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What Software Do Cable Installers Place on Your PC?
{e}N0S asks: "The cable guy came over to install a cable modem at my Dad's house. As I watched him do his stuff I noticed he was installing something called Broadjump Client Foundation. I know you don't need software for a cable modem to work so I asked if it was necessary. He said he had to do his list of things, and we had to sign that he did his list of things, otherwise he couldn't leave it with us to use. Since I can always remove the software, I agreed, but I noticed while he was flipping through the install, he was clicking 'agree' on every EULA that came up. Doing a search on Google for 'Broadjump Client Foundation' comes up with some pretty scary stuff as far as what it does, like: 'Builds a database of subscriber demographics and buying behaviors to help evolve and refine marketing efforts.' Now, how does this affect us? Neither myself or anyone in my family agreed to the software; the cable guy did. And is there anyway to get cable companies to stop doing this as I can imagine since the cable company is a monopoly in this town, that the percentage of people who still have this software on their computers is pretty high."
Most people don't know but bandwidth is limited by a firmware software update sent to your modem via the isp. A friend of mine is working on this problem to borrow more band from the isp. Also something that isn't known you can buy a cable modem and hook it up and get cable service for free. This worked on Comcast systems after the swtich from the @home service.
.. hot wife, he told me about a great deal they were having. I get a free webcam all hooked up for free. He was even kind enough to set it so it emailed pictures to his private email to so he can be sure everything is working fine.
I told him that my wife likes to walk around the house naked and he no problems with that either! What a great guy.
Hrm.. I sure wish he wouldn't have used a 2 inch auger bit to drill a hole in the side of my house though. It's getting a little nipply in here...
Live web cams
When the Comcast guys came over to my place to install the cable, there happened to be two of them -- one of them in training. The guy saw my TiBook and turning to the trainee said, "These are nice. With these kind, you just have to plug the modem in and plug it into the computer."
Trainee: "That's it?"
Cable Guy: "Yup. That's it."
Macs are not only great for the install, but they're obscure enough that there isn't any crappy marketroid software written for them!
</typical macintosh rant>
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