Kaspersky woes

Earlier this month I purchased a new laptop at BestBuy.


The screen on my previous laptop was broken due to my own stupidity. I tried to repair it myself, but I purchased the wrong replacement screen from a company in Vancouver, BC. I just set the laptop aside and didn’t get back to it. Other than the broken screen it works great.

Due to procrastination, I never did get the screen exchanged for the correct one, so I’ve been laptopless for the past six months.

The laptop that I bought is a Toshiba Satellite L775D. It is a good laptop for a good price at BestBuy.

The only complaint that I have with it is not the laptop itself, but rather the deceptive promise that the BestBuy associate made. Attached to the laptop was an install CD for Kaspersky Anti-Virus. When I asked him about this, he said that the laptop came with a one-year subscription to the anti-virus of my choice. I had the choices of Kaspersky, TrendMicro, and Norton. I opted for Kaspersky.

The first “surprise” was that the “free” subscription was only for six months—not one year. I had wanted to get AVG Anti-virus, but that was not one of the options.

The second “surprise” was how many times Kaspersky gives me false-positive results. These are irritating. Every time I open Firefox, for instance, it gives me a warning message that a malware program also exhibits similar properties. For just about every program I install, the “K” gives me some sort of warning message.

This is unacceptable to me. I only want a warning message if there is actually a threat to worry about. I know that there are hosts of malware out there that masquerade as something else. But please, only tell me about it if it is the actual malware. Useless pop-ups just create a source of aggravation.

For me, it is time to uninstall the “K” and switch to either AVG Free or Microsoft Security Essentials (at this point, I’m not sure which I will decide upon).

Goodbye Windows 7

The time has finally come for me to retire my reliance on Windows. Not that Windows is a bad operating system--I've used it since Windows 3.1--and every iteration in between (with the exception of not using Windows NT until the 4.0 version. In between then and now, I've also tried some other, commercial, non-Microsoft OSes along the way. The first was OS/2 version 3.0. Personally I liked OS/2. The day I decided to upgrade my computer, I went to Best Buy in my hometown and bought OS/2 Warp 4.0. While in the parking lot, I changed my mind and was able to return it (seeing that it had not been opened) and I exchanged it for the brand new Windows 95. I never regretted that decision.
Later, at the end of the 20th century, I bought an operating system called "BeOS." It was made with modern computers in mind. Since it was new, it did not need to be backward compatible with previous versions.
Originally the folks at BeOS made their operating system to be compatible with the Macintosh Power-PC architecture. Until a few years ago, I never owned a Mac, so I got the Intel-compatible version of BeOS (though I've always built my computers with AMD processors).
BeOS was technologically superior to any other OS out there--it just never got the market share. There was an office suite that was native to it--but it was too expensive for most enthusiasts. At that time, Linux wasn't ready for prime time. I purchased both the commercial versions of Red Hat Desktop and a German distribution called SUSE.
Fast-forward 12 years.
Linux has come a long way. I have tried many different distributions, and the one that I find that I like the best is called “Ultimate Edition 2.7.”
It is based upon the latest version of Ubuntu and it is very polished and very mature. Everything just seems to work in it.
One frustration that I have had with my laptop is with distributions based upon Linux distros that use the Red Hat Pack Manager solution for software installation.
I have tried Fedora (open source desktop project of Red Hat), Mandriva, and OpenSuse, and none of them work with my wireless network card. Everything appears to work, but no packets are exchanged between my router and my computer. I can even ping websites, but cannot get the web pages to load. I even opened my home network entirely and it still would not work.
But distributions based up the Debian .deb package management system appear to work flawlessly.
So far I have had zero trouble with making the switch to Linux. The only thing I haven't been able to get working is DVD ripping. So for now Windows Vista is on my desktop and DVDShrink & DVDDecrypter are working well over there. If I can get open source software working to do this, I think my desktop may get an Open-Suse makeover.
I'm so confident this time that I sold my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on eBay.
Wish me luck.

Really should....

I really should update this more often. I can use it in conjunction with Facebook, but I keep forgetting.

Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day. It is also my 2nd wedding anniversary.
My wife, Pamela, and I, were originally married January 12, 1985. Due to various things, we were divorced on November 9, 2007. Realizing that we made a mistake, we got back together and remarried on Groundhog Day 2008.

This day is so special because it is a silly holiday that hasn't been commercialized, except for perhaps in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Update

New job is going well. The only problem is that my days and nights are all messed up. It is almost noon and I want to take a nap.

A New Job

Yesterday afternoon I was called by a recruiter at TEK Systems here in Bentonville and she asked me if I could start working tonight (this was Wednesday afternoon).
I went to her office and filled out some paperwork, and started working at R&R Solutions in Gravette, Arkansas. The position is helping their technicians with their jobs. I went in at 7 PM Wednesday night and left to go home a little after 4 AM. My normal shift will be 10PM to 5AM Sunday thru Thursday. The only problem is that now (6:40 AM) I'm tired, but not sleepy. I think I partook of too much caffeine last night.
I just thought I'd write this brief note to update those who care.
Thanks to all of you for your concern and prayers.
Mark

Rain, rain, rain

I really love rain. I love rainy days and days that are grey and overcast.
After having lived in the desert for six years (Phoenix, AZ), I don't think I will ever be tired of the life-giving rain falling down.

I have always loved water and being around it. Growing up, the Black River, in Elyria, Ohio, was just about six houses away from my house. After I endured six weeks of basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, in San Antonio, Texas, I was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi for 5½ months. Biloxi is located on the Gulf of Mexico. The first time I left Keesler AFB in a taxi to pick up my car rental, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Blue skies, green water, white sand beaches (imported from Florida), and beautiful palm trees overhanging the road.
After that lovely spot, I lived in Northern Japan for the next four years.
Originally we lived about two miles from the Pacific Ocean. I used to go to the beach and just listen to the waves coming in. It was so majestic and so relaxing. Later, we moved onto base housing on the 8^th floor of a 9-story apartment building and had a wonderful view of Lake Ogawara.

Living now in Arkansas (first NW Arkansas, and now West Central Arkansas), there are no large bodies of water. There are lots of small bodies, and the Arkansas River flows just a few miles away. Because of all of the rain we receive, everything is green and lush.