First, let me thank all the corporate companies for all the spyware/scumware that they release on the internet. Thanks to them, I have job security for many years to come.
First I DO NOT DO HOUSECALLS, I found out early that you can't get any work done with people breathing down your neck asking you constantly what the problem is. I have them bring their PC's to me to fix, if for some reason they are insistant on a house call then I charge $50 extra. I am usually swamped with repairs, so I tell the customers that it will take AT LEAST 2 weeks before their computer is ready. Any hardware repair cost is usually marked up 50% to 60% of what it costs us to get the part. One thing I have learned early is to ask the customers if it is ok to format their systems and to bring in any disks that came with the computer, since most of the computers that come in are so full of spyware/viruses it is what ends up being done anyway. If they say yes I just go ahead and do that, which saves myself a ton of work. (I charge about $50 for reformating)
One thing, make sure you have a FAST internet connection at your work place for all the patches you have to download. Trust me, it is worth the extra cost. Once I am through with the computer, there are 5 programs I install on it. firefox, adaware, spybot, zonealarm(sometimes, if the system is slow I don't), and avg. I explain what each program does and how to use them. I enphasize the use of firefox instead of IE, I tell them that it prevents a lot of spyware and popups. Since I have done this I have noticed a drop in repeat customers that have the same spyware/virus problems.
I guess I should mention the tools I use at work, These might come in handy.
Adaware spybot zonealarm firefox avg msconfig (a lot of viruses/spyware delete this utility, always good to have a backup) xp service pack 2 Knoppix CD (usefull for moving files from crashed machines) windows security update cd(you can't order this anymore, you have to find a copy of it, but it is WORTH it, has updates till feburary 2004 for all windows)
A trend that may be influencing bad sales could be that companies are forcing people to buy individial dvd's instead of letting people buy the *complete* box set. I ONLY buy complete box sets because it is cheaper than paying for each individual DVD.
I am gonna burn some karma for this fantastic game that was released, that is getting little advertisement because of the HL2 god like shadow.
Ironically, the second game made by troika using the half life 2 engine is more interesting to me than half life 2. While valve created a fantastic game, they should have been keeping an eye this game to get pointers on having some truly rememberable moments and characters. VTM:B http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/235706.asp is one of the BEST RPG's I have ever played, and it is in first/third person perspective! Normally I don't try to pimp a game but this is special. If you liked the original deus ex then you definetly need to try this. Three words of caution, the game is very buggy, but if you can ignore the bugs you will definetely like this, also this is a MATURE game, there is no kiddy stuff here, so if you are squimish about mature matters then you might want to aboid this, and finally this is an RPG mostly, and not really a first person shooter, RPG players will love it but those hoping for a FPS will be disapointed.
I just saw on cnn news about a woman who voted for Kerry but when she saw the screen showed her summary report it was for Bush. She called a lawyer and reviewed her selections with the election officials and it did show she selected kerry for her answers. They say it was "computer error" *Cough**bullshit**cough*
I say bull. This election is possibly the LEAST important ever. Bush and Kerry are so similar it is sickening....
Funny, I said the same thing when it was Gore and Bush in 2000, I didn't vote and said at the time, that if I did vote I would have voted for Nader, since Bush and Gore are the same thing. Now I look back at my younger foolish self and shake my head at my idiotic assumptions. the proverb "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." best describes my situation. I have learned from my mistake and will not repeat it, do you really want to look back 4 years from now and shake your head in regret over what you could have done to change things?
Freepress.net has a site all set up for protests. You enter your zip and it will give you numbers/addresses of stations near your zip. It ALSO has a PETITION to send to the FCC.
Go to http://www.freepress.net/sinclair/ and enter your zip, sign the petition. It may not accomplish much, but it'll feel good to 'express' your distaste.
Betty Shave, who heads the Justice Department's international computer crime division, admitted that the treaty mostly lacks so-called "duel criminality" provisions, but she countered that other language in the pact would prevent abuses. One clause in the treaty allows a country to refuse to cooperate in an investigation if its "essential interests" are threatened by the request: Shave says that would allow the U.S. to bow out of a probe targeting free speech or other actions protected by the U.S. Constitution. Moreover, political offenses are specifically excluded from some types of mutual assistance requests available under the treaty.
Basically it is saying that the only way they would lift a finger to stop a foreign country from grabing you is if you are someone important. Unfortunetely most of us don't fit that catagory.
See. This is what happens when your whole family walks in your room and catches you jacking off with a porno mag when your a teenager. You get emotionally scarred for life and grow up to be a pornophobic Attorney General.
