Tech News

Testing Windows 7 on a Work Environment

Posted on2009/06/02AuthorTech News2 Comments

Day 1

Splash screen

We use an Intell(R) Pentium(R) p4 2.81 GHZ with 1.5 G Memory

Full format deleted all partitions Let 7 control partitions
Our install of course was the 32 bit version of Win7

Splash Screen says Windows(R) 7 Ultimate, that was free one year from Microsoft’s(R) website. Thanks guys. We appreciate that.
Boot up was fast , about 17 seconds.
3 printers and one plotter on the network.
We have the goal to test all drivers and handling of certain used machines.
At first boot we saw all printers, but when we started the test page to print, there was no printers in the list.
We are now manually installing drivers. Last we tried with vista, the drivers would not install. with seven The Gestetner 525 installed within seconds. Smooth. We now go back and try the Lanier LD122. Next will be Ricoh Aficio mp w2400 Plotter copier

. Server Driver spoiling, is not an option , finds drivers on the server and installs them. Be sure and install the drivers. Twain untested as of yet. Scanner issues will come.
Test page 1 on Gestetner now. print was good on Gestetner.

printed one test page on network win7

Testing windows 7 printing color

We have now consumed 10 gigs of storage. So far we have not installed anything Except printer Drivers

Windows typical keystrokes working as we try.
Loading Symantec Endpoint 11 Work Station Virus Scanner and Firewall To test compatibilities.
noted incompatibility issues, we selected “install anyway”. . So far no prompt for install and no shortcut in quick launch for Symantec, nothing in programs area either, it has been 7 minutes since we started . We are restarting manually to see if we get a boot error.
after reboot, no sign of Symantec.
They did make it clear that Symantec was made for Win Xp, Win 7 is x86/32 bit
Offered to check solutions online, Note is “no solution found” Incompatible. Now we try the 64 bit version of Symantec to see if there is a difference.
Right off we get the “ehh dude, it might not work, doesn’t work for anyone else” notice.
This time it did create the directory for symantec, but quickly uninstalled it. and said that it was interrupted and nothing was modified.

Next we try installing Symantec Server sbe11

More testing to come throughout the week. We want this on our work machines pretty bad. Interesting point, Win7 Identified that the version we have we got from the symantec website, even though it said we had compatibility issues. hmm odd.
Over the next few days we will check Symantec’s site for help on the issue/matter.
We do find a help saying “copy to desktop, run lusetup.exe, reboot, run setup.exe” and all should be good ?????
Maybe ???? Tomorrow we will see.

We install Mozilla Fire Fox 3.0.10 , No Thunderbird today.
good , no notice of compatibility issues. We import nothing, because explorer is a clean install. FF as default.
Install is fine. Fire fox is running well. No issues.

Day one is complete, next tests tomorrow, More writing.

Day Two of Windows 7 Workplace Test.

Reasons not to Aprove the H.R.6123

Posted on2009/05/19AuthorTech News

For those who do not know what the H.R.6123 bill is, let me break it down for you.
There was a girl who was stalked , and flirted with by a woman pretending to be a boy the same age as the girl. The woman was the mother of another girl who lost a cheer leading contest to the stalked girl. The woman flirted with the stalked girl then one day got very cold and mean to the girl. Girl killed herself. Here is the bill on Open Congress.
I totally agree that the family of the child who killed herself need some sort of comfort knowing the death of their child can be turned into something good. I would want the same, but these people who are backing this do not understand how the internet works. The description is to broad and vague. There are tons of boys and girls who learn so much every day with just a simple battle of witts. Arguing, flaming and trolling on the internet. It opens their minds to a new range of thought. Without conflict and contrast, we all agree. If we all agree we do not learn from each other. Some people learn from a pleasant suggestion, many learn from brute force. Telling someone they are a moron for thinking the world is flat, pretty much tells the world ” hey don’t bother with this thread, this guys is a joke” . If it was not for the flamers, our world would only be trolls.
Here is an explanation of a troll .
Trolls are people who post false information, not always to harm anyone, but to just get some sort of thrill out of confusing people, or misleading and or misinforming. Flamers are people who tell them to “stfu gtfo” if “H.R.6123″ is passed, then the trolls are left and the flamers are lobotomized. The problem of the troll or some corrupt evil rude person is left to the owner of the site to liable for.
The last frontier will have a flag in it that claims ” you can not argue, you can not fight you will go to jail”.

