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Tech Stories Archives - February 2009
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2.
Ubuntu FUBAR?
For those of you who remember, for Christmas I got myself a new Toshiba 64-bit laptop, and Magenta got the Gateway that I purchased last year. It was her first venture into Linux, and she's handled herself pretty well, I must admit.... for a girl.... *ducks all incoming LARTS*
(Just kidding, honey...)
Well, a few nights ago her computer wouldn't boot properly. It displayed the splash screen briefly, then dropped to a command prompt giving the option to enter root password or hit CTRL-D to continue. All kinds of disk errors were popping up, and I couldn't access most of her directories. I couldn't even mount the hard drive on another Linux system.
Finally, I ran fsck and just let it run through all the errors it was finding. After that lengthy process, I was able to navigate all of her directories as root, but the system still would not boot to the GUI. However, I was finally able to get it to mount on my own laptop so it was easier to copier her data to my hard drive.
And it was here that I realized just how FUBARd everything was, but not sure as to why. All of the permissions on her system folders had been changed. No pattern that I could discern, but I think whatever happened prevented Ubuntu from reading or writing to its own system folders.
The only clue I have is that after I fixed all of the hard disk errors and booted to a CLI, there was some kind of message about not being able to boot from image, or find the image. My guess, at this point, is that the system was allowed to hibernate or suspend while on battery, and the battery died, corrupting the image it would boot from on restart.
Any ideas or comments are welcome, but at this point I have all of her data salvaged on my laptop, and I'm formatting the drive on her laptop and installing Ubuntu 8.10. That's the silver lining of the situation, is that she gets a fresh install of the latest release, without being just an added user on my old machine.
And that's how I'm spending my Sunday afternoon.
[By: RiffRaff / 2009-02-01]
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Very odd indeed; I booted my 8.10 machine this morning and got dropped for an fsck. I got lucky with mine after a manual fsck, as it went to the GUI afterward. Also been having random freezes for a while; they last about 10-15 seconds each. Don't know what to say really. -RamenMcTavish
From my experience, it was either what you said (sleep then battery dying), or kernel panic. If there were any programs running at the time, especially admin programs, that would probably do it. Perhaps it crashed while in the middle of installing a program? -DarthIndy
I'm going w/ your first hypothesis, but like Darth said, there could've been a kernel panic there, but i've never seen one change the perms like that. - duckhead
I've not seen that happen with Ubuntu. I'll dig around and see if I can find anything about it. -clockkingfl
Is 8.10 prone to kernel panics? I've got it on a weird all-on-one (think current Mac desktops) that Intel conned Gateway and Elonex into making, and it'll go unresponsive for, as mentioned, 10-30 seconds. I thought it was just f**ked hardware; now not so sure. -CTYankee
CTYankee: I don't know, to tell the truth. For example, my laptop has a tendency not to wake up sometimes when I close the lid... I've turned off the power management/autosleep, but it just panics and forces a hard reset. Then again, it may just be my hardware, since it'll do that in XP too, occasionally. -DarthIndy
So Magenta let you mount her hard drive? You stud you! *Hi ho hi ho, its off to the LART shelter I go!* -unrenowned
I'm experimenting today with 8.10 and Studio 8.10. Very impressed so far. Just thought I'd share that. -ThinTheHerd
Riff, I think your guess as to the corruption is correct. Some Linuxes have issues with suspension and hibernation. One tip for Linux installations is to format the HD with a separate /home partition. In the case where you need to do a re-installation, you use the existing partition table and reformat everything but the /home partition. (I never use the default partitioning, it leaves you screwed if you need to do a re-installation.) -SalParadise
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1411#comic -themaxx
themaxx: I'll remember that when I'm old and dying.... -unrenowned
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3.
Circuit City strikes AGAIN!!!
