Wow! I have to give it to these money sucking organizations. First, they're having issues because of the economy so many corporations that offer these are getting billions in bail outs that only the rich of the organization are seeing. And on top of that there are all sorts of fees!
I know, I for one am calling and canceling my one card today and never looking back. I will do my part in ruining the American economy. Maybe I'll start my own little money hourde like they did during the depression. Cookie jars will be my investment.
Why?
1. I do not get paper statements or e-mail statements, bizarre, right? Evidently they don't do paper anymore, and I didn't register online. I didn't think it was an issue, because this is a "for emergency" deal.
2. Today, I had a missed call this morning from an obscure number and no message, assuming it was nothing, I didn't look it up online or anything. This afternoon I get another call that I have some sort of late fee and if I don't pay by Friday then something really really bad will happen.
3. I went online, logged on, and viewed my statement, and have over a $100 charge!
4. In January I was hit with a "Annual Membership Fee" which I did not get any notification about, and then every month since then I've had another $15 late fee for not paying. And now they're probably about to send to some collection agency. Thanks.
5. I call them right away, and you know what? They have office hours. I thought banks were supposed to always have people on staff in case of an emergency. Evidently Not.
Anyway, I will be calling tomorrow, giving them an ear full (and I'm very glad it will be "recorded for quality assurance") and canceling. And probably paying an astronomical fee to a college student so I won't ruin my credit this soon in my life.
"But on the sleepless city nights, I'm just a shadow 'neath the street lights"
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Trojans, Virus and Malware, oh my!
I just want to give you all a quick little (not comprehensive) tutorial on malware and what you can do.
Prevention, Prevention, prevention!
Think of an STD, if you're not going to abstain from using the internet, downloading files, or even putting a flashdrive into your computer, think about some protection.
There's plenty of free downloads, schools offer McAfee pretty cheap, and everyone has something else to say about what they recommend. So shop around, and keep it up to date at all times! (Nobody wants an old condom! It may have holes, and like old virus protection...that's how those pesky things get in).
I do not recommend going blindly through the internet, because some people who create viruses think it'll be fun to put them on these sites that tech-geeks frequent in order to test them out.
Next, do you have a virus?
Are you constantly getting pop-ups? Clue number 1. Also, if your machine is just buggy, logging you off, and basically hating on you. Also, some malware blocks the links to sites such as lavasoft, malware bytes, mcafee, etc. So if you are getting errors going to these pages, I'd be worried...Chances are you may be infected! Uh oh.
What can you do about it?
If you catch it soon enough and it's not that mean, then you can run ad-aware, or some other nice program which may be able to do the dirty work for you...I'm not going to make an analogy here.
Gosh! It's still not gone, now what?
Ad-Aware not working and you got there too late? Okay, well, I would recommend running a log file...such as Hijack this. You'll get something that looks like this:
Now this is the fun part! Go through manually, and if something looks suspicious (generally files that say Intel, DVD blah are generally things that your computer needs to run so you can eyeball/skip those=not very suspicious) look it up! There's lots of information out there about these things. A lot of times these bad things are .exe
psvrr and Zchmib I can tell you right now are no good.
If you can't find information about something and it looks like this aoruiqw4t9h23i.,dll or something else. Just...remove it.
To remove start in safemode, and put a file on your computer (if you just delete it, this will trigger other little bugs your computer may have to lash out! And you don't want that) Also, do NOT open the file that you are moving.
Hopefully this will get it done.
AHHH! Now when I start up I'm getting errors!
Eh. That's fine, chances are this crazy looking error box at start-up is just the registry trying to locate the virus it was calling, which is now safely residing in some folder that you will NEVER open again...Go to regedit (through run) and search. Delete the entry that has the name that it finds that is the same that the error specifies.
Seriously....The virus is still there!
Okay, Look again at the log, and if there's still things that weren't there before chances are there is something on your computer that doesn't want to go away. I hate hide and seek. Just go to SafeMode, (hopefully you looked to see when the first instance of the virus was...sometimes they change the date registry on you, but it'll probably be sometime relatively recent and not 2007). And Now go to System Restore, pick a date when you weren't infected and viola!
It won't do anything...what??
