

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "wowwww!"
-Jack Kerouac

Books n' Browsing

Checked out the Firefox crew website recommendations and found a great online book site -> Bartleby.com. Fiction, non-fiction, reference or verse are the major categories and it is open to the public. There are ads, but they are not too annoying. Just read a bit from Einstein's Relativity and found the navigation to be easy enough.

Want more info about Internet Explorer 7? How about from the horse's mouth? Go to Microsoft. This is an interview with Mike Nash, a corporate security voodoo priest of some sort. Sorry Mike, you need to get that mojo working if you think the recent XP SP2 (Service Pack 2) is the bomb. The popup killer is downright smelly. Opt for the Google Toolbar folks. It does a better job killing popups.

Everyone (except terrorists including spyware cretins and their families) have a better than expected day!

"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."
-Buddha

Web Browsers

Mozilla has released Firefox 1.0.2. This is a nice browser that does not have the inherent security problems of Internet Explorer. It is opensource software, but please remember this product is developed by Netscape people and they work for AOL. Do not completely trust anything that is AOL related. In the meantime, go ahead and download Firefox and enjoy the world of browsing the web without spyware and popups invading your privacy ever few minutes. Some popunders have begun to show up on rare occasions while using Firefox, but the malware monkeys and buffoons have not become major players in this arena yet. They are too busy trying to screw up your computer through Internet Explorer. Please remember, do not delete Internet Explorer. You need it. Hopefully, Internet Explorer 7 will be a great improvement over the current version. Don't know about IE7? Read about it at Anne's Weblog about Markup and Style or Microsoft Watch.

"If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger."
-Frank Lloyd Wright, concerning Technology

Few items FYI

Several things are in the air this morning. Rain and wind are prevelant and everyone is hoping the twisters don't show up. That time of year. Hope everyone enjoyed the first day of Spring.

The Calendar project is coming along. The ability to post across a network has been refined with one minor glitch. The resident server calendar has to be refreshed after every entry. There has to be a way to overcome this problem. I've two workstations posting to the server and this is the only major obstacle not overcome. Great utility for businesses that have active schedules.

If you want to try your hand at software manipulation go to Sunbird and download the Calendar. Then you can Google search for related sites or contact the beach house crew for any info we have gathered. Remember, the whole concept is to develop a network calendar that is static on the server (or a designated workstation on a peer to peer network) which can be posted to by various workstations automatically updating with each post.

Has anyone had a problem with Nero 6.6 latching their PC momentarily? I was offered an upgrade from the software just installed a month or so ago and took advantage of it. Nero 6.6 is the problem because after it was uninstalled all devices returned to a normal working state. My new DVD burner and old DVDROM are much happier with the older version. Hep me!

Grasshoppa has a great article about Jump Drives at SouthernPhried. He's a neat phreak and decided to clean the drive...just go read the article, it's kewl. There are many good articles in the archives and the resident techs are beginning to make posts on a regular basis once again. Please understand, if you post here with a problem I'll help if possible. Usually that means talking to one or more of the phriedites for help. Just click on comments at either site and fire away!

Yes Robin, I still have the Elvis birthplace pictures. They'll be posted soon. Yes, I am trying to get a picture of Arnold. Remember, they are nocturnal animals and I think Arnold is off somewhere courting. He was seen early yesterday and there were two wobbling figures headed towards the woods; just a 'hunka hunka burning possum love'. Yeppers, Spring is in the air.

"The difference between a gun and a tree is a difference of tempo. The tree explodes every spring."
-Ezra Pound

Need for speed and a super buy

LAN party people beware! Over the weekend a new PC was built from scratch by a local techtype and myself. The new build utilized an Abit motherboard that has the Nvidia chipset, the NF7-S. PC Clinics has a great review. Abit has a sterling reputation and was a favorite of all the uber techs at the old San Francisco based The Screensavers show, which is now gone forever due to the monkeys at Comcast management. The drive was set up SATA with a really kewl interface, and everything posted when the candle was lit.

