Category: Computer/ Tech Related

Verizon Introduces Faster DSL

October 1, 2004

Computer/ Tech Related

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Verizon Recently introduced a faster DSL plan that rivals cable. It has been boosted to 3 MBPS downstream and 768KBPS upstream. The old DSL ran about 1.5MBPS down and 128 KBPS up. For about the same price as cable, Verizon DSL now runs just as fast as cable, which runs anywhere from 2.5 – 4 MBPS (although I’ve rarely seen Optimum Online faster than 3MBPS). Of course, Verizon isn’t marketing this plan much, you’ll have to call for details.

This is nothing compared with what is to come. The future FIOS fiber optic service from Verizon will completely blow cable away. For the same price as the current DSL or cable, they will offer either 5 or 15 MBPS down and 2 MBPS up. Go Verizon!!!

AIM 5.9 Released

September 9, 2004

Computer/ Tech Related

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A new version of AIM was recently released. Overall, it is a little better than the 5.5 series, but can be annoying at times and needs modding. I provided a nice AimRes.dll file that you can use to replace the original one to remove ads and other annoyances. Check out the forums for a complete review of the pros and cons of this new version and I’ll answer any of your questions about it.

http://portfolioso.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=282

Verizon Fios

August 17, 2004

Computer/ Tech Related

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The past week, Verizon’s been installing some fiber optic lines on my block. So I was researching some things and I learned that they are the first phone company to do this in prepration for Fios. Fios will be a high speed internet that will blow away DSL and even cable. Currently, DSL goes 1.5 MBPS down and 128 KBPS up. Cable goes anywhere from 2.5 – 4 MBPS up and up to 1 MBPS down (depending on usage in the neighborhood).

Fios will run 5 MBPS down and 2 MBPS up for the $39.99/ month plan and 15 MBPS down and 2 MBPS up for the $50/ month plan. That’s nuts. I can’t wait until it’s available here (they already started putting new wires, so hopefully soon). Very fast! Verizon will provide a router, free installation, 9 email accounts and MSN. It’s nuts. I can’t believe it. And reasonable, also. Go to http://verizon.net/fiber for more information.

Roxio Sucks

July 29, 2004

Computer/ Tech Related, Rants

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Ok so Roxio sucks because they make crappy software that’s not compatable with Microsoft updates, causing me hours of computer problems, headaches and annoyances.

So early this morning I went to turn on my computer and it got to the Windows XP thing but that green bar just stopped dead every time. So I waited 3 minutes and restarted. Of course it informed me that XP didn’t load properly (no shit!) and offered the option to boot into safe mode. I tried to start it normally again ad it did. Okay. At the time I had no idea it was Roxio, but it wasn’t working right for me (cds were corrupt) so I decided to uninstall it and reinstall it. After I uninstalled it, my computer was fine. Then, I installed it again and the computer wouldn’t start anymore. I didn’t suspect Roxio at this point. Anyway there were better things to do than sit in front of a computer all day, so I left and came back later that afternoon.

Again, the darn thing wouldn’t boot and I decided to start it in safe mode, then did a system restore and after a few tries, it started again. I then attempted to reinstall Roxio (like an ass.) That screwed up the booting again and it wouldn’t start. I did 2 system restores and nothing happened – still wouldn’t start. Anyway, by now I knew that it was Roxio causing this problem, so I attmpted to uninstall it in safe mode, but that didn’t work because safe mode is devoid of drivers. After one more restore, I finally got it working (good thing!) Next, I immediately uninstalled Roxio Easy CD creator 5 Platinum and took the install disc and threw it out. No loss. It’s old anyway. I probably would have formatted the harddrive if I had good backups but they were scattered and I didn’t want to start over new. Godd thing It’s okay.

So what caused this problem? A few days before that, I upgraded to DirectX 9.0 (Microsoft video crap) and Roxio probably didn’t like that. So Roxio was slowly causing trouble by burning bad cds, then completely screwed up the Windows boot sectors on my harddrive. Damn, if software was made correctly, it should be forward compatable. Oh well, now I have Nero and it requires DirectX 9.

Sorry to bore you people. I’m sure no one cares about my computer crap story.

Mozilla Firefox is Awesome

June 8, 2004

Computer/ Tech Related, Useless Update

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Wow! What a damn good browser. It kicks Internet Explorer’s ass. Actually, I’m not a big fan of replacing things that came with the operating system, but you need to get this browser. First off, it is much more secure than Internet Explorer. For example, all those install on demand spyware installers are completely blocked. So it eliminates the holes in IE. It also doesn’t run stupid javascripts. For example, I made a computer crashing javascript using AIM vulnerabilities and opened it with IE. When I opened that same script in Firefox, it stopped immediately. Firefox also has a nice easy to follow options dialog. Internet Explorer’s is really confusing. All the stuff to clear your cache and history are right there, instead of going through IE’s many sub-option dialogs. The size of the browsing window is clear and to the point, instead of being cluttered with IE toolbars. Another key feature is the built in popup blocker. The most awesome thing has to be the Tabbed windows. Instead of having 10 instances of a browser open, you can have one and it will open in tabs. Another nifty little feature is a little google toolbar (which you can remove of course). Oh, I forgot the download manager… Yeah, it’s very nicely done. You can pause downloads and it is a really cool interface.

I highly recommend this browser and it is a MUST for everyone to download. It’s also free.

Screenshot
Download it here