From the Mind of James (a geeks blog)


11:45 AM 7/20/2007: Why does this scare me?


Just read that Bush will be put to sleep to get a colon checkup and that Cheney will be in charge.
Story here


10:18 AM 7/7/2007: More on libby..


My GF came by this video which I think sums up the whole libby thing pretty well.



9:56 AM 7/6/2007: And the Winner is..


Many ask me why do people write malware and when I tell them that there is big money for it and for finding security holes they in most cases do not think it is true.
Look at this...
HERE


8:27 AM 7/3/2007: Bush needs his walking papers..


Well Bush let Scooter Libby "scoot" right out of jail.
Seems I remember a few times where he said he would fire any and all that were found guilty in this whole mess.
Well he no longer works at the white house but how many people who get "fired" have their old boss show up at jail with the key in hand?
Well if you don't like whats going on write a email to the Speaker of the House and ask her to impeach this so called leader of ours.
Speaker of the House


5:22 PM 7/2/2007: A good weekend!


Well my weekend went pretty well. I have been playing around with some new music software and you can download a few new tracks on my art page.
Besides that I have been playing the Monday game of dodging sales calls while talking to my customers.


2:23 PM 6/29/2007: A good week!


Well this week has been one of the best $$$ wise since I opened RenoGeek computer repairs. Me and the love of my life are having a good start to summer and everything is going pretty well. I have already had my first support call about getting a iPhone to work, lol. Sure there will be more to come. But I am off to go have a nice quite weekend at a friends house. See ya all Monday!


7:47 AM 6/27/2007: iHate.


I have about 40 feeds I read in bloglines as well as a custom news page on my site that pulls headlines from other sites I like to read.
As I am going through all the headlines today, over half of the stories are about the iPhone. And most of these "stories" are just links to other sites that linked to other sites that are linking to other sites that have 2 or 3 real "stories" about this phone.
Now I would think in the tech world their may just be a few more stories out their then just this $500 phone. Yea it looks cool as most Mac stuff does but you only get to use it on AT&T um, Cingular um, AT&T / whatever they call themself next week/year.
I have to hear so much about this phone it almost makes me wish for a paris hilton storie now. (not)
How about iGiveitarest?


11:40 AM 6/23/2007: A busy week.


It was a pretty busy week and I still have some customer systems on the bench that could not be fixed on-site. But overall it was a good week and today has started off mellow and I am just catching up on repairs, some programming and website design.


9:17 PM 6/18/2007: A Busy Monday.


Things moving along pretty well. Got a bunch of business stuff going on today and Tuesday.


11:39 AM 6/17/2007: html, php,save,upload test,test,test ...


Added a bunch of information pages and have done some small housekeeping changes to the site.


8:29 AM 6/13/2007: Oh my Heaven...


Just had somebody that's claims to do all the tech work for 7/11's in the area ask if I wanted to be a subcontractor for repair work.
After a reverse phone lookup I find the phone number was a Dallas based insurance company not too long ago so the company that just called me is a startup.
So it seems that 7/11 thinks its getting local service when in fact they are not. It just proves my point you should always ask where your service is based. Because if you don't you'll find out the hard way when your trying to track somebody down that your dealing with a middleman.
I also tested the new Windows version of the Safari web browser by apple. Can't say I like it much but it is still in beta.


9:37 AM 6/12/2007: Too easy...


Came by this video that shows how easy it is to hack a voting machine. By just replacing a few chips somebody could change all the votes on a machine...



8:28 AM 6/8/2007: I pulled out a old music program...


And came up with another tune. You can find it on my art & music page. Its the last music link on the bottom.


11:02 AM 6/7/2007: More on rip off "techs"...


As a honest, Certified and Licensed Technician I come by people that have been ripped off by fake "techs" almost every week.
Now not only do I get upset as I have to tell somebody they have been ripped off but also because they give all Technicians a bad name. I found these videos that show how some of these fake "techs" pull their scams all over the world and I have seen the same things here in Reno...

And part 2 of the video here where they trick the "tech" into comming back...
Now the point I keep trying to make on here is not to go out looking just for the cheapest Technician you can find as many of these fakes lowball their rates just to get into your home or office. Look for somebody that is Certified and Licensed and ask for their transcripts and Lic #'s. Make sure they have real contact information that you can verify. Hotmail or yahoo email addresses are not "Real" contacts. Look for phone numbers, addresses ect. And always ask questions even if you think they are stupid ones. The more information you have the better chance you'll have telling the fakes from the real deals.


10:13 AM 6/7/2007: Messing around with Vista...


