Corizan - کوریزان - It works...

I had a case of Man Flu for the past few days, and nothing seems to help - apart from the Iranian Cold & Flu Tablets - Corizan - کوریزان Tablets that I got from one of my customers - 24hrs later and the flu seems to have subsided. It might be a placebo effect, but those seem to have worked for me.

Thank you Mr. Pizza Knight of Monton / Eccles / UK for the tablets ...

Happy Christmas 2013

This year, I got the customary socks & cheap aftershave... 

This year's aftershave is called "URBAN VENOM" - It's worst than "SEX PANTHER", (banned in 137 countries), and twice as potent.. But it's cheap at £1.00 for an "Aftershave & Shower Gel Set"....

I can't describe the smell, but I can see people around me heaving, vomiting & being sick (I have a Man's Flu and I can't smell anything at present)...

009 Sound System "Born To Be Wasted"

oh the beat's gonna bash gonna break it up

this car's goin' fast gonna speed it up

the night's not gonna last so let's keep it up

we were born to be wasted

oh the rock's not gonna stop so let's rip it up

the beats are gonna drop you can trip em' up

your mind is on fire but it's not enough

we were born to be wasted

this gun's blowin up it's just a warning shot

this plane's takin' off on a terror run

this night's gonna end like a missile drop

we were born to be wasted

baby out loud

knew that it would come to this

ain't worth livin

if u can't get your kicks

Bullshit is limitless...

Those are a few of lines that I come up with when advising people,

But I always say "Please do not listen to me, because if I knew what I was doing, then I would not be here advising you"....

Ten of UK's most hated words:

Twerking
Amazeballs
Moist
Whatever
Basically
Piddle
Banter
Random
Totes
Anaesthetic

Most loved words:
 
Circumnavigate
Discombobulate
Hippopotamus
Raindrop
Sprocket
Plump
Wazzock
Thingamabob
Bundle
Exacerbate

The Food Commandments...

[1] Legs and wings are the work of the Devil - Because a Chicken has those, it does not mean that we have to eat them.

[2] DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT under any circumstances add chicken stock of dubious origin to ANY SALAD (EVER) - The same Chicken stock that was out of date 6 months ago, when you first bought it.

[3] Whatever the little person in you head tells you, believe me, it does not work & you really, really, really can't cook.

[4] I really enjoyed sitting on the toilet till 9:00AM this morning with stomach ache, but the good news is I wasn't sick, I just had abdominal cramps and violent diarrhoea...

When is a KVM switch not a KVM switch?

 

Around 8 years ago, I bought a KVM switch to use in my business in order to control 2 PC's at a time - 3 years later, I needed something bigger, I needed to control 4 PC's instead, so I bought a 4 Port PS2 KVM switch, I tried that for a period, but because it was a manual type, I had to press a button before it would cycle through the connected PC's and also, keyboard and mouse support was very flaky (sometimes it work on one PC & sometimes it doesn't on any)..

Because of those niggles, I decided to go back to the original KVM switch until I can get another, and soon afterwards I did - This time a 4 port USB KVM switch (like the picture) - This was also a manual one, so I decide to keep it on one side until needed...

Few weeks back, my original KVM switch decided to "kick the bucket", so I had no option but to use either the PS2 or the USB effort.. I started with the PS2 one and after a few days, this really drove me potty, the mouse and keyboard didn't work on any of the PC's which defeats the object of having a KVM switch, however the display did work, but I still needed a mouse and keyboard set per PC, so and in desperation, I decided to use the "NEW" USB KVM switch, and exactly the same as the PS2 one, you can see the image but you cannot control the mouse or keyboard on any PC...

So the answer is:

When it's a piece of Chinese crap that does not work...

Religion: worlds best ever scam?

I don't care...

 

  It's Friday and I've just eaten a full Pomegranate (رمان) without dropping any of the tasty seeds on the floor, and according to my late mother, if one does this on a Friday, then they are guaranteed the keys to heaven....

Life...

My life seems to be a collection of bad choices & decisions - Stumbling from one bad choice to the next...

If I could tell others how to live their life or how to make it better - I'd say "listen to the little man in your head, and do the opposite"...

I'm not afraid to die, I'm afraid I haven't lived enough. It should be written on every school chalkboard, 

"Life is a playground, or nothing."

Magnifique...

Beatiful photos from National Geographic - Original Link

And now for my next project...

 

One of those days, I will make it...

PEACE!

A picture tells a thousand words... ASDA Chosen By You...

 Bought - Chosen By You....

 

Zoom in - Looking good....

 Result - Made by You....

Even Delia Smith couldn't make them like the picture on the box...