Backstory; 3 years ago, Circuit City moved out of the building they'd been for years, (same block as MY store) and into a larger building. Fun Expedition, a Family-Themed Arcade/Mini-Bowling/Laser Tag Center (think Chuck E Cheese with more sophistication and NO singing Animatrons!) moved in. They'd been doing GREAT business. In fact both of my sons went there. Fast forward Super Bowl Sunday 2009. Me and the boys drop off Mommy at Food Lion to pick up Football Food, and we decide to swing by FE to see why all the cars were there (they close on Sundays). We pull up to the front to see a sign announcing that they had closed at 11pm Saturday...PERMANENTLY! I ask one of my friends (whose granddaughter had her birthday there last night) if she knew why (business was actually great!). As it turned out, Circuit City still OWNED the building that they had moved out of before, and FE had been subleting it from them. Then when CC tanked, they tried to sell the building from under FE (liquidation's a BITCH, ain't it?). FE offerred to buy it from CC, but they demanded TWICE the offer-price that FE gave (TWO Million!). Since FE couldn't come up with the amount on short notice, FE, the ONLY place I could take my kids for 70 miles, is now GONE! Thanks a lot, Circuit City![By: udoshan / 2009-02-01]
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In one word: Fuckers. All of 'em. -vacuumtubes
Circuit City had defibitely cornered the market on STUPID. -Seamus
Wow, that's really crappy. Circuit City should have been happy to have gotten anything instead of nothing, now they'll just have to sell off more to cover their asses. -spectreoflife
One good thing. In 30-45 days they should be able to buy the building for 1/2 market value, once CC finishes tanking. -Griffin2020
I'm surprised they didn't take the first offer on the table. Commercial real estate is in a worse position right now than even a foundering electronics retailer. -SirJosh
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4.
Another slow sunday story.
The most successful novelty act today is the topless female ventriloquist. Nobody sees her lips move.
Yo momma is so fat she's got smaller fat women orbiting around her!
You find yourself locked in a room with a murderer, a rapist and a lawyer. All you have is a gun with 2 bullets. What do you do?
You shoot the lawyer twice [By: atomicbill / 2009-02-01]
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5.
Don't want broadband
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/01/two-thirds-of-americans-without-broadband-dont-want-it.ars Basically, two-thirds of those without broadband internet say they simply don't want it. 19% say NOTHING will get them to upgrade, and 25% of Americans don't use the internet regularly.[By: Wraith556 / 2009-02-01]
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It's just as well. 95% of Americans cannot use the internet RIGHT anyway. -atomicbill
Job security for me and my dialupnuggets.... -vacuumtubes
I wish I had broadband ... ISDN really sucks. -raneshem
Well, obviously I 'was' in the minority. I have been trying for TWO years to get something other than my 24k dialup. Too far out for DSL, wireless via my cell carrier was worse than dialup in my house and satellite was too expensive. Finally last week got hooked up with a company that is using water towers to transmit. Since I am .4 miles away, I get an awesome signal.(VEK9G)--Guess I was in the minority that desperately wanted something besides dialup. -justcrazy
Sad that the people most in need of it don't see any value for it. The poorer and rural areas would benefit more from the internet than higher income people. The internet is faster and cheaper access to... well, everything. Buying something on Amazon for less than it costs to drive 50 miles to the nearest mall, or even 20 miles to a Walmart. Easier and cheaper access to education. And a dozen other reasons. Until someone can get that point across to them, they'll still see no value in being online. -SirJosh
Sir Josh: you forget that most these people are apparently scared of the "E word", seeing as how so many go out of their way to avoid learning anything if they can possibly avoid it... and yes, I see plenty of examples of the same here in my metro area -- and am NOT talking about the people I deal with at work, but just around town... of every size, shape, ethnicity, coloration, gender, income level... ad nauseum, ad dementium. -lowlyte
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6.