This bill needs to be scrapped. In fact, any bill that The ex president’s wife tries to pass is a publicity stunt and needs to be looked at again, she is the one who backed jack Thompson, and then stopped associating as soon as she ran for president. She just used that Censorship stunt to get the attention of the elderly who have no idea what computers are good for . People who lived full happy lives without it. But forgot that by the time she hit the polls, the kids she turned against, where old enough to vote now.

This “H.R.6123” needs to be rejected and a statue of the girl harmed needs to be put up at her school in her memory. The school is where it started. Let’s not remove the world’s freedom for the satisfaction of revenge on one lady. What one calls a bully, others call em a punk. Know there are things going on that balance it 90% of the time.

Notice I say no one’s name.. In case this bill is accepted.

Google Bit the Dust

Posted on2009/05/15AuthorTech News

My office was not the only place to notice this.
Webpro Internet tech News
I couldn’t get an answer or even a verification that I wasn’t out of my mind on twitter today. I swear it’s like twitter is either getting A.D.D. Mentality, or as snobbish as facebook.
But anyway. I posted like 3 notices by lunch time trying to get a ” yeah we don’t see squat working here either” . I got nothing from it.
So as the tech guy for an office I work in (of about 20+ admin staff), I kept having to tell a half guessed story ” um yeah looks like The server google is on is down” and of course someone would walk up ” Did i just hear you say the internet is down??? I can’t work like that” .
So thanks Twitter.
You guys rock.
lol.

Windows 7 to Ship 09

Posted on2009/05/12AuthorTech News

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2727

rumor is July. Also to ship is server 2008 R2.
Counting on the update.

Let’s hope it handles network printers a bit better.

Anatomy of Internet Trolling

Posted on2009/05/11AuthorTech News3 Comments

We need to define a troll before we move too far into the topic. A troll is someone who joins a site that allows questions answers and common responses in oppositions or along with agreement to the original post, but instead of following format and protocol, the troll initiates a fight. Think of Fishing from a boat that is moving slowly through water. You do not have to cast out and reel in repeatedly, because the bait is dragging behind the boat. Eventually something will bite. The main goal of a troll is to look as innocent as possible while posting something off the wall, that he himself finds funny but confusing to others who are foolish enough to fall for this trolling.
The ultimate goal is to lead someone into arguing with the troll. If executed correctly, the troll will look innocent, and the dummy who fell for it, will look like he started a fight with someone who has a legitimate question about whether or not you can use skittles as ball barrings in your skateboard. This in turn leads the fooled forum-goer, banned from the site for being a jerk. End result is the trolls win and there is no one left within the forum to talk to so the trolls go away. Final result: the website/forum/chatroom is now dead and all page views have stopped.
A simple minded Explanation of how to troll
How to Identify a troll.
In most cases they either have no avatar, or are using an avatar from the website. Instead of a personal choice uploaded from their location.
Watch their grammar. If you can create an account, you can form a sentence.
If you are better at speaking another language, chances are your legitimate post would be on a site based on your language.
Typos like (teh) do not count, quite common, even in hospitals.
Usually no signature, if there is a signature, either a gag link to a bad site, or something that makes fun of another person. That should be your first clue ( this person is a jerk)
The post is made, and the person is no longer signed in. Why do they do this? So they can change to another account and probably respond, to look and or sound as if they agree to the trolling post. Why? because it will question your judgment. Two verses one, who is wrong?
The dead horse. If there is something that has been almost forgotten that is a bad omen for the site you are on, they will bring it up. Repeatedly. That ip address needs to be banned. Yes it is a factual event, but let the horse decay already.
Brand New account. No you can not ban everyone for being new. But you can ban people for being new and acting like a butt-tard. Easy answer, log into their account (as admin or moderator), change their password (switch first letter with last letter) .

How to Prevent Trolls
You can’t really unless you just don’t make a website. Or don’t allow comments or discussion.
They are a huge part of the internet, they actually do add an alternative thought behind a lot of discussions. Most of the time they have no idea how deep what they are saying is, they just spout out like an a.d.d. child with a bag of sugar and a pot of room temp coffee. So they say a lot of stuff and remember none of it. they are just there to disagree with you, so they say whatever sparks a fight or disagreement. You on the other hand before you know it’s a troll are actually considering some of the stuff they say. It gives you ideas. If you write them down before you realize you have been duped, you may actually be on to something. Good chances you will be upset enough to forget everything until the troll is abolished.

Trolls have gone from tub chick and goat boy, to Rick roll. Is that not great and sad within it’s self? On one hand they have tamed down a bit, on the other hand, our rebel forces are butt-tards now.

