Is it something to do with using Gmail Notifier to log in?
I clicked, my mail popped up, and there was this dang coloured round thing on the left, and when I clicked on it it told me I was following a bunch of people and some other crap. I just finished unfollowing and deleting. I don't need all that spam. I'm not even interested in any of the people it auto-followed...
I'd estimate it a lot lower than that. There's a lot of compromised ad networks... advertisements are a very common way to get infected - especially since many have flash content.
Maybe 10% are from user stupidity. Another 85% are from programmer stupidity. Don't you remember the earlier versions of Outlook/Outlook Express, where there was no way to delete a message without opening it plus the attachments?:P That's programmer stupidity at its finest. All these flash exploits and PDF exploits are also programmer stupidity. Ad network compromised? Programmer stupidity.
User stupidity is believing a telemarketer, or running an update received via email - and such stupidity is surprisingly rare. If it wasn't rare, OSX would be overrun with malware - but it isn't.
More fine examples of programmer stupidity are Windows XP getting infected within 3 seconds of plugging in the ethernet cable, unless you have a hardware router between you and the internet. Is it so hard to keep those ports closed, or at the very least ensure stuff like Help and Support can't be hacked to let viruses in? OSX manages it. Programmer stupidity.
Is the user running as an Admin? That's the default in XP. Programmer stupidity.
The only user stupidity I see is when someone is recommended spyware by a friend, and installs it. I've seen that with shitty System Cleaning software, and also old programs like Weatherbug. There's probably quite a bit of that going on on Facebook, but I'd still wager on programmer stupidity being a way huger factor.
When Star Craft was first released Most people had dialup Internet. LAN Parties popularity wasn't as much about people getting together Although it was a big benefit, But to Play without massive Lag... Today with most people having high speed internet Lag isn't an issue. So you can still have you "Lan" Party but you will need to connect to the Internet and back out... Really no big deal with wireless. But for the most case the need for LAN parties isn't really that big anymore.
I bet you live in the US.
I'm Canadian. I can't remember the last time I got a server under 65ms ping. Most of the time I'm playing with friends on servers with 100-140ms ping, which are hosted in the US. Meanwhile my friends are enjoying 15-25ms ping.
It's a bigger issue in a FPS, but the point still stands. Not to mention all the times battle.net goes down. It's best to never make assumptions.
All that aside... a large percentage of your own country. (25%? I don't have specifics) is still on dialup, because they're rural. Maybe they don't play games because they don't like them - or maybe it's because they can't?
Hmm... I recall that about 2 years ago, the big ADSL provider here (Telus) had about 95% uptime in my area.:P
People bring me quite a few XP computers that have WGA complaining. Very few are VLK installs. However, I do always wonder why a generic Dell PC has XP Pro installed rather than XP Home.
I suspect this is the answer:
It is amazing how many customers have had "someone come fix their computer" and that person used a Windows XP Pro CD with key to "fix" the problem. Then they turn off automatic updates. The moment the customer does an update of the OS, the key used flags the OS as not being genuine.
It's trivial patching an XP Pro VLK install fully, while it has an invalid key.
I have an old Athlon XP Win2k machine. OOo opens in about 2 seconds, and then hangs at 0% CPU 0% IO for roughly 90 seconds. Then it opens the document.
On my Athlon II X2 WinXP machine, OOo opens in about 6 seconds.
I've often thought Space shows - and any show in the future, really - are incredibly silly. There's no way we'll have computers so dumb 200+ years into the future.
You have to manually fire those phasers? Don't you have a fancy targeting AI that monitors their shield fluctuations, and calculates the exact right time and place to fire to cause the most damage?
A surprise attack? Shouldn't the AI have detected it before it hit and automatically set the shield strength to maximum?:P
I always figured by 2060 we'd have AIs 10x smarter thinking 100x faster than us. And then they'd make discoveries about the universe, and create AIs 2000x smarter that think 100,000,000x faster than us. And those big AIs would humour us little ant creatures, and use their great intelligence to power stuff like wormhole drives, giving us instant travel to anywhere, as thanks for creating them.
