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Monday, November 30, 2006
6:31pm | | Comment Spam | |
Wow. Long time between updates. I just deleted something like 13000 comments of spam. Thanks to rp (link at right) for suggesting a good idea to combat it. We'll see how it evolves. I don't want to remove comments from the non-existant posts, but if that's what has to happen then so be it.
I do enjoy all of your comments but at what cost?
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Friday, July 31, 2006
4:11pm | | Musings on computers | |
So as part of my job, I occasionally get computers from people that have fucked them up. Most of the time this is spyware/adware related (although there was an incident with the 91.31 Nvidia drivers and an Nvidia 6200 unable to play videos that ranks up there in pissing me off).
Yesterday was such a day. This computer came to me with the message that their ISP had called them and threatened to cut them off because their computer was spewing so much garbage.
After running maybe 7 different anti virus programs (every single one MiniPE actually... I figured why not since they all kept finding different things), innumerable spyware programs and using Hijackthis like a digital tomahawk scalping white folks as it were, I just couldn't escape the question of how do people let their computers get to this state?
When I got the system, I couldn't even access the net... whether that was because the three of four hundred trojans hadn't finished loading or something else, but it was obvious to me that this computer was simply not usable and had been for some time. How does this escape someone's notice? Does it happen so slowly over time that the loss of speed and usability is so slow that one day you forget that you're using a 3ghz machine and think you're back waiting twenty minutes for the tape to load on your Vic-20?
I realize I'm an internet snob; mayhaps a geek when it comes to matters of the beige box but I don't go sticking my penis in dirty puddles of water or poking needles I find into my eye (think Pitch Black) and I take the same basic care with my computer. Maybe most people don't realize that there's an actual world out there full or people that maybe don't wish you the best, even though its in the news every second day.
This computer in particular was full of p2p shit. They couldn't just use bittorrent like everyone else seems to (its what, 60% of internet traffic these days? ok, I made that statistic up, but its a lot), no, they've got every gnutella clone and whorish kazaas on there, all competing to fling feces at you.
I muse because I'm waiting for two computers to finish going through Windows Update; both of which managed to pass the WGA, which I'm pretty impressed with considering all the horror stories I hear of people that have legit copies and still fail it. I realize that Microsoft has to work to maintain their 90% control of the market, but stopping people from getting easy updates is probably not the best plan.
Still, can't complain, I'm charging hourly.
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Friday, April 30, 2006
11:21pm | | Changing the shortcuts in the open/save as dialog box in XP | |
I've wanted to do this for so damn long, but just never got around to it. Well here's a link to a place that gives you detailed instructions for changing that behaviour, complete with a little tool that will make the .reg file for you if you are unable or unwilling to use regedit.
Damn fine. Here's a link how to do it in Office (its easier).
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Friday, March 31, 2006
2:43pm | | Almost six months, IPCOP | |
I like to keep my readers informed, as you can tell.
So I installed IPCop today, on an old P2-300 that I had lying around. This is one of those projects that scream out for a funky mini or nano (if it ever ends up coming out) ITX project.
In case you don't know, IPCop is a linux firewall designed to run on legacy computers (of which I have one). My main problem is that my Linksys router craps out when I use bittorrent too much, both with my current (BEFSR41) one and my WRT54G that I bricked (thanks OpenWRT). I've had this problem with D-Link routers in the past as well. So instead of going on the pricey and possibly pointless route of trying a zillion different routers, I used an old computer.
IPCop is great btw, with all sorts of things for you to fiddle with, if that's your ball of wax.
However, as I said above, the extra computer is a bit of an eyesore. Granted, I have it hidden away, and its not drawing much power, but its still a beige box. Ideally, I'd love a nano-itx and use a CF card as a hdd (google that if you need). Quiet and efficient.
We'll see how that turns out...
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Thursday, October 31, 2005
4:16pm | | Wireless | |
From the library. I bought a Stikfas today. Fucking sweet.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
12:57pm | | Quiet | |
So I'm on a quest to quieten down my PCs. I've done the "I must overclock until the stars bleed" thing and while its cute, I've come to two conclusions:
1. The amount of money I spent on a massive heatsink and related fannery would have paid for a faster cpu, thereby negating most of the speed increases I received.
2. Its loud.
Its not jet engine taking off loud and since I need my precious air purifier in the room I'm in and on at all times, its not as big a deal as it could be, but still, its loud.
I started this off by getting 2 120mm fans. Bigger fans can spin slower and still produce decent airflow, the same as a smaller fan spinning faster. The faster the spin, the louder the noise and actually, the higher pitched the noise. Ain't nothing like the scream of a high RPM fan to make you Mr. Cool.
Well one of my computers had no room for a 120mm fan, but I did not let this stop me. I got out my jigsaw and my drill and went to town on the case. It looks pretty sweet. I cut out the grill in front of the fan (as that would restrict airflow) and drilled some new screw holes to attach it and now I have this blue light eminating from the front of my computer.
Next, I underclocked (*GASP*) my media computer because other than my friend Jon who plays Enemy Territory on it when he comes over, no one uses that computer for anything other than watching TV. Underclocking has the opposite benefit of overclocking. Slower speed = less voltage = less heat = less cooling needed = quieter. I also slowed down some of the fans I have in my media computer, which was also helpful in quieting things down.