When it comes to Touchscreens....

We have the Good, the Bad, and the damn Ugly, but now we have a new contender to the throne, the "Power of Christ Compels You" model....

A few months back while browsing ebay, I saw a new, but, cheap touchscreen monitor - Made by ELO and HP badged, now both companies are fairly reputable, so how bad can that touchscreen be - HP L5009TM 15" ELO APR Touch Screen Monitor USB Interface Black (VK202AA) - and bearing in mind that the same monitor is on sale for over $900.00 (Australian) Here.....

New ELO touchscreen monitors retail for anything from £400.00-£700.00. So when I got this beauty for £130.00, I was over the moon... That is, till I tried it.

It was utilising the APR technology (Acoustic Pulse Recognition), which sounded very cool, and if you read the spec. (below), you would be very impressed and wonder why have they not thought of that before. But the only minor problem being:-  it's SHIT..

And boy, did I feel the difference. You not only needed 2 people to touch at a time, while chanting "the Power of Christ Compels You", but it was just too stupid to setup and to use, and any background noise, adversely, effecting the performance.

I had some real shit touchscreens in my time, but this one is one of the absolute worst, with clumsy timing, and very hard to work touch, you have to press everything 3-4 times before it registers, and even then, you need a Cray Supercomputer to work out the coordinates and to do the processing, hence the lag when it does...

HP L5009TM 15" ELO APR Touch Screen Monitor USB Interface Black (VK202AA)

HP 15" Touch Monitor with USB interface

- Elo Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) Panel incl Stand
- 36 Months 3 year Advance Exchange Warranty

Make routine activities easier and enjoy a more productive workplace with the newly developed touch panel technology built into the HP Compaq L5009tm 15 inch Touchscreen Monitor, which enables quick and easy onscreen interactivity.

- Feel the difference. New Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) technology recognizes a wider array of sounds created when the glass is touched at a given position. Use a pen, credit card or fingernail to quickly and accurately tap from screen to screen.

- Durable touch technology. The HP Compaq L5009tm monitors pure glass screen provides high durability and is a damage-resistant alternative to film-coated display screens, it even continues working when wet or scratched.

- Designed for efficiency. Retain more of your profits with the HP Compaq L5009tm by allowing your customers to locate products on the shelf with the ease of touch browsing or by pleasing them with fast check-outs.

- HP support. The HP Compaq L5009tm monitor comes with a limited three years parts, labour, and on-site service warranty.

   Features:

• Economical and reliable
• Up to 1024 x 768 resolution at 75 Hz
• Acoustic Pulse Recognition
• Dual serial/USB interface
• Removable stand and VESA mounting ption
• Mounting holes on stand bottom for tabletop security
• Controls on the side rather than the front, plus lockout function for public use
• Digital on-screen display (OSD)
• Internal power supply 
• 
  
  Elo's Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR) touchscreens use a completely new and unique way of sensing touches on a display. Consisting only of a glass overlay mounted in front of the display, together with a small electronic controller board, Elo's APR technology provides a new set of benefits that have only been partially achieved before by other touch technologies. APR combines the ultimate in optical qualities, durability, and stability, with excellent dragging properties, along with stylus, glove and fingernail activation, and low cost advantages. In addition, it is resistant to water and other contaminants on the screen, can be scaled from PDA to 42-inch displays, and provides palm rejection during signature capture. APR works in a simple and elegant way-by recognizing the sound created when the glass is touched at a given position. Elo is initially launching APR technology directed at the POS market.
• Optics and durability of pure glass
• Works with finger, glove, pen, credit card
• Resistant to water, dust, grease
• No wear-out mechanism
• Works even with scratches
• Excellent drag performance
• Sealable to NEMA 4/IP 65 standards
• One time factory calibration, no drift
• Thin borders—only 5mm
• True flat surface
• Small and large sizes
• Palm rejection for signature capture

Applications

• Restaurant and hospitality automation
• Retail
• Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals Pharmacy automation
• Industrial automation
• Office automation

Word of the day....

the impossible game...

Microshit Strikes Again - 3 Times....

Everyday

POSReady 2009 Password - The password is not secure enough - You need to have a password with at least three elements of the following - Upper + Lower Case Letters, Numbers & Symbol characters, but no spaces or funny characters...

PowerPoint 2010 HTML Save option - The options to save a presentation as a webpage are not available in the Save As dialog box in PowerPoint 2010

Windows 8 - Where to start

Printer Sharing - Windows Vista, 7 & 8.

File Sharing - Windows Vista, 7 & 8

Folder Sharing - Windows Vista, 7 & 8

Security policies & issues.

