Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Antivirus software is generally crud. I say this as a computer programmer with a degree, and over a decade’s worth of experience in cleaning viruses off computers. I would never pay for antivirus software for my home computer (at work, possibly). In fact, I haven’t had to pay for AV software yet. I became jaded years ago while reading VMyths by Rob R. He confirmed what I suspected - that the AV update system model is broken, and not the best that programmers can offer customers.

Here are some free AV products (that aren’t always easy for novices to find):

• AVG Free - and yes it’s still free past May 2008, using their free Version 8.0. You just have to look past the Trial version.
• Avira AntiVir is also free.
• ClamWin is based on ClamAV for Linux.

Also required when using a free AV product, is a free Spyware detector/remover. Spyware is a mean (malicious) bit of softWARE that may not spread like a virus, but ruins your computer at least as well as a virus. Antivirus companies tend to charge for spyware detection (which is stupid, since spyware breaks a computer just as well as a virus, and it can be detected in much the same way as viruses are), and it’s how they convince more people to pay for “premium” products. Why bother? There are volunteers out there who don’t charge anything, and ask only for what you can afford to pay them at your discretion.

I’ve only had one virus infect any of my own computers or disks since I started back in 1984. (It’s possible some got through, and were never detected, but that’s VERY unlikely because they are usually easy to spot due to poor programming or intentional destruction/extortion/bragging caused by the well written ones). I’ve downloaded music and TV since the late 1990s using a variety of services, mostly P2P. And the only time a virus infected my computer, it was from surfing to a malicious webpage with an insecure version of Java installed on my computer. AVG detected it in an automated daily scan, and I was back to normal, feeling slightly more vulnerable, but in reality unscathed.

/End bragging

(more…)

Your face as drawn by a blogger. I don’t remember right now what I found this blog through.

This is just too cool. If you have one of these Canon cameras, and ever do more than just point-and-shoot, you’ll want to get this free enhancement. My 6 year old Canon is too old, but I may be replacing it this year… most certainly with one of these models.

–
Hat tip to Photojojo

It’s worth the 15 minutes of “TV” time to hear what this guy has to say about new media.

I think it was a couple years ago that people started asking me “where do you get the time”, in reference to my blogging. Then I started thinking, and realized it was from the time I used to spend reading, or watching TV. I now watch about as much TV in a month as I used to watch in a day. I had the same decrease in my first months away from home, and at university about a decade ago.

My realization is part of why I formed The Teleban.

I’m at the UofR at the Microsoft “Heroes Happen Here” conference/presentation. I’ll include updates throughout the evening from my XO Sugar-Linux laptop.

6:30 - Right now my former graphics professor is giving an introduction.
6:40 - Will Craddock is giving a 41 slide presentation from 80 originally.
- IIS 7 is a completely new product over ver. 6.
- Server 2003 install was “arduous”, and 2008 doesn’t need an admin password set until you start it up.
- Single Management Console is improved.
- PowerShell is a new addition (was in Exchange 2007).
6:45 - Group Policy runs as a service for a user, giving new ways to make changes without reboots.

Vista not well installed in Regina in corporate workplaces… heheh.

6:50 - Demonstration of the MMC
6:57 - Talk about Windows Server 2008 Core and adding a GUI for it from www.petri.co.il

7:04 - Firewall more intelligent than Vista pre SP1.
- Protection Features - Network Access Protection. NAP, I want that right now (didn’t get enough sleep last night).
- AD Rights Management - File permissions could be network based, so files can’t be taken home to be opened. Note that this is essentially DRM for the corporate world!

7:17 - Virtualization still not as “robust” as VMWare, but moving in the right direction apparently.
-Hyper-v virtualization
-Virtualize applications to run legacy software.

7:23 - Ruby and PHP have worked better on Apache.
7:27 - MS Silverlight is their “Flash killer”. MLB is using Silverlight to stream games online.
First session wrapped up.

SQL Server is the next presentation. I just showed off the OLPC XO-1 to Will and one of the surprisingly few women in attendance at the event.

7:57 - Security discussion.
7:59 - The projector quit! What does a room full of computer geeks do when a computer in a presentation stops working? Panic, of course ;-)
Actually, a restart of the equipment fixed the problem 4 minutes later.

