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From TechandLife.com: A Generation of Change in PCs
Mar 20th
A couple of days ago, I got questions about “How could you use that OLD AND SLOW computer” from someone who was born after I graduated High School (Class of 1990) concerning a Pentium II computer (And yes I really felt old when they did that). Then I started thinking,
-this is someone who started with an iPhone and has no clue what it was like to have to carry cassettes and your walkman if you wanted more than 10 songs at any one time (and yes it involved the manual labor of flipping or changing a tape)
-has always lived (their “mature” life) in the age of DVR’s so never really had the joy of recording to VHS and then getting yelled at because that was someone’s wedding you just recorded over
-has always had the internet, texting and email and its unlimited and high speeds. They don’t know the joy of 33.6 modem (insert the modem noise that woke up your entire family at 2am as you try and sneak online followed by the almost guaranteed dropped connection and having to do it all over again @ about 3:15a) and the fact that AOL / MSN / CompuServe….etc all had usage limits and if you went over your limits they billed you like crazy (also include trying to explain to your parents why the internet bill is so high after going over your limit).
So with that all being said, here is a post that comes from TechandLife (A TGM Friend) about how things used to be(LINK: A generation of change in PCs (http://www NULL.techandlife NULL.com/2010/03/a-generation-of-change-in-pcs/)). Special thanks to TechandLife for helping me explain that all these new gizmos were not always around.
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A generation of change in PCs
(http://www NULL.techandlife NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/OpusPCV0001 NULL.jpg)
I was clearing out some old computer magazines and files the other day when I came across a flyer which brought back memories…from 1988! I had saved up enough to buy my first computer and decided on the Opus PC V AT-compatible. Had to drive up to the city to a small supplier – no computer stores in those days, just the occasional small tech shop. Needless to say, the machine was state-of-the-art at that time.
In those days PCs weren’t for everyone. Pre-Windows and no internet so why would you want one. Apart from us geeks, PCs then were the preserve of business and were mainly used for word processing, spreadsheets, databases and DTP. But what really shocked me were the specs… and the price I paid for 1988 state-of-the-art tech. This is the flip side of the flyer:
(http://www NULL.techandlife NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/OpusPCV0002 NULL.jpg)
I’ll pick out the ‘best’ points:
30MB hard drive – that’s 0.03GB in modern money! And that was big enough.
5.25” floppy drive – Disks had a capacity of 1.2MB.
1MB memory – no, not 1GB but 1MB. And that was just about enough.
6MHz clock speed with Turbo button taking it to …10MHz. Modern PCs are a gazzilion times faster with the latest Core i7 processors running at 3.33GHz clock speed.
14” display – amber on black ( I subsequently paid out even more for the optional color display).
And the price – yes, only £1295 – that’s currently equivalent to US$1960.
And remember, there was no GUI in those days, just a command line – I think it was running Microsoft MS DOS 3.2. But it got the job done. And just for good measure, here’s a selection of 5.25” floppy disks with some of the programs I used in the early 1990s:
(http://www NULL.techandlife NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Floppydisks NULL.jpg)
Tech has come a long way in a generation – in specs and price!
TGM Q&A: Don’t always believe what your sent in an email – Spam
Mar 20th
Considering how long email and the internet have been around, I can’t understand how people fall for email chain letters that travel thru cyberspace. The regular offering of
- Microsoft will pay you to send this to everyone you know
- An African Prince will pay you to help him get money from his country
- Warning: Tell everyone you know …..
(Just as an example of the 1,000’s of emails that seem to not go away).
One of those such emails (Listed Below) is at the heart of today’s post. Lets start with the idea that NOT EVERYTHING POSTED ON THE INTERNET IS REAL (and no Al Gore did not invent the internet). The email (of which I removed the name of the person who forwarded it me, as to not call them out) is as follows
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Date: Sunday, March 14, 2010, 7:54 AM
Fw: please read concerning your phoneI dialed ‘0′ to check this out, and the operator confirmed that this was correct, so please pass it on.. (l also checked out snopes.com . This is true, and also applies to cell phones!)
