A strange day in la-la land

I had 2 interesting things happen to me today:

1. I got an email from Bank of America telling me I was overdrawn on my checking account! What a shock! Well, it was, since I hardly use that account very much anymore and I knew (I knew, I'm telling you) that I was not overdrawn.

As it turns out, Bank of America decided to start charging me a monthly fee out of the clear blue sky (probably because I'm not using the account). I asked the customer service woman when I was informed about this policy. She said, "When you opened the account."

I asked her, "You mean in 1985?"

YAH

She took the fee off the account and advised me that to avoid such an event happening in the future, I should deposit $2,000 into the account post haste and not let my balance fall below said $2,000.

I laughed. Then I told her that as soon as my automatic payment to my car insurance goes through next week, I'd be canceling the account.

She seemed stunned that I would consider such a thing, even after I told her I had another account at another bank in town that does not charge me one penny in monthly fees. That bank is open 7 days/week until 6 p.m., I informed her.

She started spouting some psycho-babble, and I had to wonder: do they go to some kind of special training to learn that?

Yikes!

2. I tried to order something through Amazon.com, only to discover Amazon.com is not working today. At first I was told everything would be fine in one half hour, but after one-half hour, I was told everything would be fine in 24 hrs.

Well, after all the trouble I've been having with Newburyport Business, this bizarre turn of events made me feel a little better.

I curse Bank of America and the Internet, I tell you, I really do!

And a certain policeman in a certain seaside town north of here who made a circus event out of the fact that my front license plate was stolen about 3 yrs. ago and is still listed as stolen.

When will these police understand that, if I also have the back plate and my registration, I probably am the owner of the vehicle?

Must get new plates ... I consulted w/Marshal Howard at last night's City Council meeting, and he agrees ...

What's up with Comcast?

I, and others, have been experiencing all kinds of problems with Comcast for quite some time now.

Apparently Comcast does not want you to use another application to download your emails. First I had problems with Windows Mail (as in, I wasn't getting emails and people weren't getting mine) and now I tried to upload my Comcast emails to Gmail and ... no dice.

It worked on the first attempt, but has not worked since. So now I have to sign in to both Gmail and Comcast (and, occasionally, my old Yahoo account) to see my mail.

Although I am often accused of not working well with others, I hate things that don't work well with other things. I think I just had an epiphany ...

My laptop bought the farm

I'm not sure what buying a farm has to do with failing, but the thing died a quick and horrible death.

Actually, it's not quite dead - it still will boot up after several attempts and Windows will start in Safe mode.

So ... the reason I'm reporting this (other that I tell you guys everything) is that, as it turns out, this is a known problem with Compaq/HP and Dell computers (and possibly other brands) that have an NVIDIA graphic chip; or a certain NVIDIA graphic chip, or something. If you want to read more, follow the links sent to me by my friend Mr. T (not the celebrity, although he's getting pretty famous around here):

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-10020782-33.html
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1597136/nvidia-claims-fixed-overheating

The chip overheats, or as my dad found, it just can't handle Vista. Either way, make sure you don't have one in your laptop.

Which reminds me ... in one of the reports linked to above, it says that there have been no reports of this happening on a desktop computer.

Well let me be the first to report that in fact, I had a Compaq Presario desktop a few years back that I suddenly recalled did the exact same thing (everything got BIG and I had trouble getting it to boot up). It's the reason I got rid of it. This was long before Vista was an option, but it did have an NVIDIA graphics card; I only know this because my brother bought it for me, for my birthday or some other gift-giving occasion, after I complained about the poor graphics on my Civilization game.

Now my dad, who yesterday exchanged my Compaq Presario laptop for his Lenovo ThinkPad (he likes the challenge of having something broken to fiddle around with and, being a man, he has another laptop and a desktop) was the one who found some info online indicating that the NVIDIA graphic chip can't handle Vista.

When I bought the Compaq/HP laptop, Vista had just come out and there was no other option to Vista. I wanted XP, which is what I have again, on the Lenovo, so I'm a fairly happy camper. Plus the Lenovo is way faster than the Presario (being a man, Dad bought something very speedy). Now if I could just find the Delete key without having to look ... it's in a very odd location ...

Not complaining, even though it is in my nature.

Speaking of which, that Presario was the second laptop that failed on me within 2 years of purchase. After the desktop failed, I bought an Acer. The screen on that went south (not sure what going south has to do with failing, either), but I think that had something to do with me violently swatting flies that landed on it ...