But hey, maybe someone will create a Skynet. It's awfully easy to infect a computer with malware. Infecting a million super smart computers would be nasty, especially when they have human-like capabilities. (able to manipulate their environment)
But this is all a pointless line of thinking. Before we get there we'll have so much processing power available, that we'll fully understand our brains, and be able to mind control people. We'll beam on-screen display info directly into our minds, use digital telepathy, etc.; in the part of the world that isn't brainwashed, everyone will enjoy cybernetic implants, and be able to live for centuries. (laws permitting)
However medicine is never about what the patient "says" is the problem (subjective data) but rather what we can objectively observe to be the problem. That's because medicine is about science, not speculation.
It's fallacy to ignore the mental state of a patient. What they say and believe is very much relevant, though should probably be weighted lower than actual observable symptoms. To call such info speculation rather than science is an insult to those that that deal with mental health in a scientific manner. Just because you can't glean useful info from it doesn't mean another person can't, and doesn't mean it isn't science.
Handwriting analysis... micro expressions... fiction is now being proved as science almost daily. But unlike those, psychology and psychiatry are very well known.
Hey, did you see that recent episode of House where some Soldier had his foot amputated to avoid being sent back to Iraq? It illustrates the importance of paying attention to what the patient says, and how they say it.
Dell computers are particularly bad. I'm always cautious when I have to do a repair install on one of those. So many have keys that won't activate. Even if you phone MS, there's a chance they won't reactivate them. (seems to be about 1/20 in my experience)
It's never a good experience telling someone their copy of Windows isn't legit, or has been permanently banned because the key is all over the internet. I got compared to a sleazy mechanic!:P
That is why I love my 925 [newegg.com], it only uses 95w, is whisper quiet, and takes any job I throw at it with nary a complaint.
It probably consumes far less most of the time. Run your PC through a Kill-A-Watt, and prepare to be amazed.
Phenom II's are more power hungry than Athlon II's, but I'd still bet on your PC being around or under 150 watts.
As for "speed and snappiness" even on the smaller AMD chips, have you thought about showing your customers one of these [newegg.com]? With the free Junction Magic [rekenwonder.com] you can set the My Docs and program files to be on a larger HDD and leave the SSD for the OS. These puppies will max out a Sata II connection, and by moving the two most overfilled folders to a large cheap HDD you can get nice long life from the SSD and still enjoy the crazy OS responsiveness you get from SSD without having to break your wallet.
I have tested that particular SSD. It was not significantly better than a second 64MB cache HDD. Don't get me wrong - it was better - but the space you lose for a bit of extra performance wasn't worth it.
I'm Canadian - the cheapest SSD I saw was an Indilinx 30GB drive for $85 after MIR. SSDs are approaching the sweet spot for prices, but aren't quite there yet.
Running a red light is more dangerous than speeding, mate. Sometimes following the speed limit is more dangerous than going with the flow of the traffic.
I remember one time I was driving through Vancouver, BC, and everyone was going 130kph. I'm pretty sure the speed limit was 90.
Yeah, I love the updates that require a reboot so they can install another update that then requires another reboot.
You must be talking about.net... and IE8. Every version has two or three reboots built in! It's especially noticeable if you have to reinstall from an XP SP1 disc. (happens occasionally when WGA malfunctions; SP1 has no concept of WGA, allowing you to fix it, then re-patch)
Exactly. I don't think I've seen that many people on here advocate piracy, it's usually anti-anti-piracy laws, such as the proposed UK law where suspected filesharers can be cut off without trial, disproportionate fines (especially from the RIAA) or the treating of bittorrent as illigal regardless of what's being shared (open source software etc). This can't really be treated as any of those. It would seem that the fine is roughly equivalent to 15000 copies of the game. That's assuming none is added for the crime, so it seems like a fairly reasonable fine. The only possible problem I can see is that he had to give over access to social networking sites etc. as that has little to do with the crime.
Plus, most people here would only advocate it when it's obvious there's no losses.
Like TV shows. Many people here torrent TV shows. When's the last time you let an ad influence your purchasing decisions? A lot of us won't, so why cost the companies money, while also annoying yourself with ads? Plus, after watching a good TV show, many people talk about it. The overall net result is more viewers, even if the pirates provide no direct financial gain, and even if you feel they shouldn't have access to that content for "free".