PASS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOWI received a telephone call last evening from an individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service Technician (could also be Telus) who was conducting a test on the telephone lines. He stated that to complete the test I should touch nine (9), zero (0), the pound sign (#), and then hang up. Luckily, I was suspicious and refused.
Upon contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#, you give the requesting individual full access to your telephone line, which enables them to place long distance calls billed to your home phone number.
I was further informed that this scam has been originating from many local jails/prisons. DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE…
The GTE Security Department requested that I share this information with EVERYONE I KNOW.
After checking with Verizon they also said it was true, so do not dial 90# for anyone !!!!! PLEASE HIT THAT FORWARD BUTTON AND PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!
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Now the truth about the email concerning #90 on your phone. The email is actually a fake for the most part, even though it claims to have been checked at snops.com. The true link at snops.com is (LINK)http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/jailcall.asp (http://www NULL.snopes NULL.com/fraud/telephone/jailcall NULL.asp) and that shows that only a very small number of people could be affected by this situation and it does not involve home or cell phones. Only people in offices that use older phone systems called PBX that use the #9 to get an outside line before dialing could have an issue with this. So unless you are in an office and use “9” before calling outside numbers the “concerning your phone” email does not affect you.
From snops.com
This specific email has been around since 1998 (and it keeps on ticking like the a certain bunny). Some of the signs that should alert you to the fact that this is a fake are
- “I dialed 0 and the operator confirmed….” / Really I have never known an operator that can do more than place a call (Old school), and that’s about it, operators are not PR departments and I’m sure if this was a true risk that the phone companies would NOT rely on operators to get the word out .
- “I also checked on snopes.com…..” / OK – Snopes.com is a well known resource for looking for information on scams, not snops.com (and it seems that spelling is an issues with every single one of these emails). So if this was legit wouldn’t they want to include the link so that we could read more ourselves. Any legit report will include links when other sites are mentioned (AS in what I did above)
- “PASS IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW….” / Because if you don’t the end of the world will happen (Sarcasm), but anytime that you get the dramatic tell everyone, yet the note includes nothing to back up its claims, should tell you Woooo.
- Note the use of “AT&T service tech” on top of the email but “GTE security department” at the bottom. RED LIGHT!!
- Lastly don’t forget they also talk about Verizon at the bottom of the email / This is just thrown in to make sure you hear as many names (and hopefully one that you use) as possible, so that it sounds official.
So with all that being said, and with the age of the internet that we are in. Before forwarding that Latest and Greatest Chain Email Letter – Check it out and make sure its real. Everyone will like their email inboxes a lot more if we could just let some of these email DIE.
Some ways to check –
- Run the subject of the email as a search on Bing or Google search, see what the results are (and I don’t mean just the 1st listed result)
- Go to sites like Snopes.com and do a search for the subject on the site and see what results they give you.
- Use common sense
Software: How to completely disable Google Buzz.
Feb 20th
UPDATE: MSNBC has a story concerning everything that is wrong with GBuzz, including the fact that Google may have broken a few laws in the way they implemented Buzz. (LINK)http://redtape.msnbc.com/2010/02/epic-google-may-have-broken-wiretap-law.html (http://redtape NULL.msnbc NULL.com/2010/02/epic-google-may-have-broken-wiretap-law NULL.html)
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Like everyone else, I’m into technology and wanting the latest things. However, if I start using a product, I want to have full control. I should be the one picking how information about me is going to be shared (and with who), and I should be able to manage if and when that information goes out.
With that being said, a couple of days ago Google “released” (added) their new Google Buzz program to Gmail. What is Google Buzz for those who may not pay attention to “tech” things.
(LINK From the Google Buzz Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Buzz (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Google_Buzz))
Google Buzz is a social integration (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Social_network_service) and messaging tool by Google (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Google), designed to integrate into the company’s web-based email (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Webmail) program, Gmail (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Gmail).[1] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-latimes-0)[2] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-1) Shared links and messages show up in the user’s inbox.[3] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-gizmodo-launch-2) Buzz focuses on integrating photos, videos, and links as part of the "conversations" aspects of Gmail like conversation threading.
