Window's Panes, Part New, Services

Windows runs a lot of programs behind your back. Your machine may look idle, but under the hood, anywhere from 30 to several hundred programs are active, slowing your boot, consuming RAM and runtime.
Lift the hood and take a look. Click on Start -> Settings -> ControlPanel. Then click on the Administrative Tools icon. In the opened Administrative Tools window click on "Services" (has an icon of a pair of gears meshing).
Services will display a humongous list of "Services". Each service has a computer-geek type name, a description, a startup type, and a status. Services can tend to wireless modems, do network gruntwork, permit strangers to log into the computer from the internet, set the clock and calender, many things. Some services are critical, Windows won't boot without them. Some are dangerous security risks, some are malware, many merely waste RAM and slow the machine down.
Each running service will appear in Task Manager under "Processes". It is reasonable to have 30 running services. A hundred running services is NOT reasonable and is a cause for concern.
Services are controlled by "Startup Type". Auto startup means run the service at boot up time whether it is needed or not. Auto start of unused or seldom used services makes boot take longer. Manual startup is Microsoft speak meaning "Run this service ONLY if some program asks for it". Disabled means never run this service no matter how badly programs scream and cry for it.
You can slim down the service load by setting services to manual or disabled. Care is required to avoid breaking the machine. Number one safety rule: NEVER do anything to service "Remote Procedure Call". Without RPC Windows won't boot, and the only fix is to re install Windows. A painful and difficult process. You have been warned.
With that one exception it is safe to change Auto services to Manual. A manual service that is never requested won't start, saving time and RAM. If it is needed, it will start when some program requests it. Manual services that show as "Started" have been requested.
No one can remember all the services and what they do, (or don't do). Googling on the service name will get a load of hits, some of them useful and some of them boiler plate. There are a number of websites that carry lists of services and recommendations as to which should be made manual. There is a good deal of disagreement between the various sites. Black Viper runs one of the best sites.
Web surfing in these waters will bring you in contact with advertisements for programs promising to speed up your computer, remove viruses, optimize the registry, and perform other software miracles. Some of these programs are themselves viruses, spyware, sombies, and other bad stuff. Unless I have strong recommendations from several trusted sources, I don't mess with such stuff lest bad things happen to my machine.

Global Warming brings record snowfall and 8 below zero

Concord NH reports December snowfall broke the record established way back in 1867. I'm about 70 miles from Concord and I got 30 inches on the ground. New Years Day dropped another 8 inches. Thermometer read 8 below zero at 8 AM this morning. Why do I think the winters are getting colder?

Kiss your old files goodby

Slashdot reports that Microsoft has announced that support for older office file formats will be removed "for security reasons". Translation. Old Word documents and Excel spreadsheets will become unreadable by Office 2007. Any one who has old stuff that they care about has to convert it to the new formats or risk losing it forever.
Thanks Microsoft. "Security reasons". Right... It improves the financial security of Microsoft to force every one to buy Office 2007, at full list price no less.
The real sin here is Microsoft's practice of allowing executable Basic programs to live inside, come to life from, and do bad things from within Word and Excel documents. Any junior hacker can write a destructive Basic program and hide it in a .doc or .xls file. The "run a Basic program from a Office document" frill only helps spammers and other low life netscum. No real user of Office ever uses that capability.

New Age at the New York Times

Maureen Dowd, the conservative's favorite punching bag, comes across as a New Age crystal worshipping kook here. They actually posted this on the NYT website. Sounds like the conservatives haven't been punching hard enough.

So who am I gonna vote for?

As a New Hamster, I gotta be responsible and set a proper example for the rest of the country. God appointed New Hampshire to lead the nation and we New Hamsters are under the gun to vote in the primary which is JUST NEXT WEEK.
I gotta stop being undecided and make up my mind real soon now.
Let's take this a step at a time. First I'm going to vote Republican, 'cause the Republicans will continue the mission in Iraq, where as the Democrats will pull out, leaving everyone at the mercy of Al Quaeda, kinda like we did to the South Vietnamese many years ago. We have put lives, money, political capital, reputations, American national unity, and six years into Iraq. We are very close to establishing a decent, liberal, democratic and Muslim government in the land of dictatorships, monarchies, and theocracies. If we can get Iraq going, and keep it going, the rest of the Middle East will follow suit, throw out the dictators, and become liberal democracies too.
They say liberal democracies don't make war on each other. A liberal democratic Iraq is a step in the right direction.
So, of the Republicans, who to go with? First scratch Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee, they are fringe nutcases. Guliani is a good man in a storm, pulled NYC together, and did a fantastic job on 9/11. But he is on the wrong side of the hot button issues (abortion and gun control) , has a messy personal life, and probably quite a bit of dirty laundry from his time in NYC. Fred Thompson is a likeable guy, right on the issues, but his poll standings are miserable. I fear a vote for Fred would be a vote wasted. Mitt Romney is hard working, good looking, smart, right on the issues now. Back when he was running for governor of MA he was on the other side of the hot button issues (pro abortion or at least not anti abortion and pro gun control). He has publically disavowed his previous stands, for which he has attracted a host of enemies who call him "flip flopper". I personally might forgive and forget his change of mind, but I fear a lot of voters won't.
That leaves McCain. Good man. I was serving in Viet Nam the year he got shot down. Real American hero. Right on most of the issues, except the McCain Finegold campaign spending law and last summer's immigration bill. A man who commands the respect of most Americans. A president McCain would be able to stand up and speak from the bully pulpit and things would happen, 'cause a lot of Americans trust him and admire him, and would go where he led.
So looks like I vote for McCain.

Fat pills might be possible

Science Digest is reporting that obesity in mice has been tracked down to a single gene.

How about CAFE for houses?

At $3 a gallon (and up) my personal energy costs are too damn high. Of my three big energy bills, two of them are in the news, becoming subject to federal law, but the third and biggest nobody talks about. We have a law requiring better gas mileage on cars. We fortunately failed to pass a law requiring electrical companies to shower cash upon the makers of solar cells and windmills. Neither of these efforts addresses my biggest energy bill, heating oil. And, there is a straight forward technological fix for heating oil use. Better house insulation will reduce heating oil use. Enough insulation and the house will stay warm without a furnace, even in New Hampshire. Enough in that case is two feet, but it can be done. I know people with houses built just that way with no furnaces, up here in northern NH where it gets really cold.
Stiffen up the building codes to require super insulation on new residential construction and the new homes won't require heating oil.
Why is the public and media attention all focused on cars and electrical generation and not home insulation? Surely even the most ignorant newsies have paid an oil bill?