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20 Things They Don't Want You to Know
theodp writes "PC World spills the beans about a bunch of things technology companies would rather you didn't know, including the lowdown on exploiting Windows' bad security, unlocking cell phones, using an IPod to move music and useless specs." Nothing groundbreaking, but might be a good primer for the non-techie in your life.
"Know anyone who uses Windows Messenger as their instant messaging client? Me neither."
That's strange, because I don't know anyone who doesn't. Except for a new guy who uses Trillian, but he'll come around when he gets tired of fighting the firewall.
PC World seems to be in a kind of limbo. It's not technical enough for anyone serious about computers, and it's way over the head of anyone who isn't familiar with computers. I guess that makes it prime reading material for CIOs.
But seriously folks. I was at the bookstore the other day and picked up a Computer Shopper. When did this new thin format happen? What happened to 500 pages of advertisements?
I wonder why Slashdot never gets any links to Dr. Dobbs Journal.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
http://pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,ai d,122094,00.asp
BITTORRENT...! o_O
// bleh, 3rd post!
/ bet you were expecting something creative like Linux eh?
You mean my speakers can't sink 1,000 watts?!? The deuce you say!
I love the power ratings on speakers. If those numbers were half true, playing an MP3 would make the streetlights dim in time to the music. And all that power somehow coming from a little 500 mA wall-wart. Science, wonders, and miracles!
We all know this but I can't believe that PC World are actually saying it. They are one of the hardest sellers of extended warranties that I know. They once tried to sell me a warranty for a £10 mouse. IIRC the warranty was £15 but covered me for 3 years! No I don't shop there on a regular basis I just needed a mouse quickly.
As far as I can tell they make their money from running virus scanners on ill informed customers PC's. Their customer service is awful at best even when they are taking large sums of your money. I suppose that is the result of them being the only show in town. The last thing that really bugs me though is that they always have a security guard on the door.
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
They recommend buying things from Dell. For those who are already stuck with things from Dell it is possible to get replacement parts from third parties (even Dell laptop batteries) without having to spend hours on the phone.
every hacker or geek had to start somewhere -
maybe learning how to copy Ipod tunes to multiple computers is just what the Dr. ordered to start someone down the road to unlocking the next propritary file format -
RB
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ah honey, we're all resplendent - Bill Mallonee
Soylent Green is PEOPLE!
Your average user should not be doing that.
Where's the Kaboom?
There's supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kaboom.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I always wondered where they got this shit. The first time I encountered it, I literally did a double take. I was poking around computer speakers, I don't remember why, and I came across a little set of desktop speakers. Nothing remarkable except that they were rated to about 300watts.
Ok now WTF? As it happens, I own professional speakers. They are about 5 feet tall, dual bass drivers, 3-way, etc. Serious speakers in other words. I check on them and they are rated to 200 watts a peice. Sounds reasonable for their size, but would still be pushing it. I'm sure they could handle 200 watts of RMS power, but I really wouldn't want to try it.
So how the hell can these little speakers handle 300 watts? I mean I can't even figure out a peak computation that would figure it. So I find that it's "PMPO" power. I don't know what PMPO means, Peak Momentary Power Output I've heard but I think SWPOOA would be a better term, Shit We Pulled Out of Our Ass. It seems to have no relation to reality, purely somebody's fantasy.
For that matter I can't figure out why you'd want that kind of power out of computer speakers. I drive my speakers with a 150 watt amp, that's 75 watts per channel so a little less than half of what they are rated to take. It's overkill in the purest sense of the word. For normal, modern music I rarely drive them beyond 1 watt each. For classical dynamic music, maybe 5 watts. This drives it to nearly painful levels.
More power is useful in large venues but for computers, who the fuck cares? Speakers are right next to you.
20 things any geek worth his salt already knows
The submitter has an AOL address! What do you expect?!
I've found that printers typically only last a year, at most (I'm in college, so I use them alot). I've tried most brands (canon, HP, epson, lexmark) and not one of them have lasted over a year.