Everything is a BIG fight, you get it to work and you learn how to do things, and Microshit decides to, literally, pull-the-rug from under your feet and stop everything from working the normal way, because somebody, god forbid, might hijack your printer. The same printer that you have on your private network..

Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

'Summertime Sadness'

I got my red dress on tonight
Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight
Done my hair up real big beauty queen style
High heels off, I'm feeling alive

Oh, my God, I feel it in the air
Telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare
Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere
Nothing scares me anymore

Kiss me hard before you go
Summertime sadness
I just wanted you to know
That, baby, you're the best

I've got that summertime, summertime sadness
S-s-summertime, summertime sadness
Got that summertime, summertime sadness
Oh, oh oh oh

I'm feelin' electric tonight
Cruising down the coast goin' 'bout 99
Got my bad baby by my heavenly side
I know if I go, I'll die happy tonight

Oh, my God, I feel it in the air
Telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare
Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere
Nothing scares me anymore

Kiss me hard before you go
Summertime sadness
I just wanted you to know
That, baby, you're the best

I've got that summertime, summertime sadness
S-s-summertime, summertime sadness
Got that summertime, summertime sadness
Oh, oh oh oh

I think I'll miss you forever
Like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky
Later's better than never
Even if you're gone I'm gonna drive (drive, drive)

I've got that summertime, summertime sadness
S-s-summertime, summertime sadness
Got that summertime, summertime sadness
Oh, oh oh oh

Kiss me hard before you go
Summertime sadness
I just wanted you to know
That, baby, you're the best

I've got that summertime, summertime sadness
S-s-summertime, summertime sadness
Got that summertime, summertime sadness
Oh, oh oh oh

I am Bradley Manning...

The legend Frankie Boyle meets the Artist Taxi Driver...

Nigerian Football Clubs to be investigated for match-fixing after....

79-0 & 67-0 results...

Four Nigerian football clubs have been suspended ahead of an investigation into match-fixing after a race for promotion led to a pair of ridiculous final-day scorelines.

Plateau United Feeders and Police Machine, two amateur sides chasing one spot in Nigeria’s Nationwide League Division 3 – the bottom tier of Nigeria’s professional leagues – needed to out-score the other to ensure they would be the ones turning pro.

However, the Nigerian FA quite understandably grew suspicious of Plateau’s 79-0 win over Akurba FC and Machine’s 67-0 thumping of Babayaro FC.

Making matters fishier, Plateau-Akurba were reportedly 7-0 at half-time while Machine-Babayaro were 6-0 at the interval.

Both winning sides began the tournament with 2-0 wins, before holding each other to a 0-0 stalemate. This meant that if both clubs won their final games, it would come down to goal difference.

But despite Plateau’s second-half goal-rate averaging at an alarming goal every 40 seconds and technically placing them top, all four clubs will instead face disciplinary action.

The NFF called the scores from Monday's tournament in the northeastern city of Bauchi "a mind-boggling show of shame".

"This is a scandal of huge proportions," NFF vice president Mike Umeh said.

"The four teams involved are suspended immediately and indefinitely, pending further sanctions. We will investigate this matter thoroughly and get to the bottom of it."

"The teams involved, their players and officials, match officials, (tournament) coordinator and anyone found to have played some role in this despicable matter (will) be severely dealt with," NFF director of competitions Mohammed Sanusi added.

The Amazing Spiderman...

Heal Me....

Shorts can only be so short....

Few celebrities start the trend of wearing short shorts and flashing their bits, and now we have the sheep following in droves; doing the same and competing to show more and more...

Don't get me wrong, I love legs, I love women and I love nudity, but keeping a little bit hidden adds to the mystery.

Does my bum look big in these?

Shorts can only be so short, otherwise, it's just porn...

Another Syfy First...

There is a reason why nobody in the mainstream wants to make a Movie like that... Because IT IS SHIT and a TERRIBLE IDEA....

Another CGI induced $1000 Movie

Class of 2013

 

Congratulations - 17th July 2013

Wake Me Up...

Doctor, Doctor, Give me the news - I've got a bad case of .....

I've just built a computer for a customer & everything seem to go smoothly, the usual build with no drama, everything seems to be functioning...

I tested the rig using a live Linux CD and everything seems to be OK, however, and during installing the Windows OS, I kept on getting very strange errors with regards to missing file, corrupt files, unable to format the HD and unable to copy files to the HD...

I thought that the problem was a HD problem, so I ordered another HD and installed that, with the same problem happening.

It might be the DVD drive, so I replace that - And the problem persists..

I will try an external DVD drive, same problem...


