Dave Beauvais' Web Site » General

Coolest dining room table ever

Dave Beauvais — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 01:17:57 +0000

As I contemplate the purchase of a house, I’ve been giving some thought to what kinds of furnishings I’ll need to make into my home. For my dining room table, I think one of these will suffice. I have no idea how much they cost, but I suspect I won’t be getting one anytime soon with my current job.

Paying for crappy jeans

Dave Beauvais — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 19:51:14 +0000

Okay, I will admit that my fashion sense is somewhat boring. Those who know me know that a polo style shirt and broken-in, but nice looking jeans are very common wardrobe essentials for me. But try as I might, I cannot understand why someone would pay $50 for this:

Those were listed for $49.97 in an ad in today’s paper. Now maybe I’m missing something, but I just bought a new pair of jeans beacuse my old ones were starting to look like that in the knees and along the cuffs at the bottom. I wonder if some chump would buy them for $25 or so…

Spyware screenshot

Dave Beauvais — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 21:58:24 +0000

This is a screenshot from a system I had to clean of spyware a few weeks ago at work. (Click the thumbnail for the full-size image.) You’ll note that not only does the system have three different spyware search toolbars installed, its home page has been hijacked, and it’s also running DateManager and PrecisionTime from the assholes at ~~Gator~~ Claria Corporation. Before I could make this screenshot I had to remove some other spyware in order to get the system stable enough that Explorer (and Internet Explorer) wouldn’t crash on startup.

Thank you, Microsoft, for making it possible for garbage such as this to install itself via Internet Explorer with little to no help from the unsuspecting user. That’s very kind of you since so many people are out there who would otherwise be unable to install this wonderful software. And an extra special thank you goes out to all the companies who are creating the garbage; I appreciate the job security that you provide me with!

Spyware solutions

Dave Beauvais — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 00:15:37 +0000

Mike Healan of Spyware Info fame is becoming my hero when it comes to fighting spam and spyware. More on that in a couple minutes, though.

If you’ve never had to perform a spyware exorcism on a PC, consider yourself lucky. If you have, you know what a major pain in the ass the process has become recently. I’ve run into systems at work which required three different removal programs and nearly an hour of my time to clean completely. It’s a waste of my time and department resources, a waste of the users’ time, and it’s only going to get worse unless something is done soon.

I feel the greatest fault lies with the companies developing and spreading this software. They are rapidly blurring the line between spyware and virus by designing their software to actively resist removal and even polymorph to avoid detection by spyware removal tools such as Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware. I’m sorry, but any software which comes back after being “uninstalled” or otherwise removed is a virus. Software which installs itself and runs using the name of a legitimate program to avoid being noticed during a cursory glance through a task manager is obviously hiding something — there is no legitimate reason for a piece of third-party software to be named “C:\Windows\SvcHost.exe.”

The spyware companies themselves are not alone in holding the blame, however. A very large portion of this software would never be able to install if Internet Explorer were not so poorly designed and full of gaping security holes. Any Web browser which allows software to be downloaded and installed without the knowledge or consent of the user simply by visiting a Web site deserves to be uninstalled. Oh wait… you can’t uninstall IE. My mistake. If you try to disable any of the insecure aspects of IE, it becomes so annoying with its nearly endless string of nagging dialog boxes that most people just turn ActiveX and other components back on to maintain their sanity. Supposedly Microsoft will take steps to correct this — or at least make it less annoying — when Windows XP Service Pack 2 is released with a new version of IE. Sorry, Microsoft, but it’s too little, too late.

The spyware that isn’t installed automatically using IE is often installed alongside file sharing apps such as KaZaA. At this point, if you’re still using these sharing networks and their spyware-infested client software, you deserve whatever you get. Unfortunately, when someone installs such software at work, we have to clean up the resulting mess.

So what can be done about this? Clearly the spyware “industry” will not regulate itself to stop abuses such as this because companies don’t view themselves as being a problem. In his latest Spyware Weekly Newsletter, Mike Healan shares some of his insightful and remarkably logical ideas to get adware and spyware under control. Sadly, I suspect his views and those of many others will be largely ignored when he sends them to the FCC…

Date and time standards

Dave Beauvais — Thu, 15 Apr 2004 04:06:13 +0000

I’ve been asked a couple times why the dates on my site are displayed the way they are. I use ISO 8601 for writing dates because it removes any ambiguity and eliminates confusion between the various common regional and international formats. YYYY-MM-DD is also logical for sorting and categorizing data using computers. I use a 24-hour time format, but tend to use my local time zone rather than UTC. The linked document above goes into detail about why ISO 8601 exists and why it’s a good idea to use it.

