COMCAST: Incompetent & ANTI-AMERICAN

So my biggest beef with comcast is they supported SOPA. The incompetence of their support staff is also a big problem.

Here's why SOPA is bad:
- censorship of this kind violates CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
- the proposed filter could be abused by any greedy corporation (COMCAST) and corrupt politicians
- the process wouldnt stop piracy. Nothing will stop it. Corporations need to provide the public with the methods and pricing they want. The public will only bend so far, and piracy has become accepted due to the entertainment industry's refusal to work with streaming solutions or other more affordable, efficient methods of accessing content. Lower the cost of your products, it's a luxury!

Here's why COMCAST IS INCOMPETENT:
- they fail to inform customers who are cancelling service WHILE THEY ARE IN THE COMCAST OFFICES of due charges when asked when there's due charges and then proceeds to bill you for it (personal experience).
- their technical support has absolutely no technical skill, instead using pre-written scripts to provide support. NO, their technicians have NO technical skills.
- the equipment they sell/rent to you is refurbished and sub-standard.

There's a TON of other reasons to STOP USING COMCAST.

But... I've got to leave for work.

Just believe me when I say they are a BAD COMPANY.

Hardware+more makes me feel good...

This Hardware comparison made me feel good to read. I already knew my decision was a good one (what with the freedom and customization and all that) but i figured I'd share. http://bit.ly/rGDIXO

Warning: Nasty Virus out there!

So I'm working on a client's machine who picked up a virus in all likelihood from a popup. This thing is NASTY! It's a VERY advanced variation of several older viruses (the whole XP Security 2012) nonsense. This virus has installed Multiple Rootkits, Multiple Trojans and it took his system over COMPLETELY. I managed to remove the most severe of the Rootkits using a specialized tool my friend Dave introduced me to, but it only could do so much. I'm currently running a live scanner to remove more.

 

Just FYI to all you non-geeks:

Rootkits take effect at boot time and can do pretty much anything they want. They can steal your personal data, modify other programs, and do all kinds of fun things.

Trojans are usually used to deploy other viruses. 

 

Suggestions:

Get a Decent Adblock program.

Get a decent AV program - he had Avast, which performs fairly well, but no AV program is fool proof.

MOST IMPORTANT: perform REGULAR BACKUPS of your information, and if possible, use imaging software such as Norton Ghost or Acronis to make an image of your system so you/your computer guy can get you back up and running quickly.

External hard drives are cheap, around $100 or so depending on your needs (they can be as cheap as $50 if you have only a small amount of data). It's much cheaper than all the time/problems you get to deal with when you have a problem like a virus/failing HDD, etc.

 

Anyway,

Watch out kids, the internet's not always friendly.

 

If you're willing, you also might want to try Ubuntu or another Linux variant - you can do pretty much all the things you can on Windows, it's free, the software you install is free and you're much better protected against crap like this.

 

Android: sweeterhome launcher review

So everyone has their own favorite home launcher. Launcherpro, GO launcher EX, ADW, and the plethora of other launchers out there for Android.

I have played with a large number of them, and found sweeterhome to be a great option for those people who want the absolutely most customized launcher out there.

Sweeterhome is still a beta project but already incorporates many nice features as well as stability. It works on the older android devices and the new. I am using it for my Archos as it's home launcher as well. It works great for those folks who have way to many apps installed to know what to do with.

PROS:
* Almost no redraws. It does occasionally restore your session, but this takes only a second or two.
* uniquely different. You can download themes from it's repositories, make your own, or tweak someone else's inside the app.
* No need for app organization programs. I've used folder organizer, Simi folder and a number of other apps similar in nature, but the integrated Tagged Trays removes the need for all of them.
* scrolling logs. You can add scrolling sections for calendar events, contacts, recent calls and recent texts. In addition, your app drawers can be customized to your liking as scrolling lists, horizontal icons, and a number of other options.
* live wallpaper support.
* save your own custom themes online or the SD card.
* upload your own themes and share your creations with everyone.
* your app tags are synced online.
* it's free.