Lets try and set-up Windows from a Flash Drive - and same problem occurred.

What can it be?... I've already wasted 2 days changing everything I can think of, apart from the Memory Stick.

And well and behold, replacing the memory stick resolved all those problems, so very weird....

Thank you Microsoft for descriptive error messages that bare no resemblance to the actual error...

Software Installer Scam..

You're surfing the net, looking for that piece of software that promises to change your life. You click on the link & download the installer..

You run the downloaded "setup.exe" file. This seems to be a Generic effort with no indication as to what it is exactly you are trying to install, with only an Accept & a Decline button.

You click on the accept, and a list of Spyware induced browser bars & add-ons are installed without your consent.  And it does not matter whether you say Yey or Nay, the installer will chug along nicely, making sure that every corner of your PC is infested with stuff that you do not want, need or know about...

I tried to run one of those dubious installers in a "Sand Box" in order to see what I would get

I tried to download small USB Flash Formatter - Less than 1MB in size...  And I ended up installing over 56MB of Spyware and junk, using this "Optimum Installer", and the best thing is that; the original Piece of software that I was after, was never downloaded or installed. What a BIG PIECE OF CRAP...

Please avoid all installers that ask you to install additional software, browser search engines, browser helpers, browser bars, registry cleaners, super offer junkifiers (whatever that means), etc... You don't need those and they will only slow your PC down and annoy you to no end...

The Tao of Pinochet - So bad, it's good....

Bitter Mint - Part I

Around 1 year ago I bought a Windows 7 HP Compaq PC, for a customer, from PC-World. I installed the software & tried to marry this PC with an ELO touchscreen... One little problem, the PC hangs on boot until I remove the ELO touchscreen USB cable, but after it boots and I plug-in the USB touchscreen, everything seems to work just fine...

The customer complained, so I swapped the PC with another generic unit. This setup worked perfectly and the customer was happy...

A few weeks later, I tried to flog the same PC to another customer, and this time also, I had the same exact boot & bios issues, so I just left the PC on one side, until I have a chance to investigate it further, sell it or use it myself.

All attempts to change boot delay, or to ignore USB devices during booting failed.

For a while now, I have been thinking of moving my software base away from Windows and into Linux,so I thought what better way than to start with a dual boot set-up on this machine. 2 birds, 1 stone...

I have used both LinuxMint, & UBUNTU in the past, but I thought to read a few reviews as with regards to the most stable and suitable distribution, and I opted for the following 3 candidates...

[1] Linux Mint 15 Olivia - 64-bit
[2] Ubuntu 12.04 LTS - 64-bit
[3] Zorin OS-7 - 64-bit

So before rediscovering the wonderful world of Linux, I had to connect the PC to the internet and download the ISO images for the preferred Linux Distros.... During that time, Windows 7 decided to get on the act and download and install a few security updates - 110 to be precise, starting from 12:45PM until 6:30PM, before a reboot and another 27 minutes installing the updates...

After a quick 7 hour update and a reboot, I decided to install Linux Mint first to see what I was missing... The setup went smoothly with no discernible hiccups or problems...

Continues....

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I've been a Skype user & account subscriber for the past (many, many) years and everything was going great - I regarded Skype as an essential extension to my business & personal life, and regarded it as a  solid piece of software that always worked, that had never let me down, ever...

Skype, the company, was bought and sold on many occasions, but the software and service stayed true to it's origins... That is until now, Microsoft bought Skype back in 2011 for $8.5 billion dollars, which is a lot of money, by anybodies standards, and after a buggy software rewrite, they decided to somehow recoup that amount by introducing sneaky advertising, which I do not mind and adding few software instabilities in the process, which I do mind....

Today, there was another Skype update, this seem to crash the program on loading, but if you press CTRL+ALT+DELETE and stop the process and then reload everything, then it will run for a while, until the built-in memory leak catches up with you, and then you will have to completely reboot your OS.

I really hate it when software crashes and when a company like Microsoft releases something that is so unstable, especially when they had such a solid base to start from...

Me, I decided to downgrade my Skype experience, no advertising, no HD video, no new features and no crashes...
 

I love the summer...

I love watermelons during the warm summer months, and as per usual, every week I go to the local supermarket and get a few of those beauties...

The only one little problem, picking those seems to be a bit of a hit and miss affair, where sometimes those, melons, are good, sweet, juicy and very tasty while other-times they are really, really mushy, slimy and generally very bad.

