David – Page 386 – third world county

April 20, 2007

Microsoft Bashing

OK, I admit it: I like picking on the (mostly caged) 600-pound gorilla as much as you probably do, and there is certainly a LOT to B&M about when it comes to Me$$y$oft’s software. After all, we’ve been through TWO “patch Tuesday’s” this month and Microsoft is giving folks NO clue about when the DNS vulnerability that’s been actively exploited this week (!) is going to be patched. Yeh, sure, it probably doesn’t affect you directly since you’re probably not running M$ “Advanced” (*heh*) Server 2000/2003… but some of the networks you surf use it (and that might explain some ‘net wonkiness this week–might).

But the Mac ads touting how Macs just don’t need protection from malware are pure hokum, bunk, B.S. Not to put too fine a point on it, such claims are lies.

Apple has released a wide-ranging security update for Mac OS X. It’s the fourth for the year, which has us wondering if the company’s moving to a monthly schedule

Hmmm, that’s what, one fewer than Microsoft has released this year? For a platform that has juuuust about 5% of the users that Microsoft boasts, Apple doesn’t really have to try harder to appear safer. It’s such a small target, it’s little wonder it’s attacked very often, but when it is… well, from my personal experience, a far greater proportion of Mac users are clueless what to do to recover from such attacks than M$ users (or Linux users). And Apple serves its users not at all well by selling the idea that Macs just don’t have to worry about malware, that Macs are inherently secure, etc.

BTW, my month or so experience with PC-BSD has led me to the conclusion that if you really, really want to run BSD with a cool GUI on a computer, you can do it much, much less expensively than buying an Intel computer running Mac OSX (which is really just BSD with the proprietary Mac GUI straightjacket tacked on top). Heck, build the biggest, flashiest honker of an Intel box you want (or even AMD), save the $$$ shakedown from Apple and install PC-BSD for free. “Outa the box” it’s easy to use, easy to find and install apps, etc. And you can even make it look and feel mostly like Mac (a more friendly, more easily configurable) OSX, if you’re feeling particularly masochistic.

*heh*

Just a thought…

Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Random Yak, Adam’s Blog, basil’s blog, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, Jo’s Cafe, Pet’s Garden Blog, Rightlinx, stikNstein… has no mercy, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gone Hollywood, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

April 19, 2007April 19, 2007

T-13, 1.26: Thirteen Stupid Computer Tricks

Well, not really tricks, stupid behaviors.

1.) Fiddle around never planning for the inevitable… crash. It doesn’t matter how good your hardware or software is, one day, right in the middle of an absolutely essential piece of work, your hard drive will fail, your OS will become irretrieveably scrambled, heck, your house will biurn down and your will be data lost forever IF you are among the nearly universal set of casual users who don’t have a backup and disaster recovery plan. Count on it.

2.) Use a computer “bare naked”. No, I’m not talking about the user. I’m talking about the computer. Plug the thing directly into a wall socket and you’re just asking for trouble. Almost as bad (and in some ways worse)? Use an under-rated faux surge suppressor. If it won’t suppress a bare minimum 1,000 joules (and that is a minimum) don’t plug into it. If it’s older than a year, well, it’s probably nearly as bad as not having one at all (surge suppressors wear out over time). All it takes is one good spike (or many small spikes spread out over time) and your MOBO is toast.

3.) Surf “naked”. Yeh, no firewall. Even the crappy Windows firewall is better than nothing. A software firewall is absolutely essential nowadays. Most Linux distros come with pretty good firewall rules ready to activate, and there are several free Windows environment firewalls available (my current fav is Comodo. Very good. BTW, if you are still using Windows 98 or *shudder* Windows “Muppet Edition”–Me–install Sygate Personal Firewall–link is to an ftp download)

4.) Really dumb (and irresponsible and completely shameless, no matter what OS is in the box): no antivirus software. Even if you don’t get infected, taking a chance of unwittingly forwarding an infected email is dumb.

5.) Even dumber? NOT UPDATING one’s anti-virus. And not USING it to MANUALLY scan downloaded files. Emperor. New clothes. Get it?

6.) Ditto anti-spyware.

7.) Cheesy passwords. Your birthdate, child’s name, pet’s name, whatever. Dumb, real dumb. Worse still? I simply cannot count the number of computers I’ve seen with passwords stuck on monitors with sticky notes. *sigh* Hello! Put a sign on your house: “It’s locked, but the key’s in the door.” Choose passwords that are based on phrases, preferably from unique incidents in your life. Mix ’em up with misspelled words using uncials, capitals, numbers and symbols. “eyEdreenkgr33nt3@” is better than “password” *duh*.