After some tweaking everything responded smoothly and the speed was that of light! The AMD Barton CPU, Western Digital 7200rpm - 8megs o' buffer hard drive, with this mobo makes a great combination. The software for the onboard devices (impressive 5.1 Dolby sound, NIC, etc) installed without a glitch. You put all this in an Antec server tower with a clear side panel and it makes for an awesome looking machine. Hats off to all these manufacturers. Glad to see Western Digital making a quality product again and overcoming a period of poor quality control.

Speaking of Western Digital, how about the best buy ever on a hard drive? It's at Circuit City. This is a 250gig IDE, SATA, 7200rpm, 8meg data buffer Western Digital drive for $79.99 after a $100.00 mail in rebate!!! The reviews have people raving about the speed. This has to be the most capacity for the least money ever offered. You better get them quick. Thanks Red Dragon for the most excellent heads up and enjoy the new uber gaming machine.

"640 K ought to be enough for anybody."
-Bill Gates, 1984 (LMAO)

Spring is in the air and my fat butt is on the floor

Lazy Sunday afternoons are hard to beat. First thing I did this morning after making coffee was peel an onion and leave it on the cutting board. Slowly but surely, step by step, inch by inch my kitchen and bathroom are being scrubbed. Good way to celebrate the spring equinox. Highly recommend the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponges to do tough jobs. These things are awesome. They come in two packs. Don't let them kid you, they can be rinsed and used several times before discarding. Great on kitchen cabinets, floors, tubs, grills, and so forth. Beagle turned me on to them. Props to ya!

Weather just doesn't get much better than today. People are out walking their dogs; I can hear the kids that live behind me playing on a trampoline. Makes me smile. Okay, that onion that I put out earlier is now diced and mixed with garlic and chopped peppers. It's on the stove and needs attention. Ahhhh, pasta. Such a weakness. Later.

"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch."
-James A. Beard

Casual Calendar Project

The beach house gang is working on a project and we aren't too proud to solicit help. Mozilla has an e-calendar called Sunbird and we are trying to use it over a local network for small businesses and residents with more than one computer. Haven't you ever wanted to sync your desktop and laptop with your daily schedule, agenda, conquest, etc.? Don't let this scare you. If you are interested in learning a bit about networking, opensource, local file sharing, Firefox, Thunderbird, Mozilla, etc., this may be a good way to get those feet wet.

We realize that a WebDAV server can be used, but would like to keep this on a local network level. Here's another pertinent gem -> Sunbird 0.2 sharing. Thank you Matt Hawley for a great informative article. The whole purpose of this effort is to post to a centrally located calendar/schedule from several different workstations so everyone can see the daily schedule progressing or digressing. There are many applications out there that suffice, but the expense is usually a considerable amount. Anyone have viable alternatives? We need applied applications because this thing has been googled to death. Please contact thru email or comments if you are interested in being a part of this development group. Several local clients are involved and will advise as far as content desired. The alpha test will be done on the beach house network. A good time will be had by all.

Since the shameless mode is prevelant this morning let me solicit more help. Cybersouth - from the Saltillo Beach House will be two years old April 14, 2005. Everyone is encouraged to visit often and tell your friends, family, etc., to stop by as well. So close to that 60,000 mark and very little time to make it. By chance, we may find something really hot like bashing the spyware jerks with 'fixes'. Might even call up that cyberjinn Hamboni from his resident bigfoot scsi hard drive acting as a door stop to see if he will do battle with the local possum horde that is taking over the neighborhood. Let me just say that this has been an absolute hoot and your responses have been awesome. Even the anonymous Apple dude flaming has been fun in a weird sorta' way.

"Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life."
-Pythagoras

New twist on the Memphis salute

Arnold is mad. He's really sullen because of the new garbage receptacle the county recently left at each home in the neighborhood. Awakened last night at 2:30am, I went outside to see what was making an awful thumping racket. There was Arnold running into the side of the huge, green bin. After standing on the end of the veranda watching him for several minutes he finally turned around and noticed me. He paused, looked to be in deep thought for a moment, then hissed loudly and made a profane gesture as he scurried by in his wobbling possum gate. He climbed the wisteria vine and disappeared into the top of the oak. More possum noises could be heard and at one time he leaned over the branch that is now his vacation home and pointed towards the 'Mom' tattoo on his arm. Hence, a quandary.