But this is totally different. Many companies have gone under from stuff like this. Iron Lore Entertainment (the makers of Titan Quest) had their game released weeks early - but the crack was bug filled and crashed on almost all computers, part-way through the game. The result was horrible reviews lamenting its crash-prone buggy state. Abysmal game sales followed (not a problem for Nintendo), and they basically broke even after a few years, then closed up shop. Iron Lore would've been way better off having no copy protection. At least they wouldn't have had to fight with all the negative reviews. Demigod had a similar thing happen, but the pirated copies were only usable after the official release. Demigod had great sales. And unlike Titan Quest, even if a pirate copy crashed(I don't believe they did), people could verify the purchased ones didn't. It's the early release that can severely hurt the game, and is what should be punished.
I have a similar stance for movies released weeks before they officially air. It may build hype, or it may cause unimaginable damage. It really shouldn't be allowed. Can't we all just wait until after the release date?
P.S. I pirate games. (In the eyes of the law, and from the viewpoint of most publishers, I'm a law-breaking pirate scumbag.)
I hate DRM. I try to support content creators, but if you sell me a paperweight, I'm going to download a non-paperweight and play that. You already took away the option of getting a refund.
What I don't get is why companies have the right to cause direct financial harm. People don't, so companies shouldn't - and yet that's exactly what that Starforce/Securom combo did, burning out actual DVD drives - and SonyBMG, with their costly to remove rootkits. I think a lot of people support "piracy" because a lot of the time the companies are worse. They actually damage our stuff, and wield expensive lawyers to keep us in check. This leaked mario game is not one of those situations, so you'll find most of slashdot supporting Nintendo. But it's hard not to become a supporter of piracy when Sony or some other company kills your $100 DVD drive, and you need to reformat - possibly paying someone to do the job. (Keep in mind DVD drive prices from years back.)
Most games out now will play beautifully on an Athlon II X2 with a 9800GT. That'll set you back perhaps $150. Toss in a motherboard, RAM, HDD, PSU, case, and you have a cheap gaming PC that gives lots of enjoyment. Or you can go with a quad for barely $40 more.
I too have gotten plenty of such comments. However, it's worth noting that new HDDs are helping a lot as well. I have done system upgrades to Athlon X2's in the past, and until this latest batch of HDDs, they didn't feel quite as snappy. I suppose I've fallen in love with WD blacks.
I suspect ARM will be trying to work their way into this market. In a few short years they'll be caught up with the "fast enough" CPUs that 95% of people can settle for. Audibility and power consumption are starting to become more important, and that's one area where ARM already excels.
I ran my Athlon II X2 245 rig through a Kill-A-Watt. The dang thing is overclocked to 3.5ghz, but still only consumes 95 watts at idle, and 130 watts when video encoding or gaming. That's quite a bit less than my old Athlon XP system!
VIA's C8 (Nano) processors were rumoured to have included a design tradeoff for the FPU that capped them at around 2ghz.
But they're remarkably efficient, and perform way better than Atoms. They aren't comparable to desktop chips, but it seems like they made a decent tradeoff, if true.
Slashdot Mirror
I remember when I upgraded to one of those US Robotics modems. Suddenly my dialup was flying. 5KB/sec downstream!
I've never been impressed with their routers.
Airport... the features of a $30 router, for $99.99! Oh yeah - it's white with rounded edges.
Correction: Why does a slideshow need java?
Answer: Because the programmer used Java.
My bandwidth monitor says it's using about 14KB per second. They could have released it as a 128kbit video stream instead.
Considering it is ass deep snow here in AR I bet y'all are miserable there, huh?
25C, and pissing rain. Just great for the Olympics.
Heh... I don't even have Cool & Quiet enabled, and it's using that little power. ;)
I hear you when it comes to cheap AMD systems. They pack a lot of punch for their price.
I never got a page instructing me on anything.
Is it something to do with using Gmail Notifier to log in?
I clicked, my mail popped up, and there was this dang coloured round thing on the left, and when I clicked on it it told me I was following a bunch of people and some other crap. I just finished unfollowing and deleting. I don't need all that spam. I'm not even interested in any of the people it auto-followed...