My PDA history

Dave Beauvais — Sun, 04 Apr 2004 19:08:54 +0000

This is a list of the various electronic organizers and PDAs that I’ve owned over the years. (Hey, judging from some peoples’ forum post sigs, some folks are interested in this kind of stuff for whatever reason! )

~~List updated 2004-10-25~~
List updated 2010-04-12

PDA and Organizer History

Sharp 128K Wizard (Gave to a former girlfriend)
OS: Proprietary
CPU: Unknown
RAM: 128 KB
Screen: 16 character, 4 line black and white display, no backlight
Misc: Keyboard input, clamshell case
Casio 256K B.O.S.S (Stolen)
OS: Proprietary
CPU: Unknown
RAM: 256 KB
Screen: Black and white, EL backlight
Misc: Keyboard input, clamshell case
Texas Instruments Avigo 10 (Sold)
OS: Proprietary
CPU: Unknown
RAM: 2 MB
Screen: 160×240 (I think) 4 grayscale, EL backlight
Misc: Built-in protective flip cover, touch-screen stylus input, on-screen keyboard, and T9 predictive input
Uniden Unipro PC100A (Sold)
OS: Microsoft Windows CE 2.1
CPU: 33 MHz MIPS
RAM: 8 MB
Screen: 240×320 4 grayscale, EL backlight
Misc: Built-in 28.8 Kbps modem, CF II slot
Palm m505 (Sold)
OS: Palm OS 4.0
CPU: ?MHz Dragonball
RAM: 8 MB
Screen: Reflective TFT, 160×160 16-bit color
Casio Cassiopeia E-200 (CompUSA warranty exchange for Toshiba e740)
OS: Microsoft Pocket PC 2002
CPU: 266 MHz Intel ARM
RAM: 64 MB
Screen: Reflective TFT, 240×320 16-bit color
Info: I went through four defective units before finally deciding to make use of my CompUSA TAP to get a different model Pocket PC.
Toshiba e740 (CompUSA warranty exchange for HP iPAQ h5455)
OS: Microsoft Pocket PC 2002
CPU: 400 MHz Intel Xscale
RAM: 64 MB
Screen: Reflective TFT, 240×320 16-bit color
Info: Two defective or malfunctioning units made me use another CompUSA TAP to get the following Pocket PC…
HP iPAQ h5455 (CompUSA warranty exchange for HP iPAQ hx4700)
OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC (Upgraded from Pocket PC 2002)
CPU: 400 MHz Intel Xscale
RAM: 64 MB
Screen: Transflective TFT, 240×320 16-bit color
Info: The first h5455 I bought had a defective touchscreen, but the second one performed virtually trouble-free for about thirteen months. It developed a problem with the charge/sync connector which I lived with for nearly another year. When plugged into a PC, Windows would display an error bubble which stated “Unrecognized USB Device.” I tried three different cradles on four different PCs with both Windows XP and 2000 with the same results. Additionally since the connector was damaged, I could no longer charge the device in a cradle. Instead, it had to be placed flat on the desk with the charge cable plugged directly into it. In order to make contact, something had to be placed under the charge connector to hold it up at an angle. Aside from that problem, I loved owning this device and had no complaints whatsoever. To date, I owned that Pocket PC longer than any other PDA.
HP iPAQ hx4700
OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC (Later upgraded to Windows Mobile 6 via cooked ROM)
CPU: 624 MHz Intel Xscale
RAM: 64 MB
Screen: Transflective TFT, 480×640 16-bit color
Info: Wow. Just wow. This is, by far, the best Pocket PC I have ever owned or used. The large VGA-resolution LCD is simply stunning. The CPU is speedy and for everything that’s crammed inside, it’s remarkably thin. It’s also nice to have dual card slots back so I can use large CompactFlash cards again.
Palm Treo 700w (Sold to former coworker)
Carrier: Verizon Wireless
OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5
CPU: I don’t remember
RAM: 32 MB
Screen Transflective TFT, 240×240 16-bit color
Info: Aside from the front-facing keyboard, this phone was very disappointing. Not enough RAM and the tiny screen really killed this one for me. Simply loading a Web page in IE would consume so much RAM that all other apps running in the background would quit.
Verizon xv6700 (Still have, but never use.)
Carrier: Verizon Wireless
OS: Windows Mobile 5 (Upgraded via cooked ROM to Windows Mobile 6, which really revitalized it and got rid of a lot of the useless Verizon crap. I used this phone for almost another year because of that upgrade.)
CPU: Don’t remember
RAM: Enough to get by
Screen: Transflective TFT, 240×320 16-bit color
Info: Slide-out keyboard. Very brick-like, even for its time, but a very capable phone. The keyboard backlight was blue, and very difficult to see. I believe the Sprint version had a white backlight, which would have been much more usable.
Samsung BlackJack II (Still have, use for testing.)
Carrier: AT&T Wireless
OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Edition
CPU: Don’t remember
RAM: Don’t remember
Screen: Non-touch transflective TFT, 320×240, 16-bit color
Info: Probably the best non-touchscreen Windows Mobile device made. Lack of touch really got frustrating, though.
Palm Treo Pro (Sitll have, use for testing.)
Carrier: Unlocked, use with AT&T Wireless
OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition
CPU: Don’t remember
RAM: Don’t remember
Info: Best. Treo. Ever. (In my opinion.) Still like this phone, but finally so frustrated with Windows Mobile that I felt I needed to move to something else…
Google Nexus One
Carrier: Unlocked, use with AT&T Wireless
OS: Android OS 2.1
CPU: 1 GHz Qualcom Snapdragon
RAM: 512 MB
Screen: AMOLED 480×800, capacitive touch
Info: My first non-Windows Mobile Phone in almost twelve years. I was expecting the transition to be painful, but I miss only two things about Windows Mobile: seamless Exchange support, and S/MIME support for e-mail. Seriously, that’s all I miss. This is one amazing phone. It has some growing pains to get past which I hope will be addressed with a future software update, but I really love this phone quite a bit.