CONS:
* no scrolling widget support
* AT&T users will have to root if they can't enable unknown sources.
* still a beta, there's still going to be a few bugs.
* a little complicated should you choose to build your own custom theme.

I personally find it outstanding. If you pick it up, look for my themes, my username is nokturnihs.

For more information and download links visit http://www.Sweeterhome.com

Best quote ever

I need the luck, I have a crucifix up there too.

Newest Android Keyboard

Swype beta 3.0 is out and it features a lot of improvements. Better swyping too.

Newest Android Keyboard

Swype beta 3.0 is out and it features a lot of improvements. Better swyping too.

Newest Android Keyboard

Swype beta 3.0 is out and it features a lot of improvements. Better swyping too.

Newest Android Keyboard

Swype beta 3.0 is out and it features a lot of improvements. Better swyping too.

Newest Android Keyboard

Swype beta 3.0 is out and it features a lot of improvements. Better swyping too.

Regarding world peace

World Peace.

What a concept, what a great thing to strive for.

Unfortunately, the reality of the world makes it easier to use as a goal, something to say proudly to your parents. Church members or teachers.

We all have one, some dynamic statement that we want to see happen, want to believe in. Some pick god, others politics, and many pick the concept of world peace.

At the core of my perception belief system, the way I've come to analyze and cope with the problems life offers humanity, is the conflict engine.

The conflict engine deftly explains why religion works, politics always fail, religions become corrupt, bad guys win and miracles and angels exist.

It explains more than any one limited imagination or logical mind can generate. But I was discussing world peace.

The conflict engine works like this. No matter how hard evil or good, the greedy or selfless try to change the world, opposition will always rise up and threaten the success of their ventures. Progress only is made in relation to the opposition, or conflict against the pursued goal.

The conflict engine speaks of balance through imbalance, evolution through decay, good through evil and war through peace.

This makes it sound like no real progress is ever achieved. This is not the case. Great accomplishments are made in life. For example, electricity has been essential in science, medicine and technology and industry. It has saved lives and changed the face of the world. It also made possible such things as nuclear weapons, genetic engineering and biochemical warfare. As humans we are exultant in our electrical world, but casually ignore the devastating results that were born from the same seed.

World Peace. Is it possible? Yes. Is it what we want? Maybe. What is the price we pay for it? Not the trail leading up to it, but the cost that comes because of its birth.

I personally don't think world peace is really what we want. Our species is another kind of animal, one just like any other. We will do whatever we can do to survive, no matter how cruel. Some believe that Love is the key, like some harry potter film. I am a believer in love, and like all other forms of progress and achievement, I see the conflict and hardships we face to find it, and hold onto it. I don't think love will bring about world peace because I don't think as a species we love ourselves enough to see ourselves truly for what and who we are. We look at the terrible Things others do, then pat ourselves on the back for being so different than the monsters in the news, in the dark places. The amusing thing is that those monsters and the rest of us share many similarities. For example. They were doing the same thing before you ever heard of them and shivered.

Love battles deceit, and hatred battles against honesty. We are neither sacred nor profane. We are all animals, beasts whose sense of survival has grown to include a great deal of blind pursuit, and an even larger talent for modifying the way we look at life to keep up the illusion that there is anything but an exchange of advantage and loss all our lives and all around us.

[TIP] A Way to Update Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Etc in one shot.

Hey, Posterous is pretty cool. Check it out, I know there's mobile Apps out there. I use one. my Posterous is http://nokturnihs.posterous.com. If you don't want to F* with individual posting, it's the bomb.

How to Live Online: Tips to Manage "Multiple Personalities"

How to Live Online: Tips to Manage "Multiple Personalities"

If you're like most people you have more than one website to login to. You have your Facebook personality, your Google Account, your email logins, etc. These are like modern "multiple personalities". This quick article includes some tips on making managing those multiple personalities easier, safer and more efficient.

