It seems that college is keeping both I and Shannon far too busy to have any time to update this. I will try and update from time to time. But I can’t promise much. Until then, you should check out geardiary.com, since I post my reviews there. In fact, I should be posting one tomorrow. But either way, just know that I’m not dead, completely.
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So a long time ago, I told Sarah I just post about random…. well lets say poo. Well, she took it literally, so I promised (for some reason) to make her a post about poop.
Poop can be used in many different ways (aside from being hurled at Vladimir Putin). For one, it has been known to power cars and houses from burning the many chemicals it contains. Poop can also be used in a clever prank to trick your worst enemies, the “Paperbag full of dog**** that is lit on fire on a doorstep”. Poop in many cultures has been found to be a great hair regrowth method. Just rub some on your hands, then onto your head, Fantastico! But it only works for dark colours, so please be a smart shopper!Also you can feed it to a monkey if you fed all of your treats on some other cuter animal. There was this girl named caitlen, she got really “intoxicated” at this guys house…and did a so called “poo” on his bathroom floor…and no sadly he didnt take photos.
Source: uncyclopedia
Ok, so here I am, just kind of bored. I was supposed to go hang out with people. But of course all of them had better things to do. So, here I am posting another cheesy tips which I know will be crazy short.
Cheesy Tips Vol. 1 Issue 5
Ditching Windows
Now, ditching windows isn’t entirely possible, for a large amount of people. But, as time goes on Windows becomes more and more bloated, as Linux becomes more and more powerful. Here’s a question, who actually likes running a firewall, an anti-virus, 3 or more anti-spyware apps, and probably an IP blocker, just to stay secure. I mean, entire industries have been spawned because of the fact that Windows security SUCKS. Oh sure it’s getting better now. But, not by much, really.
Thus the penguin comes to the rescue.
Linux has more than 30 million users worldwide, and generally, is just plain out better than Windows. Generally speaking, Windows XP has a lot of eye candy, and Vista has even more. But when it comes to eye candy, running windows is like looking at the candy aisle by the checkout counter at your local grocery store. Whereas, Linux, is like living in a candy store, well an eye candy store. To get an idea of what I’m talking about:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xC5uEe5OzNQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hMHpyawX5wc (ignore the flicker, I don’t know what’s going on with his system)
And then you look at Vista and XP and just kind of think, what!? Yeah it’s painful to boot back into Windows for me and the sad thing is I still have to live a large portion of my life in it. Even though I can actually emulate it in Linux for the most part, it gets annoying trying to make Windows programs work in Linux. You do this with a program called Wine, which is one of the parts of Linux which I am actually most clueless about.
So thus, you might now ask why I titled this ditching Windows since, so far I am only presenting teasers. Worry not my dear reader! For I shall now… talk more.
Generally speaking, there are TONS of different Linux distributions. I mean, seriously there has got to be at least 200+ distributions. Although, lately, one has risen as the Linux flagship (besides the staple RedHat, SuSe, etc…), which is called Ubuntu Linux. It is actually named after the principle of Ubuntu, which essentially means, “humanity to others.” One of the mottos of the team is actually, “Linux for humans.” In the past Linux has been seen as hostile territory for all those who are not computer gurus. Ubuntu has a purpose, it is meant to fix a major bug. This bug is known simply as bug #1.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1
This bug is a serious error in the judgment of many software developers, and can be considered the most severe bug in recorded software history.
Anyway. I was planning on giving more details about all this, but I’ve pretty much run out of time and must do other things. So I’m going to get outta here, see you guys next week… or something like that.
Ok, this is an early post, because I have a feeling I won’t have time to continue making them every week when school starts. But then again it doesn’t look my classes will be too hard, so I don’t know, I just don’t want to take chances.
Cheesy Tips Issue 4
Making XP look like Vista
Now, making XP look like Vista is REALLY easy. Vista is almost just XP with some makeup. Making XP work like vista… That’s a different animal. It’s actually something you just don’t want to do. Trust me. So I’ll tell you how to make XP look like Vista, and you’ll read my blog, thats the price you gotta pay, painful huh?
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Window borders
Supposedly, there is something special about the Vista window borders… I’ve yet to figure out what it is, or why it takes so much damn power. You see, you can also do it in XP, with the help of a program called WindowBlinds. It’s not free, most of these programs aren’t. If you’re a pirate, you should know where to look for them, if you’re not, I’m not telling, just use linux. Anyway, you should be able to pick up a Vista border lookalike here, I think it’s actually better than the real Aero, but thats just me. Then there is also this one, which, is almost an exact copy of Vista. Of course, personally I think if you just want your computer to look cool, try this one.