Now, your life as far as technology goes, is over. Don't fret, Hopefully you have all your important files backed up (if not...and you don't have anything wrong with your computer, and you're currently reading this for future reference, invest a little money in an external hard drive TODAY!) and reformat! This will put your computer back to square one. Literally, like when you bought it. If you have a cd that your computer came with, that'll work well. :)
Good luck, and safe phishing!
Prevention, Prevention, prevention!
Think of an STD, if you're not going to abstain from using the internet, downloading files, or even putting a flashdrive into your computer, think about some protection.
There's plenty of free downloads, schools offer McAfee pretty cheap, and everyone has something else to say about what they recommend. So shop around, and keep it up to date at all times! (Nobody wants an old condom! It may have holes, and like old virus protection...that's how those pesky things get in).
I do not recommend going blindly through the internet, because some people who create viruses think it'll be fun to put them on these sites that tech-geeks frequent in order to test them out.
Next, do you have a virus?
Are you constantly getting pop-ups? Clue number 1. Also, if your machine is just buggy, logging you off, and basically hating on you. Also, some malware blocks the links to sites such as lavasoft, malware bytes, mcafee, etc. So if you are getting errors going to these pages, I'd be worried...Chances are you may be infected! Uh oh.
What can you do about it?
If you catch it soon enough and it's not that mean, then you can run ad-aware, or some other nice program which may be able to do the dirty work for you...I'm not going to make an analogy here.
Gosh! It's still not gone, now what?
Ad-Aware not working and you got there too late? Okay, well, I would recommend running a log file...such as Hijack this. You'll get something that looks like this:
Now this is the fun part! Go through manually, and if something looks suspicious (generally files that say Intel, DVD blah are generally things that your computer needs to run so you can eyeball/skip those=not very suspicious) look it up! There's lots of information out there about these things. A lot of times these bad things are .exe
psvrr and Zchmib I can tell you right now are no good.
If you can't find information about something and it looks like this aoruiqw4t9h23i.,dll or something else. Just...remove it.
To remove start in safemode, and put a file on your computer (if you just delete it, this will trigger other little bugs your computer may have to lash out! And you don't want that) Also, do NOT open the file that you are moving.
Hopefully this will get it done.
AHHH! Now when I start up I'm getting errors!
Eh. That's fine, chances are this crazy looking error box at start-up is just the registry trying to locate the virus it was calling, which is now safely residing in some folder that you will NEVER open again...Go to regedit (through run) and search
Seriously....The virus is still there!
Okay, Look again at the log, and if there's still things that weren't there before chances are there is something on your computer that doesn't want to go away. I hate hide and seek. Just go to SafeMode, (hopefully you looked to see when the first instance of the virus was...sometimes they change the date registry on you, but it'll probably be sometime relatively recent and not 2007). And Now go to System Restore, pick a date when you weren't infected and viola!
It won't do anything...what??
Now, your life as far as technology goes, is over. Don't fret, Hopefully you have all your important files backed up (if not...and you don't have anything wrong with your computer, and you're currently reading this for future reference, invest a little money in an external hard drive TODAY!) and reformat! This will put your computer back to square one. Literally, like when you bought it. If you have a cd that your computer came with, that'll work well. :)
Good luck, and safe phishing!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Wilde
If I could meet one person, dead or alive, I believe it would be Oscar Wilde. The mix of cynicism and sarcasm makes me laugh every time. The fact that it is widely known that he liked the boys, adds an edge to him that is not rivaled by many of his time.
I recently picked up one of his plays, and this as well did not fail me in amusement, and creating a sense of bitter hatred for the upper class, women, and men.
An Ideal Husband is a short and easy pool-side read (at least that's where I decided to pick it up...however I finished it at a park).
A few key excerpts (one can find many in this book):
Mabel Chiltren: Why do you call Lord Goring good for nothing?
Lord Caversham: Because he leads such an idle life.
Mabel Chiltren: How can you say such a thing? Why he rides in the Row at ten o'clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don't call that leading an idle life, do you?
(Well...do you? Poor Mabel! To lead an idle life would be quite rewarding in itself, but alas, only a few are granted the privilege of this life...for some reason the first name that comes to my mind is Paris Hilton)
And the more I turn the pages, the more quotes I find that I want to share with you...
