I have used PayPal ever since my Company's credit union instituted into their organization years ago. I usually set up a years worth of automatic payments in January only if the payments are of the same amount for the year to terminate at the years end. Other payees of varying amounts are in the system and are entered manually only after I receive the paper bill. Some annual bills; taxes, insurances etc. are still paid using the old fashion check. I don't like certain businesses having the ability to extract money from my accounts. Call it old fashion, but I like to have control on who gets what.
After working in the computer field as a repair technician, closer to 40 years than 30, I can have relate to this individual. I got into this business after a 4 year stint in the USAF rebuilding airborne electronic systems on F105 after being shot to pieces over the unfriendly skies of North Viet Nam. The main reason at the time was I was deathly afraid of the High Voltage generated by this equipment. Also this was a relatively new field and fancy degrees were not needed. Just a desire to learn and alot of hands on experience. I was self taught and was considered a highly skilled repair tech. After a successful career with various computer companies and Fortune 100 companies, I retired and run my own one man business repairing PCs. You have to do something that you enjoy and have to be truthful with yourself in that respect.
After sitting in my car last Sunday for 45 minutes at the Peace Bridge while some vehicle 8 or 9 cars ahead was held up for 20 minutes, I welcome any change in the procedure to help speed up the processing of the casual traveler. I realize the limitations of the technology, but am willing to accept the risks to help speed things up.
In the Summer surge on weekends the 3 or 4 hour wait can be the longest leg of a pleasant journey across the border. The carbon footprint of a thousand or so cars and trucks idling in 90 degree + temperatureshas to be tremendous.
I worked for a Fortune 100 company for 25 years before retiring and starting my own computer repair business. I saw this company go from the best to the worst in that quarter of a century. I was one of the lucky ones and got something from them before they imploded; a mire shadow of once an industry giant.
The last several years were tough, but by then I had too much of my career invested to leave voluntarily. I am much happier now that I can dance to my own tunes.
How appropriate that this building is located in the middle of the Bible Thumping white Christian South where the average IQ is lower than the number of children they produce.
First, what are these children doing? They must be writing chapters of the next Great American Novel.
I have had a prepaid cell phone for 3 years and never had a text message. Then one day I had a profoundly dead individual who needed service on her personal computer and sent me a text message. What to do?
I had to dig out the manual and learn how to thumb type to answer her! I tried to turn the service off on the phone because she was pestering me with these messages. To no avail, it was not possible.
The only people who are going to benefit from this transition will be the over paid delivery boys working for UPS and FedEx. It won't be long before the delivery charges will amount to more than what you paid for the item. Especially since gasoline and other fuels are approaching record levels. On line stores are very aware of the customer's sensitivity to shipping charges and are starting to bundle in the cost of shipping into the product pricing schedule.
I am retired and yes I do a lot of malware clean up and tweaking for my customers. It is good money. Easy? I don't think so considering the large number of different spyware. You have to have a lot of patience.
Your first mistake is buying the cheapest POS (piece of $hit) on the market; e-machines. I am in the computer repair business and have seen at least 3 of these units, in the past year, where the crappy Bestec power supply calves in two years and takes the motherboard with it. After the second one, I researched this out on the InterNet and found that this is a common problem. I tell my customers they are better taking the money they would spend on repairs and buying something new as long as it isn't another e-machine.
I guess M$ figures that Motherboards never fail and the customer will never upgrade their system. This confirms my opinion that Vista was design to sell new hardware.
Symantec products; specifically Norton InterNet Security is the most useless piece of horse manure foisted upon the unsuspecting computer user. Being in the repair business, I have seen viruses and other malware pass thru Norton like it wasn't even there. Worse off, some of this crap will break Norton so nothing comes in or goes out on the InterNet. I would like a nickel for every time I have removed this pox from one of my customer's machines and installed AVG.
Growing up in the Industry, and now running my own PC repair and service business, I read with some interest all the comments concerning WGA and Windows Activation. I too use to offer a Pirated Version of XP Pro to my customers that lost their original CD installation or Restore disk when their PC would become too infected with Spyware and Virus so that the original image was destroyed.
After battling MS with various generations of hacks to defeat this affliction I simply gave up offering this option. Most PC owners are clueless to what makes their machines operate. When I tell them they are going to have to buy another license, they usually shrug their shoulders and buy another preloaded machine.
