Slashback: Picnic, Sperling, Quickliness

Slashback tonight with more on the Linux anniversary (thanks to the guys from C4 Solutions for the microfeast celebration, at which we did mention that it was the anniversary), Brian K. West and the Good Samaritan story, booting really really fast, and more.

Now where can we rent giant Tux costumes for such events? You've already seen Marc Merlin's report on the Big Event, but an Anonymous Brave Guy pointed out a piece over at the BBC about people's mostly-mushy feelings about the current 10-year Linux streak, noting that "It's worth reading just for the post on airlines from 'Lee, UK'. :-)" (Oldie-but-goodie, defined.)

And Totally_Tux writes: "LAN parties are generally associated with LAN gaming. The South Australian Linux group though recently held the Linux InstallFest 2001 that aimed at introducing Linux to new users by helping them install the OS onto their notebooks and desktop PCs and holding talks last Saturday. The InstallFest was also marked by a tenth birthday celebration to Linux's Tux persona on the 25th of August. This short article includes some shots from that day. Read about InstallFest 2001 here."

So you wanna make your box jump to life? Many readers were interested in General Software's slimmed-down, quick-booting experimental system; General's Steve Jones writes: "In order to accommodate the numerous requests for more information about the General Software Quick Boot Soyo Experiment, we've set-up a web page, and also an email alias for additional direct queries. The web page contains more details about the project, and a FAQ which the company would like to update based on inquiries to the email address."

Call Occam, ask him to bring his biggest razor. gh0ul writes: "Sheldon Sperling of the DOJ has sent out his own press release regarding last week's Report Security Problems, Face The Consequences story. Brian K. West's defence team has posted their own reply to Sheldon's release here ..."

To help you laugh through the tears: A nameless reader wants you to know that the "BBC's Radio 4 is repeating all 12 episodes from the two series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy originally broadcast in 1978 and 1980. Wednesdays, 5 September -- 21 November, 6.30pm UK time (17:30 UTC until 2001-10-28, then 18:30 UTC.) Listen here."

Comments

Re:Hitchiker's rebroadcasting

[4n0nym0u53 C0w4rd]

For fun, try downloading and installing the RealPlayer on a windows machine. The fun includes:

• Trying to find the link to the free basic RealPlayer on their web site. (this includes closing pop up windows trying to sell you the Plus version)
• submitting fake identification to avoid marketing spam during the install
• taking back the associated file extensions (even after indicating that you didn't want them associated to begin with)
• closing the "RealPlayer StartCenter" and removing it from the startup group (and dealing with the scary warnings in doing so)
• getting rid of the channels and other ad content on the player itself (note that not all crap can be removed)
• disabling "entertainment flashes"
• disabling the ability of streamed media to open your web browser (why the hell?)
• turning off upgrade notifications (for 30 days at least)
• disabling "product flashes"
• turning off the options that send usage data to RealNetworks and to the content provider
• disabling cookies

My god, all I want to do is watch and listen to streaming media. Remember when Real stood up to MS and they were the good guys? Now, they have more crap and bloat and privacy infringing garbage than anything MS has offered. It's just a media player dammit.

Don't even get me started on RealNetworks and Major League Baseball charging for network access to radio feeds. They are paid by the stations and now they expect fans to pay too... And their service sucks...

Of course, H2G2 is really cool...

Fixing Windows

[Spy Hunter]

Here's a tip for those using Windows (out of necessity, hopefully) that could cut down on the "I've gotta reinstall because its getting slow" syndrome. It decreases startup time, increases reliability, disables annoying registration reminders/update notifiers/misc. crap (such as RealPlayer), and generally makes your computing experience better.

Click Start->Run... and type in msconfig.exe. The "System Configuration Utility" will come up, allowing you to do all sorts of cool things to Windows. The most important is the "Startup" tab. Go there and look at the checkboxes. These allow you to selectively disable _all_ programs that get started when your computer starts (even those not shown in the Startup folder in the Start menu).

Even if you uncheck all the boxes (even the important-sounding ones such as scanRegistry or TaskMonitor), your computer will still start up and work fine. I've tried it. So go crazy! Uncheck anything having to do with RealPlayer, or anything that sounds suspicious. To find out what some of the more obscure programs do, try pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete and killing them selectively, then seeing if you notice the difference. Common ones are the on-screen displays for keyboards with Internet buttons, antivirus tray icons, software registration reminders, automatic Internet update checkers, RealPlayer, scanner software, and AOL/AIM tray icons. By only checking the things you want, you can eliminate useless crap and take control of what programs do to your system.

If you see something called WebHancer or SaveNow, UNCHECK its box with EXTREME PREJUDICE! These are evil spyware/forced advertising programs that are using your computer for their nefarious purposes.

If you do this for your parents, they will be forever grateful.

Another great way to "fix" Windows is Microsoft's TweakUI. If you are a computer geek running Windows and you don't have TweakUI, get it now! Its a great control panel applet that allows you to customize Windows features that you can't customize anywhere else. Get it from Microsoft (search their site, its available for all versions of Windows if you look hard enough, even though its not supported it works perfectly).