Intel buys McAfee for just under $8b

McAfee sold to Intel for $7.68.
These are two companies I do not like. They are the center of everything bundled with crummy computers. They are the generic item that everyone gets with their new “outa the box” machine. And since so many people have these two, everyone assumes they are the best. ” More people buy Intel than AMD so it must be better” . Well no it’s bundled more often because it’s mass production junk.
Think about it, more people in the world shop at wally mart…………. Why? because it’s there. and convenient.
Mcafee is bundled in everything you buy.
Remember when AOL disks showed up in your mail on a weekly basis? People actually installed it years after broadband became common.
Mcafee calls it’s self an “antivirus” truth is, there is no such thing. There is just software that tell you when you have an active virus on your computer… The virus scanner installs it’s self so deep that you the computer owner can’t unintsall it. So most virus programs are written to attach themselves to the “antivirus program”. This in turn causes the “antivirus” to ignore the virus, because removal of the virus would be suicidal for the antivirus. So let’s just call it a “virus alerter”.

This merger/sell is just a nice way to get all the garbage in one spot.

Now I have to go use a-squared to remove 1829 trojans off of my bosses computer. Neat how symantec 360 has only detected (or notified me of ) one virus while 1728 variations of the virus are directly attached to symantec.

Frys Let Me Down

Ok, Story time.

15 days ago I was given $150 to upgrade someone’s computer. This computer was very old. pc100 ram. Max of less than 1g capabilities. It only had a 40 gig hard drive and the processor was a Pentium II. I take the $150 and go to fry’s and walk around in circles for an hour as I always do. The frys in Houston Texas off I45 and West Road. It hit me, I cam up with an idea. I put together in my head all of the parts that where on sale and with in a budget I could handle and a good enough upgrade to be near worth the change of parts.So I look at my son who has been on his Intel e2200 processor for 2 years. And I think about my Athlon 5600+. I see that you can buy a gigabyte motherboard and an AMD 440 for $59. Ok that is not bad, not bad at all. Below I see 4 gigs pc 6400. I grab two of the cpus/motherboard packages and the 4 gigs memory. I rush home and yank only $80 out of the pot that I was supposed to use to build this kid’s computer with, I stuff that money in my pocket. I yank my two gigs of memory out of my computer and my 5600+. Throw a triple core Amd 440 and 4 gigs of memory in my machine, chunk my memory and my old processor in one of the new boards, toss it into the kid’s computer and install windows from one of my unused disks. There he is set. I take the other mobo and cpu combo and build a triple core 3.0 gig CPU  and 4 gigs memory computer for my son. We all came out with very nice machines for under two hundred bucks.

The kid’s computer is running like a monster. My son’s computer however had gone through a huge series of bsod (Blue Screen of Death) . I go to return the motherboard and processor for his machine and forgot the dang backplate. They sent us back home to get that. We go back up there. A different person was checking us out the next time we get there. They said the box for the cpu did not match. Even though the processor I was returning had the serial code on it, and that serial code matched my receipt. ok I go home and get the box. I get back up there with both boxes. This time I am being checked out by a third person. He now says that the box for the motherboard does not match the serial code on the motherboard. Even though the serial code on the motherboard matched the receipt. 3 trips to that place. This is the last day of the 15 day Warranty. It takes me 30 minutes to get home, 30 minutes to get back. I am standing there in front of the dude and it is 30 minutes before they close. He walks to his manager and explains what has been happening. The  manager some skinny dude with a nasty comb over and a suite that is 4 sizes too big for him shrugs and laughs and says I need the right box.

I asked the manager to come talk to me and hear what I have as the situation. I just wanted to see if he would laugh in my face within kicking distance. As soon as he walks up he says ” there is nothing i can do without the right box” . I tell him it is my 3rd trip up there and it would have been helpful if someone would have covered all of this the first time I came up there. I explained that one of the boxes are at some kid’s house and I will not be able to get it back. He grins and stares at me with a “ok figure it out dude” look on his face. I grab my stuff and start to walk out the door. I turn to the guy and very angrily started to say ” this is how you satisfy customers” I have no idea what I was going to say with that. The dude doesn’t care, he is just there to stand in goofy poses and look important. I got half way through saying it and just stopped and walked away.

On the way out of the door, the door guy who is suposed to check your bag and mark your receipts stepped in front of me with his purple highlighter, I looked him in the face and told him to F off. I know it wasn’t his fault. I just didn’t want to have to go through  a hokey pokey of explaining that I am walking out of the store with a handful of parts and a receipt that already has a highlighter check on it from the last person who didn’t actually inspect my stuff. I just knew that this time I would be accused of something I didn’t do so I stopped him right there. He replied with a “woaaaah!!!???” . I continued to the car and left for home. I got home 5 minutes before they closed. I would never make it back.

If the lazy bunch had their act together (yeah I know I had the wrong stuff) they could have double checked all that i was walking in and out with to let me know what else I need. they were not helpful at all.

From now on I am buying everything I need from http://www.tigerdirect.com/ They have better deals anyway. You only have to wait a few days though. and I am not one to go around saying that Fry’s sucks, But they really let me down. The biggest  tech review site in Houston, and the most common writer here, treated like a nagging 12 year old.