How to Fix being dropped by your wireless connection.

This was an FAQ I ran across this week while working.
What causes my wireless connection to be dropped every few minutes when using Windows XP?

Note: This issue was fixed with Service Pack 2. (It's doesn't always work!)

This behavior usually happens when your connection is configured to use 802.1x Authentication, but your current hardware does not support the feature. To disable the option, follow these steps: "
AlaskaJoe

Bull*&#%!

I'm sorry about the title, but that's what it is and I could not think of a decent way to change it.

Oracle has announced they will distribute Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and sell support for it at bargain basement prices. Red Hat's stock went in the tank after the announcement. (As the article linked to above points out, that may well have been Oracle's intent; lowering Red Hat's market cap enough to make them an affordable takeover target.)

Anyway, this article is short and completely tears apart Oracle's announcement. They can't support their own product, so how can they support someone else's? It is a good read, short and devastating.

Jack

XP Service Pack 3 delayed

From ZD net UK:

This week, Microsoft updated its lifecycle Web site to note that the introduction of Service Pack 3 — the next XP update — has been pushed back until the first half of 2008.

How To Speed Up Your Snail-Slow Notebook Computer

Tom's Hardware UK has a really nice article about how to tune up your notebook. It is written really simply and everything is explained well. I recommend this to anyone, but especially those who usually do not trust themselves to delve into the inner workings of a PC.

Outilined here are the things I routinely do to any machine to improve it's performance. They are all proven methods to extract the best from a machine.

Jack

Microsoft Delays Windows Vista to PC Makers - Yahoo! News

The Internet is abuzz with reports that Microsoft Vista will miss an important deadline, possibly making the operating system slip its launch schedule.

Taiwan PC makers, and Microsoft watcher and journalist Paul Thurrott, have noted that the October 25 date for Vista's release to manufacturing -- or RTM -- has been reset by Microsoft to November 8.

Thurrott, who has written more than a dozen books on Windows and related topics, pointed out that in a recent interview, Jim Allchin, copresident of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, admitted that the company wouldn't make its planned RTM date, but did not say whether the final release date would be affected.

Allchin has noted in the past that Microsoft could afford to postpone the RTM date to the second week of November and still meet its January launch schedule for consumer editions of Windows Vista.

--MissM
Microsoft Delays Windows Vista to PC Makers - Yahoo! News

A Call to Distros: Give Users What They Want

With the coming of Vista widely seen as an opportunity for both Mac and Linux to pick up market share among desktop users, there has been a lot of discussion about how to make Linux more attractive to potential adopters. These new users are assumed to be less than hard-core geeks and, in fact, there is much talk about targeting very average users and what can be done to make their lives easier in regard to installing and configuring Linux.

(Obviously this is not the Slackware crowd talking. :) )

This short article on OS News illustrates the character of these discussions, though there is a significant percentage of folks who are against this sort of thing. They would rather Linux stay the purview of geeks alone. Common themes are that Linux does not need unskilled desktop users or that installing non-free software (that not licensed under the GPL) is contrary to the principles of Linux developers.

I thought you might like to see this, in case you are thinking about desktop Linux.

Jack

The world's most sophisticated Trojan uncovered

While I have serious doubts this is the most sophisticated trojan/back door/spam bot program extant, there is no doubt of it's advanced features and capabilities. I just think the most sophisticated program of this sort is yet to be discovered, simply because it is so advanced. It's running quietly on some thousands of machines, doing it's worst, without being detected.

Despite that qualification, this Tech World article outlines a truly advanced piece of malware. It attempts to eliminate competitor's malware on the machine as some earlier malware has, but does it in a significantly more capable and reliable way; by using a corrupted copy of Kaspersky Anti-Virus. It also uses encrypted instruction sets so competitors cannot co-opt the program for themselves and can be updated to take instructions from another server,should the author's server be down or taken away. All told, it is pretty stout stuff. Check out the article, which is easy to read and understand, plus having the desired attribute of being brief.

Jack

Building the global metaverse

Virtual worlds are a huge part of other nation's Internet usage. Not so here in the US.

This blog entry illustrates that and discusses the phenomenon. I don't know how many of you have interest in virtual worlds. I personally find them of interest, but do not partake, mostly because of the time it takes to do it well. I simply don't have it. Anyway; this is an interesting set of observations and comments and worth the short time it will take to read it.

Jack

When Standards Are Political -- ODF (the Open Document Format)

Remember the flap when the State of Massachusetts decided that all State documents had to be in Open Document Format or PDF so that anyone could read them without obtaining any special software? Well, it is not over at all. France, Denmark, Belgium and some US States have gone that way. The EU looks set to dictate that, as well, though it might take a while.