Do I tell the trash collection guys about his rage against the bin? After all, since Arnold showed up the neighborhood dogs and cats have stopped coming around to use the yard for, well, you know. Dead animal carcasses have been found in the neighborhood and there was that rumor of the Italian variety of possums, opossumus clamsaucesicus berettamus, trying to turn over a Ford Escort two streets over. Someone said they had mistaken it for a dumpster. For years the trash collection people have destroyed several cans purchased with my hard earned money and they laughed (I've watched through the window) as they bounced them across the yard. Yet, it worries me about not warning them. Will this make me an accomplice in some possum rebellion? Hope not, after all Arnold just showed up and there's no way a person can be asked to control an opossumus germanicus austriabodicus. Especially one that gives you the finger as it wobbles by...

"We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities."
-Pogo

Alban Eiler draws near

The weather will be pleasant today and chilly. The roaring winds we have had for the past few weeks seem to have subsided. Nice day to celebrate the life and legend of Saint Patrick. Somewhere someone is drinking green beer and thinking it's a traditional Irish thing, yet the Irish originally closed pubs on Saint Patrick's Day in honor of this holiday with religious significance. Want to know more about Ireland and other Celtic spots on the planet? Try the Celtic Attic. This is a rich site full of info and they have some pretty neat merchandise for sale. Check it out.

Alban Eiler? Go here and here.

"May you have the hindsight to know where you've been
the foresight to know where you're going
and the insight to know when you're going too far."
-Irish Blessing

St. Paddy's Eve is upon us

Very slow news morning techwise. Usually, Slashdot has a large list of news items as does ArsTechnica, but the tech world was not newsworthy overnight. There's an article about a virus writer getting prison time for his stupidity at PCWorld. The punishment is not harsh enough. Why not start rounding up the jerks that deal in spyware and prosecuting them? Maybe save the taxpayers money and throw them into live volcanoes?

Time to hit the bench and finish projects. Please remember, Weatherbug is NOT our friend.

"You cannot play the game of life with sweaty palms."
-Dr. Phil (Phillip C. McGraw)
EDIT: Celtic Woman will air tonight at 10:00PM CST on local PBS. The troup will also appear on the NBC Today show tomorrow morning.

Juggling, whining and browsing

After wrestling with an Apple eMac up the steps of the beach house late yesterday and practically diving to keep from dropping it, the backache was required. After a feeble attempt to make rounds this morning the pain hit me so hard I nearly lost control while driving. Picked up a hard drive and immediately returned home to Flexiril. That stuff is awful but it's pure heaven when hurting. Do they line those Apples with lead or something? So if anyone didn't get a call please forgive me. Business should return to normal tomorrow.

There's a new button at the bottom of the link list. It's Firefox. This really nice browser has been available for some time now and has great features. I use it with the Noia Extreme skin, Adblock and Bandwidth Tester extensions. A few popunders have shown up, but all in all it's a good experience. Do NOT put Internet Explorer away and please don't uninstall it. You need it. Please remember that Firefox is a Mozilla Project and therefore backed by Netscape engineers who are AOL people. NEVER trust anything completely that has the name AOL in it or on it. The spyware problem is not apparent in Firefox and their popup killer is pretty darn good. Let me know what you think.

"You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation...and that is called loving. Well, then, love your suffering. Do not resist it, do not flee from it. It is your aversion that hurts, nothing else."
-Hesse

Soprano voices, violins and a fish head or two...

The Celtic Woman special was delayed for 44 minutes last night due to the broadcast of a state high school basketball tournament. PBS has a way of completely destroying a schedule and the clods that are in charge seem to live for the moment they can delay or reschedule a program. They also have this inane talent for worrying the hell out of you begging for money when they air good programming. When PBS started scrambling their satellite signal (the name is PUBLIC broadcasting, right?) back in the 80s my contributions stopped. Besides, when that cable bill hits every month they receive funding.

Celtic Woman will be broadcast again Wednesday night. It will be watched at the beach house for the third time. Since Thursday is St. Paddy's Day it stands to reason they would make this program available during a prime time slot on Wednesday or Thursday. Nope, it's on the schedule for 10:00PM Wednesday unless it is pre-empted by the state fish cleaning championship or a kitten petting contest. There are many Irish-Americans and descendants of the Irish that live throughout the nation. Many of us reside in Mississippi.