Out of control

So I was sitting around, computerless for almost the whole weekend, agitated beyond belief until I finally thought, "Hey, why do I need to check Facebook? Why do I need to answer emails the instant I receive them? STOP AGITATING, woman!"

What is it about the computer/Internet that makes us ... well, a lot of us ... think that everything is urgent. Not to mention cell phones, iPhones, the BlackBerry ... I no longer have a cell phone and only about once a week do I think to myself, "Why don't I have a cell phone?"

What's so freakin' urgent? NOTHING ... I got on line here at my friend's house and there was nothing urgent; nothing that couldn't wait. (Although I have to say, I do not have children.)

I'm so unused to speaking with someone who doesn't have some kind of electronic device in one hand that I'm starting to miss it when they don't ... I'm exaggerating, of course. But I once sat with someone at lunch who texted until his food went cold and then was surprised that his food had gone cold.

About the same time period, I sat with another man who not even once checked his electronic device, in all the 2 hrs. or so we spent chatting. Just chatting.

What a novel experience.

Laptop update: does Compaq [insert a word here]?

Well my new friend Mr. T (not related to the one from TV) spent several hours on Tuesday looking at my laptop and trying to resolve my issues. It seems that there is some kind of dealie with the power thingie and it needs to drain off or the laptop won't boot, or something ... the long and short of it is, one of my business partners also has a Compaq Presario laptop and she told me today that she had the same issue. She sent it off to the manufacturer and it came back the same. To quote Mr. T, "Bummer."

On the good side, although hers also will not boot up on demand, it has never completely failed to start up. Of course, that is no guarantee that mine will not fail at the most inconvenient time possible. Mostly because that's the way it works, right? I mean, the laptop went south big time the same day that the muffler on my car broke (again). And that was about 2 days after the CD player went on the fritz.

I try to leave the thing turned on to avoid the issue altogether, but as Mr. T wrote (right after he said "Bummer"), "And Windows reboots if you even look at it sideways."

I just had to share that because it's so true ... last night Windows just had to install some updates and of course, when it was time to re-start ... black screen nightmare.

Anyway, a hearty "thank you" to Mr. T for spending all that time with me and my laptop yesterday. Newburyport is truly full of generous and giving people. Do those 2 words mean the same thing? Give me a break! It's 1 o'clock in the morning.

And speaking of complaints ...

Just a little bit ago someone I was talking to on the phone sort of complained that I haven't been posting much on here.

I've been terribly busy, both with Newburyport Biz and all of life's dramas. I really should write a book.

So yesterday, I went down to Gloucester, as I am inclined to do on a Thursday morning, to visit with my mom. Upon my return to our glorious city, I ran a few errands and then had to go to The Tannery. I turned down Federal St. off High St. and heard the distinct sound of something under the car breaking and the really obvious sound signifying that "OMG something is wrong with the muffler AGAIN."

Thus continued a saga that began some 6 months ago when the thing nearly fell right off the car; and part 2 was about 2 weeks ago when it happened again, only for a different (and much less expensive) reason.

After fleeing (noisily) to my home, I sat down with my laptop. Oh dear, the screen had gone all black and nothing I did brought it out of whatever mode it was in (I thought I had turned off the annoying "sleep" mode).

Well damn if the thing would not re-boot. It just kept turning itself on and off, on and off, from about 3:30 p.m. to midnight, when I went to bed. I saw my life (as represented by the content of this hard drive) swirling down the toilet.

All my photos! The spreadsheet I use instead of a check register! All my stories! Civ 4! I had not done a backup in months.

This morning, after a pretty much sleepless night during I debated just how much my life would be over if I lost my Internet access, and after a few feeble attempts to re-boot, it came back. But it's acting pretty strange.

So I'm hoping one of you genius computer people out there can tell me what's going on. And please don't say anything dire - I just couldn't take it right now.

I think I just painted myself into a corner.

I am so impressed (with myself)

I actually went into the bowels of this blog template and made it so the footer line is separated from the body of the post.

Don't you love my technical term, bowels?

There is really no reason to have all kinds of made-up terms to describe how stuff works on a computer.

It's really so everyone else will think they're dumb because they think they can't understand it - "think" being the operative word there.

