Getting Back at Your Enemies: Traffic Cam Edition
Dec/080
This is so clever I’m impressed, though I’d be pissed if it ever happened to me. A bunch of kids in Maryland are faking out traffic cameras so people they don’t like get tickets. Evil, yes. Inventive, definitely.
The Sentinel via Gizmodo
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About DRM
Dec/080
Including how to break it. Another article from Gizmodo today, more than worth a read. If only to learn to break the stuff on principle alone.
Web-based IM Services
Dec/080
Want some instant messaging goodness, but can not/do not want to install IM software (and considering the official offerings, that’s understandable), PC World has the list for you. Wish I’d had this after Meebo via SSH was blocked at my workplace, but before my Google Apps chat was working.
Still, might help someone out.
OpenSUSE 11.1 Released Today
Dec/083
In my quest to become a Linux-geek, I have only begun to scratch the surface. Perhaps today’s release of OpenSUSE can help me along the way. I have not yet used OpenSUSE, though I’ve heard good things about it from friends better versed in Linux than I, but looking at those screenshots… Pretty shiny. I’m downloading it now, then I’ll see about giving it a try.
Anybody else been using OpenSUSE, or planning to join me in trying it now? Come, talk, comment.
Tech Log: Windows Load Hang
Dec/080
On the bench today: One personal machine with fully functioning, though extremely dusty, hardware. Seriously, does it occur to anyone that it might be a really good idea to at least clean the outside of the computer case, much less the inside.
Upon further inspection, and waiting for literally two hours, for the machine to move beyond the “Windows is Loading” screen. I determined that Windows was not going to load. (An amazing leap of deduction that was!)
First things first.
Can’t fix what you can’t get into, and based upon what I’d been told about this user (and the fact that 98.9% of the time any Windows machine that comes my way has the same problem) I assumed that the problem was spyware and viruses. (See, being a tech isn’t so hard.) So, I booted into safe-mode by pressing the F8 key during the initial boot. (The very first thing that happens when the power button is pressed, then navigate to the “Safe Mode” option at the menu.) Next, I directed my attention to Start>Run and typed “msconfig” into the resulting window. I deselected everything, and applied my changes. Deselecting everything is not a cure all, some of the options that are deselected are going to be drivers, but for the moment, we don’t care if it looks pretty, sounds pretty, or can operate your bluetooth, wireless, bells and whistles media keyboard with mouse and handlebars. We just want to log in. Later they can be re-enabled in the same fashion. For the moment, we want to make sure that untoward things are not loading on startup. This clear-cutting method should shut them down effectively enough to log in.
Success!
The machine has been rebooted and I can see the log-in screen now. If only my client had given me the password…
Ah well, progress has been made, and my first tech log has been completed.
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