Doesn't want to believe the tech
Today I worked OT from home; not really caring if I got to watch the super(yawn)bowl. One of my last calls for the day is a paralegal trying to access a document storage folder. He can't find it in a search and it doesn't show up in a listing. After checking I figure that it's marked private and that's why neither of us can find it. I tell him this For THIRTY MINUTES After he finally accepts that I can't help him right away he hangs up. I end up having to bother my boss during the last 5 minutes of the super(yawn)bowl which he is watching. He grants the guy access and everything is good to go. Why is it so hard for these people to just accept that I do know my job and when I tell them something I am correct? [By: Starfury / 2009-02-01]
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Because they have the belief that computers can magically do whatever they want just by them wanting it to do so. They refuse to believe us because we don't get paid the "big bucks" like so many jack-arsed PHD-holding big wigs. They think we intentionally cause them problems because we have some kind of complex... -unrenowned
unrenowned: most of us do have complecies, but they ain't what the idiot is thinking of! Mine's a perverse love of torture, revenge and desserts -AdmiralLaurie
So Admiral Laurie, it's desserts you like? *Pushes a pie into her face* -lineswine
Food fight. *lobs pie at ls* -compbrat
"This is the dawning of the age of entitlement...age of entitlement" < Apologies to the 5th Dimension. And to the fact that I remembered that!> -TubPorsche
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7.
Common Decency, where are you?
Years ago, we all morned the loss of Chivalry, and I do my best to try to bring it back to life. Last night started me to wonder if we have also lost common decency to the grave.
A friend & I decided on dinner, coffee, & a movie last night. Everything was fantastic until we get to the theater. We decide to see The Univited, which wasn't too bad, by the way. Unfortunately, after we're seated, a group of about 12 coeds sit right behind us. Thirty minutes into the movie, I've asked them to please stop talking twice, the girl I'm with has asked them once, and the people in the row behind them have said "If you don't shut up so we can hear, I'll go get management."
Unfortunately, these guys and girls, fresh out of highschool with some probably still in, just don't give a rip. I'm polite & curtious the two times I ask, but they didn't even act as though they heard any of us and keep on talking and laughing to the point that none of us can even hear what's being said on the screen.
About 45 minutes into the movie, an older lady leaned forward & politely said "Can you ladies and gentlemen please quieten down, I'm having a hard time hearing?" & the brats had the gall to say "YOU shut up grandma!".
That's when my fuse was lit. I stood up, turned around, & leaned nose to nose with the punk who was making the most noise, possibly to impress his quite attractive date, & said in a voice loud enough for their entire group to hear, "You have three choices. You can shut the 'F' up, you can 'effin' leave, or you can have me beating the sh*t out of you until the police arrive. Pick one, sparky, and pick one fast."
His friends giggled a little & he started to say something, so I clicked my tongue at him once, like you would call a dog, and said "Come on boy."
He then leaned back and said "We'll be quiet." So I pointed at the elderly lady and said "Apologize to her, now."
After he apologized to her he didn't say a word the rest of the movie. I was not, nor am I proud of myself for losing my temper, but it pisses me off to no end to see todays youth have absolutely zero respect for anyone or anything. At least when I rebelled I had a cause, these kids today don't even have clue.