James Love's blog entry on the subject is the single shortest and most lucid on the subject I have seen and I thought you might wish to read it.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 10-22-06

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 10-22-06. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same file here via ftp.

Trinity Team Develops International Open Source Disaster Relief Software

This is the best idea for a university class software project that I have seen in a while. Perhaps ever. It's software to manage disaster relief. The article on the Trinity College web site can be accessed by the link above. The project home page is here.

This project is like a poster child for open source. No company could afford to develop a package like this because they would not have enough buyers to pay for the R&D at any reasonable price. i found it very interesting and have turned our local government onto it.

Jack

Microsoft Plans Vista Upgrade Coupon For Holiday PC Buying Season - Windows Vista, Express Upgrade - CRN

"Not all of the coupons will be for free upgrades. Customers who buy systems running Windows XP Home Edition can upgrade to Vista Home Basic Edition for a flat $49 fee and to the higher-end Windows Vista Home Premium Edition for a cost of $79."
The Windows Vista Technology Upgrade Program runs from Oct. 26, 2006, through March 15, 2007. Distributors are expected to have the new SKUs in house for system builders by Oct. 15. News of the planned coupon and promotion emerged in June.

Thanks SchmooBro from our chat for this info. If you see something you think is news and would like to share it with the listeners please send us an email. Our first name @ OnComputers.info

Joe

IE 7 MS download URL

Ok Jack here's the MS link for IE7
Tried commenting but, URL is too long.

IE 7 Final is OUT!!!

Internet Explorer is out in final form. The link above will take you to a download page at FlexBeta.

Oddly, the first available copies were from Yahoo and bundled with their mail app and some other things. FlexBeta's download page came up sometime after Yahoo's. There does not yet seem to be an official page at Microsoft.com, but I will bet they fix that in a hurry.

For those of you who wait and have automatic updates enabled in XP, you will have the new browser version pushed to you, unless you don't want it and sign off on it. Frankly, I can't see any reason not to get it. IE 7 is safer in many ways and by all accounts performs better than it's predecessors in nearly every way. Plus, it adheres to standards such as those for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) much more closely.

Enjoy;

Jack

» Surge of killer device drivers leave no OS safe | George Ou | ZDNet.com

"News came yesterday that Linux users who used NVIDIA's drivers were in danger of being remotely exploited because a zero-day exploit code was released last week. "
Not even Linux is safe these days! :(
AlaskaJoe

Fall Processor Forum 2006: IBM's POWER6

IBM's Power PC 6 processor is apparently really something. Performance is such that I (for one) regret that it will not make it into desktop or workstation machines. I still think that RISC has a place in serious machines for desktop usage, but no manufacturer seems to think that way. Should one wish such a machine, she/he is stuck either co-opting a machine meant for server usage or attempting to build a special machine for themselves.

My dreams have been crushed!

Jack

Battlefield 2142 comes with spyware

Electronic Arts must really not get it. They have included spyware in a new game that will deliver contextual advertising during game play. "Spyware" is the right term, too, as the software phones home to report what the user does online in order to deliver ads more accurately.

This is going to develop into a huge flap. Users who shell out serious money for a game are actually setting the publishing company up for more income and even at this early stage, the resentment is palpable. Check out game player's forums and see for yourself. The cries of "foul" are loud and growing in numbers.

To my way of thinking, this is simply another case of greed gone mad. Sadly, we will see more and more of this.

Jack

Windows virus worms onto some Apple iPods | Tech News on ZDNet

Apple Computer warned on Tuesday that some of its latest iPods have shipped with a Windows virus.
Is nothing safe?
I hope you have a good Anti-Virus on your Windows Computer.

Remember We sell NOD32 the Anti-Virus that WORKS! you can try a free trial for 30 days.

Microsoft to give Vista kernel access to security firms

This story is everywhere today, but it is important enough that it needs to be here. I think this is good news for all of us who don't want MS to be both our OS vendor and sole security vendor. From the article:

Today, Microsoft decided on a compromise: the company will develop new Windows Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that will give security companies access to the kernel.

Cisco gains patent on 'triple play'

This is proof positive, as if any were needed, that our patent system is horribly broken. Cisco has gained a patent on something people from literally hundreds of companies have been implementing for years.

The link will take you to a very short article at The Register, where they have posted the first paragraph of the patent claims, which seem to cover everything but childbirth videos.

Read it and weep.

Jack