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Widget sidebar
Now, you can use either Google Desktop or Yahoo Widget Engine to get widgets, but if you want one just like Vista’s check this one out. You will need to register for a forum account, but it’s free and worth the time.
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Interface
I only need to say one thing for this, topdesk. It mimics Flip3D perfectly and uses less processing power. Also, if you want to try something else that has a cool interface (similar to what Vista was supposed to look like) try modotate, once again you will need to register for the forums. However, the Neowin forums are a good place to be. Trust me. If you have a computer problem, go there, they should be able to help.
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Icons
You can pick up a copy of IconPackager and then download this Icon suite, and you should be good with Icons.
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Programs
Download and install IE 7 and Windows Media Player 11. Now, never use them again, for your own good.
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Lag
By this point you should be lagging at least a bit. It’s not quite as much as Vista, nor even near Vista style lag, but it’s probably annoying you. I take no responsibility.
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Cursor
That’s it, if you did all those steps, you should now be done, and your XP should now look like Vista. Just don’t open up an explorer window and no one will ever know the difference.
I’m not linking to anything this week, I’m feeling too lazy.
Cheesy Tips Issue 3
Vista
Ok, let me get this straight. In my opinion, Vista SUCKS. The ONLY reason why you might upgrade is to get DirectX 10, and that only matters if you’re a gamer. So here we go this is my list of reasons why vista sucks about as much as a black hole:
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It looks lame
Microsoft promised us a full 3D interface 2 years ago. Well Aero is what we get. I happen to think translucent window borders is far short of full 3D, and it is definitely not requiring of a DirectX 9 video card. The other two nice features are the 3D task switcher (called Flip3D) which you’ll rarely use and the “new” default task switcher that provides thumbnails instead of icons. Woo… big deal. As far the task switcher, it looks strangely similar to the one used in beryl and compiz in linux. Hmm… I wonder where Microsoft got the code… I mean uh… idea.
Lets face it, Microsoft is simply beat in graphics when it comes to Vista. Aero lags like a broken VCR unless you have a top notch system. Even then it isn’t exactly as responsive as anyone without an insane amount of patience would like it to be. My system is a high-end gaming system, and Aero tends to bring it to its knees. I’m really wondering, what in the hell is doing this crap? I mean, Aero is barely doing anything, there are no real screen transformations, unless you actually count Flip3D as a screen transformation. In which case, why in the hell would that lag you? Woo big deal like 20 completely flat polygons, tops. A NINTENDO 64 CAN HANDLE THAT! I mean, Microsoft just got plain owned. Here’s an example:
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Security=securely annoyed
In Windows Vista there was a HUGE focus on security, a focus that failed miserably. They tried stealing more tricks from Linux in the form of security, such as using a limited user account and only using administrator ability when you really need to. In Linux this is a smart process, and it will actually ask you for your password when the system needs admin power for something. That is something Windows Vista does not do. It does not ask you for your password. One of the strengths of the method that Linux uses is the fact that you won’t type in your password unless you really want to do something, which means if a virus all of a sudden wants to do weird things to your computer you’ll deny the password request because you won’t want to waste your time. There is also the fact that Linux doesn’t ask you frequently. Vista doesn’t ask you for your password at all… but it asks all the time it never purposefully shuts up. Almost every time you open a program it will ask you if you really want to. You get to the point within about 20 minutes where you don’t even care what wants admin rights, you’re more than willing to give them. Vista doesn’t have the brains to determine good purposes from bad ones so it will ask you for all of them, which means, a notification every 30 seconds unless you turn off UAC, which is what it’s called in Vista.
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Permissions… another word for pain
In XP you have the ability to set folders as public or private. There is one problem, you can’t do anything beyond that. Which is bad… and it’s even worse when you happen to be running Vista and XP on the same system. Vista WAS given further control over permissions. Now, that is very nice, except for the fact that it will annoy you if you have multiple drives. Vista gives EVERYTHING ownership. Of course this means that you have no access to it in XP, and there is almost nothing you can do about it.
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DRM-Delivering pain to the end user
DRM is aimed at stopping pirates, the problem is, it stops everyone. Vista came with lovely new DRM technology, and it’s just slumbering waiting to be implemented. If you have ever downloaded music or anything else, don’t even consider doing it in Vista. End of story.
