"What's Selling Where | Paint colors. Title of a piece in the Wall St. Journal. They list five trendy sounding colors, complete with color illustrations of each color. Plus lots of fancy words about the grooviness of each color.
Trouble is, these forward looking trendy colors are the same dreary light pastels that have been slapped on the walls of Army barracks, gov'mint offices, and tired industrial buildings, for the last 50 years. Nothing new here, just washed out light blues, greens, and tans.
Hint to homeowners. If you are gonna paint a room, there is a lot to be said for good old landlord white (very light ivory). It brightens up any room, makes it look larger, and won't clash with wall hangings, rugs, curtains, furniture, or pictures. If you want to use a strong color on the walls, have your decorating plan well in mind, everything put into the room must either match, or at least harmonize with, the wall color. Done right, it can be effective, but it's hard to do right, especially on a tight budget.
Second hint to homeowners. Think about wall paper. It goes up easily, it hides all sorts of really horrible flaws in the walls, and can transform a room. Wall paper is less demanding than strong monocolors as to matching and harmonizing with the rest of the stuff you put in the room.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Free Anti virus programs
These are the ones I have used. All of them are scanners, upon command, or perhaps automatically, they compare files on your disc with a list of known badware/malware, and post big "Gotcha" messages when they find a match. They all take an hour or so to do your hard drive, and they all wait for you to personally OK zapping a malware file. Just in case they make a mistake. Which they never do. Since new malware is hatched every day, they all have provisions to download updated badware lists.
Most of them also install "realtime scanners" , programs that load into RAM at boot time and check all incoming stuff (email, email attachments, downloads) for badware, These scanners slow your system down a lot. I just removed a couple from my desktop, and the improvement in response is very noticeable and very pleasant. MicroSoft Security Essentials is the worse offender here. It slowed Blackbox down so much he was falling behind my typing. When a 600 Mhz machine with a Gigabyte of RAM cannot keep up with my 10 keystrokes/sec hand typing, something ain't right. Blowing away Microsoft Security essentials fixed things right up.
I have run all of these antivirus programs within the last few months. The computers all survived the experience. They are all free. They are all fairly easy to run, you download them from the web, run 'em, and tell 'em to zap everything they find. None of 'em will find everything. If faced with a difficult infection, try several of them. What one misses, another might find.
MalwareBytes. A relative newcomer. As a plus feature, no "realtime scanner". He just scans the hard drive, once, and doesn't bother you afterwards. Website BleepingComputer tipped me off to this one.
Spybot Search and Destroy Been around for a while. Started out as an anti spybot scanner and broadened out into scanning for most types of malware. No "realtime scanner", a plus feature in my estimation.
Lavasoft AdAware Another spybot scanner that has branched out. Installs its own "realtime scanner" and whines when it finds traces of other antivirus programs on your machine.
AVG Another relative newcomer. Still shaking the code down, but it works and does no harm.
ZoneAlarm. Started off as a firewall and the latest version includes a disk scanner and a "realtime scanner".
MicroSoft Security Essentials Fairly new from Redmond. Effective, is able to block some pesky infections spread from websites. CPU hog. Slows your machine a LOT, all the time. Consumes up to 90% of your CPU time. Difficult to turn off or remove.
Most of them also install "realtime scanners" , programs that load into RAM at boot time and check all incoming stuff (email, email attachments, downloads) for badware, These scanners slow your system down a lot. I just removed a couple from my desktop, and the improvement in response is very noticeable and very pleasant. MicroSoft Security Essentials is the worse offender here. It slowed Blackbox down so much he was falling behind my typing. When a 600 Mhz machine with a Gigabyte of RAM cannot keep up with my 10 keystrokes/sec hand typing, something ain't right. Blowing away Microsoft Security essentials fixed things right up.
I have run all of these antivirus programs within the last few months. The computers all survived the experience. They are all free. They are all fairly easy to run, you download them from the web, run 'em, and tell 'em to zap everything they find. None of 'em will find everything. If faced with a difficult infection, try several of them. What one misses, another might find.