Well the new UAC (user access control) "feature" of Vista has already bugged the heck out of me. So I wrote a down and dirty .reg file to stop Vista from asking me every 30 secs if I really, really, really want to run that program I just clicked on. It's called Kill-UAC and I wrapped it all up with a uninstall and a small readme file so others may get control back over their own systems. I put it on my porograms page for all to use.


8:24 PM 6/5/2007: PowerShell-V Ready for Download...


I have just put PowerShell-V on the progams page for download.
While I did drop a few things from the XP version I have added new stuff just for Vista. The program is still tiny and does not run in the background after its install. So overall I would say its pretty good.


12:30 PM 6/5/2007: More Testing...


I just got back from a follow up service call. And between that and my next call I have been testing my new version of PowerShell. I have decided to call it PowerShell-V (for vista) and should have it up on the site for download not too many days from now.
Since switching to Vista on this machine I have found out how much I used PowerShell-XP before to get from point A-B faster. And now that it is bugging me that I lost all that I was used to its pushing me to finish PowerShell-V.


1:35 PM 6/4/2007: Testing 123...


Well I have upgraded my main machine to Vista after playing around with it as a 2nd test O/S for a few months. And it all went pretty well execpt that the audio, printer and some software did not work out of the box, lol. Well since I go around fixing peoples stuff for a living I guess I can not wine too much when I already knew it was going to be a pain to setup and get working on my network. But as I got everything going now and in less then 8 hours on a custom machine and network I can't say it was all that bad.
Now I am going to finish up with PowerShell for Vista and get it up here for all to share.
In addition I am working on a BBS for the Reno Area and some non-profit sites as well as the repairs I always am getting.
Life is busy but good!


10:14 AM 5/24/2007: Changing stuff around...


Ok, I changed the look of the site again.
I like to try new color formats and just play around with it.
The love of my life found a cool game on the net that I have been playing around with also today.

You can find it Here.



10:14 AM 5/24/2007: Something to think about...


I know the war in Iraq and the general war on terror is touchy subject with most people now days. But I was surfing the net and I came by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted On December 10, 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. (last time I checked we were still a member nation).
And based in large part on our bill of rights.

You can read it Here.
As you read it take a good look at Articles 5-10 and then think about all the people we are holding all around the world.
I am not going to tell you what to think. All that I ask is that you read the Articles and ponder what makes us think we hold the high moral ground when we do not follow the very laws we help put on the books.

And please this has nothing to do with supporting our troops (I do in fact).
It has to do with our claim that we are fighting a war so that the whole world can enjoy our vaules when in fact we do not honor such vaules in the real world.



4:07 PM 5/14/2007: I hate scammers part 2...


Well the scammer did not take the bait with the phone call. So over the weekend I reported him to yahoo. Here is the message they sent back...
Hello,
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail. In this particular case, we have taken appropriate action against the Yahoo! account in question that was reported for fraudulent activities, as per our Terms of Service (TOS). For further details about the Yahoo! TOS, you can visit:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Please know that Yahoo! is unable to disclose the action taken on another user's account with a third party. We are not able to make exceptions to this rule. Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.
So you can tell they closed his account at least and maybe gave the cops his info.



1:18 PM 5/12/2007: I hate scammers...


Maybe its just me but I just love to mess with scammers.
I have always gotten a kick wasting their time and making them think they got one more person and then pulling the rug from under them and letting them know they have been scammed.
Well here is the one I got on the hook right now....
Hello, How you doing? My name is Mike Jones,i hail from UK and right now i work in Germany I read description and am instrested in your services,I will be importing some computer into the states.The PC are laptops petinum 3 dell computer ..i want you to Install software, clean inner & outer computer components, update software to current status Get back to me with you total cost for the services of 10 computer.i will like You to know that my mode of payment is by check. I await your urgent response so that i can put the arrangement in order. Thanks Mike
Now I knew this was the good old "we will send you a cashiers check and you wire us the extra money back scam".
Where they send you a fake check which you cash and wire them most of it back.
A few week later you find out the check was fake and the police are knocking on your door.

Well I sent him a email back and then he send me another one and so forth.
Now after the details of the "deal" were all set I get this email from him....
Hello, Thanks for the reply. I am okay with the price.I will provide the software you will need.you are to install anti virus,microsoft excel,powerpoint,adobe pagemaker,microsoft office,coral draw,dvd player. However, based on your mail . I will instruct my client to forward u a check of about $4800 from which i will like you to deduct the money for your services and you will help me send down the balance through WESTERN UNION OFFICE to my shipper That will be shipping the PC's into the states Please i will need your full name and address and your phone # so as to prepare the check and shipping of the computer to your address. i have a reliable shipper that will pickup the PC's when you are done. I am looking forward to hear from you. Thanks Mike
Now the total of our "deal" was $1,500.
So he is hoping to make a quick $3,300 and then leave me holding the bag for $4,800.
Now at this point I got enough to have his throw away yahoo account closed but I sent him back a email asking him for his phone number before I give him my business details.
Lets see if he falls for it.