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DirectX 10 gaming might go the way of the PS3
Sure, great graphics, but it’s been around half a year now and where’s the games?
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Compatibility… mainly lack thereof
Almost nothing works on Vista, and even less works on Vista 64-bit. You’ll be lucky if you get anything working at all.
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Price: an arm and a leg
The biggest problem with Vista is the fact that it’s so damn expensive, and it’s a total piece of crap. You can pick up a copy of Ubuntu Linux for a whopping 2 hour download time. Or you could pick up a copy of Mac OS X for about the same price. Both of them will look better, Ubuntu will work better… and OSX will crash more but overall, Vista is not worth your money.
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Vista=XP on steroids
Hell, it even had to side effects! It got buff, but it had a price. There is almost nothing in Vista that you can’t do in XP. You can simulate Aero very well in XP with windowblinds. You can simulate Flip3D with topdesk. You can simulate the desktop search with… desktop search. You can do just about everything! There is NO point in upgrading to Vista, other than Directx 10.
You know, I give up listing all the reasons. But next week I’ll be posting a Vista survival guide. If you are interested in trying Vista (and wasting your money), stick around, I’ll help you in your quest to make yourself miserable.
So sorry, I missed my post for last week, and for this week I’m a bit late. Last week I was just being lazy, my bad. This week I’ve been trying to cope with personal issues. So, I will now direct some of my insanity towards writing this newest article!
Cheese tips issue 2
Keeping yourself safe
The first problem you need to be aware of on the internet is the fact that Windows is about as secure as a hen house surrounded by wolves. If you have Windows XP, you better be sure you have it fully patched, and if not fully, you better have it at least patched to within 2 months of the present. While it is true that Windows is so patched these days that there aren’t many holes left to exploit, the ones that seem to pop up always seem to be just as bad or worse than their successors.
Viruses
To answer another question that no one seems to be asking, no hackers are not responsible for about er… well the majority of the stuff on the internet that may harm you. I’ll give black hats credit for the viruses, however, when you think about the actual amount of viruses rearing their ugly heads these days, you almost wonder where all the black hats went. Surprisingly, at this point in time, viruses barely pose a threat anymore.
Now, one of the best the best anti-viruses out there is Kaspersky, which will run you $59.95 for a year’s subscription. Not long ago AOL was offering a program called Active Virus Shield, which was really Kaspersky with a different name. They had it free for everyone and they were just footing the bill for us. The problem? They scrapped it, and now are offering McAffee, which is still one of the best, but, it doesn’t work quite as well as Kaspersky with it’s 99.62% detection rating. McAffee’s 93.03% is still better than Norton’s 83.18%, so I would say it’s still worth getting. Now, if you want the best anti-virus on the market, that would be Bitdefender, which last time I checked is cheaper ($25 somewhere around there) than Kaspersky, and easier to pronounce. Although, in most cases, you are pretty much good with a free anti-virus such as AVG Free-Edition.
Just so you know, you need to run your anti-virus atleast once a week. And no matter what you do, DO NOT TURN OFF AUTOMATIC UPDATES! The other problem with anti-viruses is that you can only have one, and if you have more they tend to conflict with each other. But as I said, they’re not exactly AS important as they once were.
Firewalls
Most of the time, you should worry more about your toast catching fire than worry about hackers getting into your computer. Hackers don’t often target you unless you specifically make them mad. But keeping hackers out is only half of the purpose of a firewall. A software firewall is primarily used to keep viruses away. Generally there isn’t too much to say here. I personally recommend Comodo Personal Firewall. But if you don’t like complex things, go for Zonealarm, both work well, but Comodo tends to do a better job, even though it might annoy you more. One thing about software firewalls is you have to know what the processes that are requesting access to the internet actually are. My general suggestion is, make make sure they don’t say svchost.exe, explorer.exe, services.exe, ok there is a lot of them. The other way, is if you’re doing something that will require internet access, allow any request that is made. If you’re in the middle of doing nothing, look up the process at Process Library. Trust me, that site has saved me from many embarrassing situations.
Spyware/Malware/Adware/Rootkits/Related bad stuff
Spyware is the REAL threat you will face on the internet, and surprisingly ends up being easier to fight. It will generally be pretty easy to avoid. The first step is simply dumping Internet Explorer and getting Firefox. Once you get Firefox, make sure you get the Adblock Plus add-on, that will keep the ads away from you. With ads gone you are one step closer to being safe.