So in order to avoid melon disappointments and disasters, I decided to employ the same technique that my late mother used to utilise when picking watermelons, a tried and tested technique that had already yielded a 100% success rate, so I thought - Only little problem is the only thing that I remember from that technique is tapping the watermelon and dependent on the sound returned, one can decide whether the melon is ripe, good, bad or ugly...

So I go to the supermarket and stand there tapping melons, more akin to playing bongo drums, and listening to the sound, sadly this method has thus far resulted in  100% failure rate, but because of the way I look, I get approached by people who think that I possess the long-lost art of watermelon dousing, so they ask whether a melon they had picked is good or bad, and I usually oblige, by playing the bongos with those melons and giving them my answer with some authority... And as I mentioned earlier, this method has proved to be an unmitigated disaster...

Today, and as per usual, I went to the local supermarket and randomly picked a melon, no tapping or banging, just a random melon selection, and much to my surprise, this was the sweetest and juiciest melon I have bought this year....

So now I have a sure fire winning way of picking sweet and juicy melons, "the don't bother, don't give a shit and just pick a random melon method", now the only problem is how to avoid all those people that I had upset in the past with substandard melon advice...

Rudimental - Waiting All Night feat. Ella Eyre...

Every now and then there is something that makes me feel good inside, and this video does it.. I love the song and the video...

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple... Part II

And just when I thought that it was safe to enter the water, and a customer comes with SONY Mobile, asking me to download and recover his images from this defunct & busted mobile piece of junk (from the phone's built-in memory).

I told him that I don't deal with mobile phones, but he was adamant, that I should, because he does not trust anybody else.

Apparently, the mobile can still be connected and charged from the PC's USB cable... Only problem, the device was not recognised. A scour round the internet told me that I needed to install the SONY - Media Go suite, AND I WISH I DIDN'T!...

If you thought APPLE'S iTunes & iPod combo are bad, then you clearly haven't used the SONY - Media Go.  This program seems to have tentacles, spreading like a VIRUS across your hard drive, with over 2680+ Registry entries, automatically loading and automatically re-installing itself if it does not detect it's icon or short-cut on the desktop, or if you decide to un-install it or stop it from loading at runtime, with no amount of effort managing the feat of removing this humongous & behemoth piece of spyware crap...

With the only way possible, being a 4 way pronged, and simultaneous, attack:

[1] Add and Remove Program...

[2] Registry Editor - Remove every Sony / Media Go Entry.

[3] Search and physically delete every SONY folder and it's contents & Media Go folders.

[4] Delete the local installer.  "27d949.msi"

Reboot and hope for the best, and your computer will feel better, faster, leaner, meaner and love you for it...

When will software developers learn that BIGGER & more complex is not always better - Software should not be measured by weight, size or complexity...

So bye, bye SONY Media Go Go...

Internet Explorer - Is it just me...

Microsoft's latest Internet Explorer Advert, and UK TV transcript of voice over.

Please note that there are a few "international" versions about  

Imagine the wife of Santa-Claus doing the narration:

Some personal information, we're happy to share.  Some. less so.

So Microsoft is trying to help by adding tracking protection in Internet Explorer.

And encouraging the adoption of the "Do Not Track" feature, with the belief that one day, it to will give you more control.

The lines between public & private my never be perfect but at Microsoft,
Your privacy is our priority... 

*I might have, accidentally, added 1 or 2 words - Sorry...

But why spend million$ advertising and developing something that you are giving away for FREE If it wasn't for tracking users & demographics...

Beware of men bearing gifts...

You know when you have a family and children, you, sort of, pray for the day when they are old enough to look after themselves, live independently and leave the nest.

One of my Sons has just bought a house and moved out, and a week later, he came back home with a gift for me - the Bombay Bad Boys Flavoured - Pot Noodles...

I really don't know where to start or how to describe this, because even horse shit would taste better than this... So the moral of the story is this, the next time somebody, out of the blue & out of the goodness of their heart, gets me a gift, I think they shouldn't bother, no really, they shouldn't bother - and they should just keep it to themselves, and be selfish and just enjoy it...

Death of the Post-Office...

I don't use the Post-Office because I don't trust it or the people who work there. I don't know whether it is a remit of powers-that-be to maximise sales, or a new organisational ethos to pee-off customers.

You take a letter or a parcel and instead of them giving you the best price, they start with the highest and expect you to haggle down, followed by a barrage of added value Bullshit..

Is it valuable?
Is it important?
Would you like it signed for?
Would you like it guaranteed signed for?
Would you like it guaranteed next day?
Does it have to be there tomorrow?
Would you like it insured?

What about "War insurance", which is not the same as our "World War insurance", because you never know when war is going to break out.
Terrorism insurance,
What about our "Act of God insurance", which is not the same as our "Flood insurance" or our "Life insurance" insurance...