Ireland has given us great artists through the years; i.e. - James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, the Chieftains, U2, Cranberries, Richard Harris, Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, etc. Now they have assembled some of the most tremendous talent on the planet in a spectacular show and it's available for viewing. C'mon PBS, what gives? Prejudice against the Irish? Had a bad turbulence experience while flying Aer Lingus? This should be in prime time so everyone can view it. Children usually retire early and they can reap great benefits from such programming. Get your heads outta there and view the Celtic moon. Let us listen to these Gaelic nightingales at a decent hour!

Now I must go fishing. Later, while I practice cleaning (for the state contest) kittens will show up to be petted. Nothing like a good catfish head to attract the felines.

"A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart."
-Jonathan Swift

Pain in the back and lower + good music!

Since my ability to ambulate was literally reduced to a crawl yesterday posting was late even though the actual writing finished in the morning; literally passed out without hitting the button. Sometimes my hurry to get out the door will delay it, then it's remembered and launched from a remote site. Anytime Flexiril becomes involved fading in and out is usually not an option, but a way of life. Hate that stuff in a way yet it does make the back feel better. Feels good to be sitting and able to fetch coffee without all the whiny boy drama. It's gonna' be an awesome day!

Neal Boortz is fed up with Jacko's shenanigans. Showing up in court wearing pajama bottoms is just plain stupid. No one could find him a pair of pants? I know we are a nation of laws and that justice is almost mythical, but let's have a bit of respect. Neal says he should be incarcerated since he came dressed to spend the night. Jacko grows weirder by the minute. This is a circus and he's the star clown. The press loves it.

For those interested - the music special, Celtic Woman, that I raved about last Sunday will be rebroadcast on local PBS stations Saturday night at 10:00PM CST.

"Justice without force is powerless, force without justice is tyrannical."
-Blaise Pascal

Star Wars Nerds Unite!

Tonight on Fox 7-8PM CST, some program called The OC will air the first showing of the new trailer for Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith. If you'd like to see the trailer that aired in theaters back in November it can be found here. There's a funny parody on the net, but please beware that they have toilet humor in it. Could have left it out IMHO. It's so silly it's funny. Check it out -> A Lost Hope. Another good Star Wars site is The Force.net. You can also take a test to see if you would make a good Darth Vader. Please pay attention when answering the question about a Twinkie and a kitten.

Aching my back is...may the flexiril be with me. Later.

"R2D2, you know better than to trust a strange computer."
-C3PO

OS era is closing

Enjoy Windows 2000? I do. Straightforward operating system that uses a nominal amount of resources and just keeps on giving. Before all the XPNazis start up, let it be said I have no problem with XP except that the authentication code sucks. If I buy software, it becomes my property. Therefore, if I put it on my personal machines that's my business. Well, XP just isn't a true purchase. Very conditional. It also requires mucho memory. Both of these operating systems are based on the NT5 kernel and have many things in common. My experience in the field finds Windows 2000 very stable compared to XP Home. Yes, XP Pro is worth the extra money. A really important part of owning a machine running XP is to be sure and let it do the updates. Also, run good spyware and virus protection. And please defragment at least once a month.

The machine being used to post this will have run the same install of Windows 2000 for three years sometime next month. At the same time, my laptop has run XP for two years without any major problems. It also dual boots into Linux SuSE. Anyway, Microsoft has pulled the automatic update capability from their Windows Update site for Windows 2000. Updates are still supported, but you have to check periodically. This is "writing on the wall." Microsoft is doing everything possible to force XP on all of us. So get ready to bow down before the Gates machine or start looking into alternatives like FreeBSD or Linux.

If you feel the need to flame click on comments and have at it.

"As long as they are going to steal it [software], we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."
-Bill Gates

A chilly Tuesday, but the sun is shining!

Circuit City survived a buyout attempt. Informative, brief article at CNETNews about it. Good company that has faltered as far as customer service in the past few months. Hopefully, the recent shake up in upper management will make for positive change. Always liked the local CC and have several friends working there, but two of my clients that went there, recently, to buy on my recommendation were unhappy. Matter of further investigation.