5:34 PM 5/8/2007: Back from a bunch of service calls...


Today was a nice day. Just one of them days where everything seems to flow from one service call to the next.


11:40 AM 5/7/2007: Monday Morning...


Did some changes to the site.
I get board with it fast.

Gotten the usual Monday morning calls and will be hitting the road to do service calls in a bit.
Love the message I got on voice mail...
I can progam my pages myself and I am sure it wont take you any time and I only want to pay for part time, but the exposure will be good for you...

This is code for... I messed up my website, I don't want to pay to have it fixed, there is a ton of things that need to be change, but I'll let you put a link back to your site from my site.

Why do people think computer guys love to work for free?
Would you go into work and put in 40 hours as long as somebody gave you a link so that other people that don't want to pay you can get in contact with you?



8:55 AM 5/6/2007: Not sure if this is a record but...


Just got a hard drive off the bench that a virus scan showed had 400+ "different" viruses.
Not 400 infected files but 400 different unique viruses.
Maybe not a world record but it is sure more then what I see most of the time.



8:34 AM 5/6/2007: Your previous ad - really makes you LOOK like a Professional!!!!!!...


I got a email yesterday from somebody that posts to some of the same listings I do for computer repair. I changed one of my postsings around to better reflect that I am a Certified & Licensed Technician while most of the others that post are not.
And I stated that I would meet or beat any quote given by other Certified & Licensed Technicians. He seemed to get upset by this post even though he is not a certified or licensed to do business. And in effect was asking me to remove my post.
Parts of the email I thought funny was him calling his own customers a pain in the butt and saying I would not want them anyway.
(why would you be in this business if you did not like what your doing?)
And then him going on that I need to return to my older style of posts and offering me business advice like I just started doing this last week and not 28 years ago.
I am half tempted to post the email on here.
But I'll play nice today and not out him just yet.


7:44 PM 5/1/2007: Car Repair...


well the car has been working for about a week. I can't say I love the service I got or being jacked for $600 more then all the other car places said it should have been but life goes on. But part of its my fault for not making sure the same auto tech was working on my car still. The last 3 weeks has been pretty good business wise.


9:27 PM 4/15/2007: Car broken and New Version of PowerShell.


My car has been down most of the week at the repair shop. They gave it back to me today so I can get some things done. but it is jury-rigged like crazy with a green wire hanging out the side powering the cooling fan from the drive side fuse box. I am from Hawaii and they use to call this "hammerjag" or all messed up. Then the shope wants it back on tuesday to play with it some more and maybe fix it right. I talk about bad techs on here all the time but looks like I am getting shafted by one now myself.
The only thing is I had been going here a long time and always got great service. Now it seems they lost their lead tech and I did not find out until after the new one has no clue. So it seems I am going to have to go in next week ready to battle the management there. To get a fair deal.
In-between begging for my car back and rushing around trying to get repairs done for customers I have been working on my new version of PowerShell some more.


9:27 PM 4/15/2007: New Version of PowerShell.


I have started work on a new version of PowerShell for Windows Vista. At this point I have recreated over half of the functions of the last version. I think I'll have to rename it also as there seems to be some confusion with MS new program also called Powershell.
I came up with the name years before MS started working on its program. First with something called PowerDos then Powershell-ME and then PowerShell-XP. I guess I'll have to think about how many billions I'll have to sue Bill Gates for.
I have found a few cool new things to put in it this time around as Vista has some cool new stuff in the O/S.


1:34 PM 4/11/2007: Computer Tech abducted by aliens.



James with Gort

Ok maybe not kidnapped but I did spend the last few days in Seattle and would recommend seeing the Sci-Fi Museum and Hall of Fame.
As well as taking a duck tour.

You'll find both by the space needle when you visit downtown.
(The Museum is the weird looking building to the left if your looking at the Space Needle.)
(And the duck tours are in front of the Space Needle street side.)



2:12 PM 3/26/2007: Tech Support from hell.


Well I am going to out a company with some of the worst customer service I have seen in a long time. The name of the company is Digivue by Elyssa Corp. I have a customer that has one of their CCTV camera boards.
My customer had service done on their computer by another company and the "great tech" (not) wipped everything off their system. See (More on bad Techs, below).
Well I got their system up and running expect for this CCTV board. Got all the drivers setup, tweaked the bios for hyperthreading problems these boards and TV cards seem to have. But could not get the software to startup without crashing.
So I tried to call the company and tell them my problem with their software and it went like this...
First call, no answer.
2nd call, busy.
3rd call, busy.
4th call...