Buzz allows users to choose to share publicly with the world or privately to a small group of friends each time they post.[4] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-3) Picasa (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Picasa), Flickr (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Flickr), Google Reader (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Google_Reader), YouTube (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/YouTube), Blogger (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Blogger_(service)), and Twitter (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Twitter) are currently integrated. The creation of Buzz was seen by industry analysts as an attempt by Google to compete with social networking websites like Facebook (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Facebook) and microblogging (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Microblogging) services like Twitter.[1] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-latimes-0) Buzz also includes several interface and interaction elements from other Google products (e.g. Google Reader (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Google_Reader)) such as the ability to "like" a post.
Google executive Sergey Brin (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin) said that by offering social communications, Buzz would help bridge the gap between work and leisure,[5] (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/#cite_note-nytimes-4) but the service and its rollout have been strongly criticized for taking insufficient account of privacy
Google Buzz basically is Facebook, Twitter, Email (plus a few more pieces) put in a blender for a few minutes and then what comes out is Google Buzz. Part of the problem I have with it (as well as MANY MANY others based on the loud complaints that have been heard since its release) is that I DID NOT HAVE A CHOICE TO USE IT OR NOT TO USE IT. Basically a few days ago when signing onto Gmail I was greeted with a pop up welcoming me to Buzz and encouraging me to configure my profile so that the world can find me. Well what if i don’t want to be found (there was no “No thanks” button to be found), and that alone started the loud complaining about Buzz. In addition (At least for me), GMail is a business use. It is used for work related issues and by Google’s own admission
Google executive Sergey Brin (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Sergey_Brin) said that by offering social communications, Buzz would help bridge the gap between work and leisure
this was a leisure add-on. I am “old school” in that I don’t believe it is right to mix non-business appearing functions into a business environment (I also am not comfortable using Facebook while working for the same reasons, not to say I haven’t….but its just not a comfortable thing to me). Well it seems Google did listen enough and they have now added the OFF SWITCH to Google Buzz. Here is how you turn it off, if you don’t want to be “Buzzed”.
1 – Sign into your Google Account (Most likely Gmail)
2 – On the top right click on settings
3 – Now click on Buzz on the orange (looking) bar on the right.
4 – There you will see a few choices ( the last one should be Disable Google Buzz)
5 – Now you will get a 2nd pop up asking if you want to delete your Google profile and Google Buzz posts. This is not your Google account, the message just refers the public profile that was created on Google. 
6 – once you say YES, then you will be sent to your Google Accounts page, where you will see what your signed up for with Google and also see your Google settings and even recreate a profile (Public or Private) on your own terms with your own choices in settings.
Software: How to Recover Passwords from Internet Explorer (from Mind of Root Podcast)
Feb 20th
This story originally from the Mind Of Root Podcast (Friends of TGM) (LINK: http://podcast.acoupleofadmins.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.Episode129 (http://podcast NULL.acoupleofadmins NULL.com/pmwiki/pmwiki NULL.php?n=Main NULL.Episode129)). Recovering passwords from Internet Explorer.
- IE Password Editor Utility [KEITH]
-User had a password saved for a site that made her constantly change passwords. So, whenever she went there it was auto-filling with the wrong one.
-Didn’t want to clear all passwords, so I found this utility from the fine folks at NirSoft (http://podcast NULL.acoupleofadmins NULL.com/pmwiki/pmwiki NULL.php?n=Main NULL.NirSoft?action=edit)? (http://podcast NULL.acoupleofadmins NULL.com/pmwiki/pmwiki NULL.php?n=Main NULL.NirSoft?action=edit) that pulls them all up and let’s you individually manage your saved passwords.
-Of course, I lectured about even storing them in the first place as I showed her how I could view all of her passwords with the utility.
-Link: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/internet_explorer_password.html (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/internet_explorer_password NULL.html)
Additional Software from nirsoft
Related Links
- IECacheView (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/ie_cache_viewer NULL.html) – Internet Explorer Cache Viewer
- PasswordFox (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/passwordfox NULL.html) – Reveal the passwords stored in Firefox.