Weird, Part of it says that more powers needs to be given to law enforcement to combat "Piracy" but then it contridictoraly says that, most antipiracy legislation has been unseccessfull. Um, whats the point then?
Also, out of the blue it suddenly throws in pornography? What is it about republicans and this constant crusade to stop porn? Someone please contact this fool and tell him that PORN IS NOT ILLEGAL! Sorry, when they start going after our porn, thats when they have GONE TOO FAR!:)
"It is the first I've heard of anyone attempting that," said EFF legal director Cindy Cohn. "I guess that is a silver lining of the fact that the RIAA is suing so many people, that there are a lot of lawyers trying to figure out ways to protect folks."
Translation: This is a lot of of lawyers trying to figure out how to get money from the RIAA.
While it is good in theory to talk to your professor/teachers, you should also be carefull. Some teachers are just mean, and if you complain to them it could come out in your grades. I HAVE seen and experienced this before first hand, a group project I helped on recieved a low grade with a note saying we didn't do something, when we politely pointed out that we did do what he said we didn't(showed proof in our documentation) he got angry and refused to change our grade. After that we kept getting low grades on ALL our projects no matter what, and the excuses given for the low grades were pure BS.
If you feel like you can talk to your professor then go for it, but if you do then I suggest you have a witness with you just in case, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Funny, I have YET to see a single teacher get fired or at least Disciplined from the comments given by a Teacher Evaluation. I have seen the same horrible teachers, coming back every semester with the same attitude and/or bad teaching methods with no change. No matter what the problem is, for example a teacher in one of my classes at my University has a bad habit of touching all the females in class EVERY DAY, even when it obviously makes the women uncomfortable. This is obviously sexual harassment and the other teachers and Deans know about it, but they don't do a damn thing. The same goes with some other teachers here, They shouldn't be teaching but they are, The students opinions does not matter.
This quote says it all about politics and tech
on
What The Internet Isn't
·
· Score: 5, Informative
"The first correlation is with the unbalance between technological acceleration and political retrogression, which has proceeded earth-wide at ever widening danger levels since 1914 and especially since 1964. The breaking apart is fundamentally the schizoid and schismatic mental fugue of lawyer-politicians attempting to administrate a worldwide technology whose mechanisms they lack the education to comprehend and whose gestalt trend they frustrate by breaking apart into obsolete Renaissance nation-states." - The Illuminatus! Trilogy
I always have been tempted to add at the bottom of a long agreement: "and by clicking agree, you agree with full knowledge that you give up your mind, body, soul, finances and all property wether physical or intellectual, to the owner of (insert product or website) to do with as he/she pleases".
At my University, they are going insane with the added charges. Info tech fee(means that I can use there computers, BUT I have to pay for anything I print out seperate), Id card activation fee, Union Building Fee(this one really urks me, It is open to the public for free but if you are a student you have to pay for it?!?!?!), student account fee(means I can get email for a $100, how about a FREE hotmail account instead?) medical fees, parking decal fee.etc..etc.
This is on top of the HIGH tuition and the INSANE price of books(It is true, last semester I didn't have a single book under a $100).
I loved the Golden age trilogy but I couldn't help wondering if the ending of transcendence was meant to reflect what is happening in Iraq now and was a form of propaganda. It talked about the golden age was over and how everybody would be drawn into a LONG war where certain liberties would have to be taken away to protect the greater good from the "ENEMY".
I don't know, maybe its just me but with other scifi entertainment(star trek tv and games, knights of the old republic,etc) having propaganda mixed in I wouldn't be surprised.
Seriously, the odds of getting them back are next to nill, and if you do get them back it will be so long that the computers will probably be Obsolete.
In related news, how long did it take before region free DVD players came out? The MPAA tried to make them illegal but they were still so popular that stores still sell them. Same thing will happen here, equipment that bypasses the flags WILL be built and sold regardless if it is a law or not.
On the Code part, it was mentioned that the code that was stolen was a earlier version that was kept on the machine and was not the current one they were working on.
Released in April of 2004? Unlikely, They will push it back to fall/christmass of 2004 for sales. This is a big bite on Valves ass since they made a big deal of saying that they kept the game a secret until it was near ready, so that they could ship the game on time withought delays. Can we say 'oops'.
One ironic bit of news is that Vampire - Bloodlines might be released BEFORE half-life 2 which used a modified HL2 engine.
Maybe we can get the law to charge them with pedophile charges. There has to be a law against collecting millions of photo ID's of teenagers and under age individuals.
