Windows Hell

17 entries

  • The Worst is Over
    We are finished with the rebirthing process on Bruce's laptop. Here are a few things we've learned. If you work for a government lab, and they tell you they have a great new upgrade for your VPN software, shoot yourself...

    # At January 27, 2007 4:51 PM | Tags:
  • Tis the Season for TCP/IP


    # At December 27, 2006 1:14 AM | Tags:
  • The Overzealous Popup Blocker
    A few days ago our friend Gary Cruse of The Owner's Manual contacted Bruce about a problem he was having in both Internet Explorer and Firefox: when he tried to search for the word advertisement in a search engine, the...

    # At June 4, 2006 10:40 PM | Tags:
  • Norton vs. USB Drives
    Perhaps you have run into the following problem with your Windows PC. You have a USB drive with a fairly high capacity, and when you decide you want to eject it, you give the order to the little Safely Remove...

    # At April 23, 2006 10:07 PM
  • Norton Cleanup and Firefox
    I'm sure a lot of you don't like Norton and even more don't like Windows. Of those who use Norton Systemworks 2006 and Windows, probably only a few browse the web with Firefox. But if you are one of these...

    # At January 14, 2006 2:31 PM
  • Important MSN Messenger Safety Tip
    While doing the daily trackback post, Bruce and I stumbled across a very important news story at Third World County. A virus is masquerading as a new version of MSN Messenger. At this time, the virus in question-- Virkel.F-- does...

    # At December 28, 2005 1:53 PM
  • Another Reason to Dislike the Sony/BMG Copy Protection Hack
    A while back we reported on Sony's Sneaky Copy Protection scheme. If you play a copy-protected Sony CD on your Windows PC, it will install an invisible software package that prevents you from making more than three copies of songs...

    # At November 13, 2005 11:50 PM
  • Sony's Sneaky Copy Protection
    This story has been floating around the blogosphere for a couple of days, but it's important enough to bear repeating. Basically, the copy protection scheme on some Sony/BMG music CDs installs hidden applications on your PC. Sony's copy protector actually...

    # At November 3, 2005 6:38 PM
  • The Scary Fake MSN Messenger Virus Thingy
    The network of people who communicate via MSN Messenger are being subjected to a particularly terrifying joke. Essentially, someone has created a set of three animated smileys that appear to be a downloading virus. The standard method for applying the...

    # At October 30, 2005 10:28 PM
  • It's Stolen Software Season!
    Periodically, you may notice a flurry of unsolicited EMAIL offering software at extremely low prices. Such a flurry is going on now for Microsoft Office and Macromedia Studio, thanks to a recent release of a new Studio version, and rumors...

    # At October 27, 2005 6:52 AM
  • The Amazing Disappearing USB Drive
    Little portable USB hard drives have become so ubiquitous you can buy them in grocery stores. They hold anywhere from 64 megabytes to 2 gigabytes and work with almost any host computer. Just plug the thing into a USB port,...

    # At October 17, 2005 1:17 AM
  • EMAIL Account Virus Escapes Again
    A new version of the old email-info virus has escaped into the wild. If you own your own domain, expect to see hundreds of these stupid things trying every name they can think of to yield a valid destination address....

    # At October 13, 2005 12:11 PM
  • New MSN Messenger Virus, Trojan.Aimsend Flares Up Again
    For some time now, hackers have been using instant messaging tools to spread viruses. Symantec Anti-Virus reports that a new MSN Messenger virus was discovered today, W32.Kelvir.II. This virus pops up a message similar to the following along with a...

    # At September 14, 2005 6:00 PM
  • Important Safety Tip for Apache Under Windows
    Well, Bruce spent another night in Windows Hell, so I thought I'd better post the details so that other Windows users can benefit from his pain and so that all the MacIntosh people can feel even better about their choice...

    # At August 31, 2005 5:57 AM
  • Spam, Zombies, and Spyware
    Here's a fun sort of irony for you: Bruce subscribes to an EMAIL newsletter about spam, and it was getting deleted by his spam-blocker. The latest issue of the Bigfoot Anti-Spam Newsletter is here. My favorite story is one in...

    # At August 17, 2005 1:46 PM
  • Configuring a Laptop for Both Paranoid and Manic-Depressive Networks
    Many of you have a local area network at home, with one or more computers hooked up to a thing called a router or a hub. (The difference is that the router also connects to the Internet.) One of the...

    # At August 2, 2005 12:04 PM
  • A New Feature
    Periodically Bruce runs into technical problems at work. Usually, he can find an answer by searching the Internet. Sometimes, however, all he finds are messages from people who've had the same problem but were never able to fix it. When...

    # At August 2, 2005 11:16 AM