- MessenPass (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/mailpv NULL.html) – Instant Messenger Password Recovery Tool
- Mail PassView (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/mailpv NULL.html) – Recover POP3/IMAP/SMTP email passwords.
- Dialupass (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/dialupass2 NULL.html) – Recover VPN/RAS/Dialup passwords
Download YouTube Videos
Feb 20th
Ever wanted to save a YouTube video as a WMV file or just wanted an MP3 of a song played on youtube (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com)?
While there are a number of ways to do this, there is a free tool out there that is simple and easy to use.
The program is called FLVtoAVI. You can download the video into the formats listed in the screen shot below and save it to your computer!
Download from flvtoavi.com (http://www NULL.flvtoavi NULL.com)
From their website:
FLV to AVI – Freeware to converting Flash Video (.flv) to AVI
Do you need convert internet Flash video to popular AVI video format? Do you want to play your Flash video with your portable video player (MP4 players)? This small and powerful flash tool "FLV to AVI" can help you.
FLV to AVI is one free software to convert Adobe Flash video to AVI video, simple and easy to use, just input the file name of your Flash video file, and choice one output AVI video format, the software will convert your Flash file (.flv) to the AVI video (.avi) in minutes (the default output AVI video is MPEG4 video format).
FLV to AVI support several different AVI video codecs, include MPEG4, DivX, Xvid, QuickTime (MOV), WMV and 3GP. It can only convert audio data form Flash video file to MP3 audio (output MP3 audio is 128kbps 44kHz stereo, standard "CD quality" bit rate).
Simple and Easy to Use
This free Flash conversion tool is simple and easy to use very much, no complex settings, program is smart, the output video can have good quality, with this program, anyone (specially for newbie) can convert their flash videos by themselves, without any video codec knowledge about FLV and AVI.
In the main FLV to AVI interface, there have three zones: the "Source Flash¡±, "AVI Video Format" and "Process". The "Source Flash" is used to select the source Flash video, the "AVI Video Format" is used to change the output video format, and the "Process" is used to show the conversion process and status.
The source flash of FLV to AVI can be "Flash Video File" or "Youtube Web Page". For converting existed Flash video file on your PC, you can input the full path file name or click "Open" button to select one.
About Convert YouTube Video
FLV to AVI can be used as one handy youtube video downloader, it can download the high quality MP4 file from youtube video server, and you can save this video as one standalone AVI video file (MP4 format), or convert it to other video format as you like.
If you want to save the Flash video form Youtube directly, just input the YouTube web page address (URL) in the edit box as Flash video source, you can copy this address form the address bar of Internet Explorer & FireFox and paste it there.
A important feature about YouTube Video is that once the users ask to download and convert one Youtube video, the FLV to AVI will redirect and download the high quality video version directly from the YouTube video server, and not the low quality FLV video, so users can get one higher video quality than the normal youtube web page. Each YouTube video have two video quality versions, one is MPEG4 video, the other is Flash video, program will download the high quality MPEG4 video version.
How to Use
- Download the setup file of "FLV to AVI", and install it on your PC;
- Input one Flash video file or Youtube Web Page address;
- Default outout AVI codec is MPEG4, you can change with "AVI Video Format" options;
- Click "Convert" to start the Flash conversion process.
Output Video Support
- MPEG4
- DivX (Digital Video Express)
- Xvid (contrast with the DivX codec)
- WMV (Window Media Video)
- MOV (Apple Quicktime Player)
- Song PSP (MP4 format, video stream has the dimension of 368*272)
- 3GP (3G mobile, rescale video to 352*288)
- MP3 (no video, audio only)
Download
- Download FLV to AVI (http://www NULL.flvtoavi NULL.com/flvtoavi_setup NULL.zip)
- Current Version: 1.2
- File Size: 2.77MB
- System Platform: Microsoft Windows XP/98/2000/VISTA
(http://www NULL.softsea NULL.com/review/FLV-to-AVI NULL.html) - Program can work with VISTA 32bits and 64bits, can wotk with Windows 7
- Price: $0, Freeware
FLV to AVI is absolutely free software, free for any private use.
(http://www