I'm also thinking of making the move from computer to media center but ditching the tacky computer case and going for a case that looks like a stereo component. I'm thinking of Silverstone cases. Here is a link to their product line-up, if you guys feel like it, would you mind giving me your opinion on what case you like? Its under the Lascala series.
UPDATE: I'm thinkg of the LC16-M, because the 14-M has small fans on the back and I'd rather use my own fans. Alternatively since the cases with LCD displays are so expensive, I could buy a case without that and just put my own in aftermarket. Ideas, ideas...
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Monday, August 31, 2005
3:16pm | | Terms | |
Another day, another dollar.
Another nail in the coffin.
It is phrases like these that swirl through my head today; the guarded and irrelevant pointlessness that spins through and consumes most of the day.
Its those distractions that we seek; those same distractions that hide their real intentions behind bravado and subterfuge and seek to lead us astray. Astray from what? From what's really important. Think about the quality of your day and what took place in it that fell outside of what you would consider 'quality'. How much of it could be avoided? And of that time, why coulnd't it?
If its true that most of us feel the same way about time and the things that we need to do during those periods, be it bureaucracy or red tape or somesuch (that being that its generally pointless), then why does it continue? Is it the work of the minority that find that sort of thing enthralling? Or is it merely a means to an end to justify their paycheck (I think governments fall under this category). Seemlingly pointless levels of red tape, propped up by unnecessary links in a chain that have carved out a little piece of the empire for themselves and need to continue to do this extra work in order to stay employed or needed or whatever.
So what is the nature of humans? Is it measured by our ability to waste the time of others? Surely that can't be the case, regardless of how reasonable an idea it seems. Maybe its more of a reflection of society and the psychological importance that we've placed on distractions, or an importance that has been placed on us by the powers that be.
In fact, I'd consider this entire post to be one of distraction.
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Thursday, July 31, 2005
10:02pm | | Mr. Fixit | |
So I was building some computers today, and forgot my precious special screwdriver that I use to attach a heatsink to a motherboard. Making do with a large phillips screwdriver and a dull (and bendy) metal letter-opener I managed to slip and gouge out the motherboard, tearing a hole in the one of the traces.
I was much dismayed and envisioned spending another $100 on a new motherboard.
However, I had an idea, if I could somehow reconnect the broken trace, there might be a chance of things working. I had some Window Defogger Paint (conductive paint for the uninformed) that I had previously used to fix a keyboard that might do the job.
So I get it out, only to find that its dried up. Never fear, Canadian Tire to the rescue. After waiting at the busstop only to see my bus (22 Macdonald) pass me by and stop near the "temporary busstop" instead, I wandered up to the temporary one and got a newspaper to read until the next bus came by. Sure enough, the next bus stopped at the original busstop and passed me by again. This was about the time when I read my horoscope (I'm a Taurus, Gemini cusp if you care) that spoke greatly about being patient for the next couple of weeks.
I then went down another busstop, thinking that I'll just take a different bus and walk. Well while I was waiting, a third bus came up and I ran to it and got on. As a sidenote, it went to the temporary busstop. As the bus continued on its way, I saw all the people I had been waiting with at the temporary busstop. It seems I wasn't the only one that decided to try a different busstop.
Anyway, I bought the conductive paint ($8.99... $10.25 after tax), and went back to the busstop. Here was a crazy person. We have lots of crazy, homeless people in Vancouver, especially where I live (in the West End, although at the time I was in Kits), because it never snows here so crazy, homeless people can enjoy the outdoors year round. Apparently he was waiting for the bus too and was quite upset at its delay. I know this because it started smacking a newspaper stand (those things you put coins in to get a paper) with a broken ski pole and then with his foot and then again with the ski pole.
So I get home and rip apart another computer so I can use the case and power supply. I have spares but they are put away and I was flush with the need to do something immediately. I then took out my contacts in order to see better. This might sound odd, but without my contacts in, I can see things really close up very well. I can't read a book that's more than three inches from my face, but put that fucker within the three inch mark and I'm reading Psalms 23:10 on the the head of a pin ("Who is this King of Glory? the Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory." thanks Google). So there's a protective film that normally covers the traces of the motherboard, sorta as a final guard against destroying traces. The main defence being not to jam shit at the motherboard with force I suppose. Normally protective films are a good thing, but in this case, it'll only fuck up my task. So out comes the X-acto knife (or perhaps a Taiwan knock-off, I can't remember where I got it) and so begins the gentle scrape until the glistening copper of the aforementioned trace is exposed. Then some extremely exacting work with the paint and a paintbrush with about ten hairs left on it and that's that. It wasn't pretty but it did reconnect the trace.
I threw in an old Duron 700 that I knew worked (didn't want to risk the new cpu needlessly [its a Semperon 2300+ btw, the cheapest one I could buy without it being total garbage, although IMHO Semperon is garbage anyway]). Now comes the moment of truth. I'm all jitters and titters at this point, hoping but not wanting to hope since this is a long shot and those fucking traces are so small that I can't be sure that its the only one that broken but here goes...
And fuck me, it worked. I swore a bit and almost cried and tried out the other cpu and it worked too.
Pictures to come.
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