The Scrolls

Posts Tagged ‘computers’

Can’t Live With ‘Em

nor can you live without them. Depending on your sexual orientation, you may think I am talking about men and/or women. I could be but I’m actually talking about computers!

I caught a trojan the other day and I have been battling ever since. It was stupid that I got it in the first place because Avast did warn me but I didn’t respond in a very.. cautious way and got infected. Since then, I’ve run over a dozen programs (at least!). Things have gotten better but not perfect. At first, I had horrible, fake Windows alerts and a pseudo-antivirus program that wanted me to download crap. I managed to get rid of the pop ups and fake program but I kept getting Google results hijacked and my comp was lagging like hell.

Now, the lag seems to be minimal (it is eight years old, after all!) but my results are still, sometimes hijacked. It’s annoying but not completely debilitating. I’m still running daily scans. The frustrating thing is, many programs have caught something but it’s obvious this thing has opened a back door and keeps letting more in anyway.

Like last time, Dez has been a great help coming up with suggestions but I’m pretty close to just buying some protection software.

Tech Lust: Alienware Laptops

Alienware, a division of Dell, has long been known for making gaming computers but one thing they have also been consistent with is producing computers which are visually appealing. When it comes to awesome aesthetics, I am so there! Which is why all of Alienware laptops are equally awesome; there’s 2 right now: m15x and m17x. They’re capable machines with attractive styles and backlit keyboards which make me say “Ooh.” (It’s also great for typing on those dark and stormy nights). If that doesn’t catch your eye, then perhaps the webcam, facial recognition software or engraved nameplate on the bottom (just to name a few things) will. They’re not so friendly to the pocketbook, of course, which is why I lust over them instead of buy them.

Leave Me Alone

Despite my isolation from friends and family, I am inundated with requests and queries and messages. My inbox, answering machine and mailbox never stay empty. If anything, I have developed a very clear stance on spam: I hate it.

I have resorted to letting the machine pick up every call and I’m sure Ryan doesn’t appreciate it but I am sick of taking calls that want something (I tell you, you donate once and they won’t leave you alone. They’re like stray cats!) or for people who don’t live here, never have and no, I don’t know them, thank you very much. I am not Nadia, Melissa or Erica and the Ryan you want is not my husband so stop calling! These people must be going through the phone book and calling everyone with the same last name as we have which is ridiculous. I mean, our last name is in the top 20 in the entire country so that tactic is absurd to begin with. For reference, there are over 10 pages of Martinezes in the phone book.

Car insurance companies down here are also really good at making their ads seem like real mail. They’re vague enough that you have to open them, just in case it’s something you’ll regret tossing. I get those kind of letters at least once a week. Think of the trees, people!

In fact the calls and mail make me happy Thunderbird does so well with fielding spam and that my computer doesn’t “ring” every time I get a knew message. I’d have to kill myself then. I already hate the sound of our phone which also has an insanely loud ringer even on low. I’d hate to hate my computer.

In summary: gtfo spammers.

Tech Lust: Red Laptops

I don’t really need a laptop. I plan on using my computer for a while, yet, and memory will extend its life without being as costly as a laptop. Still, I can drool over pretty electronics, can’t I? And the laptops that are the most droolworthy are red! Initially, I was going to blog about HP’s new ProBooks which are targeted for small businesses and super sleek but HP’s site says nothing about red ones. Luckily, I found a site which blogs only about red laptops. Pretty cool? So, feast your eyes on the beauties on the Red Laptop blog – I want them all.

The Things You Love to Hate

In my case it’s technology and, sometimes, my kitty Phantom.

Not too long ago I asked for ideas for keeping him out of places and one response was to use double sided tape. Apparently cats don’t like the feeling of it on their paws and if you put it over the entrance to a place you want to keep them out of, it should help. Well, I went to the extreme when I used some double sided tape; I put a grid of the tape over our entire fireplace.

It didn’t work.

That’s right. When faced with this barrier, Phantom simply chewed through it and made a hole big enough for himself. Since then, we have resorted to zip tying the chain link metal “curtain” over the fireplace. This seems to have worked. But, it renders the fireplace completely useless. Pah!

I also needed suggestions for how to get the kitty to stop going places we don’t want him, like near the computer, behind the TV and on counters, tables and dressers. Ashe suggested I get a can of compressed air and this has actually worked really well. I’ve only had the air a few days and Phantom already knows not to fuck with me. If I even grab the can, he scrambles.

Still, if the cat can’t be kind of naughty, he tries to be really naughty. He is now spending time on top of the fridge. He originally went up there because he could smell a ziploc bag of treats I had. He proceeded to chew open the bag. Now, I tihnk he just likes being up that high and he reaches down to play with the magnets and papers on the freezer door. This is especially problematic because I can’t spray him very well up there and we moved everything to the freezer door because he was jumping to get everything on the bottom door from the floor. I guess no magnet is safe.

When it comes to technology, I really like my computer and my MP3 player and the internet but when it goes wrong, it’s so costly. I caught a trojan (W32.Renos) the other day which was redirecting my search results and slowed down my internet as well as blocking potentially helpful sites and webpages. It took over 2 days to finally find a trojan scanner which fixed it. I am very grateful to Dez for finding, downloading and sending me the program since I couldn’t fully utilize my internet.

