Security Risk!

I generally try to stay away from subjects like religion or politics when writing for my website, blog or posting to a list. You can't change people's opinions on these subjects and it is foolish to try. You can also offend some people by a remark that goes against their beliefs.

But this is just too much for me to keep quiet about. I am talking about the poor woman who was humiliated by having to remove her 'nipple' rings before she could board a flight. I have heard a number of stories about bottles being taken away from babies, old ladies being strip searched and a number of other absolutely ridiculous things the TSA has done to hapless passengers, but this one took the cake. If I am wrong, please let me know how a nipple ring can be a security hazard. I really want to know so if there is a nipple ring anywhere in my vicinity I can report it to Homeland Security.

All of this just emphasizes what can happen when you give power to a certain segment of the population. They do these things because they can get away with it. They enjoy humiliating and intimidating people. I think these are the characters that were once school-yard bullies. Now they are airport screener bullies. I believe most of the people who work at being screeners are just doing their jobs as best they can and the few who are bullies are giving all the rest a bad name.

I think the things that we have done to prevent nipple rings, baby bottles and the like from being allowed on commercial flights must have the terrorists laughing.

I am so happy I am not required to fly anymore. I don't go anywhere that I can't go by car. I just hope that one day I don't have to submit to a body search to get in my car to go to the market.

Martha

I Knew Better

Once in a while someone I trust will post something in a Yahoo Group or blog and I take it for gospel. I shouldn't do that, because some things they post are really not what a user should do.

I won't mention any names, but there was a recent post/blog about getting ready for Vista that said I should go ahead and install the drivers that Windows update says I need. The message went on to say that although the writer ordinarily advised against installing drivers from Windows update, this is an exception.

So, thinking that this must be OK, I installed the driver for my graphics card that Windows update said is available and re-booted.

OMG! I have ruined my computer! The display is (and there is no other word to describe it) horrible! No amount of tweaking, changing settings, helps! This is a disaster! It looks worse than Safe-Mode!

Then I remembered System Restore. So I restored the computer to the day before and now everything is back the way it should be.

If I have to install those drivers that Windows update says I need before I can install Vista SP1, then it just isn't going to happen. Vista SP1 will not be installed. Besides from what I have read, it will fix things that don't need fixing on my computer. Hibernation works just fine along with everything else that supposedly needs fixing.

I am hoping that Microsoft will 'fix' SP1 to work with my drivers, especially if one day I see the dreaded message on Windows Update "You must have SP1 installed to update Vista".

In the meantime I'm going to find out what version my video card driver uses, and download it it for safe keeping.

Another lesson learned. I did know better, but I did it anyway. Thank you, Microsoft, for System Restore!

Martha

Nag, Nag, Nag

Last month I wrote about a magazine that keeps nagging me to re-subscribe. If this was just an isolated problem it wouldn't be so bad, but all my magazines are doing the same thing to a certain extent. Not as bad as Money, but they are wanting me to 'renew NOW'.

I keep a spreadsheet to let me know just when my subscriptions expire as I do tend to be a tad forgetful. Since I am sorta forgetful, I guess the magazine people must know that, but a reminder eight months before the expire date is a bit much.

The letters, cards and covers are all telling me I need to 'renew NOW'. If I don't 'renew NOW', I am going to miss out by not receiving every issue. I won't save money by not renewing 'NOW'.

News Flash! I will save more money by not renewing at all. (Maybe that will stop the nagging!)

I think every magazine there is wants me to subscribe as I am getting all these offers for 'Professional' rates. If I did take them up, I suspect I would start getting the letters to 'renew NOW'. No thanks, I will pass.

Magazines are not the only businesses that want me to 'renew NOW'. At least once a month I get a letter from a warranty company wanting me to renew my warranty on my car before it expires. (It actually expired three years ago.) Since my car is now officially five years old it might need some repairs one of these days. But I don't drive much any more (gas is so expensive!) and the car has less than 40,000 miles on it, so I am not going to renew the warranty 'NOW'. (Or ever.) If those repairs get too costly, well, I like new cars and they come with a warranty.

I guess all of these 'renew NOW' cards and letters are helping the Post Office pay their bills.

I can read just about everything I need to know on the Internet. I will save money and be 'Green' at the same time. The recycle bin will be less heavy when I push it to the curb. I am so excited! I can buy more software with all the money I will save by not renewing 'NOW'!