Finally I bit the bullet and got a 3 year extended warranty on an all-in-one, and couldn't be happier. Whenever that thing finally breaks (and it will be soon) I'll simply turn it in for a new one.
they're not gonna let that one out...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
i found the find-a-human section quite helpful:
https://www.quickbase.com/db/bam6rdiey?a=q&qid=5
You Can Get a Human on the Phone
Follow the directions at Paul English's Find-A-Human IVR Phone System Shortcuts site to reach a human operator at any of more than 60 cell phone, PC, and travel firms.
when i know i can find the info online, i won't bother. i need some help that an automated system can't provide or wastes too much time trying to get it to recgonize what i'm saying.
another winner i thought was:
Useless Specs: Digital Zoom
definitely the most useless spec i can't think of at the moment. it tricks unsuspecting buyers into believing their digicam has more 'zoom' than it really has.
HD Trailers
From the article:
"My PC's firewall, antivirus scanner, spyware remover, pop-up blocker, and spam filter all agree: Windows is sorely lacking in PC security. That situation may not change until Windows Vista (formerly Longhorn) comes out sometime next year."
Wonder if Vegas is giving any odds on this. Might be easy money.
nos laetus epulor qui would domito nos
I think part of the reason that the non-tec savy people stay non-tech savy is because they get so much conflicting bad information. Of course the DSL sales guy lies. He only knows enough about what he's selling to sell it. If he knew more, he wouldn't be selling it or installing it. He'd be doing something much more interesting. But regarding hard drives, I can't believe they are saying that the burst rate does not matter. With a 10 MB+ hard disk cache you better believe that a lot of the information you request is coming burst transfer from the cache. Sounds like they just ran out of good ideas for their list, but they are complete morons for making such an unsubstantiated claim.
Many spammers have taken advantage of "windows messenger" spamming by throwing packets at windows messenger in hopes that it will appear on the users' desktop. Disabling the messenger effectively eliminates this.
TFA states that your Windows Product Key being retrievable is a security risk. What??
Not to mention the fact that the author uses Windows to manage his passwords, which he cites as another of the software's "security risks". The only security risk in this situation is the article's author.
I'm amazed you even understood what s/he was talking about. I thought it was just a bunch of random words strung together to resemble sentences.
The average small to medium hi-fi loudspeaker tends to have an efficiency in the mid eighty-something dB/W. With something like 50 W of power, this is is quite sufficient for moderate volumes.
If you want something loud for the party cellar, look for something with 90 dB/W or better. This kind of efficiency is usually found in larger loudspeakers, which can also handle 100W RMS or more. I guess Handyman's speakers belong in that category and would do fine in the party cellar.
Big P.A. systems for rock concerts tend to have around 100 dB/W, combined with a few thousand watts of power. The resulting volume is quite impressive even in a large hall.
C - the footgun of programming languages
If you don't want to pay the ridiculous rates that cell phone companies charges for the luxury of putting .jpg/.png/.mid/.mp3/whatever on your cellphone, try out this site:
.mid files to my phone, it's way too much fun.
http://www.phoneuploader.stellernet.com/
I've spent the last couple hours uploading Mario
I'd add laptops to that list. I have had three of them, my first was a Toshiba which developed a broked LCD display (a month before the 1 year warranty expired) and a loose power connector (After warranty expired). The next one was an IBM laptop which I had for a loooooong time that also developed a broken LCD (After standard warranty expired but this time I bought an extended one). My current machine is a Powerbook which so far has gone through two defective LCD's (Factory flaw which Apple fixed without complaint) and an improperly re-assebled CD/DVD drive that assassinated a Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac disk (Original not pirate copy, also replaced without complaint by Apple although it was not a warranty issue). So does it pay to have an extended warranty? My opinion is a big fat YES but then perhaps I am phenominally unlucky with laptops. I am actually looking forward to finding out what will break down on the Intel-Mac PowerBook I am planning to buy as soon as they become available. One thing is for sure I will buy all the extra insurance for it that I can get.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
When shopping at Dell
always, and I mean always, remember to never actually buy your computer there.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
I build all my desktop machines with crap parts and no extended warranties, but laptops need the 3 year full service warranty.
