My father recently purchased two computers from Best Buy. He got a desktop and a laptop. Both are fairly decent systems, dual core AMD processors (Athlon X2 3800+ and a Turion X2 TL-50), 1GB DDR2-667 RAM, 250GB HDD for the desktop and a 120GB for the laptop. Both are running Windows Vista Home Premium with BitDefender Internet Security.

Even with Windows Vista’s shortcomings in the performance department these computers should by no means be struggling with it. My year old Inspiron E1505 (Core Duo T2500, 1GB DDR2-667, 120GB 5400RPM HDD, Radeon Mobility X1400) has no problems running it. However, booting either computer is mind numbingly boring. It takes longer on the desktop to boot than it does on my laptop.

I’m going to concentrate on the desktop, because despite being a much much more powerful system, it fails to outperform. The reason for this is simple. The desktop, an HP, was (and still mostly is) loaded down with tons of crap pre-installed by, guess who…. HP! I checked out the startup, and there were several HP programs that load on startup along with various other things. Whether this is some sort of marketing scheme to make people buy faster, more expensive systems, or simply their way of making systems less expensive. I don’t know.

However, OEM systems from HP, Dell, Gateway, etc… are loaded with useless shit that nobody needs, and most people don’t use or even realize what it is… It slows down computers, reduces stability, and most of all… IS ANNOYING AS HELL! I’ve had less damaging spyware infections…

Anyway, I propose that anyone looking for a new PC should do one of the following.

1. Build it yourself, install the operating system yourself, install the software you want yourself.
2. Find a local computer business that specializes in building custom PCs. Most have fairly reasonable prices, although they usually can’t compete with the big name companies. For the most part they offer a higher quality and better performance. Do your research though and make sure they provide a clean install with only the essentials!

More on this later… perhaps when I manage to pick out the shit HP and Gateway have installed and get them both up to speed…

Yet another way to protect your computer is to use an alternate browser. Internet Explorer is one of the #1 ways most computers get infected with spyware, adware, viruses, etc… For the most part it’s just plain dangerous. For more info check out Web Devout.

Before I go on, I need a small disclaimer… In no way am I saying that other browsers do not have their flaws. Any peice of software has its own exploits, bugs, etc… Nothing is 100% perfect!

So here’s my suggestion… Switch to an alternate browser! Several alternatives include Firefox, Opera, Netscape, or Flock.

These alternate browsers offer greater feature sets (many had them implemented many years before IE did), greater security, and better web standards support. All together they provide a much improved internet experience. If you doubt me… Just give them a serious try. Use one for a few weeks, play with it’s features. They may grow on you… Anyway, I’m out. More to come later!

Too many people don’t adequately protect their computers. Too many people use computers that are infected top to bottom with every type of adware, spyware, trojan, worm, and virus you can name… People spend thousands of dollars to upgrade to a new computer because their brand new $2000 computer is slower than a snail. Well if you’re one of those people (and even if you aren’t) this is for you. I’m going to run through a few ways you can protect your computer from the millions of programs/people out there to cause nothing but trouble. I’ll start off with the fairly obvious things (not in any specific order).

1. Run an anti-virus program 24/7/364 1/4 (365 if it’s a leapyear) and scan with it regularly! It doesn’t really matter what AV program you use, as long as it’s kept up to date. If you don’t have one, you can get one for $20-30 at your local computer store. If you can’t afford one, Grisoft makes an excellent free AV program called AVG.
2. When using the Internet, whether it’s browsing the web, instant messaging, or checking your email, NEVER accept an attachment or download a program from someone you do not know or do not trust. For many people this is the most common way to compromise their computer. Toolbars and most filesharing programs contain spyware/adware, and sometimes even worse.
3. Watch who uses your computer, limit who can install program, and if someone needs one installed, make sure it’s legit!
4. Avoid filesharing networks such as Kazaa, Bearshare, Limewire, etc… many files download from these networks are full of spyware/adware.
5. Run at least one, if not several, anti-spyware programs and scan with them regularly. Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware SE Personal, Safer Networking’s Spybot Search & Destroy, and Javacool’s Spyware Blaster are three excellent programs. I run all three regularly.
6. Setup Windows to show all file extensions. This can be done by opening a folder, going to Tools>Folder Options clicking on the View tab, and unchecking “Hide extensions for known file types”. Many programs with malicious intent pretend to be other file types by adding an extra extension… So even though it may say .mp3 if you have extensions hidden, it may really be a .exe or .vbs.
7. Practice common sense and just generally be careful. There’s no such thing as being too careful when it comes to spyware/adware/viruses. They’re everywhere!

That’s it for now… Feel free to comment on anything you have to add or just general feedback!

Look at all four screenshots. They all use the same code, the same images. But look at the difference between them… Not a single one looks or functions the same. They should, the code is standards compliant and in the ideal situation shouldn’t have a problem with any standards compliant browser… Firefox works as intended, Opera has a problem with a conditional comment added for IE 6 & 7, but neither IE 6 or 7 works as intended. IE 6 has a problem with alpha transparency in png images. Both IE 6 & 7 are unable to correctly interpret the CSS, which leaves several elements of the page rendering incorrectly.

Overall this has been very frustrating and I hope something is eventually done about it. Sooner rather than later hopefully… Until then… We’ll be stuck in a world that makes it incredibly difficult to code websites.

Internet Explorer 7 shows up on the right, Firefox 2 on the left. Notice the gap between the main level of the menu and the submenu on IE7. This does not show up in any other browser.

So far I have yet to find a fix for this. As soon as I do however, I will post it here.

It keeps track of download/upload bandwidth with options to display the usage in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years…. It’s completely customizable so you can have it display as much or as little as you want.

You can find it over at Rokario Software!

I suppose by the name it’s fairly obvious as to what it does. Basically it takes a list of images (jpg, gif, png, etc) and cycles through them setting them as the desktop wallpaper. You can set the interval between cycles, positioning of the wallpaper, even whether you want to just go straight through the list, or randomize it.

I’m sure this has been done before (110% positive at that) but I figured I could just throw another option out there.

Anyway, I’ll post it here… “When It’s Done”

So yeah… For all you coders, web designers, or even someone who is maintaining a website. PLEASE, for the SANITY of anyone else who may be working on the website after you, learn how to code, make your code clean and readable… It saves us all a shitload of trouble in the long run.

(For the record, the above code is after 2 1/2 hours of cleaning it up)