What kind of computer and card do you have? And well did you tweak the BIOS like so....?
Yes, I tried all that already.
Well the newer software does not work on your kind of system you need the old software. Great, can you send it to me?
Yea, I can find it. I'll send it.
You want my email address?
Oh yea, what is it?
james at renogeek dot com
What?
james at renogeek dot com
Ok I got james at Roger,echo,november,october (and he goes on like so.)
Um yea sounds right.
Ok, bye Phone is hung up.
Well I wait and wait and then late the next day I send them a email. Then another the day after the first email. And then a 3rd stating that this was my 3rd email after calling and I wanted to know if they had the software or not and to get back to me.
I then get a reply asking for all the information I told them already. I send them a reply with all the information again thinking well maybe whoever sent the email would get on the ball and send me the software. Well the next day I am still waiting and send another email and try to call (phone busy again). Then the next day I try to email and call again. Still no luck.
Well its a week later and still no software or any action on their part.
I have found different software to get my customer going again but can not remember having such lame service in a long time.


2:24 PM 3/19/2007: More on bad Techs.


It's Monday morning and I check my voicemail. As with most Mondays there are a few questions and people asking me to call them back.
I call back somebody and once again I hear the old story....
Well this "tech" came out and had to take my machine as it had too many viruses to fix on-site. He then called me back and said it was past fixing and he had to wipe everything off the hard drive and start again. When it came back things like the internet did not work....
Well you get the idea...
So I get to the place and find out they got charged 2x the going rate. The "tech" installed a illegal copy of Windows when he "cleaned" the system. Did not install all the hardware drivers and to top it all off could not get the one program that the computer was setup to run 24/7 to work at all and just left.
Just a reminder here. If a "tech" says a virus or some other malware is so bad that they need to wipe your system then question him/her to death. And then make sure YOU have everything backed up.
99.50% of all malware can be taken off the computer with the right software and experience.
And if they just grab the machine without asking you for your Windows Setup disk stop them right in their tracks and take your machine back. As 9 out of 10 times there are going to install illegal software on your system.
Once again ask, ask ask! Ask for Business lic #'s. Referals, check with the BBB ect before having somebody mess with your data. And as always Backup, Backup and when your not sure BACKUP AGAIN!


11:24 PM 3/16/2007: Google.moon


I like to play around with google maps from time to time and thought I would check out the moon Here. Zoom in as far as you can go and you'll see something that NASA has been trying to prove for years.


1:46 PM 3/13/2007: Site hits up again


It seems that Shell Extension City has highlighted my software again.
If you followed the link from there, thanks for stopping by.
You can find my free software by clicking on "James's Programs" in the menu to your right.

Also for the more geeky it seems that Black Viper has not dropped off the face of the earth as his site is back up Here


11:03 AM 3/7/2007: They claim to be techs.


I post ads for computer repair services on craigslist daily.
But it floors me to look at other ads on the site and see the kind of people that claim to be "REAL" computer techs.
There is this one guy who posts "computer lessons" that he cuts and pastes from other websites. And he claims that by searching for the word "keylogger" in the registry you will find all keystroke loggers. Like there is a rule that all keyloggers must be called keylogger and I guess then we don't need virus scanners as we just need to look for the word "virus" in the registry.
Then he goes on that all real techs subscribe to infoworld. Well with this logic I guess I stopped being a "real" tech 8 years ago when I did not renew. I guess "real" techs went ahead and filled out the 15 pages of questions they ask about your business to get a mag that has more ads then "info".
Oh and then this guy goes on and on how you have to send a email through craiglist first before he will send you his phone number. What business hides from its customers? And why? Funny, I want my number everywhere for some strange reason. And have it in all my ads as I want to get calls
Now he does claim to work for as long as it takes for just $20.00 flat rate. But the question that comes to mind is do you want to get your expensive equipment and irreplaceable data serviced by some part time, doing it on the side, un-licensed business? That vaules his service less then a pizza?
Well fake, under qualified "techs" have always gotten under my skin as I have seen too many times first hand the damage they can cause.


3:35 PM 3/4/2007: Charter Hijacks Computer Searches!


