• 4:40p: At a LAN party. Woot!
• 5:39p: Vista has failed me. Currently installing XP so I can play games.
• 5:40p: Fucking XP mountmgr.sys. XP install keeps on failing. Not looking good.
• 5:52p: XP install disc is corrupted. Damn.
• 7:30p: XP installed. Almost ready to play games.
• 7:57p: Game is still crashing in XP. What the heck is going on?
• 8:24p: Found that my graphics card fan is melted to my GPU. That would explain my crashing. Currently running with a box fan next to my computer.
• 11:38p: Box fan is keeping GPU cool. Was actually able to game for a little.

The fan managed to keep my computer cool for a night of gaming.

So, there you have it. Vista was not the problem at all. Somehow prior to last night’s LAN, my graphics card fan melted to my GPU. It’s the weirdest problem I’ve ever heard of, but at least it happened to my secondary machine.

I should also mention the ad carried yet another “Wow” effect, at least for me. The ending contained AMD’s logo, saying something along the lines of “for the ultimate wow”. I guess Microsoft isn’t too thrilled about the Apple-Intel situation. Unfortunately, I can’t find a link to the ad anywhere online. If I find one, I’ll update it here. If I can’t by tomorrow, I’ll capture it myself. It’s sitting on my TiVo so it shouldn’t be too hard to get.

First up, Vista was released on Tuesday. After years of development, the operating system has finally shipped. Hooray! I have a copy sitting on my desk right now, just haven’t had any time to play with it. Maybe this weekend I’ll give it a shot on my (old) Windows box.

If you’re looking forward to the upgrade to Vista, be weary of the upgrade version. Not only will Vista Upgrade not let you do a clean install, it will invalidate your Windows XP activation. Microsoft has really dropped the ball on this one, and I have no clue what they’re thinking. You still own that copy of XP. What happens if you decide that you don’t like Vista and want to revert back to XP? I think Microsoft is going to hear from a number of unhappy customers in the coming months.

Speaking of unhappy customers, Bill Gates didn’t look too happy on The Daily Show. Right after he barely talked about anything interesting, he stormed straight off the set. What was that all about? It appears the original airing didn’t tell the whole story.

In the world of Apple, Apple has shipped both its new AirPort Extreme base station and the 102.11n enabler upgrade. Don’t forget about the new Shuffle colors either. With all these upgrades, let’s hope there will be some news about Leopard and iLife 07. At least give us 10.4.9. I’m desperately waiting for the sleep fix the update is supposed to provide.

Finally, in my personal life, I was able to get my RAZR fixed yesterday. Late last week the front screen died on it, leaving part of the phone dysfunctional. Since my warranty only was valid for 90 days, I didn’t think Verizon would be able to do anything for me. Figuring it was at least worth a shot, I took it to the Verizon store yesterday. After a two hour wait, the Verizon techs replaced the phone for free. Not bad, just wish it wouldn’t have taken so long.

Being in this position, I’ve seen my share broken computers, and what gets me every time is the issue always seems to be related to spyware. Teachers will come to me saying their CD-ROM drive won’t open or they can’t print, and you know what the real problem is? Their computers is so bogged down with bloat that the CPU can’t spend the time needed to do the task they require, leading them to believe that that task is not functioning correctly. Spyware is a major issue with Windows computers, and it’s about time that people learn that.

Alright, the news is slowly getting out there, but the problem is a lot of people are misinformed on the subject. They don’t know how spyware infects their system, so they don’t know how to prevent against it. The majority of people don’t even know the symptoms of a spyware infection, leading them to believe their computer is slow.

What I’m finding even worse than the people who are clueless are the people who know just enough to be dangerous. They install these bonsai spyware cleaners that they saw on TV or was recommended to them by a friend, and they think they’re safe. They don’t realize that the program isn’t going to do anything unless they manually run it. They also don’t know that spyware programs need to be updated, just like an antivirus. A false sense of security is always worse than no security at all.

So what do we do about the problem? Try harder at informing people about the dangers of the internet? That’s not going to work; people always think that it doesn’t apply to them. What needs to happen is action at the source, the computer manufacture.

Companies selling Windows preloaded on their computers need to take spyware as seriously as viruses. Computer manufacturers have been very good at bundling anti-virus software for years. With anti-virus background scans and automatic updates, as long as the user continues to pay for the antivirus software definitions, they’re relatively safe. This is what needs to be done for spyware. Companies need to bundle spyware programs with their computers; programs that scan in the background and automatically update. I’m sure even if the user had to eventually pay for the program, the majority of users would pay to maintain a program that is essential to their computer’s operations.

Another offensive measure computer manufactures can take is to include alternative browsers, such as Firefox, by default. The average PC user only uses the browser that comes with their computer, which is always Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is plagued with holes that make spyware a reality. While alternative browser can infect a system with spyware, it’s less likely and will usually have to be out of a computer user’s ignorance. If a more secure browser is installed by default, the average user won’t know the difference, and use it just like they did Internet Explorer on their previous system.

Now the spyware task isn’t entirely up to computer manufactures. Microsoft is just as responsible for their users computers. Luckily Microsoft has realized this and are already taking offensive measures. Windows Vista will have ActiveX, a major player in spyware infections, disabled by default. On top of that Microsoft will be bundling Windows Defender, an anti-spyware program, with the operating system. While Windows Defender certainly isn’t the best anti-spyware application, its definitely better than nothing.

It’s sad that it has come to this point, but you got to do, what you got to do. Computers users aren’t handling it themselves, so PC manufactures must take over. Even just the slightest change by a computer manufacture could help put the spyware battle to rest. Sure, spyware is always going to be a problem for some computer users, but the days of spyware infecting everyone need to come to an end. With a little help from PC manufactures and Windows Vista, spyware can slowly be annihilated.

Microsoft reported today that they will release 20 separate builds for Windows Vista.

Here are the different versions:

Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Pro Standard/SB, Longhorn Enterprise Server (ADS), Longhorn Enterprise Server – IA64, Longhorn Standard Server, Longhorn Datacenter Server, Windows Vista Pro Std/SB/Ent – VL Binding Service, Windows Vista Pro Std/SB/Ent – VLGeneric, Windows Vista Pro Std/SB/Ent – DMAK, Windows Vista Starter Digital Boost – OEM, Windows Vista Home Basic – OEM, Windows Vista Home Premium – OEM, Windows Vista Ultimate – OEM, Windows Vista Pro Standard/SB – OEM, Longhorn Enterprise Server – OEM, Windows Vista Home Basic N, Windows Vista Pro Standard N

Doesn’t anybody else think this is stupid and is going to cause massive confusion among consumers and technical support. I can just see it now:

You: I’m having a problem with my computer.
Tech Support: What version of Windows are you running?
U: Windows Vista Home
TS: The Basic, Premium, Basic N, Premium N, Basic OEM, or Premium OEM version?
U: Uhh, let me get back to you in a few days.

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