If you need help with understanding more things about a forum/chatroom
Post here it’s free no hassle, I will be more than glad to help

Find latest tech Gadgets

Posted on2009/05/10AuthorTech News

Want to know about teh latest and best tech gadgets out today?
Head over to “ComputerTv” and give a watch .
They can be found on their youtube channel at
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TigerDirectBlog&view=videos

Now don’t get me wrong, it does feel a bit infomercialis, but you will actually get info from these “mercials” .

BTW, the lady on the headphone episode, is kinda hot.

A Letter to Wamu-Chase

Posted on2009/05/08AuthorTech News4 Comments

I am upset with the measures of Washington Mutual’s online checking.
The past 2 months i am getting $150 in overdraft charges because their system has a crappy update and refresh. Why do they assure you they have online account status when what you get is just account related items. Let’s look at the word “status”
http://www.answers.com/topic/status There are 4 definitions. The fourth one is what we believe they mean, but it looks like the first is what protects them from a lawsuite.
Here is the letter i sent, angry and frustrated.

Message Sent: 05/08/2009 10:16 AM (Central Daylight Time)
Confirmation Number: ________________
Subject: Technical Problems

Platform: WinXP
Browser: Other
Internet Connection: Cable Modem
Why is it that your online checking status does not show charges for almost four days, unless you go over draft?

There is something fishy about the way this happens. is there a bug in your mysql db? If so i probably can fix this. Is your php script not functioning? or , just to go out on a huge limb here, is this the only way you make money ? i mean that is far fetched but it seems you are leeching on the poor. If you say you have online checking status, can you at least make it actual status? Really, why is there a “pending” and then weird limbo charges. should they all not be pending untill complete? the credit machine makes an query to verification, then it reports it’s charges, then it confirms.

I can build this junk, I do it all the time, but i am crappy at bookkeeping.

Maybe I should gather more information and make a blog about this and put advertisements around it and try and get my money back at your expense. sound fair?does to me.

I used their “message system”.
The best explanation i have recieved for this is “well our online status is not perfect”.
My response is ” You hold my money with the impression you can help me with poor book keeping, looks like your crummy ‘professional service’ requires me to save the receipt to every hot dog and coffee I buy, so basicly you do nothing but hold my money and charge me for trusting your software”.
The person replied “well the software is not mine”
My forehead bulged out, I felt like they just yelled ” I know you are but what am I” left me lost for words.

*************UPDATE**********
This is their response.

Dear TruXter:

Thanks for contacting WaMu, now a part of Chase!

A pending item is an item that has not yet posted but is held against
your account, and can include debit card transactions, pledges, deposit
holds, and other legal restraints. The Transaction History page for your
account on wamu.com displays only two types of pending items: A deposit
hold based on our funds availability policy; and, some but not all
pending Debit Card transactions held against your account.

The amount of the pending item transaction or hold reduces your
available balance and therefore is included in your available balance
amount on the “Your Account” page.

Pending items are not included as part of the running (ledger) balance
on the Transaction History page. You can continue to visit your
Transaction History Page to confirm when these items post to your
account, at which time they will be included in the running balance.

We have added these items to the Transaction History page to provide
additional account information to you. However, since these are only
some of your pending items, you need to continue to track all pending
account transactions.

For pending debit card transactions, the pending item typically posts to
your account within three business days. However, if a merchant does not
complete the transaction it will expire and the temporary charges will
be removed. Also, sometimes the pending transaction may be different
from the amount you anticipated because of an estimated authorization or
a tip. However, when your purchase posts, you will see the correct
amount.

Of course, if you ever see a pending transaction that for some reason
just doesn’t look right to you, give us a call at 800.xxx.xxxx and we’ll
be happy to assist you.

Sincerely
(name not needed)
WaMu Technical Support, now backed by the strength of JPMorgan Chase

Pretty Automated. They didn’t want to even read the thing and they just sent me a blur of a response.
Well it has been about 15 transactions and 9 days since I started timing them, still no updates yet.
My account has one pending item on it that has been there since before I started freaking out about the service. and yes I have plenty of cash in there.

******update ended****

Terminator Predator Or Transformers?

Posted on2009/05/06AuthorTech News2 Comments

Simply put, who would win?
Terminator is like an Earth created computer virus. Then again, so are transformers. Predator is the most advanced of fleshly beings in that mythical triangle so they might be advanced enough to say ” yeah we have done this before” . But they are of the flesh and they can only learn so fast.
Terminator Has the Mercury(?) shape shifter dude from T2 and the female from T3, and a few from the chronicles.
Transformers are freaking tough and advanced but how advanced? I don’t think the Decepticons where so brutal as terminators.