What PC World doesn't want you to know, is that you can read articles how Tim intended by going straight for the printable version. I give you gold here.
I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.
Thank you. WHen I read the original post I felt like my dog must feel when he tilts his head sideways.
Just wanted to let you know that there are lots of site's on the internet that let you unlock your cell phone for FREE (especially Nokias). All you have to do is to enter the IMEI of your phone in some web form, plus some additional info. There's a list at:
http://www.yesss.at/index.php?id=W01
It worked great for 'a friend of mine', who had an older Nokia phone.
Not sure how legal it is to do this, after all you OWN the phone after you bought it, you are allowed to through it against a wall and destroy it, why shouldn't you be allowed to unlock it?
what language is the parent written in?
AccountKiller
Secret #576:
That if you switch to the printer friendly version of most websites you can read the full article without switching pages or having to go through tons of advertisements.
Insert Witty Remark Here ===>____________________________
Yet Another Translation, by a professional:
"Sometime Fibs are Good"
An example of a bad fib:
Marketing representatives often use fibs to misrepresent the speed of communications service. For example, while visiting a friend a few weeks ago, I heard a local DSL company's sales representative pitching his company's service. He began to explain the advantages of DSL over a dial-up connection, and in doing so he told a fib: he said that DSL is the same as having a leased line. I interrupted him and asked him for confirmation, using the standard acronym "LL" for "Leased Line" to make it clear that I wanted to know if he was suggesting that DSL and a Leased Line were equivalent. The marketing representative replied that DSL and Leased Lines were the same thing, which is patently untrue.
This example of a bad fib demonstrates the underhanded marketing tactics some sales representatives choose to employ. These fibs lead the customer further from the truth, in the hope that the customer will make an ill-informed and unwise purchase. This tactic is unwise, however, because customers will grow unhappy with their service once they learn the truth.
An example of a good fib:
Hardware salespeople, especially the owners of stores and technically oriented sales representatives, sometimes tell less harmful fibs. Once, a merchant was pitching a 2GB USB pen to an older woman who did not seem to understand much about storage space. The merchant, being at heart an honest man, did not want to give his client the impression that he was selling her a full two gigabytes of storage space, because that was untrue, despite the manufacturer's claims. So, he disclosed the truth by telling a small fib: he told her that some of the space on the USB device was already used by software needed by computers accessing the device.
Although the owner said did not fully explain the difference between the product advertisement and the truth, he did make an effort to show his client that the packaging was misleading and that the product would not fully live up to the expectations advertised. By telling a small fib, he avoided allowing a client to believe a larger lie or allowing her to become confused by technical jargon and unfamiliar concepts. In this case, the result of telling the fib was to bring the client closer to the truth so that she could make an informed purchase.
The probable cause of your problem is that you don't use your printer very much and it dries out/gets full of dust/gets dropped.
Most cheap all-in-ones are actually designed for low use SOHO owners, but a Canon LIDE series scanner, a cheap base model photo printer and a basic laser together are more capable, more reliable, and cheap to fix if something goes wrong (replacing one item is cheaper than buying the extended warranty on the all-in-one.)
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
From TFA: "You Too Can Exploit Windows' Bad Security
My PC's firewall, antivirus scanner, spyware remover, pop-up blocker, and spam filter all agree: Windows is sorely lacking in PC security. That situation may not change until Windows Vista (formerly Longhorn) comes out sometime next year. Meanwhile here are a few ways to turn Windows' poor security to your advantage."
As most people here already know, Microsoft does not focus on bug fixes in their new releases. Their primary focus is on new features. Sure, some of the old bugs may be gone -- but some new ones will be sure to pop up with the new functionality. Just because Longhorn is newer, that doesn't make it better or more secure.