Slashdot Mirror
First, let me thank all the corporate companies for all the spyware/scumware that they release on the internet. Thanks to them, I have job security for many years to come.
First I DO NOT DO HOUSECALLS, I found out early that you can't get any work done with people breathing down your neck asking you constantly what the problem is. I have them bring their PC's to me to fix, if for some reason they are insistant on a house call then I charge $50 extra. I am usually swamped with repairs, so I tell the customers that it will take AT LEAST 2 weeks before their computer is ready. Any hardware repair cost is usually marked up 50% to 60% of what it costs us to get the part. One thing I have learned early is to ask the customers if it is ok to format their systems and to bring in any disks that came with the computer, since most of the computers that come in are so full of spyware/viruses it is what ends up being done anyway. If they say yes I just go ahead and do that, which saves myself a ton of work. (I charge about $50 for reformating)
One thing, make sure you have a FAST internet connection at your work place for all the patches you have to download. Trust me, it is worth the extra cost. Once I am through with the computer, there are 5 programs I install on it. firefox, adaware, spybot, zonealarm(sometimes, if the system is slow I don't), and avg. I explain what each program does and how to use them. I enphasize the use of firefox instead of IE, I tell them that it prevents a lot of spyware and popups. Since I have done this I have noticed a drop in repeat customers that have the same spyware/virus problems.
I guess I should mention the tools I use at work, These might come in handy.
Adaware
spybot
zonealarm
firefox
avg
msconfig (a lot of viruses/spyware delete this utility, always good to have a backup)
xp service pack 2
Knoppix CD (usefull for moving files from crashed machines)
windows security update cd(you can't order this anymore, you have to find a copy of it, but it is WORTH it, has updates till feburary 2004 for all windows)
A trend that may be influencing bad sales could be that companies are forcing people to buy individial dvd's instead of letting people buy the *complete* box set. I ONLY buy complete box sets because it is cheaper than paying for each individual DVD.
Won't people just start posting the patches and fixes?
I am gonna burn some karma for this fantastic game that was released, that is getting little advertisement because of the HL2 god like shadow.
Ironically, the second game made by troika using the half life 2 engine is more interesting to me than half life 2. While valve created a fantastic game, they should have been keeping an eye this game to get pointers on having some truly rememberable moments and characters. VTM:B http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/235706.asp is one of the BEST RPG's I have ever played, and it is in first/third person perspective! Normally I don't try to pimp a game but this is special. If you liked the original deus ex then you definetly need to try this. Three words of caution, the game is very buggy, but if you can ignore the bugs you will definetely like this, also this is a MATURE game, there is no kiddy stuff here, so if you are squimish about mature matters then you might want to aboid this, and finally this is an RPG mostly, and not really a first person shooter, RPG players will love it but those hoping for a FPS will be disapointed.
I just saw on cnn news about a woman who voted for Kerry but when she saw the screen showed her summary report it was for Bush. She called a lawyer and reviewed her selections with the election officials and it did show she selected kerry for her answers. They say it was "computer error" *Cough**bullshit**cough*
Funny, I said the same thing when it was Gore and Bush in 2000, I didn't vote and said at the time, that if I did vote I would have voted for Nader, since Bush and Gore are the same thing. Now I look back at my younger foolish self and shake my head at my idiotic assumptions. the proverb "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." best describes my situation. I have learned from my mistake and will not repeat it, do you really want to look back 4 years from now and shake your head in regret over what you could have done to change things?
I found this from Bill Maher message board:
Freepress.net has a site all set up for protests. You enter your zip and it will give you numbers/addresses of stations near your zip. It ALSO has a PETITION to send to the FCC.
Go to http://www.freepress.net/sinclair/ and enter your zip, sign the petition. It may not accomplish much, but it'll feel good to 'express' your distaste.
Betty Shave, who heads the Justice Department's international computer crime division, admitted that the treaty mostly lacks so-called "duel criminality" provisions, but she countered that other language in the pact would prevent abuses. One clause in the treaty allows a country to refuse to cooperate in an investigation if its "essential interests" are threatened by the request: Shave says that would allow the U.S. to bow out of a probe targeting free speech or other actions protected by the U.S. Constitution. Moreover, political offenses are specifically excluded from some types of mutual assistance requests available under the treaty.
Basically it is saying that the only way they would lift a finger to stop a foreign country from grabing you is if you are someone important. Unfortunetely most of us don't fit that catagory.
See. This is what happens when your whole family walks in your room and catches you jacking off with a porno mag when your a teenager. You get emotionally scarred for life and grow up to be a pornophobic Attorney General.