MAJOR RANT!
Ok being in business I check all the major search engines from time to time to see where my business ranks in search listings. Today I was checking "windows live" MS's new search engine installed by default into Windows Vista.
Instead of getting the site I wanted I end up on a "Charter" site. Now I do use charter as my ISP but being a tech my first thought was that the page I wanted got highjacked.
So I ran all my scan software, searched the registry for malware, checked cookies and IE security Zones and found nothing wrong with the system.
I then decided ok I was not nuts and maybe it was charter. So I jumped on their website and looked for anything about them sending their customers to http://www11.charter.net for searches. And found nothing at all about that.
Then I went off to google and found This Page
Which confirms I am not crazy and that charter is indeed hijacking searches away from "Windows Live" and bringing people to their search site. Which by the way has lots of ads. (Can you say make a buck) And the only way they will let you stop this action is to let them install a cookie on your system. And so sorry but I am now suppose to trust them that they will not use the information they gather from this cookie to make money by pusing targeted ads at me or for something else?
Now I don't use "Windows Live" search for anything but to see where they have ranked me. But what is to keep charter from doing this with other sites in the future?
I want to buy a new widget at kmart and then they decide for me that walmart is the only place to shop on earth. This is flat out censorship. And shows that big companies are trying just a little bit at a time to take more and more from us.
What is next? They start selling their server logs of where I surf to? Who sends me email? A ISP's only job is to provide a connection to the internet for me. Not pretend I am too stupid to know where I wish to go and then use that as a reason to make a buck off of my searches.

I used IE 7's phising filter to report http://www11.charter.net as a phishing site and I would think that others might want to do the same. As I think that by sending you to their site without telling you that your being re-directed they are hoping you don't notice.
Now I am pretty sure that more and more people will hear about this and get on charters case and that they will claim it's not big deal just install the cookie.
But why should I have to install anything so I can't go to a site I don't wish to view? Why should anybody have to take extra steps just to get to a place they are in business to provide?
Now being a geek there is no way in hell I'll accept anybody or anything not letting me do what I wish to do with the systems I built and programmed so you can bet even money that I won't let charter tell me where to go and what sites I can view.
And I'll bet that you don't want them messing with your searches either. So I'll let everybody know how to do a end run around charter here...
Charter does this little bit of "magic" through their Domain Name Servers or DNS. In simple terms when your computer goes to a website your computer first asks the DNS "hey show me where www.widgets.com is at" then the DNS tells it "hey go here" and your computer ends up where you wanted to be.

Now it seems charter DNS servers have started "lying" and they say "go here instead, you won't like that other site you wanted"
So what I have done and what you may wish to do is stop using charter DNS and find one that just takes you were you want to go.
I choose to use the free DNS servers at OpenDNS.com
Now if you know how to change your DNS address all you need to do is point them to...
208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 in your router or network settings. If you don't know how just check out their help pages here.
As always backup your system and make sure you write down all your settings before you change them just in case. After your done reboot your system and you will be surfing the net without charters lame DNS.
Remember backup first and then enjoy!
So once again I go where I will on the net and you can too.
END RANT


10:58 AM 3/2/2007


Cold calls! I hate Cold Calls!
Your Biz phone rings and your thinking "great another new customer!" But then they start talking and 3 secs into it you know it's a sales pitch.
Something like "hello I am with XYZ widget factory, how would you like to see your business grow 9999999999999999999% in just 2 days!"
"oh you get lots of sales calls? Well just give me 5 mins of your time and using the same speech ever other person that has tried to call and sell you something has used I'll tell you why we are different!"
Then there are the calls from outside companies trying to sub-contract techs out here so they can seem to have local techs.
"Well yes sir, we are based in india. But we can offer you new clients in your area and pay you at least 1/4 of what your used to making while you get to keep all the tech support headaches and liability.
 And where do they find these genetically engineered humans that can talk for 10 minutes without taking a breath? I need to start looking at the area codes in the caller ID before picking up the phone.
: - )


1:41 PM 2/24/2007


The love of my life came across this youtube video of a guy named Ruby Vroom.
To cool for words just watch it.

Here!


12:35 PM 2/22/2007


All my computers use legal copies of Windows/Linux ect...
Today I get up and see that there are new updates to install so I take a look at what MS wants to put on my system now and see the only update is the MS Windows Validator software.
I get that you have to validate when you install the O/S but what is the need to keep on doing this time and again after you have already done it the first time?
Am I going to load my legal version of the software and then wipe it from my hard drive and install a hacked copy afterwards? What would be the point? It's just a sad state that you fork over your money so you are doing the right thing. And then time and again have to prove that you did it.
I don't have to take the car into the police station every week to prove I have the right to drive it. So why is $200.00 software more locked down then a $20,000 car?



9:44 PM 2/20/2007


Been on the busy side today. But after the service calls I went up to UNR to meet my GF and see Joe Biden Speak. Not that I have already picked who I will vote for in 08 but it was nice to see somebody in the Government talk straight for a change.
Now if we can just hold out long enough before King Bush drags us into Iran.
To me it seems he got all soft on N. Korea pretty fast. As it seems Clinton got more from them the last go around. And the only reason it makes sense to me is that with us being so tied up in Iraq he is trying to clear the table. As he is itching to go into Iran.
Just recall how he built up to Iraq and see the same game being played right now with Iran.
Maybe not a very geek like post but heck you can't be a geek if the planet ends up going down in flames.