In my personal opinion, Microsoft deliberately ships shoddy software so everyone will flock to the new releases. It's human nature to believe that "newer is better" but that is not always the case. It has proven to be a highly successful business model for M$.
I've got some Mod points, and if there was a "+1 What the fuck?" you'd get it.
When you overclock your cpu, its "lifetime" will be reduced.
Like most blanket statements, that one is incorrect. In some cases, the difference between two different speed CPUs is nothing more than on-chip jumpers and markings. If the manufacturer produces 1,000 CPUs and all 1,000 of them can run at the highest speed, they label some for a high speed, perhaps after testing to verify reliable operation, and then label others for the lower speeds. Besides, very few enthusiasts are trying to keep a CPU working for seven years, so even in those cases where there is some reduced lifetime, it's seldom a concern.
This one its true, but AFAIK the difference will be in the tests that the product has passed. That way they set the brand.
Seldom is that the case. A Lite-On DVD+-R/W drive sold under the Lite-On name undergoes the same tests as one sold under the Sony name, Hi-Val name, or any other name. Sony, Hi-Val, etc. could not remain price-competitive if they had different, more expensive testing procedures -- especially when Lite-On has already come up with tests that confirm that the drives are functional. Who would you expect to be able to devise a more effective test suite; the manufacturer who designed the product or some third-party reseller who rebrands the drive?
But in general the article is poor and somehow little useful.
Another untrue statement. Did you know Amazon's phone number for customer service? Did you know the shortcut to reach a human operator at the list of over 60 cell phone, PC, and travel firms? Did you know that Philips had a zero-dead-pixel guarantee? Did you have a utility to reveal a Windows XP license key? The article provided a lot of useful information. I knew much of it, but that doesn't mean that everyone knows everything in it.
This is stuff the average nerd already knows.
Some is and some is not. I don't believe you already knew Amazon's customer support phone number, that Philips has a zero-dead-pixel warranty, how to get to a human on 60+ companies' phone systems, and where to download a utility to reveal a Windows license key. You may have known some of what was in the article, but I'll bet that you didn't know it all.
Sure, the article was not a revelation with each and every paragraph, but it probably provided some useful information to most of the people on Slashdot who read it. I even found one of the linked utilities to be handy.
"Nothing groundbreaking, but might be a good primer for the non-techie in your life."
Cuz that's what I read slashdot for anyway, finding good primers for my non-techie friends to read.
MikeAtIF*ckStuffedAnimalsDotCom
"Your CPU May Be Much Faster Than You Think"
In related news, the resulting fires from morons trying to overclock their Dells can be seen from space!
This article is in the How-To section of the PCWorld site for some reason. They should write another article called 'How to paginate a 4 page article into 20 pages to maximize your ad revenue.'
Let's look at this from another perspective:
"I don't think any of us really choose our mailer. At work I use Compuserve because everyone else at work uses it. BUt I also use AOL, because my little sister is away at school, and she uses AOL. I hate AOL, but if I choose not to use AOL, I am only hurting myself because then I couldn't mail my sister.
The next logical Question- Why can't I get my sister to switch? All her friends use AOL. And so it goes."
If only there was some kind of simple message ttransport protocol that could communicate between servers, allowing the server type itself to be abstracted out of the equation. People on different ISPs could mail people on others! It'd be a miracle.
Why do we have the same problem we had with email in th 80s, now with IM clients? The Jabber protocol is designed to work just like SMTP was designed to allow messages between servers. Google's talk service is Jabber (mind you, their Jabber won't connect out to other Jabber servers, which is a pretty lame thing to do).
Personally, I'm looking into setting up a Jabber server on the same system that does my email/web stuff. When it's working, I'll begin to try and migrate people over (Kopete works with it just fine).
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
The talk manpage says that the talk command appeared in 4.2BSD, which was released in August, 1983, according to this history of BSD. Does Windows Messenger Service predate that?