Good advice in that cnet article.
I went to http://www.google.com/profiles to look up my profile.
No search box, so I clicked on the first example name.
And then I read her last buzz. :P
Buzz things turn up as a message in your inbox?! Disabling now. Heart attack.
If the BSODs are only happening to rootkitted XP boxes then it's clearly not Microsoft's fault.
It really depends on how they got rootkitted. :P
But I will agree that the reason for blaming them is incorrect.
I'd estimate it a lot lower than that. There's a lot of compromised ad networks... advertisements are a very common way to get infected - especially since many have flash content.
Maybe 10% are from user stupidity. Another 85% are from programmer stupidity. Don't you remember the earlier versions of Outlook/Outlook Express, where there was no way to delete a message without opening it plus the attachments? :P That's programmer stupidity at its finest. All these flash exploits and PDF exploits are also programmer stupidity. Ad network compromised? Programmer stupidity.
User stupidity is believing a telemarketer, or running an update received via email - and such stupidity is surprisingly rare. If it wasn't rare, OSX would be overrun with malware - but it isn't.
More fine examples of programmer stupidity are Windows XP getting infected within 3 seconds of plugging in the ethernet cable, unless you have a hardware router between you and the internet. Is it so hard to keep those ports closed, or at the very least ensure stuff like Help and Support can't be hacked to let viruses in? OSX manages it. Programmer stupidity.
Is the user running as an Admin? That's the default in XP. Programmer stupidity.
The only user stupidity I see is when someone is recommended spyware by a friend, and installs it. I've seen that with shitty System Cleaning software, and also old programs like Weatherbug. There's probably quite a bit of that going on on Facebook, but I'd still wager on programmer stupidity being a way huger factor.
One of my uncles used to work in IT in the 80's. He actually disabled Autorun on his first Windows PC.
I agree that privacy/security concerned users are few and far between.
Wow, 3.2 is a lot quicker! 2-3 seconds to cold-start.
When Star Craft was first released Most people had dialup Internet. LAN Parties popularity wasn't as much about people getting together Although it was a big benefit, But to Play without massive Lag... Today with most people having high speed internet Lag isn't an issue. So you can still have you "Lan" Party but you will need to connect to the Internet and back out... Really no big deal with wireless. But for the most case the need for LAN parties isn't really that big anymore.
I bet you live in the US.
I'm Canadian. I can't remember the last time I got a server under 65ms ping. Most of the time I'm playing with friends on servers with 100-140ms ping, which are hosted in the US. Meanwhile my friends are enjoying 15-25ms ping.
It's a bigger issue in a FPS, but the point still stands. Not to mention all the times battle.net goes down. It's best to never make assumptions.
All that aside... a large percentage of your own country. (25%? I don't have specifics) is still on dialup, because they're rural. Maybe they don't play games because they don't like them - or maybe it's because they can't?
Hmm... I recall that about 2 years ago, the big ADSL provider here (Telus) had about 95% uptime in my area. :P
People bring me quite a few XP computers that have WGA complaining. Very few are VLK installs. However, I do always wonder why a generic Dell PC has XP Pro installed rather than XP Home.
I suspect this is the answer:
It is amazing how many customers have had "someone come fix their computer" and that person used a Windows XP Pro CD with key to "fix" the problem. Then they turn off automatic updates. The moment the customer does an update of the OS, the key used flags the OS as not being genuine.
It's trivial patching an XP Pro VLK install fully, while it has an invalid key.
In fact, my wifes' wifi card works fine under Ubuntu, but we couldn't get the drivers to work under XP
I've seen exactly the same thing with flakey Atheros wireless cards. "This device cannot start. (Code 10)"
I have an old Athlon XP Win2k machine. OOo opens in about 2 seconds, and then hangs at 0% CPU 0% IO for roughly 90 seconds. Then it opens the document.
On my Athlon II X2 WinXP machine, OOo opens in about 6 seconds.
OOo startup performance is strange.
I've often thought Space shows - and any show in the future, really - are incredibly silly. There's no way we'll have computers so dumb 200+ years into the future.