Even I have fallen into that trap, but when something goes wrong with my computer - and no "techie" is around or one blows me off - I can usually figure out what's the problem.

The real problem is, I go through several days of seeking advice and/or being put out by the situation before I realize, "Hey, I can do this!"

Why do you suppose that is the case?

The problem with all this computer/Internet stuff is that there are too many people using them without taking the time to understand what they (the people) are doing.

One of my neighbors was over here last week and I warned her about Facebook being hacked.

"What does 'hacked' mean?" she asked.

Oh brother, where art thou?

P.S. This is true of all kinds of situations. I can fix minor stuff on my car, too - but I still look for someone else (a man) to do it for me. Why operate a car if you don't know how it works?

Fed up with Facebook

I downloaded the malware program recommended by Ari Herzog, and according to that, I had 12 - yep, 12 - viruses on my laptop.

They were all over the place, but seemed to be all related to one piece of malicious nonsense, which probably came from the Facebook hack last week.

The friend whose FB account sent me the virus(es) has closed her facebook for good. And I'm thinking that maybe isn't such a bad idea.

I started to send out over the weekend messages to my FB friends giving them my contact info so they will know how to reach me, aside from on there.

I like the phone - it's nice and hopefully safe - so I gave people my phone #s also. Because I don't post my phone numbers on Facebook.

It's really kind of silly anyway, my having to sign in to some program to send a message to someone who's supposedly my friend, or conversely, to sign in to reply to a message they have sent me.

What the ...?

So late last night/early this morning, I was on Facebook.

I signed off and immediately, a printer icon appeared on the toolbar or whatever it's called down there at the bottom.

I right clicked on the icon and there in the queue was a job - to print my Facebook home page.

Can't tell you how sick I am of this computer being invaded.

Or perhaps I'm overreacting and it's a ghost who's curious about what I'm doing on Facebook.

Anyone have any ideas?

I'm sick, boo hoo

I went over to my neighbor's on Sunday ... I get the impression that, while she laughs, she does not like being called "Triple-D" at all ... and she was sick as a dog.

I tried to keep clear of her germy radius and washed my hands after I went back home ... she had opened the door to me after spraying copious amounts of whatever into her hand, and I had to use the doorknob to get out ... but it was all to no avail.

On the bright side, I think my laptop is once again virus free. yay

Thank you, Dick Monahan, I couldn't have done it without you!

And boo Symantec Corporation, boo I tell you ...

Five hours and 2 scans later ...

I may have finally resolved my virus problem with the Anti-Malware program (Dick advised me there was a free version).

Two viruses/hinky stuff found after a nearly 2-hour scan. That scan followed a nearly 2-hr. scan by McAfee (which found nothing amiss).

I hope all this is helping others who may be having similar problems. I would advise everyone to check to make sure their anti-virus program is turned on ....

Oh and by the way

Something is still turning off my Windows Defender. So far it has not done anything to the McAfee.


Now I guess I'm going to have to spend the $24.95 for an anti-malware program recommended to me by Dick Monahan (I'm using his name, not in vain but because he was going to put the info as a comment to my post but was unable to post due to problems with the CAPTCHA).

I really don't like this dependence on a piece of equipment that exposes me to his level of risk.

Speaking of which, I realized yesterday that everyone in the Boston network on Facebook - and not just my 'friends' - can read what I write on my 'wall.' So watch what you write, I guess, because everyone else is, if they're at all interested.

And how stupid of me was it to start using Facebook when I did not have a full understanding of what I was getting myself into? Not to mention all the pain and suffering that I've endured, am still enduring, and have inflicted on others ...

I'm exaggerating, but only slightly.

I still think it's much better to deal with someone face-to-face, over the phone, or even in a letter. With a letter, there is no SEND button.

10 AM and all is well ... so far

It appears as if removing Norton Antivirus and installing the McAfee Suite has worked ... but I did disconnect my laptop from the cable connection overnight.

I noticed last night that something had during the day turned off my Windows Defender, but it is still on, as of now.

Early this morning, as I was still fretting, I did a little research and read about a virus that disguises itself as a Windows update, but I do not see that file on my laptop and anyway, it said McAfee was particularly effective at stopping it in its tracks.

From the history on Defender, I see it stopped a Trojan virus back on Feb. 2, which is I think when I had all those fake popups about security.

There is something going on here, though, and neither Microsoft nor Windows will 'fess up to it.