12:39 AM 2/18/2007


Just finished redoing the whole site in less then 6 hours flat.
Think it looks a bit more like a biz site now.
And not so artsy.



3:06 PM 2/17/2007


Been working on another "new" version of the site.
Ok so I like to tinker, all good techs do.
Now for bad techs...
I found this link about how some techs try and rip people off..



10:57 AM 2/15/2007>


Do a search for a "free" anything on google and you'll be taken to pages that have "free downloads", "free trials" and just about any other kind of trick idea to get you to buy something. But very little "free" stuff.
I would think that google can add a filter to its searchs that if a page says free but over 99% of its content has "$$$" and "buy now" in it that it would not show up in a search for "free".



4:53 PM 2/12/2007


I hate rip off TECHS!
I am not going to come out and say the company name here for legal reasons but I can not say how much I hate to get a call from a customer that goes like this...

"well I took my computer to xyz computer repair and they said they can't fix my machine. And it works worse then it did before and they would not give me a clear answer as to what is wrong with it."

Well after this call I go check out the system and find out that they would not even let the customer see their system boot up in their shop. And after the customer demanded to see it come up they saw a bunch of error messages and were told it was "no big deal".
In addition the O/S was taken off their system, re-installed wrong and this place then had the nerve to charge them for a repair they were not sure enough about to show the customer.
As I always say call around and ask questions before taking your system someplace or having a tech come to your home or office. If they will not let you watch them repair it on-site or refuse to show it to you running in-shop something is up.


4:42 PM 2/10/2007


It seems that big business is trying once again to chop up the Internet into smaller chunks (they say tiers). The reason they wish to do this is to make more money (they claim better service).
(BTW: when was the last time a company said they were (shafting y...Umm...) Raising your bill to give you better service that you then got it?)
But the idea goes like this... When you sign up for internet service you already have to choose a speed. DSL, Dial-up, Cable ect... Now they want to add a "tier" you pay for "top tier" and everything you do is pretty much like it is now. (you'll just get the privilege to pay more.)
You buy a "lower tier" and your downloads get slower, webpages load slower ect... even if you paid for something fast like cable hookup. The telcos claim that you will get better service because people using the most bandwidth will have to pay more for it.
But in my head this all boils down to just another angle to grab some more bucks from your pockets. Trust me the telcos are all doing fine and can make more money by offering "real" new services and not trying to breakup what they already do.
You can send the people in Washington DC a message Here to tell them you want Net Neutrality.



2:28 PM 2/10/2007


One of the cooler things I have read in sometime. Richard Branson is setting up something of a X-Prize to save the earth. In short you come up with a way to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and you win a cool (pardon the pun) 25 million bucks.
It nice to see somebody that gives a rip put his money where his mouth is.
Read about it here



5:39 PM 2/7/2007


Well the last few days I have been doing fun stuff like getting my taxes all ready. (not)
And updating this site between service calls. (I think it looks better)
Other things going on are I have updated the news section with new sites.

Oh and a hint for people looking for jobs out there...
Not a good idea to cold call places for work at 11pm.
I need to get my daily show fix at that time and for some weird reason I don't expect people to call my business then.



8:52 PM 2/5/2007


I went through a few different idea's for the site but now have a new format up and running.
I'll wait a bit and see how it works out.


11:48 AM 2/4/2007


The site has gotten kind of messy with it's layout. I have some new ideas and will be doing a total revamp of it pretty soon. I already am testing the idea in the sandbox.
Also this site has some good free public domain artwork to use as you like...
Open Clip Art Library
Also went out for a haircut yesterday and the place I go to the most was packed with people waiting outside. I then drove around and found a place that was open. Now I know why : - (



9:34 AM 2/1/2007


What does a geek do for fun?
Build a file server out of spare parts! Take a old donated computer, a new lan card, a video card that was sitting around and install an old copy of windows. Share the drive and vola! you have a file/print server.Then add seti@home so it has something to do all the time it's waiting around for me to do something. And you have geek fun 101.

And if that's not enough fun you can take sales cold calls from people telling you that their sale ended yesterday, BUT! if you act NOW! and only NOW! you can get a item that sells on the net for under $200 for just $2,000! That's right on sale now if I hurry I can buy a traning cource that sells for $158-$200 for just $2,000! lol! I can't belive what people try and push on you. But it was fun to drag the guy along for a bit. lol.


2:28 PM 1/29/2007


Very Busy day but got everything done early.
Now I am going to get this file server all done and running.



