6) Replace MS MediaPlayer with Media Player Classic.
Or use VLC. It's 10 times better unless you need to play Windows Media files, which, to be fair, you should almost never need to do.
I don't know why people keep recommending VLC. It's a pretty bad interface compared to MPC, it shows videos rather jerkily on my system with videos that play just fine in MPC. It crashes a LOT (I just tried the latest version after your recommendation - the first video I tried it on crashed. That wasn't the only video I tried it on.) If it works for you, great, but my own personal experience trumps random advice from strangers.:)
Sadly, the mention that someone (else?) pointed out about the security vulnerability and abandoned status of MPC will drive me to something else. I'll probably just boot into Ubuntu that much more often once I get that fully configured to my taste. KDE 4 is starting to sound kind of tasty, too, so I may give that a shot and see what's what.
.NET is not known for making systems unstable... not to mention you actually need.NET to run.NET apps.
Feel free to not follow my advice. I'm actually okay with that. Not running.NET apps is not a problem for me.
And IE7 is "okay" from a security perspective (and I think that's where you were aiming with your diatribe). It is even more secure under Vista, where it runs with low privileges.
If that's your only problem with IE, you're obviously not a web developer. Plus, this entire discussion is about using versions of Windows older than Vista.
And finally, anti-virus only robs performance and increases security only marginally. It causes far more damage by providing a false sense of hope.
Riiight. Sure, robbing performance IS a problem with crappy antivirus software. That's why I recommended Kaspersky. Among the best rates of virus detection in the reviews I've seen, plus a good configuration winds up with negligible system impact. If you're going to be running something other than Linux, you're a FOOL for not running an antivirus package.
1) If existing OS: run complete antivirus scan and clean existing install, fix everything. Then run a GOOD antivirus scanner (I like Kaspersky), and do it right.
2) Format system disk.
#2 makes #1 completely redundant, doesn't it?
#2 says 'system disk' - #1 has no such condition.
Office isn't half bad.
Depends on which half you're talking about. I'm talking about the bad half. That's the half that's bad.
While on the topic, if you're considering Linux, but are scared about the interface differences of learning OpenOffice, and the option is upgrading to Office 2007 on your Windows box, then the easier interface migration will be to Linux with OpenOffice, because Office 2007 is WAAAY more different than OpenOffice. I give MS kudos for finally having the balls to change the Office UI, but a smack on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper for messing it up so badly. I thought the idea was to move the most frequently used bits into the ribbon bar, not the least-likely. Guess I was wrong on that one. *sigh*
I'm not a fan of.Net apps myself because I look on it as "lazy programing" (that's a separate discussion). However, you install it and it just sits there out of the way until you try to run a.Net app that requires it.
That's a nice theory, but I've found my systems to work better without it installed. Personal experience trumps official party line for me. *shrug*
1) If existing OS: run complete antivirus scan and clean existing install, fix everything. Then run a GOOD antivirus scanner (I like Kaspersky), and do it right.
6) Replace MS MediaPlayer with Media Player Classic.
7) Do not install any further MS software
8) Ever.
9) Seriously, not ever.
10) It's not that hard, and will very rarely crash.
11) Oh yeah, don't install too many Adobe apps, either, and keep as much crap from auto-starting as possible (Adobe gamma, Adobe Reader starter, etc.).
12) Don't use Internet Explorer (any version - the people who tell you IE7 is 'okay' are idiots).
Put some hardware in between your machine and the Internet at large. Being behind even a simple NAT box will help enormously.
>So.... this tells me two things... first, that the government cannot force you to give up your PGP passphrase.... but possibly more important, the government (currently) cannot break PGP encryptopn.
Hmmm....
Well the government of Vermont can't at least.
It was a Federal judge.
It was also probably not worth bothering the NSA with. I wouldn't take this to mean much of anything about how quickly the Feds can crack PGP.
You will never have more books than a real library, so why try?
Well, now THAT's a defeatest attitude!