And yes, he wouldn't be the first college kid I've bent over my knee and took my belt to.[By: TechnoTherapist / 2009-02-02]
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Bravo to you, you did the right thing !!! If we had more people like you, there would be fewer things on this planet for me to complain about. "Respect" and "proper etiquette" are severely lacking in the later generations. -Daywalker
Brav-ooooo! We've ALL dealt with these punks before. Way to call him out in front of his "friends." Maybe next time he'll show a little more respect. -RA
Way to go! My last trip to the movies, the dolt behind us answered 3 cell phone calls. -ThinTheHerd
<golf clap> Bravo, sir, Bravo! </golf clap> -justcrazy
Let us all mourn the death of common sense : http://www.miscelpage.com/allshare/commonsense.shtml -Necros
As a 21 Year old, I must say: "Well Done!" I'm tired of being close in.. chronological age to these geniuses that insist on urinating in the genepool. -renaultguy
Belt nothing--Fisticuffs or Otis would've been more than adequate. -vacuumtubes
VT, it's MUCH more amusing and satisfying to bend them over your knee right there in front of their friends and stripe that arse a few times. Then tell them if they want to act like a child, they'll be treated like one. -TechnoTherapist
At least you didn't shoot the a**hole but they all deserved it. -atomicbill
I had a similar experience while watching Quantum of Solace with the wife a few weeks ago. Our first night out alone in 6 months, and I wasn't putting up with the 30 teens that wouldn't sit still or shut up. A quick word with the manager, and all were escorted out 5 minutes later. I missed 2 minutes of the movie, but that was it. Well worth it, in my estimation. :) -SwedishChef
Bravo! *applause* -Grue
My, my! Shame on you. You, a therapist, resorting to violence and treats... tsk tsk... .... what?... Oh, is the rapist? In that case, well done sir! You are my hero! -TheGhost
This is one of the biggest reasons I have invested in home theater. -Stryker One
I had the same situation once. There were only about 9 of us in the theater (4 of us, 3 of them and 2 random people). During the previews, I thought I felt something hit me and then my buddy turned around because he thought he got hit by soda. The movie wasn't 5 minutes in and they were hooting and hollering at the movie and making comments. I just leaned by head back and yelled, "Shut the F*ck up!" They made some comments like they wanted to start a fight but shut up for the rest of the movie. As the credits rolled, they walked into the aisle and wanted to know who said that. It was obvious who said it as all of 6'2", 200lbs of me stood up and gave them the stare. They got real quiet after that. They couldn't have been more than 15, but they were already gang banger wannabes. Girlfriend left with a pretty big smile on her face. -YourLastHope
Throws flower: first time I've smiled in two frakkin days! -AdmiralLaurie
I've found common sense and common courtesy are not very common. Especially with Generation-Y (or whiner). The last few times I've been to the cinema some brats have had to be warned "shut up or get escorted out" by the management. -Wraith556
There is a story on customerssuck somewhere of a women going to a theatre and having the person behind her reach and take a sip of her drink. She just goes:"Well have the whole thing then" and dumps it in his lap. -Icelator
TheGhost, I'm a technology therapist. I'm good with electronicss and computers, and with those I have the patience of a saint. With people that's a totally different story. I think I'm going to start carrying a can of bear repellent just for times like these. Just start hosing people down with Grizzly piss, then walking away. -TechnoTherapist
Well played, sir! -ShujinTribble
MY hero! *swoons* -Ara
Well done. My finance and I were watching Marley and Me and there was a girl behind us who obviously had Downs Syndrome. She was talking through the whole movie. It was really bad at the end of the movie when the entire theater was crying and she kept saying to the person next to her "I'm not sad, are you sad?" Took everything I had to keep from lashing out. -pcgod
Bravo, Techno! I've never identified with them, a.k.a. My Generation. But I was raised by parents that knew what courtesy was and raised us to know as well. -DarthIndy
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8.
Happy Black History month.
Greetings fokes, Just had to share this one. I stick a hard drive from a client's computer into my external bay setup, and the system recognizes the three partitions as: Drive M: Drive: L Drive: K I had never noticed windows to list drives in reverse alphabetical order before. Figured it was just that time of year.[By: drachen / 2009-02-02]
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That hs nothing to do with it, its cookie monster "me love kookies" cant you see that? -randyskier
You have the "Martin Luther King Tribute HDD" model there, y'see. *grin* -Grue
Well, was it a slave drive that's now been freed? -Divinar
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9.
Can I just say...