I have now instructed Vista to never automatically download any updates w/out my prior approval (like I could tell it was something naughty).

That's all for now, except ...

#11 on the list of "Random Things About Me:"

I used to know alot about computers and software, but I feel like I don't anymore. Still, I can usually resolve problems on my own.

Warning! Danger! (Part 2)

I have spent the better part of the last 2 hours trying to resolve my ongoing problems with Windows Vista and Norton Antivirus. This is after I spent about an hour with Microsoft this morning (which I already wrote about).

I have no idea what's going on, but I ended up uninstalling Norton and installing the McAfee that Comcast offers free with its digital service.

The service tech at Symantec toldme it was my fault if I had a virus and that I would have to pay $99 to resolve my problems. I told him (very loudly) that I PAY for a subscription and that that's what I PAY them for.

I still believe that I got the virus through downloading either real or fake Windows updates that appeared on my Start menu. Microsoft as much as admitted this, as the email I received after talking to Microsoft states:

Here is a summary of the key points of the case for your records:

ACTION:
general computer usage
RESULT: norton has been disabled
CAUSE: possibly caused by an update
RESOLUTION: ran system restore (Feb 8, 2009)

Obviously the system restore did not resolve the problem.

Warning! Danger!

I downloaded some Windows (Vista) updates on Wedneday night and since then have had nothing but trouble with Vista's User Account Control (UAC) feature.

I'd think this was something I'd done wrong except that my brother told me yesterday he had the same problem after updates downloaded on Wed. night: Norton Anti-Virus settings are turned off.

I just spent about 45 minutes on the phone w/Microsoft, who told me to disable the UAC, which is what that virus I had a week ago wanted to do, so I'm thinking me doing it for the potential hacker was probably not the best thing ... probably blaring it on here is not the best thing, either, come to think of it!

The guy at Microsoft said that maybe my brother and I had the same virus (I love it how nowadays, everthing is someone else's fault) ... which I thought was pretty hilarious considering he lives in Gloucester and we do not share files. Perhaps the virus is only targeting people with the last name "Swart?"

Surely the hacker(s) can come up with a more popular surname ...

But if anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

Fears and tears

On the same topic of programmers and the general public, I have an anecdote. I don't think I've written on here about it before (I did a search and didn't come up with anything).

Going back in the Wayback Machine, I'm in the Math Dept. at the college where I worked. Sitting next to me is a woman named Pearl. She is an older woman who was worked in the dept. for many years - typing tests and such merrily on her typewriter.

She has been told she has to use the computer. She is afraid. She has called me (the training specialist) in to help her adjust.

Pearl tells me that she knows she will do something bad to the computer (at that time, a mainframe and 'work stations'). I tell her there is nothing she could possibly do to 'hurt' the computer - well, computers, since there were 3 of them.

One evening not too long after this encounter, I'm hanging around the Computer Center, waiting for a co-worker with whom I carpool to work. The night system admin comes out of his cube and says something is eating up all the disk space on one of the computers ... and he has identified the culprit user.

Yes, we run upstairs to the Math Dept. and yes, there is Pearl, working late. Her monitor screen is filled with code. She is near tears.

"I told you! I told you I'd do something bad!" she says to me.

Dan (the admin) and I look at each other, look at Pearl, and I sigh, smile and say, "Yes ... yes, you did."

Then we all 3 burst into laughter. When we first walked in, I thought Dan was going to strangle her.

I don't remember what she it was she did wrong, but I do remember her job depended on her learning to use the computer.

She and I got to be pretty good friends through constant contact.

Buddy, can you spare a quarter?

Hey ... times have changed. A dime no longer does the trick.

But apparently a quarter does.

Some one, or some people, are either testing their credit card number thieving techniques or are ripping people off, a quarter at a time. From Boston.com:

Several Internet complaint boards are filled with comments from credit card customers from coast to coast who have noticed a mysterious charge for about 25 cents on their statements.

The charge shows up on statements as coming from "Adele Services" in Melville, N.Y. There is no business by that name listed in Melville, or registered to any business anywhere in New York, for that matter.

The suggestion from experts is that, if you notice such a charge on your credit card bill, you should dispute it.

Don't you sometimes just long for the days when your money was in the local bank, you had your little pass book ... and that was it. Maybe you don't remember those days ... I only barely remember them.

But then - I barely remember last week!

