A man will die, but not his ideas.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Play It Safe
Whether you go online via a 24/7 connection (e.g. ADSL, DSL, cable modem, etc.) or throgh dial-up, one thing is for sure: you have to take certain measures to ensure the safety of you system and the data on it. Otherwise, you might find yourself crying over what you've lost due to a foolish click with your mouse. Personally, I faced this situation once. But even if it wasn't that serious, you might get stuck in a situation where you find your head wanting to explode out of frustration because you can't go online for no obvious reason!
Well, after facing many nights of frustration, here is my advice. First of all, stop using the most buggiest operating system on the planet (a.k.a. Windows) unless you truely can't help it. Install a respected anti-virus software (e.g.
McAfee VirusScan or
Symantec's Norton AntiVirus) and, most importantly, make sure you have the latest virus definition file for that tool. Install an Adware/Spyware removal utility (e.g.
Lavasoft's AdAware) with the latest update. Use a more secure browser to surf the Web (my choice is
Mozilla's FireFox) and a safer e-mail client (e.g.
Thunderbird). Don't download any files from untrustful sites and don't open any attachments in e-mail from unknown sources (and even if you know the source, it won't hurt to double check by sending him/her an e-mail asking whether indeed this was sent by him/her).
You should also install a firewall software (e.g.
ZoneAlarm or
McAfee's Personal Firewall) to prevent any unintended traffic from accessing or leaving your machine. Finally, if for some reason (a virus/trojan/spyware) you can't go online, scan your system and remove the cause then run a WinSock fixing utility (you can download one over
here and
here, and another solution can be found
here). Damn, I've really got to hurry up the transition process to Unix/Linux. If only I could enable those two RAID IDE channels on my 945G motherboard. :$
More information and safe computing tips can be found on
this link (Safe Hex). And links to useful tools can be found
here.
Posted by A ::
11:13 PM ::
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Saturday, December 10, 2005
It is all about choice...
Oh boy, when it comes to the world of Linux and Unix, it really is all about choice! I've been reviewing various distibutions and my head just can't stop spinning from all what I saw. It is an ocean out there. I saw Live CD distributions, installable distributions, and even very very tiny distributions bootable from your 128 MB USB flash memory drive.
The question right now is: what will I settle on? I'm still putting some hopes on Solaris 10 or OpenSolaris, and I'm really glad that Sun decided to open-source the Java Desktop System (JDS). However, I really liked Ubuntu and it's features. And while Damn Small Linux (DSL) and similar micro-distibutions, such as SchilliX and BeleniX, are not in the picture when it comes to installing an OS on my PC, they are really a very good choice for an on-the-go OS. In fact, I might consider burning a Live CD for BeleniX just to have a feel of Solaris if a full installation is not successful.
For dual booting, I'll probably use GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) , I just hope Windows doesn't complain :$ . One last thought, I'd really love to see Project Looking Glass taking its way into such a world of choices. But while I'm waiting, I'll keep looking at the screenshots found over here and dream of what is to come.
Posted by A ::
2:39 AM ::
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Friday, December 09, 2005
My New PC
I'm now officially using my new PC, at last (thank God). And, man, what a difference! However, I'm also convinced that AMD's new 64-bit processors are a lot better and more stable. Sounds like it is true, Intel is scared of AMD.
Here is what I'm on right now:
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.00 GHz 630 (2MB cache) LGA (Hyper-Threading)
Memory: SpecTek 512 MB DDRAM2 533
Motherboard: Gigabyte 945G (Built-In: Intel GMA 950 "128 MB", Realteck ALC 882 CODEC for sound "8 audio channels", Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet)
HDD: 2 x Western Digital Caviar 80 GB
CD-ROM: Asus 52x
CD-R/RW: Sony CRX230E10 52x/32x/52x
Monitor: BenQ FP71E 17" LCD
I guess there's only one final touch left. Namely, getting rid of Windows. I really want to try Solaris 10. However, after two unsuccessful attempts to install the OS, if the third attempt failed, I think I'll settle down for Ubuntu Linux. Either way, I guess I'll have to dual boot because my brother can't just let "Need for Speed Underground 2" go. :)
Posted by A ::
4:46 AM ::
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