That I hate this antivirus 09 crap, I know it's probably on here through something I clicked but god it just won't stay gone. My comp now seems to have boot up issues, I think it's time for nuke and pave (from a cd not system restore).[By: Icelator / 2009-02-02]
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i've had GREAT success with deleting it from the registry startup, using MSCONFIG, and then running "ComboFix". I've done around 50 computers with this and over 40 have worked. Good Luck! -RA
Big hint: Do a full rootkit check. Latest variants tend to use a rootkit such as the TDSS root (hint: Boot off an alternative OS, then check for TDSS*.* files in %WINDIR%\System32 and %WINDIR%\System32\Drivers . Also said entries in the Services area of HKLM\CurrentControlSet00x\Services and HKLM\CurrentControlSet\Services - again, when booted from an alternative OS). -ralphp1024
malwarebytes seems to drive it away for awhile but I think it did some damage this time as I am having boot up issues, my comp hasn't been formatted in a couple years to be honest and probably needs to be cleaned out anyways. -Icelator
I had to deal with this little joy not too long ago as well. Consider a Bart PE disk as a good starting point. Also, a "update inplace" re-install can remove a lot of the unpleasantness. P.s. Be sure to save the WPA files so you don't have to argue with Microsoft for reactivation again. -TieDyedDinosaur
malwarebytes does the trick. Boot in safemode to run it though. an dmake sure you've killed the registry entries in the HKLM and HKCU /software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/run
-garwain
yeah i'd like to meet the joker that wrote it and tape him to my archery target...then have a bow shooting party. -Phylok
malware bytes followed by a smitremfix and a vundo trojan fix seems to do the trick most days. -putahtek
Here's hat I do: Download the rouguefix.bat from this site: http://www.internetinspiration.co.uk/roguefix.htm then copy it to the infected PC. Boot it into safemode then run this bat file. A regular scan with Malwarebytes or Virus scanner will clean the rest off. I've erradicated this pest from at least 5 PC's this way... -JoeLugian
Ralph is right about the TDSS*.*, but they usually travel in packs, so, also search for seneka*.*, also look under application data\Google for anything strange -Spyder19
Hey TDDinosaur, I use an activator, My license is legal and only one computer, none of ms's business what I do with it beyond that. -Icelator
Honestly, I'm getting so many systems in my store hit with this I've ended up just recommending nuke-n-pave at this point. Otherwise there would be no way to keep up with the work load as we have no one doing the tech work other than myself (and I also run the department, cover registers as a backup, and get dragged all over the store by customers who cannot seem to find anyone else... because there is no one else!) -unrenowned
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10.
ISP locking accounts to MAC address...
Went to install a new laptop for a client yesterday, and after transfering everything, found that the network connection didn't work... so I spent a good hour verifying everything 2x, drove back to my shop to test the NIC since I'd used the wireless when I was configuring the machine, drove back, verified everything again... Finally called the ISP and took them another half hour to walk me through the setup, just to realized that they had locked the account to the MAC address for her old computer... That was VERY annoying![By: garwain / 2009-02-02]
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telus does that. It's less common on cable inet tho i have seen it. it fooled me once too. -putahtek
I've noticed that Telus does that now instead of a username/password. However, most cable ISP's that I've run in to, do that but only for a short time. Usually unplugging your modem for a few minutes, clears that connection, then connecting the modem to a new device will result in internet access on said new device. -Caboose447
I've run into it but it's only the modem doing it--power cycle that and you're good to go with a new MAC. I had to call the ISP once, though--VIOP modem with battery backup, power cycling didn't work and couldn't find the battery door and I didn't even know it had a well-hidden reset switch. -Loren
Easy enough. If you can set up only 1 thing ... make sure it's your router as they shouldn't be poking their noses behind it ;-) -Necros
Also, if you need a temporary fix, many newer BIOS chips let you change the onboard's MAC. -Grue
I've seen both Verizon and Bellsouth DSL do this. Made it hard to change out a non-ISP issues router/wireless router for another.. -JoeLugian
Verizon FiOS also tethers the account to the MAC addy of their leased (D-Link in most cases) wifi routers. But in my experience, a simple call informing the tech that your planning on using a different brand will get them to remove the MAC restriction and all ends up norm after about 60 - 120 seconds. -unrenowned
I come across this a lot in my job. Mostly with Verizon and some divisions of AT&T where you actually have to call the provider to have them release the MAC binding so you can connect a new piece of equipment. I do agree that it's rather annoying. I honestly don't understand why they do it. -TeethMalloy
Most ISP do this.