Hoaxes

I was alerted to this by a tweet from someone in Flint, via Twitter.From the Flint Journal:

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- An apparent Internet hoax is causing hysteria as rumors spread through text messages, e-mails and word-of-mouth about a supposed gang initiation involving shooting women in the head at gas stations.

State police said they have been flooded with calls about rumors that a woman had been shot. The rumors remain unsubstantiated, although panicked residents flooded police with telephone calls, parents pulled students out of school and at least one school district went into lockdown.

The person on Twitter apparently works in the district that went into lockdown.

Since it's not all over the news, which I assume it would be, I have to take the Journal's word that it was a hoax. Plus, people commenting on the story report a similar situation occurred 2 weeks ago in Pontiac, which is south of Flint and also a place I used to live.

On another note, I'm enjoying watching Tom Delay defending the last eight years of government. One thing I'm learning from watching all this cable news is that partisan people refuse to say anything nice about the "other side."

(Even though we all know some of these people are friends in real life.)

There's got to be at least one thing one side likes or admires about the other, and is willing to admit to on camera, wouldn't you think?

Look how well we all get along.

Helpful advice

Here is some good advice from Thom Singer, which is posted on his blog, Some Assembly Required. He appears also to be a SOB.

It's about what to do when a friend sends you SPAM. And we're not talking the canned meat, Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam Spam, glorious Spam.

I get some amount of SPAM from friends, but it doesn't really bother me. Yet.

Thom responds to a woman who wrote to him about the husband of a friend who was SPAMming her with a newsletter, via ConstantContact, an "email marketing solution":

We all know "takers" and those whom are part of our life, but whom we do not respect in a business environment. While this is annoying, in the end you want to be respectful. I don't think you can just tell him to "buzz-off", so in my opinion you have three choices:

In short, he told her she could just delete the annoying emails, set up another email account for "junk" mail and tell the guy that she's redirecting his newsletter there, or find something positive in what she received and then tell him although she found that helpful, she's much to busy and explain how bad she would feel just deleting his newsletter.

It's not easy for people, especially those who are self-employed, to make a 'go' of it these days (I point you in the direction of downtown Newburyport), and people feel they have to market themselves constantly.

But some really take it too far. A member of my writers group told me at our last gathering that she felt she was being stalked by another woman she met casually at a meeting of local business women. The second woman runs a consultancy business here in town.

There really is a fine line between promoting yourself and scaring people.

"It takes 6 or 7 calls before I get someone to respond," a woman I know recently told me.

Well ... maybe I'm not good enough at promoting myself, but my feeling is, if what you have to offer is of interest to them, people will jump on it right away.

And boy, can't we all relate to people we know and like, but who we don't respect in a business situation? Or vice versa.

What do you think?

(Literal) Road blogging, a whole new art

Well this will be interesting - you know, as in potentially deadly.

Despite knowing that traffic deaths are up because of cell phone use (or rather, the reduction by tough drunk driving and seat belt laws has been erased because of people who can't wait 5 seconds to pull over before making a phone call*), Chrysler is offering in its 2009 models Wi-Fi access and Internet connectivity.

It's supposedly for the kiddies in the back.

Bad idea, says Randall Stross in this account in the New York Times.

Ya think?

J. R. Peter Kissinger, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in Washington, calls “distracted driving” one of the leading threats to “all of us who drive or walk in this country.” Will drivers exercise good sense and not use their laptops while driving? He is not sanguine: he knows of few drivers who follow the example of a colleague, who locks her P.D.A. in the car trunk before setting out so she won’t be tempted to put it to use while driving.

A laptop will pose a similar problem, even if it remains on the lap of a front-seat passenger. Mr. Kissinger said: “I can picture two teenagers in the front and the passenger pulls up a YouTube video. I can’t imagine the driver saying, ‘I’m going to pull over and stop so I can safely watch what you’re laughing at.’”

Of course, as Stross points out, people can already do this, if they have a wireless card or built-in cellular wireless access on their laptop.

My laptop has wireless access. Just think, all this time I could have been driving along, smoking, applying makeup (when I actually bother) and blogging all at the same time! Oh, and snapping the occasional photo, as I am prone to do.

Heck, I could even download the photos to my Flickr account, if I had one.

Too bad I don't have an automatic transmission. I could add a couple of other things in there if I didn't have to shift every so often!

* I confess to sometimes being one of these.