I've found that while I don't have as many books as a real library, I do have more individual sci-fi/fantasy titles than many major libraries. What with no repeats, and genre specialization, you can actually compete. Keep the dream alive!
This is a tidal system being changed, so we have to look at the other things effected by the tidal system, like, the Moon. This will certainly slow down the Moon's orbit around the Earth. Now, what will THAT change? First to my mind is: women's menstruation cycles. It will make it take longer between periods, which is a good thing for sure, but on the other hand, it may also lengthen how long she's experiencing it, which is really, really bad. Not sure whether this falls in the pro or con category.
Other things: werewolves. Obviously, same deal as menstruation - less frequent, possibly for longer periods (so to speak). I'd invest in the silver industry, you could probably make a tidy profit on this! I won't make the joke about women being related to werewolves (cuz, you know, they get 'bitchy' at that time), because that would just be obvious and tacky, and this IS Slashdot.
I'm pretty sure vampires are not effected by the Moon, so that's good, though this will not help prevent Dick Cheney attacks, so that's actually disappointing.
As with other clean power production technologies, the animal rights activists will find a way to claim it hurts migratory birds, and I'm sure to some extent that will be true, though they'll likely be harmed a lot less by this than by the pollution produced by conventional power production.
With fewer waves hitting the shoes, less sediment will be drawn into the ocean, so they'll be a bit more sparkly-clean looking, which is good, but there's probably some stuff in there that some ocean creature feeds on, so they'll starve, so that'll be bad.
Most likely a net positive because of the reduced pollution thing, I'm guessing.
What's even worse is that MS removed the * hack from IE6 that people were using to 'rebuild' IE6 to be more standards-compliant. Talk about a slap in the face! Yeesh.
I've not checked to see how Dean's IE7 js thing works with the real IE7 - does it still work?
Close. It now supports full alpha transparency in 24-bit PNGs. IE6 hsupports a transparent index colour in 8-bit PNGs. Too bad IE7 also messes up the palette in those fancy 24-bit PNGs, though.:(
Perl is readable to those that know Perl. I know Perl and I find idiomatic Perl readable.
I think it more accurate to say that Perl code is readable to the person that wrote that particular piece of code. Since there are a million and one ways to do anything in Perl (and this is considered a 'strength'), then when another Perl hacker comes along and can't understand what the previous Perl hacker did, they rewrite the whole thing the way they know how to do it. That doesn't meet my definition of 'readable.'
There are also people who consider religion to be something that you don't joke about, because it's a sensitive subject to other people. It's called empathy.
A "proven theory" is the closest thing science has EVER come to "fact" (good scientists don't believe in "facts", because everything has at least SOME chance of being false).
Ah, but you forgot the one true scientific fact: Rock attained perfection in 1974!
I'm of the opinion that nothing matters as much as implementing a multithreaded UI, to avoid the whole-browser lockups that happen with some Flash-intensive pages. I've given up hoping, though. It seems that something that should've been architected in from the beginning has been left so late that it's likely much too hard to implement now.:(
First, the car must have wheels, power, and a way to go and stop. THEN you can figure out where to add the fuzzy dice and ground effect lighting.
Slashdot Mirror
6) Replace MS MediaPlayer with Media Player Classic.
:)
Or use VLC. It's 10 times better unless you need to play Windows Media files, which, to be fair, you should almost never need to do.
I don't know why people keep recommending VLC. It's a pretty bad interface compared to MPC, it shows videos rather jerkily on my system with videos that play just fine in MPC. It crashes a LOT (I just tried the latest version after your recommendation - the first video I tried it on crashed. That wasn't the only video I tried it on.) If it works for you, great, but my own personal experience trumps random advice from strangers.
Sadly, the mention that someone (else?) pointed out about the security vulnerability and abandoned status of MPC will drive me to something else. I'll probably just boot into Ubuntu that much more often once I get that fully configured to my taste. KDE 4 is starting to sound kind of tasty, too, so I may give that a shot and see what's what.
.NET is not known for making systems unstable... not to mention you actually need .NET to run .NET apps.
.NET apps is not a problem for me.