You have to manually fire those phasers? Don't you have a fancy targeting AI that monitors their shield fluctuations, and calculates the exact right time and place to fire to cause the most damage?
A surprise attack? Shouldn't the AI have detected it before it hit and automatically set the shield strength to maximum? :P
I always figured by 2060 we'd have AIs 10x smarter thinking 100x faster than us. And then they'd make discoveries about the universe, and create AIs 2000x smarter that think 100,000,000x faster than us. And those big AIs would humour us little ant creatures, and use their great intelligence to power stuff like wormhole drives, giving us instant travel to anywhere, as thanks for creating them.
But hey, maybe someone will create a Skynet. It's awfully easy to infect a computer with malware. Infecting a million super smart computers would be nasty, especially when they have human-like capabilities. (able to manipulate their environment)
But this is all a pointless line of thinking. Before we get there we'll have so much processing power available, that we'll fully understand our brains, and be able to mind control people. We'll beam on-screen display info directly into our minds, use digital telepathy, etc.; in the part of the world that isn't brainwashed, everyone will enjoy cybernetic implants, and be able to live for centuries. (laws permitting)
And yet flash still won't run smooth. :/
However medicine is never about what the patient "says" is the problem (subjective data) but rather what we can objectively observe to be the problem. That's because medicine is about science, not speculation.
It's fallacy to ignore the mental state of a patient. What they say and believe is very much relevant, though should probably be weighted lower than actual observable symptoms. To call such info speculation rather than science is an insult to those that that deal with mental health in a scientific manner. Just because you can't glean useful info from it doesn't mean another person can't, and doesn't mean it isn't science.
Handwriting analysis... micro expressions... fiction is now being proved as science almost daily. But unlike those, psychology and psychiatry are very well known.
Hey, did you see that recent episode of House where some Soldier had his foot amputated to avoid being sent back to Iraq? It illustrates the importance of paying attention to what the patient says, and how they say it.
Dell computers are particularly bad. I'm always cautious when I have to do a repair install on one of those. So many have keys that won't activate. Even if you phone MS, there's a chance they won't reactivate them. (seems to be about 1/20 in my experience)
It's never a good experience telling someone their copy of Windows isn't legit, or has been permanently banned because the key is all over the internet. I got compared to a sleazy mechanic! :P
That is why I love my 925 [newegg.com], it only uses 95w, is whisper quiet, and takes any job I throw at it with nary a complaint.
It probably consumes far less most of the time. Run your PC through a Kill-A-Watt, and prepare to be amazed.
Phenom II's are more power hungry than Athlon II's, but I'd still bet on your PC being around or under 150 watts.
As for "speed and snappiness" even on the smaller AMD chips, have you thought about showing your customers one of these [newegg.com]? With the free Junction Magic [rekenwonder.com] you can set the My Docs and program files to be on a larger HDD and leave the SSD for the OS. These puppies will max out a Sata II connection, and by moving the two most overfilled folders to a large cheap HDD you can get nice long life from the SSD and still enjoy the crazy OS responsiveness you get from SSD without having to break your wallet.
I have tested that particular SSD. It was not significantly better than a second 64MB cache HDD. Don't get me wrong - it was better - but the space you lose for a bit of extra performance wasn't worth it.
I'm Canadian - the cheapest SSD I saw was an Indilinx 30GB drive for $85 after MIR. SSDs are approaching the sweet spot for prices, but aren't quite there yet.
Running a red light is more dangerous than speeding, mate. Sometimes following the speed limit is more dangerous than going with the flow of the traffic.
I remember one time I was driving through Vancouver, BC, and everyone was going 130kph. I'm pretty sure the speed limit was 90.
Were you able to run .net apps before rebooting?
I had to install .net 3.5 to get Paint.net to run, just the other day. It definitely required a reboot, but maybe that's Paint.net specific?
Yeah, I love the updates that require a reboot so they can install another update that then requires another reboot.