8.) Sharing is for losers. Data and security losers, that is. If you must have file and printer sharing on on your home network, at least share ONLY specific, password-protected folders! And for heaven’s sake, TURN OFF FILE AND PRINT SHARING WHEN USING A WI-FI HOTSPOT!!!

9.) And while I’m on the topic of wireless… Heck, even responsible people can be tempted to sniff your network if you leave your fly down. *heh* At least use WPA-PSK on your wireless network. WPA2 (AES) is better. Current crops of router/firewalls are easily-configured for pretty darned secure wi-fi, but it seems most people never enable even basic WEP (*yech!*) “security” and for that matter never change the default password on their routers! (most common: UN:admin; PW: password *sigh*).

10.) Willy-nilly install and uninstall any old downloaded software–betas, warez, cracks, whatever. Asking for trouble. No, begging. Windows users, make a Restore point before installing new software. For that matter, determine FIRST if you NEED that shiny new toy, do some research–reviews in mainstream computer mags are one place–and MANUALLY SCAN the downloaded file with an UP-TO-DATE anti-virus BEFORE installing it.

11.) Oh, here’s a really dumb trick: clicking on any and every link in an email. Anyone say, “Viruses, Trojans and Worms, oh my!”? Or how about phishing? Great. Infect yourself (and pass it on) and offer yourself up for identity theft, if you will. CLICK NOT unless you have a VERY GOOD IDEA where that CLICK will lead you.

12.) Opening any old attachment in an email. The classic “Infect me please!” Dumb. The rules are: Do not open unexpected attachments, SCAN expected attachments separately, MANUALLY with an up-to-date anti-virus software.

13.) And the “unluckiest of all” dumb computer trick? Listening to Cousin “Eye R a compewter goo-roo” Clem. No, he does NOT know what he’s talking about. Nod your head and keep his hands OFF your keyboard!

Tacked to the board at the Thursday Thirteen Hub and Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, The Random Yak, Faultline USA, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Planck’s Constant, The Pink Flamingo, The Amboy Times, Cao’s Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Dumb Ox Daily News, Conservative Thoughts, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

April 18, 2007April 22, 2007

Cosmic Justice

SEE UPDATE BELOW!

I wrote a brief comment about this earlier, but it deserves expansion, because the root cause of Jon Corzine’s injuries is also the root cause of anarcho-tyranny in the U.S.–elite abuse of power and position.

Karma can be a bitch.

Oh, you probably know what I’m talking about: NJ Governor Jon Corzine’s little boo-boo on the Garden State Parkway. No, I’m not gloating that a politician *spit* was seriously injured. But I am pointing out that what happened to Corzine was cosmic justice. After all, why was his state trooper-driven vehicle traveling 91mph in traffic on the Garden State Parkway? Was there some legitimate emergency that required the attention of state troopers and he was just along for the ride as a passenger? Nope. Was there a genuine State emergency requiring Governor Corzine’s hurried transport? Not at all. He was on his way to a meeting with… Don Imus and the Rutgers women’s basketball players. Emergency? Hardly. And how about the excuse that troopers can exceed the speed and use their lights when transporting the governor “for security reasons”? Wasn’t very secure, was it, now?

Yeh, that “reason” is just more B.S. excusing politicians’ *spit* abuse of power. And as they abuse their power and position in everyday, commonplace ways–butting to the heads of lines, shoving ordinary people out of the way on the Garden State Parkway (among the many other places), etc., they continually turn the heat up on the frog in the kettle, teaching citizens about the priviledge of position that political power brings and training those citizens to submit as subjects to their power.

Little by little we are being turned into subjects. Rights? Those can be turned into licenses, priviledges controlled and licensed by politicians *spit* and bureaucrats *spit-spit*. Just see how much more clamoring for restrictions on gun ownership by citizens we’ll see in the coming days and weeks as a result of the incident at Virginia Tech, something that could have been cut way short had any of those UNarmed putative citizens been armed…

UPDATE: Over at Chaos Manor Mail, Peter N. Glaskowsky points out that another man intent on mass murder five years ago in a different Virginia school of higher education was not so “successful, because that school did not have a rule preventing its adult students being armed.