Feel free to not follow my advice. I'm actually okay with that. Not running
And IE7 is "okay" from a security perspective (and I think that's where you were aiming with your diatribe). It is even more secure under Vista, where it runs with low privileges.
If that's your only problem with IE, you're obviously not a web developer. Plus, this entire discussion is about using versions of Windows older than Vista.
And finally, anti-virus only robs performance and increases security only marginally. It causes far more damage by providing a false sense of hope.
Riiight. Sure, robbing performance IS a problem with crappy antivirus software. That's why I recommended Kaspersky. Among the best rates of virus detection in the reviews I've seen, plus a good configuration winds up with negligible system impact. If you're going to be running something other than Linux, you're a FOOL for not running an antivirus package.
1) If existing OS: run complete antivirus scan and clean existing install, fix everything. Then run a GOOD antivirus scanner (I like Kaspersky), and do it right.
2) Format system disk.
#2 makes #1 completely redundant, doesn't it?
#2 says 'system disk' - #1 has no such condition.
Office isn't half bad.
Depends on which half you're talking about. I'm talking about the bad half. That's the half that's bad.
While on the topic, if you're considering Linux, but are scared about the interface differences of learning OpenOffice, and the option is upgrading to Office 2007 on your Windows box, then the easier interface migration will be to Linux with OpenOffice, because Office 2007 is WAAAY more different than OpenOffice. I give MS kudos for finally having the balls to change the Office UI, but a smack on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper for messing it up so badly. I thought the idea was to move the most frequently used bits into the ribbon bar, not the least-likely. Guess I was wrong on that one. *sigh*
What is wrong with .Net?
.Net apps myself because I look on it as "lazy programing" (that's a separate discussion). However, you install it and it just sits there out of the way until you try to run a .Net app that requires it.
I'm not a fan of
That's a nice theory, but I've found my systems to work better without it installed. Personal experience trumps official party line for me. *shrug*
1) If existing OS: run complete antivirus scan and clean existing install, fix everything. Then run a GOOD antivirus scanner (I like Kaspersky), and do it right.
.Net
2) Format system disk.
3) Install new MS OS (Win2K or better)
4) Install all updates EXCEPT:
5) Remove unnecessary schmutz (unneeded services, drivers, games, etc.)
6) Replace MS MediaPlayer with Media Player Classic.
7) Do not install any further MS software
8) Ever.
9) Seriously, not ever.
10) It's not that hard, and will very rarely crash.
11) Oh yeah, don't install too many Adobe apps, either, and keep as much crap from auto-starting as possible (Adobe gamma, Adobe Reader starter, etc.).
12) Don't use Internet Explorer (any version - the people who tell you IE7 is 'okay' are idiots).
Put some hardware in between your machine and the Internet at large. Being behind even a simple NAT box will help enormously.
Enjoy.
>So.... this tells me two things... first, that the government cannot force you to give up your PGP passphrase.... but possibly more important, the government (currently) cannot break PGP encryptopn.
Hmmm....
Well the government of Vermont can't at least.
It was a Federal judge.
It was also probably not worth bothering the NSA with. I wouldn't take this to mean much of anything about how quickly the Feds can crack PGP.
Heretic! Burn him! W3C is the holy trinity of W's - all of their specifications are godsends by definition.
Maybe so, but I suspect the god that sent them was Cthulu.
But I couldn't find any info on nested tables.
Why would you need to? They just WORK. *sigh*
You will never have more books than a real library, so why try?
Well, now THAT's a defeatest attitude!
I've found that while I don't have as many books as a real library, I do have more individual sci-fi/fantasy titles than many major libraries. What with no repeats, and genre specialization, you can actually compete. Keep the dream alive!
This is a tidal system being changed, so we have to look at the other things effected by the tidal system, like, the Moon. This will certainly slow down the Moon's orbit around the Earth. Now, what will THAT change? First to my mind is: women's menstruation cycles. It will make it take longer between periods, which is a good thing for sure, but on the other hand, it may also lengthen how long she's experiencing it, which is really, really bad. Not sure whether this falls in the pro or con category.