For most cable ISP you just need to powercycle. As in wait the whole 5 mins just for the modem to establish connection with the ISP and then you can hook up the lappy.
At lease that was what we linky techs used (used to not anymore) to do. -kennz
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11.
Mini-rant of the day
Note: when reconfiguring various settings on your desktop system, it will SERIOUSLY irritate you if you forget to restart sshd and don't notice until you try to remote-in the following day. Grrrrrrrr. [By: Grue
/ 2009-02-02 ]
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Kinda like when you shutdown a machine via VNC and THEN remember that said machine doesn't have WakeOnLAN, and you're hours away. -Stryker One
The story goes that the Russians were running tests on one of their satellites. It went like this: "Turn your antenna away from Earth."... "Good, now turn it back." ... "I said turn it back." ... "Can you hear me?" ... "Hello?" ... "Hello?" ... "HELLO!" ... -rurwin
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13.
yeah, sure...
So I'm temporarily looking into a work from home oprotunity so that I can get some of my medical things taken care of. Anyway, i email a business that I was told about and had looked up. All seemed promising. Until I got the email:
This is it in its entirety. Pay close attention:
Hello, I am interested in doing the work from home gift wrapping program. However, I am visually impaired. Are there any special patterns I must follow?
yes
or is it up to me what the wrap turns out to look like?
no
Also, is the check sent in the mail or direct deposit?
mail
how long does each wrap take to make?
Depends on experience. If you can read this email, the patterns are simply dots and lines.
Thank you for your time.
Cordially,
J. t.laurie
Funny thing is, no one answers when I call, yet they claim there's always someone there. Can we say, incoming nuclear lart?[By: AdmiralLaurie / 2009-02-02]
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One of the most lucrative home based businesses is ... selling lucrative home-based business opportunities. -TieDyedDinosaur
We can easily say "scam". -Grue
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14.
Brain Bleach
Get your brain bleach here, along with examples of why you want to use it: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrainBleach[By: Wraith556 / 2009-02-02]
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Einhorn is a MAN! -Biosynthetic
This one still remains my all time favorite: http://www.glencastillo.com/images/lolcat_unseen.jpg -TheGhost
Bio: Your gun is digging into my hip. -lurker
lurker: It isn't his gun... -raneshem
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15.
McRappee works !
YSR So I i've got a pc on the bench with McAfee installed on it and I'm running the free online scanner at safety.live.com (which is a great scanner, even if it finds something it can't remove, at least it tells you what it is and where to find it later with my bootcd) I just happened to be walking past it when onecare found the first item. Right after onecare found it's first bad guy, mcafee popped up a window saying "Hey! I just found a virus !" So, apparrently, mcafee isn't the useless piece of crap we always thought it was, and it really CAN find virues on your computer... As long as you have a proper virus scanner available to POINT OUT the viruses FOR it[By: Spyder19 / 2009-02-02]
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That's not quite fair - the resident scanner only finds files when they're touched. Was McAfee run from safe mode? If it was, and didn't find it, but DID find it when OneLIVE found it - then yah, it sucks. (Wait - it sucks anyway. But that's a whole different rant ... ) -ralphp1024
Of course it's not fair, but, being fair while telling this story wouldn't make it quite as funny, now would it ;) -Spyder19
I fired McAfee when it did indeed miss a virus from Safe Mode as well as a normal boot...and Avast! found & killed it even from normal boot just after uninstalling McAfee and installing Avast! in place of it. Hadn't even gotten to the point of putting the license key into Avast!, and it was all over. All the house computers are on Avast! ever since, haven't looked back. -Grue
the three programs I carry with me to every service call: Avast installer, Malwarebytes anti-malware, and glary utilities. everything else is just icing. I wouldn't trust a company that demanded I pay for their protection, asking me to donate is a different story. -drachen
I'm not arguing that McAfee can find viruses. It's actually more accurate than any of the other antivirus i've found at wal-mart. It's just too much of a resource hog. Right now I'm a proud ESET Smart Security user. I've heard great things about it, and it scans pretty damn fast. Now if I had the balls to infect a computer to see how well its NOD32-based engine scans. Perhaps I'll run a trial in a VM? -linuxmatt
ESET looks a little pricey for my tastes. AVG might not be perfect; but I still think it's the best corporate solution for the money. -RiffRaff
McAfee is (unfortunately) our corporate AV package. I don't have an option on removing it and installing something else, which is why I have other tools available to deal with virus issues. And I note that in my tickets as well that McAfee isn't good at finding viruses. (Not that they pay attention to that information, mind you.) -VoiceOfSanity
I agree with Drachen which I why I use I use the Comodo utilities, and AVG as a secondary. I have a removal tool but I forget the name I think it is has something to do with rogues for the name. I am not at home so I can't look it up. -raneshem
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16.