A lot of people had the same trouble with Renos and similar trojans which fall into the family of Smitfraud. I downloaded/used at least a dozen programs and only 1 of them detected it. I even used tools specifically for these type of infections like SmitFraudFix which did not help. The program which finally did the trick is Simply Super Software’s Trojan Remover and I highly recommend it to anyone with Renos or a similar invasion.

I hope that anyone with this problem stumbles across my site and finds a solution that works for them.

There you have it, the things I love to hate.

Wouldn’t you know

Monday was a very weird day. It started off not too bad with some episodes of Stargate and then Ryan received a call that one his troops has fucked up so he jumped in the shower and ran to base after being screamed on the phone. Of course, it wasn’t his troop. It was someone else with the same name who is now his troop and Ryan basically wasted a trip. Bah!

We spent the day doing a little shopping, including brand new bras for me, and grabbed dinner at the mall and ended up with a trip to Wal-mart for some necessities. We returned to a hot apartment as our electricity had partially shut off while we were gone and I hopped on the phone with the answering service who told us to check the breaker box, which we did, and flip the switches for the living room (where the electricity had been off) which we couldn’t find. OF course, after I hung up Ryan found the switch and I had to call them back to say never mind.

If only it ended there. I went to turn on my computer to find that it didn’t work and assumed it was the power supply because I’ve had the same problem before. Unfortunately it was too late to call anyone so I waited until yesterday where I made like 4 calls to Best Buy before someone answered and gave me a ridiculous price. We also talked to someone else who quoted a better rate but wouldn’t have been able to do it the same day so we went a little out of our way to a great shop that was sort of hidden away and were greeted by an extremely helpful chap who even gave us some free service. We took the time to browse their shop as well which had a variety of used and new computers and accessories for some damned good prices so Ryan is now considering getting a laptop from there.

Although it all turned out okay, it was a harrowing experience. I was very worried of having additional damage done to the computer so I’m very grateful that it wasn’t. Of course, I am not impressed with our electricity which has already gone out twice since we moved in. Ick.

Frustrations Abound

To start: if you read any of this post, this is it!

After we shipped off my computer. I signed onto AIM on the laptop and was met with an empty buddylist. Not just 1 in fact, but all of my linked lists were empty. Gone. This was not of any doing of my own as I certainly would not have the patience to delete around 200 buddies and I don’t really have the desire to.

I had the same issue with every other computer I used and resigned myself to hoping that once I was back on my computer, my buddylist would be intact or I would somehow be able to get it back.

Well, it wasn’t and I couldn’t. So, if you were on my AIM list or even if you just want to be now, let me know your name.

My second frustration is something which has been solved to a point: my bathroom. I thought the tub was leaking because there was always a huge puddle on the floor after we showered. It appeared to be coming from under the tub which was alarming and strange. I called the office and they put in a call for maintenance.

A few days later maintenance shows up and the guy says it’s coming not from under the tub, but from the side of the tub (near the faucet) and water was dripping down onto the side and dripping onto the floor from there. I was dubious but he went ahead and put in a little bracket thing on the side of the tub to stop it, told e to wait 4 hour before I used the tub and I did.

Now, we have been putting up with the worst-shower-head-ever! EVER! Instead of water shooting out as a reasonable speed and distance, it simply falls straight down from the head. This resulted in us having to stand no more than 6 inches away from the shower wall. This only furthered our puddle because the water from the shower was basically going right onto the side of the tub and down onto the floor, creating our big puddle.

So the bracket does seem to help, a bit. Even though I waited over 5 hours, when I took a shower the water that got on the bracket made the sealant leak in a little white puddle. So I have been wrapping the shower liner around into the shower and using water suction to stick it to the shower wall which seems to work more than the bracket itself.

The one saving grace of the bathroom is that we have now purchased a new showed head with more pressure that shoots out much straighter and further than the old one. It also has different settings which I don’t much care for but it’s a plus anyway.

Sadly, there’s still 1 more thing wrong with the bathroom: lately the chain inside the toilet tank keeps falling off so you can’t flush. Now, the toilet tank itself isn’t as dirty as the bowl but I’d still prefer not to have to stick my arm in there if I don’t have to. In fact, I even dreamt about it the other night. Ugh.

MY last frustration is certainly the biggest. Remember my new phone? Stylish? Cute? Small? Mine? Yea, well I’ve had some issues.

I have returned it twice because, eventually, the instant messaging feature has stopped working. While it certainly won’t kill me, I think I should be able to use all the features the phone has. The first two times it took about a week to stop working, even though it worked fine directly out of the store. Yesterday I called tech support for my second phone, tried to reset and when that didn’t help, they told me to return it which I did.

Last night, already, the IM feature stopped working on my third phone. T-Mobile’s policy is that I can do an alternative exchange or upgrade after 3 returns for the issue but, honestly, there’s no other phone I like as much, so I don’t really want to do an alternative exchange.

Unfortunately, since the software was put on it by T-Mobile, Nokia can be of no help. Even worse, TMobile tech support and store associates have no idea what’s going on. To add insult to injury, Ryan has the exact same phone and has not had any of the problems I have.

Instead of exchanging, I thought I would find an application online to use instead of the one provided by TMobile. Unfortunately, the TMobile settings block all third party applications so I can’t even do that, it seems. I think I am stuck trying to debrand the phone myself and, if that fails, paying them to unlock it to see if that will help.

Ugh. I really enjoy the phone besides this one issue which I keep running into and it only frustrates me that it just seems to be me having it. What am I doing wrong?