The Back Up Restore Partition offered by some manufactures is a laugh. By the time somebody calls me to work on their machine, this is no longer an option as this back up is completely destroyed by malware and virii.
Being a computer tech, I am routinely exposed to a variety of different hardware running everything from Window 95 to Vista; XP being the OS of choice. I object to the sense I get that MicroSoft thinks everybody is a Pirate stealing a product that they sold to begin with. So they pile on layer after layer of convoluted software routines to prove that the software is "Genuine". A it takes is one bit to stray and a $200 OS is toast.
My typical customer usually misplaces, loses, or is never shipped a Restore disk or the OS in the first place from the vendor. After a dozen of so virii tears up their OS, and a Repair or clean installation is in order. I hold my breathe every time I boot initially, hoping that some deeply embedded routine will not ask for a 100 digit number to enable this or that.
Microsoft reminds me of Government at all levels. They should have stuck to their roots, producing a simplified product for a reasonable price and not trying to create a never ending revenue stream.
I sit here a happily run OSX 10.4.8 on my G4 powered Mac and laugh at the electronics and software Wars taking place in the MS World. I clean WIndows machines for a living an are not surprised at this development. Most machines can take a little malware infection, but are maintained when the owner can't boot anymore or the machine slows to a crawl.
The billing rates charged by the Geek Squad are scandalous. It is like your local automobile mechanic charging you $10,000 for a brake job and oil change on a car that originally cost $20,000. The public is being sold a bill of goods if they buy into this service. I am speaking from experience as I run a one man PC repair and service business. I run this business out of my home to keep the overhead to a minimum. I tell my customer base that I can under quote my competition and pass the savings on to them instead. I also do residential and small business on site repair as the situation demands. However, most of my service work takes place in my home/workshop. I quote a fix price plus parts. Most people appreciate the knownledge of what it is going to cost them. I realize that this business model is far different than Best Buy's brick & mortar model. I have to add that I am not a Johnny come Lately to the computer repair business. I have been working on computer since 1970 and am recently retired from an FT 100 company.
Treat and charge the public fairly and you will have more work than you can handle.
With the high visibility of the rash of incidents of Laptop thefts lately, I read an article, I think it was here on Slash Dot, of a couple of companies that produce a software product that will erase the sensitive data upon receiving a special erase phrase or code via the InterNet. I think this is an idea whose time has come. This should be mandatory for all government and business computers containing sensitive data.
I am highly aware of the problem as I recently purchased a top of the line Dell laptop to automate my small business customer and invoice database. I am gun shy to take this machine out of my house and will look futher into the above options.
The M$ WGA program reminds me to the electronic wars that took place on the US highways in the 80s between the "Guardians of the Law" and the average Joe Six-Pack driver. First there was the Police Radar to detect speeders. Then, the Radar Detector. Next the Police detector to notifiy the police that a car had a Radar Detector on board. Finally the Radar Jammer.
M$'s paranoia is unlimited. They are a company that just does not get it. They do not just produce a product to be used, but want to own the individual and his equipment that use it.
I disable and hide the "Nag" updates on all my customer's computers and warn them about installing it.
If they do, I tell them they are on their own. I also monitor and use all the latest disabling patches that the hackers develop to counter act this travesty of individual freedom.
I am a dye in the wool Apple Mac user, however work on Windows machines for a living. If it was not for Windows, I would be out of business!
Short of forming your own business and working for yourself, working for Corporate America is like living the cartoon strip Dilbert. This is from a guy that retired 2 years ago from a F100 blue chip company. I use to tell my management that their job was to make my job as difficult as possible and to throw up every road block possible to prevent me from accomplishing what I was hired for; repairing computers. This use to piss them off, but they didn't could not do anything as I was one of their top performers. I currently run my own business and enjoy life once again.
I am sure the sales of Mentoes and diet Pepsi or Coke are going to spike after this video spreads on the InterNet. A trick to be shown at all the family picnics this Summer.
I believe you are confusing spyware and viruses. Anti-virus programs are generally not designed to prevent adware and spyware infections, unless they are the latest versions of Norton or McAfee. Then they are so bloated that unless you have a modern CPU wit a ton of memory, they are going to knock it to it's knees.
Slashdot Mirror
I can text with both hands off the wheel and steer with my feet.
Absolutely agree with the author; touch typing in H.S. was the most useful class I took.
