Back in the days when I first ventured onto the Internet, using AOL 1.0 for DOS, it was exciting to find like minded people, interesting information and some-what stable access. As AOL grew, moving from DOS to Windows based software, I also advanced with it. For a period of time, I was a chat room host (monitor), working for free time from AOL all the while doing our level best to keep the riff-raff from harming other members. I cannot remember how long I did this, but AOL started changing in the background, and with free hours being removed from the mix, AOL started dictating when hosts would work, for how long, etc. It was becoming more a job than fun, so I quit.

For new users to the Internet, AOL was the place to learn. I always told people with children to use AOL for their Internet browsing because of the parental controls. Eons ago, AOL’s parental controls were top notch.

I stopped using AOL as a conduit to the Internet shortly after I quit hosting for them.  Keeping the software as back up, I paid for minimal access until they went free.  Yes, I still have an AOL email address – but it sits in the back of my Internet storage closet.  I sign on once in a blue moon and then forget about it. 

Why AOL would a) buy the Huffington Post, and b) then hand the reins to the content to Arianna is beyond me.  From the article linked above:

As part of the deal, The Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington will be appointed president editor-in-chief of all of AOL’s content. She will not only run The Huffington Post, but will lead AOL’s news, tech, women, local, multicultural, entertainment video and community content businesses in an AOL entity that will be known as the Huffington Post Media Group.

The Huffington Post Media Group will also be in charge of MapQuest, AOL Music, AutoBlog, Patch, Engadget and TechCrunch. Huffington Post CEO Eric Hippeau and Chief Revenue Officer Greg Coleman will be leaving The Huffington Post, according to AllThingsD.

I am not a user of any of the above noted products of AOL, but you can bet your bottom dollar, I never will now.

I see AOL going the way of Air America in about two years.  Sure the influx of the liberal side of the country will give AOL a boost for a while, but I doubt it can cover the exodus of conservatives who will leave AOL.  

Personally – if you are using AOL to access the internet, you need to get some help and find a local internet provider and dump it fast. (And that includes any of my family members too)

What I don’t like doing, and usually don’t, is talking on my Blackberry while driving.  Both the SGM and I have hands-free devices.   He’s used one for years because the military post does not allow you to use your cellphone unless with a hands-free device.

Now, there is a group out there that wants to stop us from talking with hands-free devices; going so far as to try and “force” use to put our phones in the glove compartment.  Yes, they are on crack, but that’s beside the point.  Its idiot groups like these who get crap ass laws forced through that imposes on everyone’s life – and to the lady on Fox News pushing for this I have to say: I’m sorry you lost your mother to a driver who was distracted.  Its a loss I cannot feel or understand.  But are you also going to push for laws that stop women from putting on make-up, people from sipping on hot coffees and burning their tongues, arguing with their passenger, grabbing for the falling groceries in the backseat, etc.

John Taylor, a spokesman for Sprint Nextel Corp., said Thursday that it would be appropriate public policy if all distractions were included in the ordinance. “But since that’s not the case, I imagine we would not be supportive of it.” Source

I have actually seen people driving while reading the newspaper or a book.  Yes, a book.  I also know people that have their laptops on the passenger seat and surf the internet at stop lights.   There is no stopping them from looking at said laptop when they hear “You’ve Got Mail”, either.

Hands-free devices are the answer to the technology of the cellphone.  Our lives revolve around them in some form or another.  Are these people going to deny the use of a cellphone to a mother needing to hear from her child?  From the husband on a long business trip having to be notified his wife has been injured and sent to the hospital?

There are numerous distractions while people are driving.  The cellphone is just one of them.  This is a not necessary law, anymore than Georgia’s law that even prevents people from texting at stop lights. (At least the vehicle is stopped for heaven’s sake).

Get your hands off my hands-free device. Enough already.

Now, for the PC.  I’m fighting malware right and left so I can’t even move small files from it to the laptop for fear of infecting it.  I’ve had Norton beating it back and am on my second removal program.  We’ll see.  I have two  more programs to try.

Thanks Sean and Tre for sending me in the direction for this malware issue.

Update:  Well it looks like I’ve gotten rid of the Trojan.  I still have an issue with a box on start-up, but that is minor compared to the picnic that Vundo was having on my hard-drive!

Here is where Sean sent me to work on the problem: Malwarebytes

Here is where Tre sent me to work on the problem:  Malware Removal Guide   Read the whole guide first before starting.  I had to stop a couple times and go back because I was so hell-bent on getting it fixed I ran ahead of the instructions.  The above program that Sean sent me to is also part of this, so double thank-you again to you two!

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It started mainly at work.  I had twhirl loaded but kept getting the “paused, API 0/100″.   I knew I’d logged  off tweetdeck before leaving the house so what the ???

I got on twitter search (search.twitter.com) and noticed several people where having issues with the API overload and updates were extremely slow using different clients.  So dealt with the website for updates.   If you use a client to access twitter you feel like you’ve gone from NASCAR speed to walking. I also figured with MacWorld and CES are going on, there was going to be overload.  

Well yesterday I was still having loading problems, but now at home too.  This was beyond the frustration point and it didn’t appear many people on Twitter were having the same problem. 

Again I saw a tweet about API overload with too many clients hooked into Twitter.  But I only had what I was using at the time.  Twitter feed only updates once an hour and it won’t touch the twitter API unless I have a blog post to push out.

Then the light bulb came on.

Twitterberry on my Blackberry.  See we have crappy reception in our office for us T-Mobile users and if I don’t put my BB in a spot where it can get good tower strength, it keeps trying to connect and therefore so does Twitterberry.   I removed my password so log-in attempts failed and went to lunch.

When I came back to work, loaded up Tweetdeck and ta-da no more API problems.

So if you’re having API twitter overload, remember “all” your programs may not be off.

…

Well, Top Conservatives on Twitter has just the fix for your problem. 

No, I’m not even close to being on the list, but I’m enjoying following new folks.

See you there!

We have a desktop with Vista and a laptop with XP. Saturday morning, the desktop was working fine but the laptop wouldn’t connect to the internet. It found my wireless network, connected, everything looked great – but no internet.

Oh, (*^)%, I thought….Windows installed an update yesterday.

I fussed and fought with the thing all morning. Checked the status of my ZoneAlarm firewall, Internet Explorer, etc. Tried Firefox, no luck. Restarted. Did a repair on the wireless connection. Nothing worked. I was tempted to restart my router, but the desktop was working fine.

Finally, convinced it was that Windows update, I did a System Restore. First one didn’t work…must not have gone back far enough. So I went back a few more days – bingo! Everything is working again.

Then, a box pops up….informing me of a critical ZoneAlarm update needed to counteract a Windows update that “could cause loss of internet access for users running Windows XP”. In other words, everything would have worked if I’d just shut down ZoneAlarm.

Sigh….

StarterTech.com

Confirming our belief that some people are just “bad with computers,” a boy named Joe Falciatano III from Pulaski, New York, seems to have simply the worst luck ever — and some think it could be do to an overly magnetized touch. While using PCs at this elementary school, Joe — who dubbed himself “Magneto Man” — found that every system he laid his hands on went totally haywire. Only after a teacher suggested he use a grounded, anti-static wrist strap did the systems experience relief from his Geek Squad-inducing grasp. Apparently, the boy has also disrupted slide show presentations and caused his Xbox to freeze repeatedly. Though tests have been run on Joe, there’s still no conclusive evidence about the source of the problem, though at least one electricity expert said the cause could be his over-insulated shoes.

There is a video … poor kid!