Epic Fail's
http://www.ktla.com/landing_topstories/
Click on the fail link. [By: atomicbill / 2009-02-02]
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32 & 88 just don't seem like fails to me. -Stryker One
Some people live to inspire others. Others just live to serve as an example to people. -Biosynthetic
I prefer Vader's take on this : http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/30/vader-fail.jpg -Necros
Heh, I found the dirt "impression" on the car to be more amusing than fail, unless of course it was you on your car... then it's just sad. -spectreoflife
So a TV station grabs the images from failblog.org and makes a slideshow? Whoopdefrikkindo. Getcher own content, KTLA. -SalParadise
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17.
Poor Kids
It's now 7.50am, i have just finished with a call with this starfish. Simple stuff to solve really (faulty modem), only thing i'm frustrated about is how this starfish was busy firing the mouth off on the kids who were apparently less than 3 years old for disturbing the starfish who has lost the internet connection since Christmas and this caused the child(ren) to cry even louder. For the love of Asmodeus, what kind of parent are you ?[By: dustyhawk / 2009-02-02]
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Apparently, the videotape needs rewinding. The only thing on TV atm is the McLerher Report and they want to see Shrek again. -Biosynthetic
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18.
Yahoo & Pidgin?
Anyone else having problems getting Pidgin to log into their Yahoo IM accounts, or is it just Peyton Place?
[By: RiffRaff / 2009-02-03]
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No trouble here that I can see...two Yahoo accts, both signed in. -RamenMcTavish
I just brought up pidgin (on my home machine, gotta love Linux's ability to remotely display a window over SSH!) and it logged into my Yahoo account fine. Looks like a local problem, Riff. -SalParadise
K, thanks. I would think it's a networking problem except that Yahoo IM client users are logging in just fine. Not sure what else to look at. -RiffRaff
You may need to upgrade Pidgin if you haven't done so recently. Yahoo changes things like the available servers and some things in the protocol from time to time. The Pidgin team is good about keeping up with this stuff and rolling out new releases to deal with it. -SalParadise
Have you tried turning it off & back on again? (I am SO dead for this one!) -lineswine
lineswine - You just made my day with that... I'll be your human... err... Ok, MOSTLY human shield! -ShujinTribble
Not trouble, exactly, but I often have to re-enable my yahoo account into Pidgin. Could be a quirk of Linux, I suppose. I find Pidgin a bit flaky lately, anyway. -wylfwt
And that's why I'm using Digsby. -unrenowned
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19.
Servers need to be behind locked doors!
