http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070928-215230
Why does Windows XP try to stop me from opening my own file?

It is my copy of Windows - I paid the licence fee. It is registered in my name. I use is every day. Every day for 3 years. So why does it not know who the publisher is? And if it doesn't know then why does it not at least ask me if I know! Obviously it just assumes that I am also so stupid.

Now you all probably think that this is something like the User Account Control in Windows Vista, and that it can be disabled. You know, like psychiatrists did in the 1930s, if too stupid then destroy it. Well I thought so too - until I tried.

In order to kill the stupid "Security Warnings" you have to be a computer genius. If there is a computer genius out there who knows how to do this - please email me or leave detailed instructions in a comment. TIA]]> http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070910-182903 **(my friend's name)** says: 12:06:35 PM
hey
--------------------------------12:06:57 PM
where I put ur photo :D
--------------------------------12:07:00 PM
now u populr
--------------------------------12:07:04 PM
http;//www.******.net/*****-gallerys/usr****/dsc027.jpg

(I changed text to asterisks.)

The wording was not what he would ever write, so I knew that it could not be my friend, but the link seemed harmless enough and I was curious to know if it was a picture of myself. How can opening a JPEG image harm my computer. So I clicked on the link to see what it was and I was immediately prompted to accept a .SCR file.

.SCR files, when harmless, are screen savers. But they can just as easily be malicious viruses or worms. NEVER accept an unsolicited .SCR file.

How does a .JPG turn into a .SCR? Very easily. Any beginner cyber-criminal would know how to do it.

But what is more interesting is that this lowlife managed to masquerade as my friend. That was a waste of good intelligence.

Now I must worry about my Skype chat as well! I think that I have reason to be grumpy ;-)]]> http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070908-160919
Maybe those are the same people who gladly open their car windows to accept pamphlets being handed out in the street. But I doubt that. Their are some who regularly forward these emails and at the same time complain bitterly about spam.

Obviously there are many who like that kind of thing. But do you know for sure which of your friends appreciate the unsolicited messages and actually see them as the electronic equivalent of chain letters or junk mail?

Are you a friend or a spammer? Try tagging a line onto your next forwarded message that says: "If you wish to continue receiving these sort of forwarded emails then send me an email asking me for more otherwise I will stop forwarding future emais of this type to you." - If most ask for more then you are indeed a friend. But remember to stop sending to those who did not ask for more.

Besides wasting internet bandwidth, cluttering the inbox, wasting time and adding to workday stress sorting out the real mail from the junk mail, the forwarded email might also come with a payload of malware. No matter how good your anti-virus software is, it cannot detect most malware payloads that are hidden or linked to in emails.

Fortunately I use Thunderbird which is an email client with a built-in junk filter that learns to automatically delete spam. But junk mail still wastes bandwidth and time to download. And then if your friend sends you a real message the junk filter may delete it because it has learned that your friend is a spammer.

Only human's let their emotions decide the right thing to do. Although, the emotional ideas of programmers sometimes make computers to illogical things too. If not, spam would not exist.]]> http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070829-145237
I don't know whether other banks also offer this service, but they should because it is a win win win situation. The customer saves 30%, the shopkeeper pays nothing to the bank but saves on cash deposit fees, and the bank doesn't need to spend $$$ on an ATM. ]]> http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070829-003559
Did you know that the tops of your car tyres are travelling at double the speed of the car, that the bottom of the car tyre never moves, and that the front and rear of the tyres move just as fast down and up as forward? If you give it some thought you will understand that it is essentially true.

Well progress is like a car's tyre. To make some real progress some things must progress faster than others, and some things suffer setbacks or go down while still other things wait their turn.

Take the progress of electronics as it pertains to the ubiquitous cellphone. The early cellphones, now playfully referred to as 'bricks', were large, heavy, and only did one thing - make wireless telephone calls. Later versions added the ability to SMS. Everybody reading this article is old enough to have witnessed the progress since then. Cellphones models are available that tell you how, or at least where, to drive your car, play hi-fi music, and live TV, include auto-focusing and image stabilizing video cameras and can still make phone calls. But, have you ever spared a moment to think of how this fast progress is made possible?

The answer is by rapid progress of computer design aids. It is a humbling realisation that no one in the world is capable of designing a cellphone circuit board without the help of specialised computer programs and computer-controlled machines.

In my opinion the really clever progress is in these computer design tools - they are at the top of the tyre on the road to progress.]]> http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070809-153009
What's wrong with this picture? I will list 3 things:

1) It makes the assumption that I will lose work. The only time that that is true is if I am working on a remote computer and dropping the connection will cause the session to reset. In all other cases the computer goes into hybernation and only time is lost.

2) It suggests that you could change your battery. Well I haven't tried this because I don't have a spare battery - but I imagine that removing the old battery will cause an immediate power-down that won't give Windows time to go into hibernation and is thus more likely to cause damage.

3) The computer is already on "outlet power". See the charging icon in the notification area.

But the worst feature is not shown on the image above, and that is if you leave the computer on battery a bit longer it goes into hibernation - that's good - but then, like a responsible computer user, you put it on charge, and leave it on charge until the next day. Now you switch on the computer and the first thing you see is a bold warning message that says something to the effect of; "Your battery is critically low, switch to outlet power immediately to avoid losing your work." The first time I saw this I immediately switched off the computer and took the charger in for repairs. It wasted a week of my computer time!]]> http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070729-041133 ]]> http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070726-130405
This must be one of the best inventions of the 21st century. The mechanical design is such that, in spite of its small size, it is very stable and easy to fly. With a bit of practice you can send it flying from room to room and then have it land on your hand.]]> http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070725-113527 http://aiwatch.shoso.com/index.php?entry=entry070724-224532
A computer program developed at the University of Alberta is up to the challenge. Personally I would love to challenge any computer to a game of Hold'em.]]>