Mrs. Cheveley: Ah! The strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analysed, women...merely adored.
Continuing at dinner, of course none of the women wish to eat but to only "sit beside you, and watch you." How trivial!
Lady Basildon: I Never take supper, thank you...
Mrs Marchmont: Thank you, Mr. Montford, I never touch supper...
(Can we pick out some modern day anorexics? How about that Full House twin or Lindsay Lohan?)
And so it continues....those were just a few snipets from Act I. If you would like to read more, I implore you to read the play, and enjoy!
I main theme comes out, exposing the folly's of how "mistakes" made in your past can come back and haunt you...but, ya know, it may all turn out in the end.
So eat your food, drink your wine, enjoy life, and destroy all evidence in the process! (Too bad there's internet now-a-days!)
I recently picked up one of his plays, and this as well did not fail me in amusement, and creating a sense of bitter hatred for the upper class, women, and men.
An Ideal Husband is a short and easy pool-side read (at least that's where I decided to pick it up...however I finished it at a park).
A few key excerpts (one can find many in this book):
Mabel Chiltren: Why do you call Lord Goring good for nothing?
Lord Caversham: Because he leads such an idle life.
Mabel Chiltren: How can you say such a thing? Why he rides in the Row at ten o'clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don't call that leading an idle life, do you?
(Well...do you? Poor Mabel! To lead an idle life would be quite rewarding in itself, but alas, only a few are granted the privilege of this life...for some reason the first name that comes to my mind is Paris Hilton)
And the more I turn the pages, the more quotes I find that I want to share with you...
Mrs. Cheveley: Ah! The strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analysed, women...merely adored.
Continuing at dinner, of course none of the women wish to eat but to only "sit beside you, and watch you." How trivial!
Lady Basildon: I Never take supper, thank you...
Mrs Marchmont: Thank you, Mr. Montford, I never touch supper...
(Can we pick out some modern day anorexics? How about that Full House twin or Lindsay Lohan?)
And so it continues....those were just a few snipets from Act I. If you would like to read more, I implore you to read the play, and enjoy!
I main theme comes out, exposing the folly's of how "mistakes" made in your past can come back and haunt you...but, ya know, it may all turn out in the end.
So eat your food, drink your wine, enjoy life, and destroy all evidence in the process! (Too bad there's internet now-a-days!)
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Democracy
My guess is that within 200 years, the USofA will be virtually nonexistent. Democracy is overrated, and only leads to bureaucracy and red tape. People who know how to play the system will use it for the benefit of themselves, and the more qualified person will be left out in the cold.
The "forefathers" of America did not believe that the average person was competent enough to make their own decisions, that's why the formed the electoral college. Good for them. Even the most sane person will follow a crowd blindly. Take the Milgram experiment. A pristine example of what listening to authority (media, etc) does to people. This was used to explain the tragedies of the Holocaust and actually got a lot of people out of war crimes.
via videograter.com
Democracy doesn't work. People listen to others, and if you want to get anything done, democracy is not the way. The United States is not even the biggest democracy (with only a measley 2 party system). India is. India has 7 national parties and at least47 state parties (thank you Wikipedia!) Imagine the issues there!
So, yes we have a democratic system, rivaled to be the best of the world, but look where it got us. We're on the decline and other countries are soon to take over the most coveted #1 spot (within 25 years...). Watch out America, here comes Communism! Play nice.
The "forefathers" of America did not believe that the average person was competent enough to make their own decisions, that's why the formed the electoral college. Good for them. Even the most sane person will follow a crowd blindly. Take the Milgram experiment. A pristine example of what listening to authority (media, etc) does to people. This was used to explain the tragedies of the Holocaust and actually got a lot of people out of war crimes.
via videograter.com
Democracy doesn't work. People listen to others, and if you want to get anything done, democracy is not the way. The United States is not even the biggest democracy (with only a measley 2 party system). India is. India has 7 national parties and at least47 state parties (thank you Wikipedia!) Imagine the issues there!
So, yes we have a democratic system, rivaled to be the best of the world, but look where it got us. We're on the decline and other countries are soon to take over the most coveted #1 spot (within 25 years...). Watch out America, here comes Communism! Play nice.
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