Sage tech advice

Some sage technical advice for people with computer issues,
How to find a good computer repair person.

1) Don't flatter them and tell them how smart they are, or how lucky their wife/family/dog is to have a computer guy in the family.
2) Don't laughingly demean yourself in front of them and shyly admit that you know absolutely nothing about how a computer works. I mean, would you tell a plumber you don't know how a tap works? A mechanic that you don't know what makes it go vroom?
3) See #2. Every call I have been on, I feel like telling the person to stop demoralizing themselves in front of me. It's like hearing someone tell you how fat and ugly they are and that this is why they will always be single. Just say what the problem is. Period.
4) Seriously. If your machine is ten years old, don't pay me $90 an hour to open it up and look at it. You have already broken most records for hard drive life and power supply life. Live it up and buy yourself a new computer. Pay me for an hour to help you set it up and be happy that you probably won't need me for a few years.
5) Google. Google your problem. Your question has been asked a million times and answered a million times. If you can fix it, great, if not, at least you will know what you are talking about when the tech arrives.

I can definitely agree with all of those items. Especially the last one. Google it. Phrase your problem in different ways. Even us geeks use this solution when WE don't know the answer. Most people that know the answer probably do some writing about it on the internet, we are geeks after all.

And on #4. When you get a computer, find that trustworthy geek and ask him to spend an hour setting up the computer with anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware software. An ounce of prevention... will keep the computer healthy for a lot longer in the hyper connected world of today.

Good form

Been seeing this error on the status bar of Mozilla Firefox lately. Not sure what the error is, but I rest easy knowing what ever the error, it is at least well formed.

Google down? *update*

I was going to be the first to post that Google seems to be down today, but hard to post that on my blogspot address without Google.

I thought my network was having issues when I saw my google mail icon went dark. Never occurred that Google may be down, but no Google.com, no blogspot, no gmail.

If you need me, I will be on the street corner wearing a poster board. How else should I communicate the end of the world is here.

***Update***

Seems somebody at google.com noticed that I noticed. Funny thing, the referring URL for their visit was blocked. How about that. A business built on referring links blocks their own.

And people wonder why they have a bad rep

Trying to research information about a Microsoft product and I am hitting roadblocks. So I try and go to www.microsoft.com and I get this,

We’re sorry, we were unable to service your request

We’re sorry, but we were unable to service your request. You may wish to choose from the links below for information about Microsoft products and services.

Brilliant! Not the reassuring feeling I was looking for as I consider upgrading their web server software. Of course I am using the Firefox browser, IE works fine.

Techie time

Okay, perhaps this will be useful to some. I have encountered this problem on a few machines so far. Guess I shouldn't expect to be spyware free and have working Microsoft products on the same computer.

Here is someone who has isolated the problem to be patch MS07-027 that slows down Outlook 2003

Microsoft MVP Sandi has identified and found a workaround for a vexing Outlook 2003 problem. When you install the MS07-027 / KB 937409 patch, you may discover that Outlook 2003 (or 2002 - the version in Office XP) slows to a teeth-jarring halt every time you type a formatted message.

According to Sandi's post, if you are using Outlook (not 2007), have IE7 installed and use HTML as your email format, then when you type an email the IE rendering engine will check the registry for entries in IE's Restricted Sites zone **every time you type a character***.

Some products, including Spybot, IE-Spyad and Spyware Blaster, stick lots and lots of URLs in the Restricted Sites zone. Thus, if you have Spybot, run IE 7, and you install MS07-027, your formatted mail typing speed may run like molasses in January.

Sandi has three workarounds: "remove all of those entries in the Restricted Sites Zone - a quick way to do this is to reset Internet Explorer's settings (Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab); Stop using HTML (switch to Rich Text instead); or use Word as Outlook's email editor."

I don't have a suitably clobbered PC to test it on, but my guess is that her last suggestion won't work. Outlook slows down because it uses IE as its formatted mail "rendering engine". Outlook 2007 is immune to the problem because it uses Word, not IE, to render formatted email messages.

Actually, the last suggestion about using MS Word as the e-mail editor does work. That is the only fix that I have found acceptable. (since I enjoy a spy-ware free workstation).