Other things: werewolves. Obviously, same deal as menstruation - less frequent, possibly for longer periods (so to speak). I'd invest in the silver industry, you could probably make a tidy profit on this! I won't make the joke about women being related to werewolves (cuz, you know, they get 'bitchy' at that time), because that would just be obvious and tacky, and this IS Slashdot.
I'm pretty sure vampires are not effected by the Moon, so that's good, though this will not help prevent Dick Cheney attacks, so that's actually disappointing.
As with other clean power production technologies, the animal rights activists will find a way to claim it hurts migratory birds, and I'm sure to some extent that will be true, though they'll likely be harmed a lot less by this than by the pollution produced by conventional power production.
With fewer waves hitting the shoes, less sediment will be drawn into the ocean, so they'll be a bit more sparkly-clean looking, which is good, but there's probably some stuff in there that some ocean creature feeds on, so they'll starve, so that'll be bad.
Most likely a net positive because of the reduced pollution thing, I'm guessing.
What's even worse is that MS removed the * hack from IE6 that people were using to 'rebuild' IE6 to be more standards-compliant. Talk about a slap in the face! Yeesh.
I've not checked to see how Dean's IE7 js thing works with the real IE7 - does it still work?
> Finally IE7 supports transparent PNGs
:(
Close. It now supports full alpha transparency in 24-bit PNGs. IE6 hsupports a transparent index colour in 8-bit PNGs. Too bad IE7 also messes up the palette in those fancy 24-bit PNGs, though.
I'm holding out for Rails on Rails.
I'm holding out for Assembly Language on Rails.
As a side note: It's not Assembler. That is the thing that does the assembling. You don't write in compiler, do you?
Much of Perl has a striking resemblance to natural language, given that it's author, Larry Wall is a trained linguist.
Well, I know *I* feel like I've been struck after having to look at some Perl code. Trained linguist? Jesus!
Perl is readable to those that know Perl. I know Perl and I find idiomatic Perl readable.
I think it more accurate to say that Perl code is readable to the person that wrote that particular piece of code. Since there are a million and one ways to do anything in Perl (and this is considered a 'strength'), then when another Perl hacker comes along and can't understand what the previous Perl hacker did, they rewrite the whole thing the way they know how to do it. That doesn't meet my definition of 'readable.'
> "Unfortunately all the information about the one true god was lost 1000s of years ago"
Cthulhu disagrees.
Yeah, and the information wasn't *lost* - Cthulhu *ate* it!
There are also people who consider religion to be something that you don't joke about, because it's a sensitive subject to other people. It's called empathy.
I call it 'get over yourself, already.'
The only one with authority to kill is the creator. Is it wrong for you to delete code you wrote?
Yes. You must never delete code you or anyone else has written - you must instead comment it out. It's much more humane that way.
So instead of having good and evil, you really have good and "less good".
Hmm. You know, when thinking about the various religions, I always come back to the format of 'sucks' and 'sucks less.'
A "proven theory" is the closest thing science has EVER come to "fact" (good scientists don't believe in "facts", because everything has at least SOME chance of being false).
Ah, but you forgot the one true scientific fact: Rock attained perfection in 1974!
> "God made it, and therefore everything, happen".
Oh yeah, then who made God?
I'm pretty sure it was the turtle.
Easily done:
Step 1) Hypothesis: Someone, somewhere, somewhen, created everything.
Step 2) Create an experiment to prove said hypothesis. Uhh, can't.
Verdict: It's unprovable crap.
DONE.
"They just _work_."
Also, IE refused to render the list in anything but quirks mode, thus making everything off by random numbers of pixels.
I'm of the opinion that nothing matters as much as implementing a multithreaded UI, to avoid the whole-browser lockups that happen with some Flash-intensive pages. I've given up hoping, though. It seems that something that should've been architected in from the beginning has been left so late that it's likely much too hard to implement now. :(
First, the car must have wheels, power, and a way to go and stop. THEN you can figure out where to add the fuzzy dice and ground effect lighting.