THINGS YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE:

1. an UP TO DATE antivirus program, preferrably one with a firewall or phishing filter.

2. an UP TO DATE computer - those windows/Linux updates are important, they are put there to close holes that viruses and hackers use to compromise the security of your computer.

3. An understanding that any virus will transfer to your system faster than security updates - this is why in this modern day and age it's much better to have a fast internet and pay a little extra than a slow connection - a Virus takes seconds (or less) to infect your system - Security updates can take minutes or hours.

4. Don't be an idiot - backup your important data. If you don't want to fork out money for an external hard drive, at the very least sign up for a dropbox.com website or box.net or any other website that provides online storage for free. These free resources aren't the best and hold only small amounts of data (for free) but they're better than just not having a backup. Your computer isn't worth anything in comparison to the information, media, photos, documents, etc that you put on it. I have priceless photos of my brother and grandmother on my computer - If the computer's HDD fails I'd lose those files without a backup method. Find the backup method you like and use it. I personally have redundant backups of ALL my data - because back in the day, I lost a DECADE worth of priceless information - including a 200+ page manuscript of a novel I had been working on.

THINGS NOT TO DO:

1. Do NOT use the same password for all your different online site logins - if someone obtains access to one site (and eventually someone will) ALL your site logins are now subject to this infiltrator's whims. This is ESPECIALLY important in regards to sites which have your financial information (like online stores, your bills, your bank). If you find using separate passwords to be too much of a bother then at the very least have a different password for those sites which have access to your WALLET.

2. Using the same account for your site logins as your primary email may seem like a good idea, but it really degrades overall the security of that email account. You have your facebook, your online stores, your bank, etc. and they all use email as a method of confirming identity or communicating with you.

 

SUGGESTIONS TO DO:

1. Add more personality - Use different emails for different credentials - For example, I have my business email address provide credentials for the places I do business, while I have another for business correspondence. I have a personal email (which some people abuse) to send and receive personal emails. I have several spam accounts which I use to connect to social networks and forum websites.

2. Credential Managers are abundant. I will suggest several which may fit your needs - a good credential manager can generate a password for you, which is secure and much more difficult to hack than a consciously designed password. Some suggested credential managers: LastPass (has browser plugins), Keepass and there are many more. Some are cross-platform, and you can definitely benefit from using one.

Keepass: http://keepass.info/

LastPass: https://lastpass.com/

3. If you get a request for an app/game on a social network - do not allow the request to go through unless you're SURE it's a safe app. Just because your friend sent it to you doesn't mean it's trusted, doesn't even mean your friend sent it to you or even knows it exists. When you were a kid you probably heard the talks about "Don't talk to strangers" - well it's still very true online. A Stranger on the internet comes in the form of websites/apps and more importantly security access requests. The "Allow/Do Not Allow" question is more important than you know. Everyone who's used Windows Vista knows you see that question every time you click your mouse (Windows User Access Control still needs a lot of work) but it's important to read it either way.

 

IF YOU'RE STILL NERVOUS:

Ask someone who really knows what they're talking about. I obviously could not possibly pass along all the accumulated knowledge in my head about online security and concerns, and I'm not an IS expert, just a computer geek and fairly intelligent guy. Ask someone, or pay someone if you feel it's worth it. I'm working on computers, doing things like this at home to bring in some kind of money so we don't end up in the red every month with only my wife's income. I'm really cheap because I have to be, but I'm really a nice guy, I'm honest, and I'm pretty darn good at what I do. If you want to ask me any questions, email me at mr.drew.ford@gmail.com or call me. I'll answer your questions. If you need help or lessons, I know I can do it. But there's lots of us geeks out there in the world, so if you don't know/want/care to talk to me, find your geek, ask them.

 

Thanks for your time,

 

-Drew-