General good progress all around today. Great bike-riding weather. I don’t know what else to tempt you with, because it was also a dead quiet day. Let’s see, tidbits always work well in this situation. No, not writers block, for I can think of dozens of things not to write about.California Johnny has disappeared to downtown. It was a matter of time, since that is where his has that government job. Wallace got out behind the forest and swept up the trash and wrappers that accumulate there in the wind. I’d like to know how customers are installing Instant Messaging on my computers when they are using only a “limited” account. One customer has done this in Cyrillic and nobody dares click on anything.
That last topic is a perennial. I don’t care if people use Instant Messaging, although I consider it the sure mark of an air-headed yoyo. You should never install anything on a computer that does not belong to you. Only a yoyo would not understand that. But what gets me is how can they install it? My computers are locked down against installs. My guess is that it must fire itself up in RAM during the boot process. If they can do it, so can I, if you get my drift.
The Pudding-Tat update. She is adapted to living in the west wing of the premises. Her and Millie-Belle don’t get along yet, although she can certainly hold her own against the dog who is 25 times bulkier. When the dog is out, she comes in and takes over the place. Pudding-Tat finally stopped growing at 24” with a 7” tail. The “girl operation” of May this year does not appear to have had any undesired side effects. Like all cats and several people I know, she sleeps most of the time.
In several lengthy searches of the Internet, I am unable to find my “change-giver” machine. For that matter, I have not even seen any commentary on the subject. More proof that the Internet is a vast ocean only one inch deep. The same with vinyl lettering. I got the 4” size two blocks from here, but the 5” size I require for visibility from the street are proving hard to find. Every search comes up with commercial places that want to charge me a fortune. One question always perplexed me—why do sign shops go on about “custom” orders? By definition, most signs are different than other signs, or the whole world would only need the same sign. “Custom”, my eye.
I removed the snack vending machine from the shop. No business. Also no loss, because they gave me that machine when I bought the soda dispenser. Generally the shop is more streamlined than ever and I’ve been able to cut down on the hours spent there. I need to find out if the increases are due to advertising, the new system, or my being present. That combination is not easy to test.
Who remembers emachines? These were supposed to be the computer that ensured you never missed an upgrade. I keep hearing they are defunct but then another instance shows up. Today I saw a brand new unit, and it has a customized version of Windows XP. Normally I don’t touch such things. This one had the 2009 Virus so bad it was blocking all programs. That means the owner has nothing to lose, so I’ll try to disk wipe and reinstall the entire system. It was also a personal referral, although I am not convinced that is always the best advertising.
Incidentally, the emachine has a restoral feature that completely reinstalls the operating system, wiping out everything else except a few software trial versions. I would not have found this, except the 2009 Virus triggered it, which would be a nasty surprise for anyone whose computer does not have said restoral feature. (All files that could be backed up were before I got to this stage. Way ahead of the advice-givers on that one.) Later, I am informed several manufacturers have now included a full restoral feature. I wonder how many make it clear it destroys all your files?
