Bent Corner

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One of the most annoying things about working with Microsoft Vista is dealing with User Access Control (UAC). It’s this annoying pop-up that, well, pops up when you try to open certain programs. It asks you if you really, really want to run the program you just tried to open. It asks the first time you run the program. It asks the second time you run the program. It asks each and every time you run the program. It doesn’t matter if you have answered in the affirmative thousands and thousands of times. It will still ask.

It’s a stupid security feature that doesn’t make your computer the least bit more secure. It’s just one of those things Microsoft threw in to Vista to make it look like things are more secure. It’s like having to take off your shoes before boarding an aircraft. Nether practice makes anything more secure.

I looked online for advice on how to work around this annoying feature. This is what I found:

Disabling User Account Control:

1. Press Windows + R, type msconfig and hit enter.
2. Select the Tools tab
3. Find Disable UAC (near the bottom)
4. Click on Launch
5. Restart the Computer

Tags: Annoying Features, Microsoft, Security, UAC, User Account Control, Vista

My PC has been running slow lately. When I would check out the performance in Windows Task Manager, the CPU would often show something close to 100%. I thought it had something to do with Firefox since it was when I had several tabs and even browser windows running when the problem showed up. Then again, my PC usually has a couple Firefox windows up all of the time.

It wasn’t until I tried setting up my new external hard drive that my PC was heavily fragmented.

If you are Mac user or a fake UNIX (Linux) user, you probably don’t even know what a fragmented hard drive is. It’s something only we Microsoft users have to deal with. I used to be hyper diligent when it came to defragmenting my hard drives. Over time I just got out of the habit of doing it. I guess one of the reasons I let the task fall to the wayside was because I don’t think I’ve ever fixed a PC problem by running Defrag. It was always just something I did before actually finding the real cause of whatever problem I was dealing with.

Since defraging my C: drive, I’ve noticed a remarkable difference. It’s ridiculously fast now.

Tags: Defrag, Fragmented Hard Drive, Linux, Mac, Microsoft

I stopped in to the Hagerstown Best Buy yesterday and ended up buying a new hard drive. It’s a Western Digital 500GB External Hard Drive.

I took it up to the register and the the total came out to be over $170. I knew the Maryland sales tax went up recently, but not that high. I told her that the tag said it was on sales for $129. She told me that she could go grab a weekly sales ad and take a look. She looked though the entire ad, but the hard drive could not be found. She then called the computer area and asked them to look for the posted price.

Luckily there wasn’t anyone else waiting in line. I hate holding things up.

The person called her back and informed her that that price was indeed $129. This is getting to be a definite pattern on the part of Best Buy. Other then a spindle of blank DVD +R discs, the last few items I have purchased there have scanned in at the register at a price different then what was posted in either the weekly ad or the sign displayed where the item was sitting.

I don’t mean to be bitching about Best Buy. I’m old enough to remember ordering peripherals for my Commodore 64 over the telephone when I was stationed on Guam. I was calling a 1-800 number, but to call anywhere in the United States was .99 a minute from Guam. The dork I was talking to on the phone was taking his sweet old time taking my order. If I didn’t want that second 1541 floppy drive so badly, I would have hung up.

The point is, I remember what it was like living in a world without Best Buy.

Tags: Best Buy, Commodore 64, Guam

I swore I would never by another Windows computer ever again. Staples then put the HP Pavillion dv6000 on sale for $550. What the hell? How can I pass that up? So far, I’m loving this notebook. It has built in wireless so I can sit here in the living room on my recliner while I surf the Internet. Is it still referred to as surfing the Internet?

I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m sitting in the living room in my recliner watching stuff on YouTube. Life’s pretty good.

Tags: HP Pavillion dv6000, Staples, Windows, YouTube