MalwareBytes. A relative newcomer. As a plus feature, no "realtime scanner". He just scans the hard drive, once, and doesn't bother you afterwards. Website BleepingComputer tipped me off to this one.
Spybot Search and Destroy Been around for a while. Started out as an anti spybot scanner and broadened out into scanning for most types of malware. No "realtime scanner", a plus feature in my estimation.
Lavasoft AdAware Another spybot scanner that has branched out. Installs its own "realtime scanner" and whines when it finds traces of other antivirus programs on your machine.
AVG Another relative newcomer. Still shaking the code down, but it works and does no harm.
ZoneAlarm. Started off as a firewall and the latest version includes a disk scanner and a "realtime scanner".
MicroSoft Security Essentials Fairly new from Redmond. Effective, is able to block some pesky infections spread from websites. CPU hog. Slows your machine a LOT, all the time. Consumes up to 90% of your CPU time. Difficult to turn off or remove.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
One damn thing after another
We had a serious thunderstorm Monday night. Next morning main computer, trusty old Blackbox, a Compaq, was no longer on the internet. Windows claimed the network cable was unplugged. It wasn't, but the little green LED that indicates connection was out. After some blundering around, I fired up trusty laptop, and lo and behold, he went right on line by wireless. So, that means cable modem is alive, and the router has enough life to do wireless. I'm using one to those wireless routers that puts out a wireless signal AND drives four RJ-45 jacks. Blackbox is connected to one of the RJ-45 jacks. Maybe the Ethernet cable failed, or Blackbox's network adapter got fried. Or the router got half fried, so the wireless still works but the RJ-45 jacks are toast.
So I pull out a PCI wireless adapter card and plug it in. But the install CD refuses to run. So I decide to blow away some of the antivirus software that has been bogging Blackbox down. After a bitter hand-to-hand struggle I get rid of Microsoft Security Essentials and ZoneAlarm. Neither went easily or quietly. But after killing them both, the install CD started to work, and the wireless card connected and Blackbox is back on line.
Joy. And, I knew that the antivirus stuff was slowing him down, but wow, now he is back in his old form, quick and silent. Love it. So I am gonna run barefoot for a while.
So I pull out a PCI wireless adapter card and plug it in. But the install CD refuses to run. So I decide to blow away some of the antivirus software that has been bogging Blackbox down. After a bitter hand-to-hand struggle I get rid of Microsoft Security Essentials and ZoneAlarm. Neither went easily or quietly. But after killing them both, the install CD started to work, and the wireless card connected and Blackbox is back on line.
Joy. And, I knew that the antivirus stuff was slowing him down, but wow, now he is back in his old form, quick and silent. Love it. So I am gonna run barefoot for a while.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Game of Thrones
Netflix delivered the first disc last night. Episodes 1 and 2 from season one. Highly enjoyable. It's a medieval swords and sorcery fantasy. George R.R. Martin wrote five books set in this universe (I have read them all so that makes me a fan). We have Sean Bean as Lord Eddart Stark. Sean has been gaining weight over the years. As Richard Sharpe, battling Napoleon he was lean and elegant especially in that well tailored rifleman's green uniform. Later as Boromir in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, he was a grown man, on the strong and muscular side. Now as Ned Stark he looks overweight. Both roles are set in similar fantasy worlds. Clearly Martin was influenced by Tolkien. Martin's world has a stronger flavor of the high middle ages than Tolkien, who is more into elves and Fairie.
"Production values" (sets, costumes, special effects and such) are really good especially for a TV mini series. Everything looks right, no anachronisms. The camera man knows enough to put the camera on a tripod. No arty "shake the camera" shots which I find annoying. The sound man does it right and the dialogue is understandable. The young Starks (Ayra, Brendan, Sansa) are appealing. The girls are really good looking and sometimes scantily clad.
If you haven't read the books you will need to pay close attention to understand what is happening. Some of the key scenes are glossed over pretty rapidly and if I hadn't read the book I would not have understood what is going on.