Bills to increase minimum wage were defeated yesterday. There's some controversy about it. Lardass Ted Kennedy was one sponsor and is now busy whining to his liberal cohorts. Others sem to disagree with 'his fatness'. Read about it at FoxNews. Flame on my democratic friends (both of you); you can post to the comments.

ArsTechnica has a really neat guide/introduction to Apple's OS X for those of you that are thinking Macmini. Was researching how to install a printer on an eMac and ran across this well written article -> A mini-guide to Mac OS X. For the non-applers, Mac OS X is the operating system that runs on later model Apple computers. It is infamous due to being a rip off of an opensource flavor of Unix, FreeBSD, and the fact that their equal to Windows Critical Updates cost the orchard folks about $100.00 or so. Before the AppleNazis start reporting to Darth Jobs that I am trashing the product please remember you can't get blood out of a turnip...or apple for that matter. Besides, I am giving positive info about this two year old way overpriced technology (evil grin n all that). Okay, they are not bad computers aside from the aforementioned.

"If you can't earn more than the minimum wage, you have no business having children. Develop some job skills first, then work on developing an embryo."
-Neal Boortz

Today's forecast called for pain

It was stormy Monday all day. It rained, seems everything I touched went from tarfu to fubar. Now it's late and I am so looking forward to Tuesday. Just checked email and the news for the first time today . Wednesday will be Dan Rather's final broadcast and I hope he stays in retirement. Liberals suck.

Watching the old black and white version of Cleopatra with Claudette Colbert. Sleep is not too far off. Good evening and have a pleasant tomorrow.

"There's small choice in rotten apples."
-Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew. Act i. Sc. 1.

An early St. Patrick's Day gift

Sometimes treasures show up at the most unexpected times. When 7:00PM rolled around last night it was time to sleep. Upon awakening in the middle of the night the TV was on PBS and a show called Celtic Woman had just begun. A few songs later I heard a moving rendition of Danny Boy. This is possibly the best this song has ever been done. After seeing everyone in the audience singing along in silence I knew this had to be recorded in Ireland. Yep, Dublin. Of course there was the normal hounding for money as is often seen on "socialist" TV, but what followed was a sheer delight to the eye and the ear.

Five Irish women combined their talents to fill my soul with great joy. Four sang and one played violin. ALL are lookers and it's really hard to say which one is the most talented. A grand orchestra and choir accompany. They are directed by composer David Downes. This is on your local PBS station this month. Don't miss it. Stay through the money solicitations too. They interview each of the women during these intermissions. Two redheads and three blondes that are nightingales. Meav, Mairead, Lisa, Orla and Chloe are their names. Chloe is only 15!

Whenever Mairead plays the violin pay attention. This gorgeous child is a former All-Ireland fiddle champion and has accompanied Van Morrison. LOTR fans, their cover of May It Be is wonderful. They had only five weeks to prepare for this concert, but the harmonies sound as if they'd been singing together all their lives. If you like music and the female voice then tune in, sit back, turn the volume up and indulge in rich, vibrant tunes. Let your spirit soar. Take a look at CelticWomanShow for a photo of these beautiful women. They appear left to right in the order listed above.

"The most beautiful music of all is the music of what happens."
-Irish proverb

That's not a worm in that Apple, it's a snake!

Martha's home. They'll strap the bracelet on her for five months starting Monday. Until then she can wander around the mansion grounds, pet the horses, pick lemons and such. Wow, how will she ever make 5 days a week restricted to the mansion and for a whole five months!?!? Hey, at the beach house that'd be called a vacation! Read about it at the Chicago Daily Herald.

Let's see, have I ever mentioned that Steve Jobs and Apple suck? Read about it at CNETNews.

"Did you know that the Church of Satan uses Apple computers? 'Nuff said."
-Billy Wobblynife (Wonder if Jobs attends regularly?)

War of routers, I stand corrected

Does anyone have any experience with Netgear wireless routers (WGR614)? What gives? Did they take the Linksys wireless routers as example and decide to build just the opposite as far as friendly configuration? Linksys is straightforward, the instructions match the device, and they are easy to configure. Belkin also makes a straightforward wireless router as does DLink. Since I've seen Netgear in action and noticed the huge difference in range, three units have been purchased. Up almost all night, twisted it every way but loose and about damned disgusted. The addy is listed as one thing on the router label, then it's something different in the instructions. These may have to go back on the shelf and be replaced with Linksys units.