The second step is head by download.com and fetch yourself some anti-spyware. I recommend Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-aware 2007, Spyware Terminator, Windows Defender, and Spyware Blaster. Yes, you can install as much anti-spyware as you want. It’s your best friend! But, remember, DO NOT ENABLE REAL-TIME PROTECTION! I cannot stress this enough! I mean, it does keep you safer, but it also annoys you so much that you will get tired of reading the prompts and eventually just allow everything, thereby making it useless. Please, DO NOT enable it, you will hate yourself for it, I guarantee.
Of course, the next step is make sure you run all your programs frequently, keep them updated, and make sure you surf safely.
That’s it for this week, any questions, email me, or leave a comment.
First of all, welcome to the new Cyberevolutions blog. Eventually this will probably turn into the main site; however, I’m too lazy to fix the code right now. So without further ado here’s issue 1.
Cheese tips issue 1
Keeping things free and legal
We all have had issues with Microsoft at least once, and usually it has something to with the fact that the only things they have that are free, tend to be total crap. We all like free things, but when your free software sucks, sometimes you’re tempted to buy a program that will do the job for you. Well guess what! You don’t have to buy anything at least 90% of the time! There is a movement in the tech industry called the Open Source Movement. That basically means that programmers start projects, and then release the code they have to the community. At this point, the community helps in the development, and a new program is born! Don’t know what this means to you? What would I tell you if the aforementioned software is FREE, 100% FREE. Do you hear that? That’s the sound of your wallet singing for joy! This software has been around for awhile, but the movement didn’t gain strength until recently with the release of Firefox. Which, in a way is how it started, Firefox is based on Mozilla, which is based on Netscape, before Microsoft decided to crush them. On its dying breath Netscape decided to release their source doe, and thus open source was born. Of course, open source has been around far longer, but we’re not going to go any farther into that.
So a few of you may be thinking something along the lines of “OK, Will, when are you going to start giving tips?” and if you are asking that, well, you have a good point. So here goes, take a deep breath, and read on my friends! That being said, I’ll talk about Firefox I myself have been using Firefox for almost 4 years now, and could not possibly go back to only using Internet Explorer. So now you might ask why I’m talking about Firefox and Internet Explorer when Internet Explorer is clearly free. Well, Internet Explorer IS NOT FREE. In fact, you pay for it when you buy Windows. Not to mention, it has been known to suffer all sorts of security issues. Firefox is free, and it is known to be far superior even to IE 7.0. So if you want to try out Firefox, click here.
If you hadn’t gotten the idea yet, the nice thing about open source software is not just the fact that it’s free; the nice thing is actually the fact that it often is better than its proprietary equivalent. If it’s not better, usually you don’t even have to sacrifice much. This is the case with OpenOffice.org, which is the open source equivalent of Microsoft Office and generally sucks only slightly less. As of the writing of this article, Open Office is slightly better than Microsoft Office XP, and it’s free.
Of course, there is also an even better way of making sure you keep things free… you can tell Microsoft where to go and download Linux (I recommend Ubuntu). Unless you’re a gamer, you most likely will never really feel the urge to go back into Windows. Linux at this point in its development is far superior to Windows Vista (except in gaming, Microsoft is scared of releasing a Linux version of direct x, since it’s the only thing keeping them in business). Comparing the Linux interface to that of Vista’s is kind of like talking about the guy that took the Howitzer to the gun fight. Of course, the problem with Linux is its steep learning curve. But that’s easily overcome by its extremely helpful community.
All in all, going open source is often a pretty big jump. But if you hate the idea of pirating, and lack a lot of money, it’s often your best bet. My suggestion is, check out download.com if you need something, and then get nice and friendly with sourceforge.net.
That’s it for this week.
I just rebuilt this blog again. I copied all the posts from the old blog… not that there was much to copy. So the new text ends here and I’m putting in the former post. Currently, the administrators are me and Shannon. However, at the moment she doesn’t know she’s an admin xD. So whenever she finds out (tomorrow… er well, today) she’ll edit this post and say hi, and probably edit my previous post… or just throw cheese at me.
EDIT:
I just realized I broke access to… everything. Oh well, no one was using any of it. I’ll restore access to the forums if anyone wants them.
EDIT: *KILLS*
..
*throws cheese at*