Here is a link to a blog post from a guy who, like me, was plagued by the “Restart Now” dialog from Windows Update.
He outlines a method that unfortunately doesn’t remove the nag, but does allow you to turn down the irritation level somewhat.
Updating your computer is almost complete – Restart Now?
I’ve set mine to nag every 1440 minutes which is much more reasonable than the default of every 10 minutes.
technorati tags:windows, update, nag, restart
Blogged with Flock
Don’t get me wrong, I think "Windows Update" or its big brother "Microsoft Update" is absolutely essential to keep Windows running.
That said, what seriously shits me, and it happens way too often, is that an update comes down, often at night that requires a reboot. If you happen to be at the computer when the update is ready to install you get a dialog that pops up asking you if you want to reboot now or "reboot later", if you select "later" the dialog appears again, and again and again.
If you let the dialog sit there for too long (like when it appears in the middle of the night while you are asleep) then after some period (I don’t know how long) it decides that you want to reboot and does it for you.
Unfortunately for me my typical development environment consists of several Firefox windows each with multiple tabs, several editors, several terminal sessions etc so after a reboot I have to spend a non-trivial amount of time getting things back the way they were.
I know I could disable auto-install of updates but that really defeats the purpose of having an auto-update service.
On the Mac when you elect to install an update that requires a reboot, after installation you get a "reboot now" dialog that you can move out of the way and ignore forever if you like, or wait until you are in a position to do a reboot in a controlled manner.
There is no auto-install on the Mac mostly due to the fact that most updates require you to authenticate the update with the admin password, as a rule system level changes always require authentication, this is one of the reasons that OS X is not a malware/virus magnet like Windows.
technorati tags:windows
Blogged with Flock
I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while, in fact I’ve been meaning to blog about a lot of things, I just don’t have the time…
Anyway, the little fledgling start up that I work for IceTV has once again come to the attention of the Free to air TV stations.
This time it is channel 9 who are trying to shut us down, ( see our corporate page for the sordid details ).
The amusing thing is that rather than spooking would be investors as they had hoped, what channel 9 have really done is supply us with a whole heap of free publicity.
On Tuesday we had at least 5 seperate articles posted about us in mainstream newspapers and journals, our web stats jumped from around 6K hits per day to a whopping 30K hits.
Only time will tell the results of this action, we are confident that we are in the right, but when it comes to the law who knows what will happen.
Watch this space for further info… Remember kids, “skipping ads is bad, mmmmkay!!!”.
Man I love these guys, you can spends hours watching random videos, I hope they stay around but with a burn rate of US$1 MILLION per month they better start making cashola soon.
Some helpful person posted a comment on my blog to tell me that I had a phishing scam running from my machine, and sure enough with a little digging I can see that their was indeed some rather nasty stuff sitting in a hidden directory in my brother-in-laws user account.
It looks like there were two different scams running, one for PayPal and one for Chase Bank.
I’ve removed the user account and moved the directory and I’ll have a poke around a bit later.
One thing I will say is that I feel violated and embarrased to think that my machine has been used to aid these theiving bastards.
Out of interest, here is the directory listings of the directories added to my machine.
.:
total 8
drwxrwxr-x 4 504 504 96 Apr 10 22:54 ./
drwxr-xr-x 7 504 504 4096 Apr 7 19:49 ../
drwxr-xr-x 3 504 504 16 Mar 21 06:46 .MembersLogIn/
drwxrwxrwx 5 504 504 24 Sep 22 2005 .update/
./.MembersLogIn:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 3 504 504 16 Mar 21 06:46 ./
drwxrwxr-x 4 504 504 96 Apr 10 22:54 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 0 Mar 21 06:46 si
drwxr-xr-x 2 504 504 88 Mar 21 06:43 .SignIn/
./.MembersLogIn/.SignIn:
total 460
drwxr-xr-x 2 504 504 88 Mar 21 06:43 ./
drwxr-xr-x 3 504 504 16 Mar 21 06:46 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 446 Mar 21 06:42 .cvv.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 56784 Mar 11 07:17 final.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 463 Mar 21 06:43 .first.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 480 Mar 21 06:43 .last.db
-rwxr-xr-x 1 504 504 167964 Mar 17 2001 pico*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 504 504 84476 Jul 28 2005 pico.jpg*
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 73988 Mar 11 08:43 prospect.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 11759 Mar 21 07:51 prospect.php
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 27828 Mar 21 06:38 sso_logon.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 16384 Mar 21 06:20 .sso_logon.html.swp
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 176 Mar 21 06:40 .user.db
./.update:
total 12
drwxrwxrwx 5 504 504 24 Sep 22 2005 ./
drwxrwxr-x 4 504 504 96 Apr 10 22:54 ../
drwxr-xr-x 2 504 504 80 Nov 3 06:52 cgi-bin/
drwxr-xr-x 2 504 504 24 Sep 9 2005 css/
drwxr-xr-x 2 504 504 4096 Sep 9 2005 pic/
./.update/cgi-bin:
total 368
drwxr-xr-x 2 504 504 80 Nov 3 06:52 ./
drwxrwxrwx 5 504 504 24 Sep 22 2005 ../