Weird, Part of it says that more powers needs to be given to law enforcement to combat "Piracy" but then it contridictoraly says that, most antipiracy legislation has been unseccessfull. Um, whats the point then?
:)
Also, out of the blue it suddenly throws in pornography? What is it about republicans and this constant crusade to stop porn? Someone please contact this fool and tell him that PORN IS NOT ILLEGAL! Sorry, when they start going after our porn, thats when they have GONE TOO FAR!
Or you have FRIENDS in the government.
"It is the first I've heard of anyone attempting that," said EFF legal director Cindy Cohn. "I guess that is a silver lining of the fact that the RIAA is suing so many people, that there are a lot of lawyers trying to figure out ways to protect folks."
Translation: This is a lot of of lawyers trying to figure out how to get money from the RIAA.
Of course if you could have read yoda's mind at That moment you would have heard: "There is no spoon...!"
While it is good in theory to talk to your professor/teachers, you should also be carefull. Some teachers are just mean, and if you complain to them it could come out in your grades. I HAVE seen and experienced this before first hand, a group project I helped on recieved a low grade with a note saying we didn't do something, when we politely pointed out that we did do what he said we didn't(showed proof in our documentation) he got angry and refused to change our grade. After that we kept getting low grades on ALL our projects no matter what, and the excuses given for the low grades were pure BS.
If you feel like you can talk to your professor then go for it, but if you do then I suggest you have a witness with you just in case, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Funny, I have YET to see a single teacher get fired or at least Disciplined from the comments given by a Teacher Evaluation. I have seen the same horrible teachers, coming back every semester with the same attitude and/or bad teaching methods with no change. No matter what the problem is, for example a teacher in one of my classes at my University has a bad habit of touching all the females in class EVERY DAY, even when it obviously makes the women uncomfortable. This is obviously sexual harassment and the other teachers and Deans know about it, but they don't do a damn thing. The same goes with some other teachers here, They shouldn't be teaching but they are, The students opinions does not matter.
"The first correlation is with the unbalance between technological acceleration and political retrogression, which has proceeded earth-wide at ever widening danger levels since 1914 and especially since 1964. The breaking apart is fundamentally the schizoid and schismatic mental fugue of lawyer-politicians attempting to administrate a worldwide technology whose mechanisms they lack the education to comprehend and whose gestalt trend they frustrate by breaking apart into obsolete Renaissance nation-states." - The Illuminatus! Trilogy
I always have been tempted to add at the bottom of a long agreement: "and by clicking agree, you agree with full knowledge that you give up your mind, body, soul, finances and all property wether physical or intellectual, to the owner of (insert product or website) to do with as he/she pleases".
At my University, they are going insane with the added charges. Info tech fee(means that I can use there computers, BUT I have to pay for anything I print out seperate), Id card activation fee, Union Building Fee(this one really urks me, It is open to the public for free but if you are a student you have to pay for it?!?!?!), student account fee(means I can get email for a $100, how about a FREE hotmail account instead?) medical fees, parking decal fee.etc..etc.
This is on top of the HIGH tuition and the INSANE price of books(It is true, last semester I didn't have a single book under a $100).
I loved the Golden age trilogy but I couldn't help wondering if the ending of transcendence was meant to reflect what is happening in Iraq now and was a form of propaganda. It talked about the golden age was over and how everybody would be drawn into a LONG war where certain liberties would have to be taken away to protect the greater good from the "ENEMY".
I don't know, maybe its just me but with other scifi entertainment(star trek tv and games, knights of the old republic,etc) having propaganda mixed in I wouldn't be surprised.
Seriously, the odds of getting them back are next to nill, and if you do get them back it will be so long that the computers will probably be Obsolete.
In related news, how long did it take before region free DVD players came out? The MPAA tried to make them illegal but they were still so popular that stores still sell them. Same thing will happen here, equipment that bypasses the flags WILL be built and sold regardless if it is a law or not.
On the Code part, it was mentioned that the code that was stolen was a earlier version that was kept on the machine and was not the current one they were working on.
Released in April of 2004? Unlikely, They will push it back to fall/christmass of 2004 for sales. This is a big bite on Valves ass since they made a big deal of saying that they kept the game a secret until it was near ready, so that they could ship the game on time withought delays. Can we say 'oops'.
One ironic bit of news is that Vampire - Bloodlines might be released BEFORE half-life 2 which used a modified HL2 engine.
Maybe we can get the law to charge them with pedophile charges. There has to be a law against collecting millions of photo ID's of teenagers and under age individuals.
You make the statement as a joke, but I will not be surprised if that is how it turns out.