Are you sure you don't want it signed for?...

And while I'm arguing, the queue behind is getting longer and longer and the people are getting more frustrated by the minute.. 

 

 

Physical Activity Questionnaire

Today, and before going for my MRI scan, I went to see my doctor. He asked me whether I've filled in his Healthy Living + Activity Questionnaire (the one he gave me 6 months ago) - I said, sorry, but I haven't. So he decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and asked me the questions instead. And it went like this:

Doctor	Me
Do you work.	Yes
Is it a physical job	No
Do you walk regularly	No
Do you jog	No
Do you Cycle	No
Are you a member of a gym	What do you think?
Do you walk for leisure	Only when shopping
Do you do gardening	No
Do you do DIY	No
Do you do any house work	I'm a millennium man, what do you think?
I give up...

MRI Today...

Today I went for my MRI scan. I don't think it's gonna reveal anything, but what can one man do against the NHS machine. The scan took around 3-4 minutes, the noise was deafening, hence you had to wear some industrial strength ear protectors.

I didn't feel much (apart from belt-buckle pulling sensation), but I was a little bit light-headed afterwards.

And definitely the scanner was NOT designed with the ample man in mind (probably because BIG people are never sick)...

Me Afterwards...

Side effects. The male nurse, became a female one...

Software that I can't live without....

This is my list of the absolute essential software collection that I really can't live without... I included direct links for all & tried to avoid BS installers...

7 Sticky Notes: Best free sticky note / reminder program..

7-Zip: Best free Zip / Unzip..

AlwaysOnTopMaker: You know you want it...

Audacity: Best audio chopper, editor, recorder...

Auslogics - Disk Defrag...

BurnAware Free - CD Burner...

CCleaner - Crap Cleaner (Use Glary Utilities as well)...

Everything: Search everything...

FastCopy: Bypass Windows File copy and paste inadequacies...

fnr.exe: Multi Line Search / Replace...

Free Download Manager: And more...

Coolplayer: Fast fat-free MP3 player..

FreeOCR: Convert scanned documents / pictures to text...

Frets on Fire: Be the next Guitar hero and lose yourself...

FrostWire: Torrent Share..

Greenshot: Screen Capture.

IrfanView: Best graphics & image viewer + manipulator.

LibreOffice: Compatible Office Suite..

Mozilla Firefox + Adblock: Internet Browser of choice.
Mozilla Thunderbird: My favourite mail client..

nLite: Windows Slip-streamer...

Notepad++: The editor of choice...

Parted Magic: Best data rescue boot disk.

PDFCreator: Beware of the bullshit when installing.. (I can't give a direct link because of the inclusion of malware and bullshit-ware within the installer) - I use this but there are many alternatives, just be careful when installing or searching for a PDF printer. A good start is sourceforge.net

PortableApps.Com.. My PC on a stick... 

Resource Hacker: Change Windows executables with style & panache..

Sandboxie: Run everything and anything in a protected environment.

Skype: Talk to family & friends

Spybot - Search & Destroy: Use with caution.

SumatraPDF: A very compact and capable PDF viewer.

TeamViewer: Remote control PC's over the internet.

Toolbar Cleaner: Get rid of pesky Toolbars.

VLC Player: Play anything & everything (GOM player is good as well). 

WinHTTrack: Download the internet, no hassle.

WinMerge: Compare Files / Folders.

Enjoy...

I use some other programmes but I didn't want to overwhelm everybody, I also use a selection of FREE development tools, I will compile another list in the future....

Why help others?...

Money comes, money goes - but if I can't help a fellow human, regardless of circumstances (even if they were lying to me), then I will lose a piece of my humanity & compassion, and this I'm not prepared to do...