That will teach those 'renew NOW' folks not to be such a nag! (Just think of the postage they will save when they finally quit nagging me!)

Martha

Mr. Modem

Since Dr. Bombay did his disappearing act, he has been replaced with Mr. Modem. (Catchy name!) Mr. Modem is much nicer than Dr. Bombay, but not as much fun to read.

Mr.Modem has a website with lots of goodies. He has a search-able library full of computer tips, questions and answers. He has a page with his favorite links, lots of links. He has a CD which has "more than 1400 of Mr. Modem's favorite Web sites -- the best the Internet has to offer".

He also has a weekly newsletter that sounds like a real help for users who need help. It isn't free, but the sample shows it to be quite comprehensive.

In the column for Mr Modem that appears in the newspaper, he also answers questions and provides a few websites to visit in Mr Modem's Sites of the Week.

While Mr. Modem's column is informative for the average user and easier to read, I have to admit, it isn't as much fun as Dr. Bombay Computer MD. I think sometimes I have an ornery streak!

Martha

Whatever Happened to Dr Bombay, Computer MD?

Last year Dr Bombay just disappeared. No one seems to know where he went. For those who don't know about Dr. Bombay, let me explain. He was a very sarcastic, hateful and knowledgeable computer columnist in my newspaper! When someone asked a question, Dr Bombay would answer in terms that surely made the questioner wish he/she hadn't asked! But the answers were just about always right to the point and they were just about always right. He showed no mercy to hapless users that failed to make backups and lost their data or to users that lost data due to virus, worms or spyware making their computers useless.

He had a column in the paper every Thursday and I really looked forward to that column. (I have a warped sense of humor sometimes.) I just waited for the time when in his sarcastic words he slipped up and gave a wrong answer. Didn't happen though.

When the Thursday came that no longer had Dr. Bombay's column, everyone wondered where he went. The newspaper didn't seem to know. They reported he just left and no one knew where or why. So if anyone there knew, they weren't telling.

Google searches for Dr Bombay are in vain. There are thousands of hits, but they go nowhere. They mostly go to 'Page not found' or other disappointing places. A lot of them go to well known websites, but usually to a page no longer there. There are tons of hits for the Fort Worth Star Telegram (my newspaper) but even those go to dead ends. I did find one page that contained some of Dr Bombay's pithy answers. If you want to, you can view some of Dr Bombay's pithy answers.

Dr Bombay had a website, The Bombay Institute, and it also disappeared, . His website had the archives for his column in the newspaper. I had it bookmarked, but it goes to someplace else now. My guess is when he left and didn't renew his domain, someone else bought it for the page rank.

I like to think Dr Bombay is somewhere out there in cyberspace chortling at the mis-information being given to frazzeled computer users. (There is a lot of that happening!) I feel bad about all that mis-information, but I really have to wonder what kind of sarcastic remarks Dr. Bombay would have made about Vista!

If you know what happened to Dr. Bombay, please let me know!

Martha

Thought About Vista

By now, unless you have been living on a dessert island, you've heard all about Vista. Most of what you have heard is probably not too good. But what is the real truth? Is Vista bad? Is Vista good? Is it better than Windows XP?
From my prospective, here is what I think.

It depends.
It depends on whether or not a user upgraded to Vista over another version of Windows, generally Windows XP.

There are so many variables with upgrading it would be impossible to cover all the senarios. How old was the computer? What kind of video card did it have? (I've seen a lot of problems due to video cards) Is there a new driver that is for Vista for the card?
It depends maybe on what version of Vista was used for the upgrade. This may be stretching a bit and I have no way of knowing if this could be a factor. I think if someone had a good computer running Windows XP, the old saying 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' would have been good advice.

A whole lot of users bought a new computer with Vista installed. They don't like it for any number of reasons. A lot of the gripes are about external hardware like printers or scanners that won't work with Vista. While this may come as a big surprise to some folks, the same thing happened when Windows XP was new. Everyone blames Microsoft for printers, scanners, etc. that won't work with Vista. Microsoft does not sell printers or scanners. Microsoft sells software. Printer and scanner makers write drivers to make their products work. If they don't see fit to write a Vista-compatible driver for their older products, this is probably not Microsoft's fault. Microsoft was supposed to have let all of these folks know what is needed to make those older products work, but the makers of printers and scanners want customers to buy new products so they didn't write new drivers for old products.