Put that in your “disarm law-abiding Americans” pipe and smoke it, “Brady Bunch” liberals.

Respect? Not due citizens by politicians *spit* unless thay have bigmouthed racist/sexist “spokesPEOPLE” to harrangue for them and Mass Media Podpeople to take up their cause. Go ahead, write or call your congresscritters. See just how much genuine respect you get. All you’ll get–at best–are words, sound and fury signifying nothing. Don’t believe me? Just look at the polls on border control/immigration. 70%-80% of folks do NOT appreciate the way politicians *spit* are handling the situation, want stricter controls and better border security, and even deportation of illegal aliens has a large majority support. But since almost zero of that support is played up by the Mass Media Podpeople’s Hivemind, the majority of politicians are firmly behind surrendering the U.S. to the invading horde.

*sigh*

So, whenever cosmic justice gives even one abusive politician *spit* a taste of his just eternal reward in hell, we ought to bow our heads in thanks. I do not rejoice that Jon Corzine was so seriously injured. No. But I do hope he at least gets a ticket for not wearing his seat belt.

Now, that would be cosmic justice.*

(*Yeh, I know, I know: NJ law would mandate a ticket for the driver for allowing a passenger to not wear his seat belt, but imagining the state trooper getting a ticket he’s earned is about as difficult a suspension of disbelief as imagining the governor learning a lesson in humility from his overweening behavior, after all, one’s is a Law Enforcement Officer, and so above the law *sigh* and the other is a typical politician *spit* and we all know they only get what they deserve when they die and go to hell… [some few exceptions may apply])

Also posted at The Wide Awakes

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Random Yak, Maggie’s Notebook, Adam’s Blog, basil’s blog, Helium, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Pet Haven, Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, Pet’s Garden Blog, stikNstein… has no mercy, Blue Star Chronicles, Planck’s Constant, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

April 18, 2007April 19, 2007

Just Stuff/OTA

Not in a blogging mood. What?!? Are my non-existant “sponsors” gonna drop me or something? *heh* So, this is a linkfest (more about that below the wandering rabbit trails that follow) and a semi-random buncha stuff. You decide which is more useful. 😉

So, another dump off of computer junk. One useful thing, though, was a MessySoft “Internet Keyboard Pro” with a “whole lotta lumps” (shortcut buttons) and a bifurcating cable with both PS/2 and USB. The USB connection makes it serve as a hub, as well. Useful, especially when connected to a computer without front USB ports (yeh, antique). You’d think I’d have enough keyboards, what with 15 17 others (just spotted two more here in the office, hiding out over to my left ;-)) NOT connected to computers held in reserve. But, no. Never have enough reserve keyboards and mice, right? Who knows when a keyboard may bite the dust, or just need a trip through the dishwasher? (Almost ditto on “spare” monitors, right?)

While I’m in a compgeeky mode of thought, anyone else going to see if servers are swamped with attempts to download Ubuntu 7.04 on Thursday? That’s assuming it makes it’s projected release date. The RC was supposed to be out LAST Thursday, but got held up. Anywho, it promises some neato-keano stuff, like a tie-in with Linspire/Freespire’s Click n Run application installation and easier setup of media apps. Sounds like it’s truly getting closer to Joe Schmoe and Aunt Tilly ready.

The shooting at Virginia Tech? I’m with Ferdy on this one. All the bloviation of politicians and Mass Media Podpeople isn’t worth listening to. I’ll wait on the shake-out of info. One thing, though: if the victims hadn’t been universally UNarmed, the story would likely be quite different, eh?

Yesterday, the annual reinforcement of the lessons of serfdom was once again driven into we who were born free… Well, weren’t we? *sigh* Maybe that is another myth.

*heh* Russel Seitz: An Inconvenient Tree. Algore is probably chewing hi shorts (the things was written originally as an op-ed in the WSJ)

Not gloating, but evidence seems to indicate that politicians’ *spit* “I’m so special the law doesn’t apply to me” thinking had better at least consult the laws of physics before going 91mph in a 65mph zone… Oh, BTW, meant to include it earlier, but here it is now:

“The state trooper-driven sport utility vehicle was in the left lane with its emergency lights flashing… “

[More addendum] Yeh, but there was no “emergency”–just cops and politicians abusing their powers. Sometimes karma’s a bitch, Governor Corzine. He could have left on time for his meeting with Don Imus and the Rutgers women. Heck, being late for that media fluff event doesn’t qualify as a justifiable reason for the excessive speed and “emergency lights” use. And the tired old “doing it for security reasons” is a sick joke. It was all about casual, commonplace, everyday, quotidian *heh* abuse of power/position.