I have used PayPal ever since my Company's credit union instituted into their organization years ago. I usually set up a years worth of automatic payments in January only if the payments are of the same amount for the year to terminate at the years end. Other payees of varying amounts are in the system and are entered manually only after I receive the paper bill. Some annual bills; taxes, insurances etc. are still paid using the old fashion check. I don't like certain businesses having the ability to extract money from my accounts. Call it old fashion, but I like to have control on who gets what.
After working in the computer field as a repair technician, closer to 40 years than 30, I can have relate to this individual. I got into this business after a 4 year stint in the USAF rebuilding airborne electronic systems on F105 after being shot to pieces over the unfriendly skies of North Viet Nam. The main reason at the time was I was deathly afraid of the High Voltage generated by this equipment. Also this was a relatively new field and fancy degrees were not needed. Just a desire to learn and alot of hands on experience. I was self taught and was considered a highly skilled repair tech. After a successful career with various computer companies and Fortune 100 companies, I retired and run my own one man business repairing PCs. You have to do something that you enjoy and have to be truthful with yourself in that respect.
After sitting in my car last Sunday for 45 minutes at the Peace Bridge while some vehicle 8 or 9 cars ahead was held up for 20 minutes, I welcome any change in the procedure to help speed up the processing of the casual traveler. I realize the limitations of the technology, but am willing to accept the risks to help speed things up. In the Summer surge on weekends the 3 or 4 hour wait can be the longest leg of a pleasant journey across the border. The carbon footprint of a thousand or so cars and trucks idling in 90 degree + temperatureshas to be tremendous.
I worked for a Fortune 100 company for 25 years before retiring and starting my own computer repair business. I saw this company go from the best to the worst in that quarter of a century. I was one of the lucky ones and got something from them before they imploded; a mire shadow of once an industry giant. The last several years were tough, but by then I had too much of my career invested to leave voluntarily. I am much happier now that I can dance to my own tunes.
Could these computers have MicroSoft's Windows as the OS? If so, I hope they brought up the installation disks!
How appropriate that this building is located in the middle of the Bible Thumping white Christian South where the average IQ is lower than the number of children they produce.
First, what are these children doing? They must be writing chapters of the next Great American Novel. I have had a prepaid cell phone for 3 years and never had a text message. Then one day I had a profoundly dead individual who needed service on her personal computer and sent me a text message. What to do? I had to dig out the manual and learn how to thumb type to answer her! I tried to turn the service off on the phone because she was pestering me with these messages. To no avail, it was not possible.
Amen, brother. To quote the lyrics of a popular Country Western song: " I've never seen a hearse with a luggage rack."
The only people who are going to benefit from this transition will be the over paid delivery boys working for UPS and FedEx. It won't be long before the delivery charges will amount to more than what you paid for the item. Especially since gasoline and other fuels are approaching record levels. On line stores are very aware of the customer's sensitivity to shipping charges and are starting to bundle in the cost of shipping into the product pricing schedule.
I am retired and yes I do a lot of malware clean up and tweaking for my customers. It is good money. Easy? I don't think so considering the large number of different spyware. You have to have a lot of patience.
N/T
Your first mistake is buying the cheapest POS (piece of $hit) on the market; e-machines. I am in the computer repair business and have seen at least 3 of these units, in the past year, where the crappy Bestec power supply calves in two years and takes the motherboard with it. After the second one, I researched this out on the InterNet and found that this is a common problem. I tell my customers they are better taking the money they would spend on repairs and buying something new as long as it isn't another e-machine.
I guess M$ figures that Motherboards never fail and the customer will never upgrade their system. This confirms my opinion that Vista was design to sell new hardware.
Symantec products; specifically Norton InterNet Security is the most useless piece of horse manure foisted upon the unsuspecting computer user. Being in the repair business, I have seen viruses and other malware pass thru Norton like it wasn't even there. Worse off, some of this crap will break Norton so nothing comes in or goes out on the InterNet. I would like a nickel for every time I have removed this pox from one of my customer's machines and installed AVG.