Another gripe about Vista is a lot of older software does not work with Vista. (The same thing happened when Windows XP was new.) Some users are complaining that Vista is too slow. There are a number of reasons why this may be happening. Older software that does run, but was not written for Vista could be causing the slowdown. Too many resource hungry programs running in the background can slow any computer down. Since I am not a hardware person I don't really know if there are any hardware configurations that could cause Vista to run slow, but it seems to me that could be a possibility. I do know that no two computers are exactly alike. Two seemingly identical computers can in fact work very differently and over time, one can be running like a top and the other running like a slug.

Perhaps one of the biggest grips is the UAC (User Access Control), one of the biggest security features in Vista. Most of the so-called experts just turn it off and thus remove the security for Vista.

My experience with Vista is pretty good. I absolutely hated it at first, but once I found my way around and discovered how to be 'the boss', I like Vista. There are some things I don't like, Internet Explorer for one and the buggy Windows Mail, but since I use Firefox to web browse and Outlook 2007 for email, those things don't bother me much. However I do think Microsoft made a huge mistake with the changes they made from Outlook Express to Windows Mail (it's buggy). Microsoft chose not fix the bugs in Windows Mail and gave users the option to download Windows Live Mail. My experience with Windows Live Mail was no better than Windows Mail. (Why oh why does Microsoft give some of their products such similar names?) Mozilla's Thunderbird probably has gained a lot of users.

Martha
Martha's Web

How Many Hours are There in a Day?

For a whole lot of folks there are not enough hours in a day and for another bunch there are too many.

Normally there are 24 hours in a day, except twice a year. The first time a day doesn't have 24 hours is in the late Winter/early Spring, when the so-called day has 23 hours. Then late in the Fall/early Winter there is a so-called day with 25 hours. The powers that be change the actual dates this happens and who knows when they will change the dates again. When we change our clocks for the exact dates and times. (You probably thought it was the same down through the years, but no, it wasn't!)

It seems that many years ago, in 1784 to be exact, good ole Ben Franklin wrote a fanciful essay about saving daylight. It was surely written in jest and no one at the time really took it seriously. The people back then seemed to be more endowed with 'common sense'!

Then in 1916, in an effort to save energy resources, it was decided to actually implement the farce known as 'Daylight Saving Time'. Perhaps it did save some energy, but the amount of energy saved surely did not compensate for the effect of changing the time on the population. Losing an hour of sleep once a year may not seem like such a big deal, but statistics show there are more traffic accidents on the Monday following the 'Spring forward' event. In today's fast paced world most people don't get enough sleep as it is and taking a precious hour of slumber away is tantamount to a criminal act. Not to mention all of the aggravation!

A recent study published by Consumer Reports indicates that Daylight Saving Time is actually costing us more money! While we may be saving the cost of lighting, air conditioning and heating cost us more due to the time changes.

However, I doubt the powers that be that make the decisions will even look at the statistics showing the actual cost and will continue to make the population suffer through losing sleep one day a year.

Martha

The Comics

I can remember when I was a kid (even though it was a long time ago!) I loved comic books. I don't read comic books any more, but I do read the comics in the newspaper. I don't read all of them though, because I just don't find some of them very funny and some are just silly, not funny.

My newspaper is always trying changes with the comic strips, removing some and adding others. I just wish they would leave them alone. Most of the time they do a fair job, but sometimes they make changes I don't like, such as when they stopped printing one of my very favorites, Cathy, along with others and added some strips I just don't read because they are either not funny, just too silly or I can't get 'into' them. They move the strips around too. Dilbert is now in the 'Work & Money' section. Mallard Filmore and Doonesbury are on the Editorial page. (They had to make room for some of the not so funny newcomers.)

I think my sense of humor is starting to warp. There is one new strip that is silly, not always funny and I don't always 'get it', but I love it! It's The Piranha Club.

I have several favorites, Pickles, Dilbert, the Pajama Diaries, but my very favorite is Better or Worse.

I discovered I can get most of my favorite daily comic strips on my Google Home page. Now I can read old favorites that disappeared from the local paper. I would have preferred to read them in the paper, but reading them online is pretty cool.

Martha