AAAAARGH! Stop opening attachments!

Dave Beauvais — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 04:03:09 +0000

Alright, this one goes out to all the idiots out there who seem to feel compelled to open and run each and every damn e-mail attachment they receive. Stop it! Stop. It. If you open and run an infected e-mail attachment, you personally are responsible for the thirty-seven infected messages that have shown up in my mailbox in the last two hours.

Get a virus scanner, keep it updated, and use it. They’re not that expensive, and some are even free. Most importantly, however, is to simply stop opening every attachment that comes your way simply because it’s there. The virus authors are relying on stupid people to do stupid things and the fact that these things spread so quickly around the world proves that there is no shortage of people who should be prohibited from operating a computer. I’m sorry if that sounds elitist and snobbish, but this crap must stop.

Microsoft doesn’t e-mail patches!

Dave Beauvais — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 04:05:40 +0000

It seems another Trojan is making the rounds via e-mail disguised as a critical security update for Windows XP. I can’t repeat this enough: Microsoft never—ever—e-mails patches or updates to anyone. They may send e-mails about a patch, but will never send you the patch itself. If you receive an e-mail that appears to come from Microsoft and has an attached file, simply delete it and smile knowing that you’re smarter than the thousands of people who will get infected by this crap.

Want to write like an AOL user?

Dave Beauvais — Thu, 25 Dec 2003 04:06:55 +0000

I saw a link to “The English-to-12-Year-Old-AOLer Translator” on someone’s blog this evening and thought I’d pass it along. If you ever need to write something that will make you look like an AOL subscriber, just use this free service to translate it! It’s guaranteed to take even the most well-crafted language and turn it into the kind of meaningless drivel you’d find in an AOL chat room.

Windows XP’s brain-dead searches

Dave Beauvais — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 03:53:28 +0000

A few minutes ago I tried to search a folder for .php files which contain a certain text string. I know with 100% certainty that at least one of the files contains the string, yet Windows XP found nothing. Nothing. What the hell good is a search when it doesn’t work? I did some research and found the reason for this. Why does it happen? Because Microsoft developers, in their infinite wisdom, decided that Windows XP should “not search all file[s] to enhance the performance of searching and to avoid extraneous results.” That is a direct quote from this Knowledge Base article.

I’m sorry, but that is just absurd. Maybe — maybe — I could accept that explanation for Windows XP Home Edition, but not Professional. Even running the resoruce hogging Indexing Service won’t help in this situation! The only way to fix this is to add a damn registry key for each file type I may want to search. This is progress? This is helpful? No, this is bullshit.

Does anyone know a way to make the search feature work as it did in previous versions of Windows without having to jump through a bunch of hoops or having to edit the registry each time I come up with another file type I need to search? If so, please add a comment to this post and you will have my eternal gratitude.

Update
After some more searching, this is apparently a widely despised “feature” of Windows XP. While there are work-arounds, most people have just resorted to bypassing the find feature of the OS and use a shareware or freeware alternative. Agent Ransack seems to come highly recommended.