Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

Wanna try Vista RC1? Well, now according to PC Magazine, you can!

Windows Vista RC1 Now Downloadable By Anyone

“First, it went to a select group of technical beta testers. Then to those who had tested Beta 2. As of September 14, however, Windows Vista Release Candidate (RC) 1 is now available to anyone interested in testing the product. The bits can be downloaded from the Vista Get Ready site. Microsoft’s goal is to allow up to 5 million individuals, total, to play with this near-final test build. After RC1, there are no more public Vista builds coming – just an undetermined number of private ones before the product goes to manufacturing.”

Windows Vista Customer Preview Program—RC1 Update

Go to the link above, and download RC1… see what you think!

Occasionally, I am reminded of just how big a geek I am. I live in a truly Geek filled world, personally. My lovely wife, Belinda, was manager of the Database and Development Group at Ciba-Geigy (later Novartis, later Syngenta… they can’t make up their minds, I suppose) in the R&D Department. She was a world class geek back when they were cobbling together Macintoshs with actual hard drives (zowie!) to store huge (5 megs!) of data gathered in the field. These machines dialed in (at a blistering 300 – 1200 baud) to update databases on a VAX. This was cutting edge stuff in the early 80s! We met there, and “courted” by e-mail! It was VAX based All-In-1, but it was e-mail! We may not have met on the Internet… but it was as close as it could be back then!

My son is 14. He is a hard core (really hard core) gamer. He has his own web site called “GameMasters.biz”. He rocks!

My friends tend to all be computer geeks, and we talk about virtualization, LAMP, the latest virus attacks and e-mail scams, and when IPTV is going to go mainstream. Our “political discussions” tend to be about net neutrality, or the digital divide.

And then, sometimes, I talk to a “normal” person. Usually, it is when they bring thier computer to me and say, “It’s slow,” or, “It’s broke.” I patiently explain that it is probably overriden by spyware or viruses that THEY got when they went, with wild abandon, to the wrong website, or when they clicked on that e-mail attachment that I had been telling them for years not to click on. They blink their eyes like a deer in headlights and say, “Yeah, whatever… can you fix it?” “Yes,” I say, “I can fix it, but your DO understand that if you keep acting like an idiot and practicing ‘unsafe computing’ you will be back and pay me again to fix it, don’t you?” OK, so I don’t say THAT exactly… it is usually a milder version with the pretty much the same sentiment. But they just give me that look, like, “You really ARE a Geek, aren’t you?” And, they smile and say, “When can I pick it up?”

And so it goes. I suppose I should look at it as a blessing. Like big business and their “planned obsolescence,” I am guaranteed continued business because “the masses” will always be computer “stoopid!” But, the idealist in me keeps trying… and keeps educating, and continues to hope that one day a light bulb will appear over their heads and they will say, “Gee, Dr. Bill, maybe I will learn about how computers and the Internet actually work, and not do dumb things like click on e-mail attachments and visit evil web sites… yeah!” Sigh. Right.

OK, you may remember that I introduced you to Foxit Reader as an alternative to the huge, bloated, and slow Adobe PDF Reader as a “Geek Software of the Week.” Well, their 2.0 version is out, and it seems somehow even faster, cleaner and it is still gloriously FREE!

Foxit PDF Reader 2.0

You owe it to yourself to “bag” the Adobe “bloatware” version and move to this small, clean, modern PDF reader… go ahead, click the link!

If you are using Windows XP, and you have had some issue with your system (say, a virus that has been cleaned off, or spyware) and you want to be SURE that your PC file structure is “clean,” how would you do it? Well, here you go!

Open a Command Prompt window by clicking on “Start,” then “Run,” then type “cmd” in the run “box.”

In the command prompt screen type:

sfc /scannow

(Note the space after “sfc”)

It will prompt you for your original Windows CD.

It will then scan all the Windows files to assure that the files are intact and are the original versions. It will take a while!

There you go! enjoy!

OK, this is weird. I am technically considered by most a “card carrying member” of the “Religious Right,” OK?!?! This is embarrassing! There are “religious dewds” that want to stop Net Neutrality from succeeding! Sigh. (Actually, I am a Christian… I don’t consider myself “religious”… “religion” is stifling, Christianity is a personal relationship. So, I am not “religious!” But I AM for Net Neutrality! So, I am weird… OK!)

Net Neutrality ‘Gets Religious!’

“A group of US religious and ethical organizations, including Morality in Media, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, and Faith 2 Action, has issued an open letter to the Senate Commerce Committee, expressing support for the current language of a key communications reform bill that has emerged from conference, and is soon to be introduced for debate on the Senate floor. It is the bill around which the current debate on ‘net neutrality’ — whether to prohibit broadband service providers from being able to offer premium carriage services to larger content providers — is centered. The letter begins by praising the Committee for having ‘recently resisted attempts by Senators who wanted to regulate the Internet, but rather, included language that would specifically protect our ability to communicate our message.'”

Well, that’s good, but we can have a free Internet, AND still preach the Gospel! (I do it all the time! Grin!) So… it is STILL embarrassing! Sigh.