Activity for August 8

Review - WinPatrol
15.0.2008.0 (Apr 25, 2008)

Been using this program since version 9.x and cannot live without it.

Not only will it give you real-time warnings of any changes being made to your system, but the PLUS version offers a huge database of information on all the files which it detects. I paid for this program and cannot praise it highly enough. The new version has ActiveX controls for IE as well.

Also, the developer is a wonderful guy who really knows his stuff and you should check out his blog.
Review - avast! Free Antivirus
4.8.1169 (Mar 31, 2008)

A couple of weeks ago my computer began hanging every time I booted up and finally I had to take it to my local PV repair shop. The techs there are excellent and have done very good work for me in the past.

Anyway, when I went back to pick up the PC, the tech told me that my problem had been caused by my Norton Antivirus, which has essentially "broken" the machine.

They fixed it by completely removing all traces of Norton, and installing Avast instead, which they told me was their preference. It's been working great so far, has already saved me from an online attack and I upgraded to this new version this morning.

I rarely write reviews, but I have to say this is a very reliable antivirus program. And the price is right too. ;)
Review - FreeRAM XP Pro
1.52 (Updated) (Mar 28, 2006)

I Have not tried this program, however:

RAM RAM Optimizers/Defragmenters

Myth - "Increasing the amount of available RAM improves performance."

Reality - "RAM Optimizers have no effect, and at worst, they seriously degrade performance. Although gaining more available memory might seem beneficial, it isn't. As RAM Optimizers force the available-memory counter up, they force other processes' data and code out of memory.

Say that you're running Word, for example. As the optimizer forces the available-memory counter up, the text of open documents and the program code that was part of Word's working set before the optimization (and was therefore present in physical memory) must be reread from disk as you continue to edit your document.

The act of allocating, then freeing a large amount of virtual memory might, as a conceivable side effect, lead to blocks of contiguous available memory. However, because virtual memory masks the layout of physical memory from processes, processes can't directly benefit from having virtual memory backed by contiguous physical memory.

As processes execute and undergo working-set trimming and growth, their virtual-memory-to-physical-memory mappings will become fragmented despite the availability of contiguous memory."

The source of this article can be found at:

http://mywebpages.comcas.../SupportCD/XPMyths.html
Review - CCleaner for Windows
1.28.277 (Mar 24, 2006)

You Should NEVER Clean out the Prefetch folder; and here's why:

http://mywebpages.comcas.../SupportCD/XPMyths.html

Also:

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000743.html
Review - SlickRun
3.9.6.2 Beta (Nov 2, 2005)

I haven't tried this program, so I cannot comment on it specificaly. However, correct me if I'm wrong, but is it not possible to write simple batch files anymore ?

I wrote a small batch file which would open my mail client by simply typing "MAIL" about 10 years ago.

I guess my age must be shoing here...hmmm...
Comment - We want your Windows XP memories
3.9.6.2 Beta (Aug 8, 2011 - 10:14 PM)

My memories of XP ?

I had been running Windows 98SE - then I upgraded to XP Pro.

It was like the difference between...well, you can figure it out.
Comment - Senate's antitrust head asks for rejection of AT&T, T-Mobile deal
3.9.6.2 Beta (Jul 20, 2011 - 9:18 PM)

This may be a comedy sketch - but it's based on how things were back in those days...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9e3dTOJi0o

"We Don't Care. We Don't have to...we're the phone company."
Comment - Verizon confirms end of unlimited data plans
3.9.6.2 Beta (Jul 5, 2011 - 9:23 PM)

From The NY Times:

"A study by Validas, a company that analyses its customers’ bills to match them with an efficient phone plan, said that the upcharge on Verizon smartphone users was steep. Under the current plan, Verizon’s unlimited data plan is $30. Under the new tiered service, the lowest priced plan, 2GB per month, will be $30. Other tiers will be 5GB for $50 and 10GB for $80. Overage is $10 per 1 GB.

Validas said it studied 11,000 Verizon Wireless bills that had been submitted for analysis and found that 96 percent of Verizon smartphone users consumed less than the 2GB of the minimum tier each month. In fact, 36 percent used less than 75MB of data. And less than 1 percent of the Verizon Wireless users consumed more than 5GB of data.

That means that most consumers won’t have to spend any more than they did for the unlimited plan. But that might be cold comfort to people who buy the unlimited plan as a kind of insurance policy — they overpay so they never have worry about going over, even if in actuality they use nowhere near the limit.

I’m not sure Validas’s suggestion of more tiers of service so that people can be more closely matched to their actual usage is the answer either. For one, mobile contracts are confusing enough as it is, adding more tiers won’t make it any easier. “It is a fine line between giving the consumer too many options so it’s confusing, and too few so it doesn’t fit,” said Dylan Breslin-Barnhart, a Validas spokesperson.

The second reason more tiers might not make sense is that with the rapid increase of data use, Verizon may have built in reasonable room for growth — their lowest-end users might be burning up close to 2GB of data by the time their contracts run out in two years."

http://gadgetwise.blogs....le-data-plan-july-7/?hp
Comment - Are you one of the two in three Americans who still doesn't use a smartphone? What a shame
3.9.6.2 Beta (Jul 5, 2011 - 9:20 PM)

And not only that -

But I also have never been on Facebook or Twitter; have been out of contract and on a simple month-to-month family plan with Verizon for the past four years, share 550 minutes with my my wife (we both have "feature phones") and have never exceeded our monthly allotment.

I still have a landline which I use for both business and pleasure and -- many of my friends also operate under similar circumstances.

Most of these newer devices are toys - push buttons, watch idiotic content, share boring photos...

Sorry, I'm much too busy trying to improve my skills on one of my musical instruments - which requires actual hard work in real time and cannot be helped by a new electronic toy.
Comment - Google+ is a marketing sensation
3.9.6.2 Beta (Jul 3, 2011 - 8:21 PM)

Ummm....

It's the 4th of July weekend.

If anything, I'm talking about the anniversary of the birth of our nation, back in 1776.

I mean - you could always stretch it and talk about Benjamin Franklin, who discovered electricity...without which there would be no Apple, or Google - or even Betanews, for that matter.