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 8693 Apr 10 01:53 check_card.php*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 0 Aug 3 2004 index.php*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 8938 Sep 10 2005 letter.php*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 176723 Mar 17 2001 pico*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 84476 Jul 28 2005 pico.jpg*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 2476 Sep 22 2005 webscrcmd_checkuser.php*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 9440 Apr 23 2005 webscrcmd_login.php*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 28005 Apr 7 19:53 webscrcmd_profile_credit_card.php*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 4117 Apr 23 2005 webscrcmd_redirect.php*
-rwxrwxr-x 1 504 504 28351 Apr 7 19:52 webscrcmd_thank_you.php*
./.update/css:
total 52
drwxr-xr-x 2 504 504 24 Sep 9 2005 ./
drwxrwxrwx 5 504 504 24 Sep 22 2005 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 41904 Apr 22 2005 xpt.css
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 1081 Apr 22 2005 xptInvoice.css
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 69 Apr 22 2005 xptlive.css
./.update/pic:
total 432
drwxr-xr-x 2 504 504 4096 Sep 9 2005 ./
drwxrwxrwx 5 504 504 24 Sep 22 2005 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 10951 Mar 8 2004 6qkUBHm48gr6isze5LqAc-t.s0AK2P019CxPBg.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 250 Mar 1 2004 bg.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 1864 Mar 8 2004 bnr_ppBuyerProtection_175x80.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 21910 Mar 8 2004 bnr_providianClearChoicesV22_120x600.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 7743 Mar 8 2004 bnr_providianPPVisaV22_135x132.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 8332 Mar 1 2004 check_zoom_260.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 3314 Mar 8 2004 DyU7qIySrousGoYNb9CiNrydF3cTQqpwIcXjbA.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 490 Mar 8 2004 icon_auctionTools_35x35.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 1720 Mar 8 2004 icon_community_logo.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 576 Mar 10 2004 icon_error_40x40.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 465 Mar 8 2004 icon_merchantTools_35x35.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 432 Mar 8 2004 icon_shops_35x35.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 879 Mar 8 2004 icon_shops_logo.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 267 Mar 8 2004 logo_ccAmex.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 403 Mar 8 2004 logo_ccDiscover.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 408 Mar 8 2004 logo_ccEcheck.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 815 Mar 8 2004 logo_ccMC.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 338 Mar 8 2004 logo_ccVisa.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 33 May 11 2005 logo.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 545 Mar 8 2004 mini_cvv2.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 902 Mar 1 2004 paypal_logo.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 148 Mar 8 2004 period_ani.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 43 Mar 1 2004 pixel.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 267 Mar 1 2004 P_off_auction_tools.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 293 Mar 1 2004 P_off_merchant_tools.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 288 Mar 1 2004 P_off_request_money.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 257 Mar 1 2004 P_off_send_money.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 231 Mar 1 2004 P_off_welcome.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 494 Mar 8 2004 P_on_my_account.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 473 Mar 8 2004 P_on_welcome.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 7568 Mar 1 2004 pp_main.js
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 16433 Mar 1 2004 pp_styles_111402.css
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 869 Mar 1 2004 pp_table_styles.css
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 10226 Mar 8 2004 Pz9p1YQ8ot6LD63QmOkuRQcmtrDJaXn8JtZpsw.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 5880 Mar 8 2004 QyeQfcf-aVAv88Kd3fVhXFxKzIwr1hxUy1pycQ.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 99 Mar 8 2004 SA_none.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 183 Mar 8 2004 SA_off_add_funds.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 190 Mar 8 2004 SA_off_history.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 168 Mar 8 2004 SA_off_overview.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 175 Mar 8 2004 SA_off_withdraw.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 198 Mar 8 2004 SA_on_profile.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 95 Mar 1 2004 secure_lock_2.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 4362 Mar 8 2004 SOxUEOLlFrdzrT2t6fkgK29DGKVEKfHwdLBRA.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 79 Mar 1 2004 symbol_account.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 62 Mar 1 2004 symbol_account_small.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 79 Mar 1 2004 symbol_route.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 59 Mar 1 2004 symbol_route_small.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 140800 Sep 9 2005 Thumbs.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 2489 Mar 8 2004 top_image_home.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 1963 Mar 8 2004 vR.XVfEKfuwONsUNZTSCT5Y.ED0mHsIogNiAdA.gif
-rw-r--r-- 1 504 504 10228 Mar 8 2004 YA5wVvU5WOm0qTmpfAQoolDHkLZpFpU9y6CvgA.gif
You can see that it’s quite elaborate, once the ebay page has collected the victims info it is emailed to the following address.
