It isn’t your imagination. All browsers (Internet Explorer, Opera, FireFox, Mozilla) all began mysteriously using huge amounts of CPU over the previous year. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I read the forums and had a laugh at how the tech community started scrambling around like chickens in did-you-check-this-and-that mode. That’s bull, I’ve had one computer operating since 2006 that I use to benchmark all new Internet apps, and it suddenly developed the same symptoms. And the problem went away when I re-installed earlier versions. Somebody, somewhere, is up to something, and it ain’t to no good, I can tell you that. Today’s addendum is for any techie types who want more detail.
The population is barely 90,000 but they managed to hold a revolution in 1999. They threw out the politically-oriented newcomers, saying “"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. [But] when I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." It wasn’t much covered by the US media as there is no oil in Guadalcanal, see. So far, there are no surprises, the USA moved a ton of equipment per man against a Japanese one pound per man.
I know lots about the island now. It is jungle and mountain, plagued by earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and hurricanes. Sounds like a fun place, complete with centipedes that give a nasty bite. Throw in malaria and yellow fever. Other than the battle, there is very little information about the place on-line except touting it as a tourist destination. As for the battle, it was a six-month slugging fest that showed the Americans weren’t ready and the Japanese empire was dangerously over-extended.
I’m still in a band. I told you these people were talented, but musicianship in the big sense is not governed by the same polite protocols as real life. I’ll only say that the band reaction to Friday was to publish three short videos as a promo. It mentions by name only the guitar players and all scenes that would give any other impression are edited out. The only conclusion that can be certain is that the video gives a neutral impression of our first big gig.
Nonetheless, all live stage work brings benefits, at least as far as I am concerned. It flags the weaker tunes for replacement. This is a weird procedure but it works. Just like real life, no suggestions by the lowly bass layer are even considered but pap from the pretty gal is instantly incorporated. Tell you what, here are some titles and you’ll see what I mean. “Day After Day” (Badfinger), “Whiter Shade of Pale” (Procol Harem), and “I’ll Be Around” (Spinners). But my suggestion of a real song like “River Deep Mountain High” is ignored.
Sure, ‘tis unfair, but the thing to remember is I have considerable experience dealing with this brand of situation. This incoming new music is a definite move toward pure rock. As such, they are practically handing me a golden opportunity. I’d say it’s clear they’ve had a string of disappointing bass compers and still think in those terms—that I’ll try to skimp by with one-note renditions. Nope, I got my start on that music and I play it with unearthly perfect timing. If you expect to hush me up, you don’t hand me songs by Simple Minds.
Jag has mentioned part of his college involves learning C+ programming because “it has the biggest user base”. That would mean MicroSoft because who else would chose the most error-prone code in the world as a standard. But, this got me to read a book on QBASIC, a language I have never used before. It turns out that BASIC, which itself derived from FORTRAN, will no longer even run on the latest MicroSoft systems. In other words, programming is being taught without any regard to structured thinking. BASIC forces the user to think in terms of organization and efficiency. Without that, you get people generating lines of code that could go on forever and still be wrong.
Sure, I’ll give an example. Examine a program to calculate interest. The C+ programmer would take the principle and multiply it by the interest. Thus, 5% interest on $100 is calculated as ($100 x 1.05 = $105). The $100 is now $105. Can you instantly see what is wrong with this “correct” answer? I’ll spell it out. A real programmer would never alter the $100 original number. If you change it, any error down the line will propagate through the system without indicating anything is wrong. The correct approach is to do a separate calculation of the interest, and then add it to the principle. ($100 x .05 = $5) + $100 = $105. See how the second instance keeps the two numbers separate until they are added together. The base amount of $100 is not changed by the formula. Anything derived from it can be independently and easily inspected.
An hour later, I’m finished the book and it all comes back to me. I have not programmed raw code for decades except primitive devices like the Arduino, and it will remain primitive because of C+. The reasons I chose QBASIC for review include that I am operating IBM computers. QBASIC is MicroSoft's lame version of QuickBasic, the sight and sound software used for Apple McIntosh, particularly their games programs. I’m on familiar territory, where sounds ranges from 37 to 32,767 and one second is 18.1 clock ticks. Patsie, can you confirm that?
ADDENDUM
This may get a bit technical, but read it out of curiosity. I have always resorted to good old DOS when it comes to real virus protection. But you don’t get real DOS any more, you get a shell version activated by the Run… command found when you click the Microsoft start button. So you can imagine my dismay to find that this version has been detuned to prevent certain functions. It makes MicroSoft just as evil as those who write virus code.
Your first item to download and install is Ghostery from the “SoftwareFromTheSeventies” people, or you can find it at a usually trusted source like CNET. Why “usually”? Because those assholes try to trick you into clicking the wrong button. Anyway, Ghostery is an excellent way to block tracking cookies—and it will outright block you from going to malicious sites. Make no bones about it, Google is nothing but spyware. If you have it on your system, it is invading and tracking everything you do. Get Ghostery.
Next, you need to block ActiveX junk. Since these are Microsoft modules, most anti-virus programs don’t detect them as harmful. They install automatically whenever you run Internet Explorer. You don’t need them, I have run my system for years without allowing ActiveX. Use a free program called SpyHunter to block. Again be careful you are getting the real SpyHunter free version from Enigma. Here is a view of their System Guard window.
There is another free program called SpywareBlaster from BrightFort that has a better restore point feature and can be configured to prevent Internet Explorer—and now Mozilla FireFox—from fooling around with your computer when your back is turned.
Two programs you do NOT want to use, or even want them on your computer are Google Chrome and Outlook, the MicroSoft e-mail program. If you have them already, you can never really get rid of them. They spread themselves by following every link you use. Just like viruses.
Now Vista, the operating system. It is not only bad, it is dangerous to your computer’s health. I keep getting messages that I cannot run certain software because I do not have administrator privileges. Yet I am the only user on the computer, which by default makes me the administrator. Are we to conclude that Vista is now a higher authority to whom we must now defer?
ADDENDUM
Last, I promised to tell you how to find zzbrenkzz. I am not going to show you how to open this window or issue these commands. Why? Because if you don’t already know how to get to this point, you could wind up doing a lot of damage to your system. You must use the /a attribute to view these hidden files. Read to the bottom of the list, where it shows the file with 90,624 bytes. It’s zzbrenkzz. This is AFTER the virus has been supposedly removed. You cannot delete this file because you will get a message that it cannot be found. Both situations are indicated by the yellow arrows. You will NEVER convince me that MicroSoft is not responsible for this level of treachery. I like that, "treachery". It's not every day you can call it.
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