A client suffered from severe HDD errors. I recovered about 95% of the info from the old server onto a nice, shiny new machine, but had issues with a few exchange folders. The client wasn't in a rush to restore the data, so they agreed to wait a while, since booting the old server involved sacrificing small animals, and waiting for the proper planitary alignments, and their local tech was incapible of performing a clean backup... I returned after a couple weeks to see if there was anything else to recover, and fight to get that last bit off, just to find the machine was no longer sitting next to the cabinet, in the unlocked office where the servers are stored. After looking around, I checked with the production manager. After calling the regual support guy, we found out that he had removed the old server, along with some other old equipment, and had rebuilt the server, scapping the dying drive, and formatting the other drives. Let's just say my client is not happy with the tech! I on the other hand might be getting a contract to build them a proper server room, along with proper climate controle, a UPS, and LOCKED DOORS[By: garwain / 2009-02-03]
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On the upside, he got Doom to work flawlessly on the old system. -Biosynthetic
The door to our server closet is now locked, with only three people having the key to it. -RiffRaff
So the system came out of the closet ... not the SysOp ? < runs > -Necros
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20.
NT / OT Full of FAIL
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html FDIC's Failed Bank List, which if you read the rules on it says "Public notification not required". Any thoughts ?[By: Necros / 2009-02-03]
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It gives their phone support in India something to do. -Biosynthetic
As an employee of one of the institutions that occasionally picks up a failed bank's assets (which is always a great cause of 'omigawd, OVERTIME!' consternatiion round these heah pahts), I can tell you this much. Most customers won't even notice until the signs and the colors on the ATM change--eventually. For those diehards that still actually use a real branch and real branch services, they'll do a double-take when they find the doors padlocked, fumble for their reading glasses to squint at the notice on the door (directing them, in most cases, to a branch of the receiving bank which is [usually] not very far away), then stalk off, grumbling. Beyond that, they just need to find the new location, and it's business as usual. Then there are those people who haven't set foot in a branch for a year or more, who will 1) get a notice in the mail (if they bother to read it); or 2) get their first hint when it comes time to order new checks or even 3) light will dawn when they get their renewed debit/credit card in the mail with a new, strange bank name imprinted on it. -emdeebee
Of course, that's just the way it works as of this moment in time, with that post-Depression FDIC protection stuff. In a couple of years, when the Federal goverment ends up going bankrupt (who's being a pessimist??), well ... we're all going to be living in caves anyway, right? -emdeebee
Wait, there are still physical bank buildings? Last time I was inside one was 2005. I had to buy three checks (for a dollar each) to close on my mortgage. -Divinar
The complaint database (which I maintain) STILL registers calls from dinosaurs threatening to SUESUESUE us because the 'checks I dun used fer YEARS!' are being rejected/sent back unpaid. Excuse me, Methusalah, the bank NAME on those checks you've been using hasn't been in EXISTENCE for 3 years. You've had that long to get a clue. Or a competent legal guardian, at the very least. Get a debit card. -emdeebee
I just realized which bank was at the top of that list. My very first bank. My sister's very first job. Oh, oh, my memories, oh, my memories.... -emdeebee
I just realized which bank was at the top of that list. My very first bank. My sister's very first job. Oh, oh, my memories, oh, my memories.... -emdeebee
My $diety! Its full of FAIL! </mangled quote> -unrenowned
More banks have failed in the past 12 months than in the previous 10 years... comforting. And of course it doesn't include those that have failed but have been purchased before the FDIC stepped in. -SirJosh
SirJosh: That's called MERGER. It looks MUCH nicer in the newspaper, the balance sheet and the unemployment line. However, the only real difference (IMHO) is whether the displaced executives phase-out/retire in comfort or are summarily escorted off the premises by the sheriff's department. (Or, at in at least one notable case I witnessed back in Boston, are hauled off in handcuffs. Wish they had camera cell phones back then, boy.) The grunts, on the other hand -- out of luck, is just ... out of luck, all the way around. -emdeebee
I'm fortunate that the bank I've done IT for for going on 2 years has several million in capital they can draw off of. And we are primarily a business bank so we've been able to weather the storm. We've had layoffs like anyone but we're still opening branches and that sort of thing... -SirBSOD
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