2:24 AM 1/29/2007


Up late/early getting ready for a busy Monday.
Still working on my version of Linux and am now building a file server to take some of the load off my computer here.
Also passed my Computer Forensics certification at a Masters level (top 8% in the world) yesterday.
(kinda cool) (not bragging ((much : - ) )).


11:49 PM 1/26/2007


I have been working on some more certifications and passed 2 more today.
A list of what I have is Here


5:57 PM 1/22/2007


The server that I rent my domain space from went down for a few hours today.
So even geeks get hit with hardware problems, lol.


2:39 PM 1/17/2007


Also work still goes on with my version of linux.
I am up to build 115 and have things like a dvd player and the opera web browser working now.
Also got a name for it. It will be called MY System Linux.



2:07 PM 1/17/2007


Yesterday was kind of strange.
I wake up to an e-mail saying my site has been added to a link exchange.
And that I now need to add that site to my links to be fair even though I did not ask for the link in the first place.

After checking out the site I find my site was listed as a "hacker" site.
Just the kind of listing every computer Repair guy hopes and prays for. NOT!
So now for some strange reason this guys thinks he is doing people a favor by listing them on his site.
Even though it's nothing more then a link farm pushing his google ads.

So after trying and failing to reply to his email (that bounced) asking to take my site off of his list.
I had to get all "GEEK" on him and track down his Website hosting company, ISP, Google accounts and by the time I was done his cell phone and the real company he works for.
(damn it's easy to find info in the 21 century)

It seems that this was all some big mistake and putting a link to my pages from a page titled hacking_computer.html under the header "Hacking" was a easy to understand mistake and his "readership" would somehow know that I was not a hacker.
After a few e-mails with words like "lawyer", "unauthorized" and "Take Actions with your ISP" he seemed to understand that I might not be what his target readership was looking for. And took the links down.

I know the web is massive now with billions of pages but what happened to asking somebody to link to their site first unless they already have some statement asking for it before hand?



5:07 PM 1/11/2007


I took this geek test today and got a "Computer God" rating.
I still got it! lol
My computer geek score is greater than 100% of all people in the world! How do you compare? Click here to find out!


9:19 PM 1/9/2007


After my service calls today I have compiled in new code for the version of linux I have been working on and am now up to build 24.
It is going pretty well and I might post it on here for download when it's done.

6:01 PM 1/7/2007


Do you "own" it?
I just read that toyota might come out with a car that will check if you had to much to drink before it will let you start it's engine.
Now they claim that it will do this test through some kind of sensor built into the wheel and you won't notice it' doing it's thing. But do you want to pay $20,000+ for a car that assumes your a drunk before you even start the engine?

I have also been hearing first hand reports of DRM (digital rights managment) in Windows Vesta and Norton Antivirus that they will stop you from using files they think might contain a copyright you don't have the "right" to view.

Now anybody who has ever read the first pargraph of a MS EULA knows that you have less rights then a death row inmate. The trend seems to be we are suppose to hand over our money and rights and say thank you at the register.
Your assumed to be guilty of wanting to use a product in a illegal way before you even enter the store to buy it. If you pay for something and then can't use it or have to use it in only one way do you own it?



10:44 PM 1/4/2007


Not much going on last week of Dec and first week of Jan 07 is a little slow biz wise.
As I wait for everybody to get out of "holiday" mode and back into "I need to get my computer fixed" mode.

While that is going on I am working on a custom version of Linux to give to customers that lost or don't want to use Windows anymore.
As well as put it up on this site for download.



8:09 PM 1/2/2007


Just wanted to wish everybody a happy new year!
For fun I have been playing around with a remaster of knoppix O/S.



2:34 PM 12/29/2006


What's it worth?
Over the past few days I have had a few phone calls and emails asking for professional computer help and then only wanting to pay minimum wage or less.
Some of the best offers where to be a sub-contractor teaching powerpoint for $7.00 per hour.
(I went to their website and found out they charge $80.00 per hour to send the $7.00 per hour guy out to you).

And a shout out to the guy who called asking me to download and make copies of about $500.00 worth of software for $10.00.
(can you say lame and illegal)?
It seems that some people don't have a true idea what it takes to become a good Computer Tech.
But let's go through it some and maybe everybody will have a clear picture.
Ok most techs start out as a geek tweaking their own computers and helping some friends out.

Now this start is where I think most people get the idea that fixing systems is easy and that they can get computer work done on the cheap.
And to some degree this is true if your just trying to get something simple done like getting a new game to work on your system ect...


But a good tech is more then a kid that has built one or 2 systems and can tell you all the cheat codes for the latest starwars game.
("helpusobi 1 /god") (never said I don't play them too).