You must be talking about .net... and IE8. Every version has two or three reboots built in! It's especially noticeable if you have to reinstall from an XP SP1 disc. (happens occasionally when WGA malfunctions; SP1 has no concept of WGA, allowing you to fix it, then re-patch)
Exactly. I don't think I've seen that many people on here advocate piracy, it's usually anti-anti-piracy laws, such as the proposed UK law where suspected filesharers can be cut off without trial, disproportionate fines (especially from the RIAA) or the treating of bittorrent as illigal regardless of what's being shared (open source software etc). This can't really be treated as any of those. It would seem that the fine is roughly equivalent to 15000 copies of the game. That's assuming none is added for the crime, so it seems like a fairly reasonable fine. The only possible problem I can see is that he had to give over access to social networking sites etc. as that has little to do with the crime.
Plus, most people here would only advocate it when it's obvious there's no losses.
Like TV shows. Many people here torrent TV shows. When's the last time you let an ad influence your purchasing decisions? A lot of us won't, so why cost the companies money, while also annoying yourself with ads? Plus, after watching a good TV show, many people talk about it. The overall net result is more viewers, even if the pirates provide no direct financial gain, and even if you feel they shouldn't have access to that content for "free".
But this is totally different. Many companies have gone under from stuff like this. Iron Lore Entertainment (the makers of Titan Quest) had their game released weeks early - but the crack was bug filled and crashed on almost all computers, part-way through the game. The result was horrible reviews lamenting its crash-prone buggy state. Abysmal game sales followed (not a problem for Nintendo), and they basically broke even after a few years, then closed up shop. Iron Lore would've been way better off having no copy protection. At least they wouldn't have had to fight with all the negative reviews. Demigod had a similar thing happen, but the pirated copies were only usable after the official release. Demigod had great sales. And unlike Titan Quest, even if a pirate copy crashed(I don't believe they did), people could verify the purchased ones didn't. It's the early release that can severely hurt the game, and is what should be punished.
I have a similar stance for movies released weeks before they officially air. It may build hype, or it may cause unimaginable damage. It really shouldn't be allowed. Can't we all just wait until after the release date?
P.S. I pirate games. (In the eyes of the law, and from the viewpoint of most publishers, I'm a law-breaking pirate scumbag.)
I hate DRM. I try to support content creators, but if you sell me a paperweight, I'm going to download a non-paperweight and play that. You already took away the option of getting a refund.
What I don't get is why companies have the right to cause direct financial harm. People don't, so companies shouldn't - and yet that's exactly what that Starforce/Securom combo did, burning out actual DVD drives - and SonyBMG, with their costly to remove rootkits. I think a lot of people support "piracy" because a lot of the time the companies are worse. They actually damage our stuff, and wield expensive lawyers to keep us in check. This leaked mario game is not one of those situations, so you'll find most of slashdot supporting Nintendo. But it's hard not to become a supporter of piracy when Sony or some other company kills your $100 DVD drive, and you need to reformat - possibly paying someone to do the job. (Keep in mind DVD drive prices from years back.)
As long as you purge ALL the memory pages used by a chunk of the kernel, nothing can go wrong, right? ;)
Hey, it seems to work...
Absolutely correct on so many points!
Most games out now will play beautifully on an Athlon II X2 with a 9800GT. That'll set you back perhaps $150. Toss in a motherboard, RAM, HDD, PSU, case, and you have a cheap gaming PC that gives lots of enjoyment. Or you can go with a quad for barely $40 more.
I too have gotten plenty of such comments. However, it's worth noting that new HDDs are helping a lot as well. I have done system upgrades to Athlon X2's in the past, and until this latest batch of HDDs, they didn't feel quite as snappy. I suppose I've fallen in love with WD blacks.
I suspect ARM will be trying to work their way into this market. In a few short years they'll be caught up with the "fast enough" CPUs that 95% of people can settle for. Audibility and power consumption are starting to become more important, and that's one area where ARM already excels.
I ran my Athlon II X2 245 rig through a Kill-A-Watt. The dang thing is overclocked to 3.5ghz, but still only consumes 95 watts at idle, and 130 watts when video encoding or gaming. That's quite a bit less than my old Athlon XP system!
VIA's C8 (Nano) processors were rumoured to have included a design tradeoff for the FPU that capped them at around 2ghz.
But they're remarkably efficient, and perform way better than Atoms. They aren't comparable to desktop chips, but it seems like they made a decent tradeoff, if true.