Growing up in the Industry, and now running my own PC repair and service business, I read with some interest all the comments concerning WGA and Windows Activation. I too use to offer a Pirated Version of XP Pro to my customers that lost their original CD installation or Restore disk when their PC would become too infected with Spyware and Virus so that the original image was destroyed. After battling MS with various generations of hacks to defeat this affliction I simply gave up offering this option. Most PC owners are clueless to what makes their machines operate. When I tell them they are going to have to buy another license, they usually shrug their shoulders and buy another preloaded machine. The Back Up Restore Partition offered by some manufactures is a laugh. By the time somebody calls me to work on their machine, this is no longer an option as this back up is completely destroyed by malware and virii.
Being a computer tech, I am routinely exposed to a variety of different hardware running everything from Window 95 to Vista; XP being the OS of choice. I object to the sense I get that MicroSoft thinks everybody is a Pirate stealing a product that they sold to begin with. So they pile on layer after layer of convoluted software routines to prove that the software is "Genuine". A it takes is one bit to stray and a $200 OS is toast. My typical customer usually misplaces, loses, or is never shipped a Restore disk or the OS in the first place from the vendor. After a dozen of so virii tears up their OS, and a Repair or clean installation is in order. I hold my breathe every time I boot initially, hoping that some deeply embedded routine will not ask for a 100 digit number to enable this or that. Microsoft reminds me of Government at all levels. They should have stuck to their roots, producing a simplified product for a reasonable price and not trying to create a never ending revenue stream.
I sit here a happily run OSX 10.4.8 on my G4 powered Mac and laugh at the electronics and software Wars taking place in the MS World. I clean WIndows machines for a living an are not surprised at this development. Most machines can take a little malware infection, but are maintained when the owner can't boot anymore or the machine slows to a crawl.
The billing rates charged by the Geek Squad are scandalous. It is like your local automobile mechanic charging you $10,000 for a brake job and oil change on a car that originally cost $20,000. The public is being sold a bill of goods if they buy into this service. I am speaking from experience as I run a one man PC repair and service business. I run this business out of my home to keep the overhead to a minimum. I tell my customer base that I can under quote my competition and pass the savings on to them instead. I also do residential and small business on site repair as the situation demands. However, most of my service work takes place in my home/workshop. I quote a fix price plus parts. Most people appreciate the knownledge of what it is going to cost them. I realize that this business model is far different than Best Buy's brick & mortar model. I have to add that I am not a Johnny come Lately to the computer repair business. I have been working on computer since 1970 and am recently retired from an FT 100 company. Treat and charge the public fairly and you will have more work than you can handle.
With the high visibility of the rash of incidents of Laptop thefts lately, I read an article, I think it was here on Slash Dot, of a couple of companies that produce a software product that will erase the sensitive data upon receiving a special erase phrase or code via the InterNet. I think this is an idea whose time has come. This should be mandatory for all government and business computers containing sensitive data. I am highly aware of the problem as I recently purchased a top of the line Dell laptop to automate my small business customer and invoice database. I am gun shy to take this machine out of my house and will look futher into the above options.
The M$ WGA program reminds me to the electronic wars that took place on the US highways in the 80s between the "Guardians of the Law" and the average Joe Six-Pack driver. First there was the Police Radar to detect speeders. Then, the Radar Detector. Next the Police detector to notifiy the police that a car had a Radar Detector on board. Finally the Radar Jammer. M$'s paranoia is unlimited. They are a company that just does not get it. They do not just produce a product to be used, but want to own the individual and his equipment that use it. I disable and hide the "Nag" updates on all my customer's computers and warn them about installing it. If they do, I tell them they are on their own. I also monitor and use all the latest disabling patches that the hackers develop to counter act this travesty of individual freedom. I am a dye in the wool Apple Mac user, however work on Windows machines for a living. If it was not for Windows, I would be out of business!
Short of forming your own business and working for yourself, working for Corporate America is like living the cartoon strip Dilbert. This is from a guy that retired 2 years ago from a F100 blue chip company. I use to tell my management that their job was to make my job as difficult as possible and to throw up every road block possible to prevent me from accomplishing what I was hired for; repairing computers. This use to piss them off, but they didn't could not do anything as I was one of their top performers. I currently run my own business and enjoy life once again.
I am sure the sales of Mentoes and diet Pepsi or Coke are going to spike after this video spreads on the InterNet. A trick to be shown at all the family picnics this Summer.
I believe you are confusing spyware and viruses. Anti-virus programs are generally not designed to prevent adware and spyware infections, unless they are the latest versions of Norton or McAfee. Then they are so bloated that unless you have a modern CPU wit a ton of memory, they are going to knock it to it's knees.