Just hope their techs speak English. I WILL talk to them. If I get some pidgin English jerk reading from a script, it will be return counter time. Sheesh!
Edit: Earlier today a post was made asking that the Netgear people forgive me for my impatience. It didn't make the trip up to the site so I am again saying -> my lack of sleep and frustration made for statements that are not correct. Netgear emailed me with solutions and the router situation is much better. Being human, it is necessary for me to apologize. I am sorry, Netgear rocks! Thanks Sam for the info and the stuff works! Please excuse my idiotic attitude.

"The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do."
Skinner, Burrhus Frederic

"Tech" help

"Allo, my name is Bahboo, how can I help you?"

"My Hewlett Packard Pavilion 2001 won't let me connect to the internet when it is plugged into a battery backup unit."

"For I am most sorry you are having this problem with your Dell, when and where did you make your purchase?"

"It's not a Dell, it's a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion 2001. Have I reached the Dell service center by mistake?"

"Oh, no, no, no sahib. You are talking to the Hewlett Packard service center and I must say to you we are award winning. Now how can I help you with your Dell?"

"It's not a Dell, anyway, it just won't connect to the internet while plugged into the battery backup."

"Have you tried swapping the mouse and keyboard cables?"

"No, why would I do that?"

"I have no idea why you did that. Excuse me now, my elephant is double parked and I must go. Good luck with your Dell."

Ever had this experience? Chances are, you will.

"A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
Proverbs 25:11

Does the Queen run XP Home or XP Pro?

Billy Gates is keeping pretty good company. He received an honorary knighthood from the Queen of England. He will join the ranks of such notables as Reverend Billy Graham, former President George Herbert Bush, Steven Spielberg and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani. Wonder if she keeps track of the crown jewels with Microsoft Excel or Access? Is she an IE or Firefox person? My money says Firefox. Read about it at BBC News.

The jerks at iDownload have been told to kiss off by at least one web entity that received a cease and desist notice that specified they did not want to be called spyware. Hey, iDownload you are not only spyware, but malware, dungware and a bunch of goobers that need to be thrown off the planet. What's next? Will we legalize Nazism? Bring back witch burning? The fact that spyware cretins exist as businesses is a horror! Read about it at CastleCops.

Two phone calls have been received this morning and the day is growing longer. Must go find my casual suit and wear it. Peace out.

"Look, it's my duty as a knight to sample as much peril as I can."
-Monty Python and the Holy Grail

IMHO = In my humble opinion

Don't you just hate it when someone has a pertinent piece of news and in order to view it you have to sign up and join in, exposing your net identity to yet another list that is possibly going to be used by nefarious types? A good friend sent an article about the aging of Windows and MacIntosh operating systems that was informative though not always precise. It was from Yahoo, a known bed of spyware. Claria, the dungheads (IMHO) that bring you Gator, Weatherbug, Precision Time and other spyware, adware, malware laced drivel (IMHO), proudly proclaims on their homepage that 31% of their income is generated by Yahoo. So, IMHO, Yahoo is a cyberwhore that is constantly trying to infect your PC with malware. Folks, IMHO, these people are evil!

While reading the article it was discovered that the Washington Post originated the story and they require a subscription. Okay, exactly why does the Washington Post want info about me? Yes, I do have several anonymous web "ids" and could use one of those. Do you? If you don't go over to the Yahoo and create several without giving them any real information and don't check ANY boxes. IMHO, they deserve the extra load. As a matter of fact go ahead and create 5 or 10. Screw Yahoo and the Washington Post...IMHO of course.

You can go to the DenverPost.com and read a good article about computer security. If you are easily frightened please take your anti-anxiety meds before reading this expose, especially if you are one of those people that never update anything, anytime, anywhere. Thanks to Slashdot for the heads up on a very informative article from a source (Denver Post) that is proud to let one browse their daily journalistic ventures.

Spyware is a Netizen's worst enemy. Please understand, that's IMHO.

"Live so that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip."
-Will Rogers