Ah, well, there’s an awful lot of other stuff going on out there in this Brave New World, but I’ll just let it slide for now.

Call it Spring Fever, if you will.

THIS is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you have a linkfest/open trackback post to promote OR if you simply want to promote a post via the linkfests/open trackback posts others are offering, GO TO LINKFEST HAVEN DELUXE! Just CLICK the link above or the graphic immediately below.

If you want to host your own linkfests but have not yet done so, check out the Open Trackbacks Alliance. The FAQ there is very helpful in understanding linkfests/open trackbacks.

April 16, 2007April 16, 2007

Semi-Good Poll, Misleading Report/Linkfest

Linkfest info below

I’ve found Newsmax to be pretty consistently lax with the facts. Oh, the facts are there, but I have to dig for them to remove the dlant of Newsmax’s “reporting”–just a right-wing version of typical left wing media tactics.

That’s not smart of Newsmax, IMO. Immitating liars to counter their lies just doesn’t work well.

Here’s an example from a recent email:

“NewsMax Poll: Americans Want Fred Thompson in Ã¢â‚¬â„¢08”

Oh, really? And how do you know that, Newsmax?

“An Internet poll sponsored by NewsMax.com reveals that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of Fred Thompson running for president in 2008.

Our Ã¢â‚¬Å“Should Fred Thompson Run for PresidentÃ¢â‚¬Â poll of nearly 100,000 people also disclosed that the former senator from Tennessee and Ã¢â‚¬Å“Law & OrderÃ¢â‚¬Â star would trounce all leading Republican candidates in a primary.”

Look, lefties are NOT going to get Newsmax mail (I’m not sure why I do, since I don’t consider myself a “righty”), let alone participate in a poll that is run by Newsmax. So the results were (nearly all) all self-selected Newsmax right-wing readers, OK? I didn’t take the poll (never do participate in their things). I don’t fit their demographic all that well.

So, what else did this poll of self-selected right-wingers determine? That among this self-selected (NOT random sample) group of about 100,000 the Q/A went something like this:

1) What is your overall opinion of Fred Thompson?
Favorable: 94 percent
Unfavorable: 2 percent
No Opinion: 4 percent

2) Is Fred Thompson your candidate for president in 2008?
Yes: 77 percent
No: 23 percent

3) In the following field, who is your 2008 candidate?
John McCain: 1.66 percent
Condi Rice: 2.64 percent
Mike Huckabee: .99 percent
Miss Romney: 4.14 percent
Rudy Giuliani: 7.53 percent
Fred Thompson: 62.54 percent
Tom Tancredo: 2.78 percent
Ron Paul: 1.25 percent
Newt Gingrich: 12.25 percent
Duncan Hunter: 1.23 percent
Sam Brownback: .97 percent
Other: 1.99 percent

4) In a Republican primary of the following, who would you vote for?
Rudy Giuliani: 7 percent
John McCain: 2 percent
Newt Gingrich: 13 percent
Fred Thompson: 78 percent

5) If the 2008 President race was between Fred Thompson & Hillary Clinton, who would you vote for?
Fred Thompson: 98.7 percent
Hillary Clinton: 1.3 percent

Now, it’s certainly encouraging that Fred Thompson is so popular among a list of Republican candidates/potential candidates, cos he’s among the best of a bad lot (Tancredo beats him hands down on the MAJOR issue of border control, but Thompson’s still better than any of the others on that issue, too, from what I can tell).

But. Remember I said “best of a bad lot” and that’s because all of them are still big government types. Just Democraps dragging their heels, as it were, when it comes to government interference in citizens’ daily lives.

But back on point: Newsmax is just another example of too many (how many is too many? One is too many) folks seeking to counter leftist crap who resort to twisting and outright lies at times to counter… twisting and outright lies by the left (all the time).

Taking a poll of right-wingers is all right. Deliberately misstating poll results as referring to “Americans” in general–well, deliberately unless the writer and editor that viewed the thing are genuinely stupid–that’s just stupid and wrong.

THIS is an open trackbacks post. Link to THIS post and track back. 🙂

If you want to host your own linkfests but have not yet done so, check out the Open Trackbacks Alliance. The FAQ there is very helpful in understanding linkfests/open trackbacks.