Anyhow I enjoyed the first two episodes, and Netflix ought to deliver more of them soon.
"Production values" (sets, costumes, special effects and such) are really good especially for a TV mini series. Everything looks right, no anachronisms. The camera man knows enough to put the camera on a tripod. No arty "shake the camera" shots which I find annoying. The sound man does it right and the dialogue is understandable. The young Starks (Ayra, Brendan, Sansa) are appealing. The girls are really good looking and sometimes scantily clad.
If you haven't read the books you will need to pay close attention to understand what is happening. Some of the key scenes are glossed over pretty rapidly and if I hadn't read the book I would not have understood what is going on.
Anyhow I enjoyed the first two episodes, and Netflix ought to deliver more of them soon.
Business
For today, I made a dump run, and then mowed the rest of the grass. Then I took a nap. Seemed like a full and productive day to me.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Car ads
One the those fliers jammed into our mailbox from a Littleton car dealer. The cover plumps for a Jeep SUV, no price. Open 'er up, and we have a Dodge Challenger, 6.4 Liter Hemi (403 c.i.) manual transmission and 20 inch wheels for only $44,900. Nice car, Cadillac price. Is that manual transmission four on the floor or three on the tree? Same page we have a big Dodge crew cab pickup with Cummins diesel for $50,999. Fancy pickup costs more than luxury sedan. Inside we have real Jeep Jeeps for $20K and a Chrysler 200, V6 and a slush box for $17K.
Then we have Dodge Caravans for $17K and Chrysler Town & Countries (same thing) for $26K.
Damn, new cars cost a bundle.
Then we have Dodge Caravans for $17K and Chrysler Town & Countries (same thing) for $26K.
Damn, new cars cost a bundle.
Tools, new tools
The grass was on the warpath, stalks up to a foot high. Ancient hand mower just wasn't cutting it. Mowing had become a chore to be dreaded. I thought about just turning the whole job over to Ken King, my friendly local lawn care guy. But I have been cutting this little lawn,with a hand mower, for forty years. Going with lawncare is like admitting I'm getting too old to mow.
So, I set off to buy a new mower. Checked Sears, Home Depot and Lowe's. Come home with a brand new Husqvarna hand mower. $149. It fit in the trunk of the Mercury, lid closed. Got it home, read the instruction booklet, (solid boiler plate to repel liability lawyers) put it together and tried it out.
Outstanding. Cuts it level, gets every stalk. It's feather light (lotta plastic). Before I knew it, the side lawn was all cut. Pressed on to the front lawn. That cut like lightning too. They did something good with the gearing so the reel spins faster than the old style mowers. They replaced the roller with real back wheels so the grass stays upright to be cut, rather than lying down flat and escaping its proper fate. Puts the honest self satisfaction of seeing a flat level mowed path slicing thru the shagginess back into the chore.
I could have gotten a power mower for only $30 more. The guy at Lowes assured me that it would start next spring if I put some miracle additive into the gas tank. But this baby is so light and pushes so easily and it makes me feel so environmentally sensitive, that its more satisfactory than a power job.
So, I set off to buy a new mower. Checked Sears, Home Depot and Lowe's. Come home with a brand new Husqvarna hand mower. $149. It fit in the trunk of the Mercury, lid closed. Got it home, read the instruction booklet, (solid boiler plate to repel liability lawyers) put it together and tried it out.
Outstanding. Cuts it level, gets every stalk. It's feather light (lotta plastic). Before I knew it, the side lawn was all cut. Pressed on to the front lawn. That cut like lightning too. They did something good with the gearing so the reel spins faster than the old style mowers. They replaced the roller with real back wheels so the grass stays upright to be cut, rather than lying down flat and escaping its proper fate. Puts the honest self satisfaction of seeing a flat level mowed path slicing thru the shagginess back into the chore.
I could have gotten a power mower for only $30 more. The guy at Lowes assured me that it would start next spring if I put some miracle additive into the gas tank. But this baby is so light and pushes so easily and it makes me feel so environmentally sensitive, that its more satisfactory than a power job.
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