Monday, 20 April 2015

Monday, 30 March 2015

The Biology of Abortion


Let us clarify what we’re talking about when we discuss abortion.  Let’s remove politics, religion, and ideology, and let’s talk about biology.  I myself am a biologist and am surprised by the various ludicrous claims that some pro-abortionists make.  There is a biological reality, and indeed certainty, to the reproductive process that cannot be altered in light of accepted science.  Parts of the discussion are simply not debatable.  My intent is not to be patronizing, for many people are simply ignorant and in need of enlightenment.  And ignorance is not something to be ashamed of; it is simply a reflection of one’s education.  And it does not denote a lesser intelligence, for we are all ignorant on a multitude of subjects.  Not everyone has chosen to study biology at an higher level, just as I have not chosen to study American literature … and am truly ignorant concerning its content.

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Questions and Answers with Bret Lowry, the new owner of WinPatrol

I had a couple of features I’d like to see implemented into WinPatrol.  I asked for Bret’s input and here’s what he had to say.

Changing Winpatrol’s startup tab:

Bret's Response:

“Did you know that you can tell WinPatrol Explorer which tab to open from the command line?

If WinPatrol Explorer is not running, you can have it run and open to the ActiveX tab as follows:

winpatrolex.exe -activex

Also, if you right-click on the Scotty icon, you can select which tab you want opened.

Also, you can change the tab that Scotty opens to in the start menu icon by making the following change.

1. Locate the icon

2. Right-click on it and select Properties

3. For the "Target:", append a space and then -activex. You should do this outside the quotes

4. Click OK

5. Now your start-menu icon will open directly to the ActiveX tab.”


Thursday, 12 March 2015

Keeping Windows XP Relevant and Secure


You like retro and refuse to give up on your beloved Windows XP operating system.  But how to keep it secure, given that the tech world moves on and cares little for backward compatibility.  MSE is gone (for XP) and Microsoft refuses to support XP anymore (meaning security holes will stay there forever).  In my experience, most antivirus solutions are now too heavy for smooth operation.  Given these problems, here’s how I recently secured a friends XP to make it a security bulldog without dragging its performance down.

Friday, 13 February 2015

Anti-Exploit Freeware/Software List

Your computer might have a chink in it's armor.  A weakness or hole in its defenses, an unforseen path through which entry can be gained, a vulnerability in your operating system (windows) or a program running on it .

How do you increase the effectiveness of your computer security and block a malicious program or script from taking advantage of these weaknesses?  You do so by adding a protective layer that addresses this problem. You add anti-exploit software.  Your anti-virus actively protects your system, but you can supplement it with passive protection which makes penetrating it a lot harder.  Here’s a list, and quick description, of some of the anti-exploit products available for free.  Also, make sure your system and software is up-to-date:  this plugs most vulnerabilities.

Herobrine - The Minecraft Man of the Year.


Minecraft Tips! - 'Nuff Said


Mobs - Monstery Minecraft


BE CAREFUL! - A Minecraft Warning


Potions - Minecraft Kool-Aid


Witches - Minecraft Hags without Brooms


Cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens - Minecraft Critters


Ender Pearls - Minecraft Teleportation


Skeleton Archers - Minecraft Bone Meal


Fireworks - Minecraft Explosions


Wednesday, 28 January 2015

How to run Minecraft when Java update fails (1603 or some stupid error)



I’ve had this problem the last 2 times I’ve updated my java run time environment.  And both times was a serious headache.  First, it wouldn’t update through java itself.  Second, I went to java and tried their installer … which failed.  Third, I downloaded their offline versions (both for 32 and 64 bit) and tried multiple times to install … and always the same, it failed to install.  I disabled my antivirus and all security, I uninstalled java, I cleaned my registry manually and via numerous cleaners, I tried in safe mode, I used javara to clean up things before trying, and everything always fails.  Bla!!!

If you’re tired of this continual nonsense, here’s a quick way to get Minecraft (with its java heart) up and going again (or at least to when the next java update comes out, which might fix everything … likely not).

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Build your own Bitdefender Security Suite ... For Free

This is not a daily giveaway article, but something far better.  How to build Bitdefender Total Security!!  For Free.



Bitdefender is a top antivirus company, the cream of the crop.  Their engine is arguably the best, with few contenders to challenge its effectiveness.  They have a very robust suite to protect your system, and its very effective (head over to bitdefender.com to see the price).  We will make the closest thing we can, give or take a few pieces (abet, important ones ... but beggars can't be choosers).

Monday, 22 December 2014

Tested: The Lightest Free Antivirus (To Boot or get the Boot)

I have the weakest netbook laptop available.  I need an antivirus that doesn’t take forever to start and shut down my machine.  And I don’t want my system to be all gummed up and frozen.  In addition, my friend has an old XP and asked for recommendations for protection.  MSE won’t run on his system anymore and while some still offer support for XP, they are too heavy for it.  The professional labs did some testing for performance, but their recommendations don’t even approach reality when run on my weak, weak system.  And each seems to have a different criteria for `running lightly’.  My criterion is boot speed, physical memory used, and the percent of the CPU utilized.  My tests were informal and for personal reasons, I now submit to help others.  Testing time was beginning of 2014.

Test machine:  Windows 7 starter running on an Intel atom (N450, single core) processor.   1 Gb RAM.  160 Gb HDD.  A base system restore point was created.  Wise 360 was the boot analyzer.  Process Hacker provided additional information.  Antivirus was installed, tested, uninstalled via Wise Uninstaller, and then system restored for the next program.

I like to have phishing protection and most free antivirus’ do not offer full protection.  If an antivirus solution did not have its own built in protection, I ran Mcafee Site Advisor.  AVG and Panda each have their own proprietary equivalent protection:  So with each of these I ran their software and deleted Site Advisor.  (as stated, testing was for personal, not scientific reasons ... hence unusual criteria).

Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Tangerine bank will steal your money – don’t trust them



This is a follow-up article on my continued mugging by the Tangerine bank.  As I had previously reported in, Rotten oranges at the Tangerine bank, I had some problems transferring my money to another institution.  Being a slow learner, and a tad masochistic, I again attempted to transfer my money.  Here’s the run down:

Sunday, 7 December 2014

Firefox bites the hand that feeds it


Mozilla recently decided to enter a no win, hostile, socially politically correct battle.  Why?  Because they lack business sense.  For details, see Firefox’s Unusual Approach to Decreasing it's Browser Share.   Why does this garner a follow up article?  Because in light of them choosing to alienate a large segment of the planet, they then apparently began to bleed money and now have to beg for it.

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Firefox’s Unusual Approach to Decreasing it's Browser Share


Firefox’s newer versions are pretty solid.  And with the demise of Opera presto, Firefox should have seen a jump in market share.  However, behind a decent product lies a cacophony of  numb-skulls that believe misguided political correctness is more important than business dominance. 

Friday, 28 November 2014

Rotten Oranges at the Tangerine Bank

Yep, it’s now old news … ING Canada has been bought by Scotiabank:  and they renamed it the Tangerine Bank.  I was never an ING customer, but was lured to open a Tangerine account by their “I’ll give you $50” to open an account bargain.  Plus, I like the color orange.  I received my $50 and was pleased with them.  That was my first dealings with them, and if I had written this then, this article would swoon about their awesomeness;  I’m easy that way, give me some money and I’ll like you.  However, cost me some money and the honeymoon’ll be over.  How long did it take them to cost me some money?  Surprisingly quick actually, on my second dealings with them.