So question is.
Who do YOU, think will win?

Post a response and please explain don’t be a newb.

What is wamu’s Motive?

Posted on2009/05/05AuthorTech News

I signed up to Washington mutual after a friend of mine suggested I give the online registration a try. I was really impressed with how easy it was to set up my account. My friend did not have a current back account for some reason or another so he had to go to a wamu in person and do his first deposit in person. I on the other hand have an account at another bank and it was a snap to use routing numbers blah blah yadda, and transfer funds to the wamu account. If I would have used a credit card, the least I could have transfered would have been $50. Since this is something I am “trying out” I do not want to flop around fifty freakin bucks. Ya know? really that is no issue at all, I completely (almost) understand .

So I go to my local Washington mutual and swing by to set up my atm card and deposit a little bit of money into my checking account, I did have a couple bills to pay and they where kinda on my way so I was going to just make a few rounds and get some stuff done. I handed the little blinky eyed dude my check and he suddenly bloated up on my and before I could say how much I wanted deposited and how much cash I needed he informed me they would be hanging on to my check for a week to verify that it is a legit check. I tell him and assure him that it is not a personal and point the difference… lol that ticked him off. :P

Well after a little bit of huffing we decided it would be in my best interest if I just went to my current bank and cash my check there and come back to wamu deposit what ever I want to, in cash. Ok he decided he was not going to help me and I suggested that I come back with cash for his ghetto bank.

What ever.

So that is what I did. I put a little in the free online checking and a little in the free online savings.

Now we all have seen teh commercials with a skinny dude and the butt load of snotty bankers who want to charge atm fees and check fees and all of that, right ?

Well now the story gets really good. I decide to go a month or so and not touch that account I was already ticked off pretty good. Before I leave work one I look into my account information at an atm… Just a balance inquiry, not a withdrawal. Should be no fees if there are NO atm fees. . hmmm $2 less than what I put into my account, why is this like this on my statement ?

I go home and check my balance and low and behold, Tadda, Washington mutual charged me for a balance inquiry. How do I know this? well I use that same atm who is through citibank, and not through my other bank, well I have used that atm for years on my other bank never a fee for just a balance inquiry, hell one of my friends from work uses wells Fargo and is never charged a fee. So I call Washington Mutual and see what the deal was, I call my wamu . The guy on the other end informs me he is not capable of helping me and that I need to call the help desk for the online. ok I call the 1800 or 188 number. after going through this endless circle of pressing one for English and two to speak to a human and getting forced into a f.a.q. section repeatedly I finally talk to a human, the lady on the other end tells me that it was the atm carrier that charged the fee.. nfw! I explain to her that I do and did my research before I do and did anything.. Ever. and she responds with ” you must be wrong” So I ask her for email address so I can send her a copy of my bank statement from the other bank. She told me that would not be necessary and I asked her “with that kind of response you do not care how right or wrong you might be, you are just certain that you are correct because you are saying what you are supposed to”. lol, she flipped out. I asked her if she was supposed to go ” all robot with pride” on me lol and she responded with “you’re an idiot’ and hung up on me. Ok maybe that was overboard of me but I was frustrated with their whole set up.

I call my buddy back and begin to tell him about the way I got charge an inquiry fee, I got all the way up to “hey man I went to check my balance” and he jumped all over the conversation with “I know man I checked mine and got charged 14.95 to look at my balance”

Now why in the blue hell did they charge him $14.95 and me $2 ?

Yes the fee carried over and is still there , yes it has been longer than a month and no they did not refund it after the statement and balance was complete. No there where no strange circumstances that would leave them a reason to penalize me or my friend for any activity. If I was supposed to do a chicken dance or bite the head off a bat or something I was not informed of this . I just know that the commercials are false and misleading.

Watch yourself on the fees.

The savings account is rocking though, I like the way you can just chunk your change in there and all is good in the world. that part is smooth and pretty. so if you get an account there , go for , may as well sign up for the savings, the interest is better than most bank’s c.d. accounts and does not penalize you for changing by withdrawal or deposits.

I have no idea how well they are with building business credit, business bank account, business checking account, business credit card , business money market. So good luck with that.

it’s kinda cool.

GLHF!

I did just talk to a representative and she explained that it is free checking with no atm fees….. for using atm at a wamu bank..

doesn’t every bank do that for you?

$35 for an over draft is pretty steep. I refuse to use their service ever again. Nickle and dime ya?…… nope they go straight to the 20s and 30s.