coaielepopii@gmail.com
I have reported the abuse to gmail but of course they can create a new account in seconds.
Well, I don’t know what to make of this one…
Disney Buys Pixar
After years of less then stellar relations culminating in a mutual agreement to go their separate ways, Pixar and Disney seem set to tie the knot…
Disney has apparently bought Pixar in a stock transfer worth somewhere around
US$ 7.4 BILLION
This deal will make Steve Jobs, Co-founder Chairman and CEO of Pixar (as well as Co-founder and CEO of Apple Computers) the single largest shareholder in Disney
Only time will tell what the implications will be for Pixar, they will be expanding their role from just movies to movies, theme parks etc so it will be an exciting time for them.
For us, we get more movies like "Toy Story", "A Bug’s Life", "Toy Story 2", "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles" so I’m happy.
Today is Viv’s birthday and Callum gave her a lovely present…..
He’s got his first tooth, I know this sounds blah to the non-parents (aka people with lives) but for those of us who are adding to the gene pool it’s kind of exciting.
Cal has been showing all the signs of teething so it’s nice to see something coming out of it.
Cal is getting REALLY close to proper crawling, in addition to the spinning on the spot and impersonating a preying mantis he has also started commando crawling.
It won’t be long before Cal will be terrorising his big brother…
One of lifes great ironys is that when you really should be blogging (i.e. when you’re busy) you don’t have the time to do it 🙁
Many things have happened since my last post and really I should post them separately but for the moment I’m lumping them all in together.
As you can see, a few things have happened recently.
Another one in my "F**KING" series…
I read this article today on sysinternals about a rather extreme form of DRM on some of Sony’s latest CDs.
In case you couldn’t be arsed reading the article, Sony in their infinite wisdom require windows users to use a special media player to play their CDs in a windows box, in order to force the user to comply with this requirement they install (without permission or even telling you) a Root Kit that patches parts of your Windows installation to hide itself and prevent the CD driver in Windows from accessing the disc without using the "special" media player.
There is no way to uninstall this Root Kit without going to extraordinary lengths….
A related post I saw on digg the other talked about the fact that Sony is pissed with Apple for not allowing them to licence the FairPlay DRM that it uses in the iPod. Apparently one of the reasons they instigated their current DRM is to prevent windows users from being able to rip Sony CDs for use in iTunes and the iPod in the hopes that the masses of affected users will bombard Apple with demands to play nice with Sony.
So, you are basically being coerced into lobbying on behalf of Sony.
The amusing thing about this is that Mac owners can happily rip the same CDs into iTunes with no DRM problems.
I’m sorry for the strong language people but this is getting beyond a joke.
I read a post on boingboing today that really pissed me off.
Up until now Hollywood has been doing everything in their power to lock down digitial content. We’ve all said to ourselves, we can always record the analog output and re-digitise it and live with the loss of quality…… Until now.
The level of frustration amongst consumers is on the rise, we have the MPAA and RIAA suing everyone that can think of including 12 year old kids, way to alienate your customers guys.
We have companies selling CDs that we can’t rip to play in our iPods (more about this later).
And through all this we have the MPAA and RIAA moaning about pirates destroying their livelyhoods and ripping off artists.
Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that we are deluged with a barrage of crap music, crap sequels and unneccesary remakes.
I have pretty much stopped listening to the radio, I listen almost exclusively to free podcasts, I haven’t watched a movie in ages as few of them look good enough to block out an hour and a half of my precious free time.
I still watch a fair bit of TV, but less then I used to.
Maybe I should go back to reading books, until they come up with some DRM scheme to lock those down as well.
A quote springs readily to mind (from back in the days when Hollywood produced good, original movies…)
“The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
—Princess Leia to Grand Moff Tarkin