All That You Have Is Your Soul - Tracy Chapman

Oh my mama told me
'Cause she say she learned the hard way
Say she wanna spare the children
She say don't give or sell your soul away
'Cause all that you have is your soul
So don't be tempted by the shiny apple
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit
Hunger only for a taste of justice
Hunger only for a world of truth
'Cause all that you have is your soul
I was a pretty young girl once
I had dreams I had high hopes
Married a man he stole my heart away
Gave his love but what a high price I paid
All that you have is your soul
Don't be tempted by the shiny apple
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit
Hunger only for a taste of justice
Hunger only for a world of truth
'Cause all that you have is your soul
Why was I such a young fool
Thought I'd make history
Making babies was the best I could do
Thought I'd made something that could be mine forever
Found out the hard way one can't possess another
And all that you have is your soul
Don't be tempted by the shiny apple
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit
Hunger only for a taste of justice
Hunger only for a world of truth
'Cause all that you have is your soul
I thought, thought I could find a way
Beat the system;
Make a deal and have no debts to pay
Take it all, I’d take it all, I'd run away
For me myself first class and first rate
But all that you have is your soul
So don't be tempted by the shiny apple
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit
Hunger only for a taste of justice
Hunger only for a world of truth
'Cause all that you have is your soul
Here I am, I'm waiting for a better day
A second chance
A little luck to come my way
A hope to dream, a hope that I can sleep again
And wake in the world with a clear conscience and clean hands
'Cause all that you have is your soul
Don't be tempted by the shiny apple
Don't you eat of a bitter fruit
Hunger only for a taste of justice
Hunger only for a world of truth
'Cause all that you have is your soul
Oh my mama told me
'Cause she say she learned the hard way
Say she wanna spare the children
She say don't give or sell your soul away
'Cause all that you have is your soul
All that you have
All that you have
All that you have
Is your soul

Don't be tempted by the shiny apple...

Few weeks back my Granddaughter asked me to buy her some songs and games to put on her iBullshit MP3 player...  Only problem is that I haven't got iTune$ installed on my PC. And not wanting to disappoint her or to look like a cheap skate, I decided to download and install iTune$...

 

Everything went smoothly, including signing a binding none-exclusive contract with blood and giving Apple the deeds to my soul, house and finances..

So I bought the stuff, granddaughter was happy... Now it's time to remove this wretched, spyware infested piece of crappy, software off my PC...

I first used the usual uninstall route... The disk whirled and the messages on the screen told me that all has been successfully uninstalled.

After the "Successful" uninstallation, I noticed a few issues with regards to:

1. All my original videos and music files seem to be "still" associated with iTune$ and QuickTime.
2. Apple updates seem to be running on my PC every 20 minutes.
3. Each time I click on a link, Apple's iTune$ seems to install out of nowhere.
4. The Bonjour service and Apple folders seem to be left on my drive.

And so I decided to check my drive and see how to fix the problems, and was surprised to find that within my "Program Files" folder, I still seem to have an Apple folder with 100's MB sitting pretty, when I thought that I've removed that, I also had an Apple folder with 100's more MB's within the "Common Files" folder and the hidden "Application Data" folder, and 1000+ entries inside the Registry, all referring to Apple + the Bonjour Service (which I don't remember ever installing or ever being asked to install)..

Frustrated with the hassle of cancelling the iTune$ set-up each time I wanted to listen to a song, I decided to use the "Occam's razor" principle, and deleted the offending folders and registry entries by hand...

All went well, until I restarted the PC when "all hell broke loose":

• Windows explorer would not load (that was easily rectifies with a quick "ctrl-alt-del" loading of the "Task Manager" and starting a new task "explorer").
• The wireless network was unable to detect any networks in the vicinity - I had to run "services.msc" in order to restart the "Wireless Zero Config" service, and this did not work or help.
• Repairing the connection did not work.
• Starting a command prompt "cmd" and running "ipconfig /release" & "ipconfig /renew" could not fix it either.
• As a last resort, I decided to use the excellent "WinsockXPFix" from "^Explicit Software Solutions" (which has saved my bacon on more than one occasion, and which I always carry with me, on a flash drive) - And after a quick reboot, all seems to be back to normal...

The question is why do I need 1000+ registry entries, 100's MB of shiteware and so much hassle, all in order to buy few songs + games... And the other question is, why did the Bonjour service take total control over my computer network, and why when I uninstall those, they remain active on my hard disk, including their updates...

I remember, years ago, the problems I had trying to uninstall a copy of QuickTime, and now I know that my best option is to avoid all Apple products from now-on, regardless of how tempting they might be - We all remember Adam & Eve and the forbidden fruit...

FEMEN Activism with Tits....

Nobody knows what the message is - travel the world, get your tits out & shout... The new feminism...

Me personally, I'm only here to see fit women, nudity and tits.. Long live femen.

http://www.femen.org/

I'm lovin' it - When LOUD Howard Joined the Circus...