8:13 - Speaking of crashing (no this isn’t a set up to a Microsoft joke) my XO locked up after trying to browse for a photo I took of the SQL presentation! I pressed CTRL + ALT + Erase and X shut down and restarted in under a minute.

8:34 I’ve been trying to figure out where to find the photo files, and flickr crashed the Mozilla browser (or maybe Flash) again, and Photobucket.com might have worked, but I didn’t figure out the non-Journal file system fast enough.

8:44 The presentation is wrapping up a bit late. The other session(s) has wrapped up. I spent time trying to upload the photo to my blog, but WordPress had trouble with the “browse” just about like Flickr did. I had to restart the browser after it was stuck doing nothing.

There are prize draws…
8:49 Some more people in the crowd including professor Yang were looking at my XO laptop.

8:53 Another appeal from CS Dept. for industry to work with the UofR.

8:55 Enrollment in CS around North America is down 75% from the 1990s, but industry is picking up in demand. There’s no way to meet the demand - we’re being asked to influence kids to have them study Comp. Sci.

8:58 It’s too bad Yang had to give his full speech twice. It’s not bad, it’s just too long for how late it is getting. I heard some people complain about not having good parking options when they arrived. The room was also advertised wrong as “Education Classroom” which was confusing because there is an Ed. Building, and Classroom building.

9:03 Will’s repeating a speech for CIPS and guest speakers coming up including a MS employee from Estevan, SK.

9:06 Prize draws starting finally? ;-)…

I won nothing.

10:10 Moved the photos easily off the XO onto my USB drive by:
1- Plugged in USB drive.
2- Went to Journal
3- Selected Photo
4- Pointed to the copy option, and clicked on the picture of the USB drive
- The photo copied to the USB drive then.
5 - Back to the previous screen and repeat as required.

Rural History has a blog in Saskatchewan. There are good photos and quotes of famous people, around the site.

Check out the upcoming Gardiner debate with the KKK re-enactment. It’s taking place in Lemberg later this Summer.

-Regina at sunset

==

Meanwhile, it’s getting harder to photograph trains. I don’t think walking down tracks should be encouraged, and probably should be discouraged, yet there are many places where it’s not any more dangerous to cross than at a street. A huge stretch of track in downtown Yorkton isn’t fenced off, because it makes no sense to walk about 3 blocks in either direction to cross the tracks to the residential homes just to the south. If they hand out any tickets there, there will be many fuming people. My hunch is this is at least as much an attempt at cracking down on vandals, and drifters, as it is for safety. CN police had better use discretion when handing out fines, or this will be a PR disaster for the rail company.

Is $700 a meal out to lunch? I think so, since many Canadians can pay rent with what one meal cost Richard Portelance. Restaurant = lucky. Taxpayers = duped. Richard Portelance = too brazen for polite language to describe.

It is bad, but it comes from “bubble living”. Each of us on a computer here in Canada has our own bubble we live in, where daily Internet use is commonplace to the point where we’re offended if it goes away without us wanting it to, even for a few hours. Yet the standard for most of the world is no daily Internet, and at best an Internet cafe or library providing access a few minutes at a time.

It’s the same thing as buying a $700 meal. If you routinely spend more than $100 on a meal (good golly that’s pricey) then $700 isn’t unusual for a “special occasion”. Yet in reality, a special occasion meal for most Canadians would cost $100 or much less. I’d say “different strokes for different folks”, except that’s our tax money we’re talking about. It’s obscene whether Shell Oil, or the CBC does it. Not much can justify that much spent on one person, on one meal. It almost makes me feel ridiculous over being concerned about the exorbitant $14/day I’d get to cover lunches when I was on the road for my previous provincial government-affiliated jobs.

Yet, I suppose it should make me feel proud that I was concerned enough to feel concerned. Apparently, CBC execs feel nothing; How else could you not stop yourself from paying “$717 for a single dinner”? Ryan points out that pricey meals may be simply the cost of doing business to compete with moneybags like Shell Oil who no doubt help set the tone for not-affordable dinner meetings. I’d like to see not only taxpayers punishing government and CBC execs who abuse meal allowances, but shareholders punishing CEOs who are so brazen as to waste company money on corporate culture extravagance.

This is pretty amusing, if you like cheesy pickup lines, and techno goodies.