First you need to know hardware and it's different from year to year and vendor to vendor. Then you have different operating systems and 1000's of software titles to learn how to use.

This learning does not happen over a day or two but many, many years.
And it is not free. It takes thousands of dollars a year to buy and learn how to use and repair the latest hardware and software.

It takes hours each day to learn all the latest news in computer hardware and software and to keep up with updates to anti-virus, O/S, drivers and more.

When you hire a real computer tech your getting a professional that has spent much time and money to become an expert in his/her field.

In the information age where much of your work and a big chunk of your personal life is on that computer having somebody you can count on to help protect your data is important.
So, What's it worth?



8:27 AM 12/27/2006


I found a cool website here.... ODSLT.com
You can get free open source software that does many of the same things as the $$$ programs.

5:36 PM 12/25/2006


Just got back from a few days staying at a friends house and life gave me more material for this blog.
Service? Ever hear about that? It's what some companies use to give it's customers. Ask your grandparents they can confirm that it use to be that way.
Well we were driving out to my friends house for Christmas weekend and called them on the cell and they said the heater died and were trying to call the insurance company to get some help. (new home all appliances have one year insurance)
Well the very nice lady (ok so I lie on here) told my friend well sorry it's only 13 degrees where your at and sanata may find your dead frozen bodies on the floor. But we only pay regular time to service companies and you'll just have to make it somehow until tuesday. Oh and BTW if your frozen pipes burst because you did not get somebody to your place to fix the heat well your out of luck there too.

Now at the same time this is going on my friend has also called a few heating companies and the first one she calls will not come out for a insurance call unless my friends pay time and a half out of pocket and "He" is busy and will call back "whenever" he has time. So there in a nutshell is a example of "great" (not) service.
Now here is a good one...
After dealing with Mr. "Whenever" my friend called the lady that sold her the house and she said she will take care of it.

Soon after we get a call from a heating guy that ask questions and listens to his customers. I told him I did a diag on the heater and what part he needed to bring. He told me he did not have it but would go and buy one and bring it with him. less the one hour (and 65 miles) later he shows up with the right part and was nice to boot.
Got everything working and was out the door. No BS just great service and on his way.
30 minutes later Mr. "Whenever" calls and seems miffed that somebody else fixed the heater. LOL
Good service is still out there it just takes some searching it seems. Merry Christmas to the 2 people that bent over backwards to help out on Christmas weekend. I hope Santa sent you what you wanted.
And Merry Christmas to the 2 people that did not give a rip that a family would be left in the cold this Christmas. That black rock like thing Santa left in your stocking is coal, you can use it to keep warm if your heater goes out.
Merry Christmas to All!


12:39 AM 12/23/2006


Should you Get Windows Vista?
Ok Microsoft comes out with a new O/S and people start asking should I get it?
Well Microsoft likes to claim with each new O/S that everthing gets simpler. So this time they kept that idea in mind and offer you 6 editions to choose from. Ranging in price from a bargin $99.00 to $399.00.

Now Microsoft has spent over 5 years making sure you have all the newest bells and whisles as well as better security. And all you have to do to get all this is get the "Ultimate" edition or pay less and go for a cheaper version like, "Business" "Home Premium" or "Home Basic" of course with each downgrade in version you get less.
But why not shell out $99.00 for "Home Basic" so you can get Windows Defender, Windows Firewall and IE7? Oh wait XP has a firewall and you can download Defender for free and IE7 is being pushed on windows update as a "critical" update (also free).
While there have been security improvments to the core O/S I would sugest people wait a good 6 months to see how well they work in the real world. As far as the other improvments to the O/S most can be had for free with add in programs already on the net. So anybody thinking about the upgrade should wait it out for a time and see how others do with it.
Then if after it looks like it has something you need I am sure Microsoft will still take your money.


10:49 AM 12/22/2006


"Where is your blog at?"
"do you have a blog?"
"can I see your blog?"
"You don't have a blog? I thought you were like a geek or something."

Over the past 2 weeks I have had 5 people ask for my blog.
And when I say "oh, I don't have one." I get weird looks and comments like "I thought you were a tech." ect...

I guess it's not enough that I have built 100's of computers and fixed thousands more.
Written software that at this moment is on computers all over the world and linked to by 100's of websites.

Nope, None of that counts.
To be a real geek I need to be able to write text in a little box and hit post! lol
Even the love of my life has one! Shameless link Here
It use to be if you were a guy and you said you had a diary (ahmm, Journal) you would get funny looks. Now just toss it up on a server and let thousands read it and it's cool. lol.

But heck times change. So here is my blog for what it is worth. I'll be posting about the life of a self employeed geek. So there will be a bunch of geek stuff here as well as a bit of all the little things that make up life.
Stay tuned...