Tonight I went to the local McDonald's Drive-Thru for some McFlurry's and Ice-Cream - The man who served me was very, very, very LOUD..   The conversation went like that:

• PLEASE WAIT.
• OK!
• HELLO; WELCOME TO MCDONALD'S - CAN I TAKE YOUR ORDER.
• Can I have 3 Raspberry Flake McFlurrys please
• OK - WHAT TYPE - PLAIN OR RASPBERRY?
• Raspberry
• IS THAT ALL SIR?
• No. - Can I have an Ice-Cream cone please.
• DO YOU WANT A FLAKE WITH THAT?
• Yeah, OK.
• IS THAT ALL SIR?
• Yes
• THAT WILL BE £4.66
• SORRY SIR, BUT WE HAVE NO ICE CREAM - THE MACHINE IS BEING CLEANED AND IT TAKES TIME FOR IT TO BE READY - WOULD YOU LIKE A MILKSHAKE INSTEAD?.
• OK.
• WHAT FLAVOUR?
• Strawberry.
• BANANA MILKSHAKE.
• No, Strawberry Milkshake.
• BANANA MILKSHAKE.
• You don't sell Banana Milkshake!
• SO BANANA MILKSHAKE - THAT WILL BE £11.88.
• NO, IT'S THE MEAL DEAL - THAT WILL BE £9.88.
• It's OK. I don't want anything.
• THAT WILL BE £13.86.
• I really don't want anything. 
• SO, IT'S A BANANA MILKSHAKE, MEAL DEAL, THAT WILL BE £10.88.
• I really don't want anything any more (& drove off).

And I can still hear the man from around 1/4mile away with the passengers of the car behind us rolling with laughter.

Who ever thought that....

such trivial action would have such dire consequences.

Today, just like any other day, I was at work trying to do my job, when a customer who needed a VFD Customer Display phoned and asked whether we had one of those or not. And I said yes we do....

We usually have a few Serial (RS232) units, but the only problem is that they are very picky as to what PC hardware or machine they attach to... 

First of all you will need a PC with a serial port, and some might need a 5V, a 12V or even a 24V output from the RS232 port on the motherboard, which not many PC's have.  So it's always a case of trial & error, looking at the PC or motherboard manual and determine whether the thing is gonna work or not, eventually, and with the right PC or motherboard combo  it does work..

Now, back to our story.. We tested one of those on one of our machines and it seemed to work fine... So we readied the unit for the customer, not knowing whether it would work with their hardware or not...

The, FIT, young, and yes I would, office manageress objected to selling the unit on the grounds that it might not work at their place, so the person who was sent to pick it would endure the boss's wrath and anger. And then he would come back to our place unhappy, or ring us and spend hours on the phone trying to sort it out...  (BULLSHIT ALERT!) - I thought this might be a problem, especially when I received a message from 200 years into the future (that's another story) as to the consequences of my actions on that day, and what they will lead to...

Apparently the story panned out like that:
Sell VFD Customer Display,
Customer Sends Driver to collect,
Unit not compatible with Customer's hardware,
Unit does not work,
Customer unhappy,
Customer vents his frustration on Driver,
Driver unhappy,
Driver vents his frustration on his pregnant wife,
Wife gets so upset, that she leaves home and moves into a battered wives refuge,
I missed the bit about the wife's sadness, loneliness and despair, and her feelings of unbelonging, and her brief stint of lesbianism.
Wife starts drinking,
Wife starts taking drugs,
Refuge Doctor puts wife on Methadone,
Methadone dependent baby is born,
Lure of drug is too great for wife,
She goes back to strong drugs (Cocaine),
Not enough money,
Prostitution is the only way left to feed the habit,
Baby is taken into care,
Baby grows unloved and uncared for,
Child is very angry with the world,

I missed the bit about abuse he suffered in the care home, and how it shaped his anger, emotional fragility and outlook on life.

Youth is still very angry with the world,
Youth is a loner, 
Youth becomes a young thug, 
Young man strays of the path of Righteousness,
Young man does drugs and petty crime,
Young man graduates into serious crime,
His mother, on her death bed tells him the story of the faulty VFD Customer Display,
I missed the bit about trying to find out about his birth mother, killing his father, the long search, travelling around the globe and finally seeing the light and getting advice from an angel (with wings), who told him to go forward and to start his own rival ePOS software company...

He swears revenge, and tries to start his own company, 
A company that does not supply faulty goods,
He needs a lot of cash and fast,
He thought that one BIG job would do that,
He decides to rob a Bank,
Angry Young man walks into the Bank with an arsenal of weapons,
Things don't go according to plan,
Young man shoots 12 people dead during a failed bank robbery,
Young angry man is dead:(

If we only knew, we would have supplied a working or a USB Customer Display...

R.I.P. Angry young man, you've never had a chance. We hope that you are in a far better place...

There are a lot of missing details from the story, bits about voodoo, cannibalism, terrorism, anarchism, etc, etc.. but you get the gist...

BTW. There are USB VFD Customer Display Poles and those are a lot easier to set-up and configure, sadly we did not have any of those on that fateful day...