Now if I could get Outlook 2003 to save the POP3 password, I might make it back into the good geek graces with my wife.

In geek speak, "Aaack!"

Never been a fan of Google desktop, it just seemed wrong to merge my personal files with anything resembling the internet. Guess my instinct was right on this. Beware of that man between you and your Google Desktop

Hansen, a Web application security specialist,... has figured out a way to launch man-in-the-middle attacks against a computer with a fully patched Google Desktop installed.
...
“This should drive home the point that deep integration between the desktop and the web is not a good idea, without tremendous thought put into the security model. As Google’s site is unencrypted, and they place their content that can run executibles [sic] on their site, it can be subverted by an attacker,” Hansen warns.

Ignoring the need for spell check and proof reading, he points out that my fears were well founded. With all security issues Google is having, I might hold off trying that Google Personal Finance program.

From unexpected sources

I stumbled across some profound theological thinking in an unlikely place. Usually slashdot is not a place for kiddies or those who adhere to any religion. But these two comments blew me away.

Slashdot | The Myth of the Superhacker

The biggest trick Satan ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist

Quite true, not mind blowing but definitely true. But he opened the door for this

St. Augustine has a worthwhile point to make here.

He was dealing with a fundamental theological problem: how does a good God create a universe in which evil exists. He came up with a novel solution: it's all good, but evil chooses lesser goods over greater goods -- an concept closely akin to the modern economic concept of opportunity cost. You cannot have the capacity to choose without the capacity to choose the wrong thing; if you were forced to choose the right thing all the time then you wouldn't have free will. Therefore free will implies the existence of evil, which is not a thing in itself, but a deficit.

Dante sharpens Augustine's point in the Divine Comedy: evil is really the result of stubborn, even aggressive stupidity. As outlandish as the punishments that are meted out in the Inferno, they're all pretty much people getting unlimited quantities of whatever it was they pursued in life.

The Devil, then, doesn't need to exist; at least if he does he has no power of his own. There is no need to believe in the nearly all-powerful devil of neo-Christian folklore. The power of Satan, both biblically and by orthodox theology, lies in the stupidity and stubbornness of humanity. A near omnipotent Devil is not really any better off than a powerless but tricky one because (a) near omnipotence is not very useful when the other side is omnipotent and (b) it is impossible to spread evil (in the Augustinian sense) by the exercise of raw power.

Which brings us to the Superhacker. There is no need for a hacker to obtain near omnipotent technical skills. In any case people with extremely high levels of technical skills have better uses for them. Instead, a hacker exploits the stubbornness and stupidity of people who own computers. They won't pay competent people to manage them. They'll choose software for superficial convenience. In Augustinian terms they choose the lesser goods of short term cost savings and convenience over the greater good of security.

Now, I don't completely agree the devil doesn't need to exist and is just a trick wimp thought, but it is correct that Satan has no power of his own. He can only corrupt and twist what is created by God.

And yes, humans are our own worst enemies. Much worse than Satan as he can only suggest, where we actually commit. And pulling that into tech terms with the hackers... Well done.

Lack of planning on their part does constitute an emergency

Lack of planning on their part does constitute an emergency on my part. This whole Daylight Savings Time change is a big pain in the nether regions.

Older software didn't update, so manual changes were in order. Some older devices don't have an option to update, so I have to turn off the DST function and change the times manually twice a year for as long as we continue to use these devices.

I don't know why a law that was changed back in 2005 wasn't generally known about until mid February. A mere month before it took effect. Many of the calendars I have seen don't note the change. Software patches seem patchy at best.

Here is Microsoft's information on How to minimize the impact of the DST change

Ultimately, individual calendar owners are the only ones who can validate that calendars are correct or not. To minimize confusion during the DST shift, follow these simple steps:

1. When organizing a meeting during the extended DST period, type the correct meeting time in the subject line or body of the message (for example, Project planning meeting at 8:30 A.M.).

2. Consider any appointments and meetings in the extended DST period to be suspect. When in doubt, verify the correct time with the organizer.

So, essentially, don't trust your computer calendar to work right anymore. But the good news is that it only effects about 4 weeks out of every year. The bad news, we don't know if you can ever trust your computer again.