Sunday, June 14, 2015
Sunday, June 7, 2015
My Replacement Phone - A Positive Verizon Tale
My old phone, a Motorola Droid DX2 is long in the tooth. Very long.
As a birthday gift I was given the opportunity to acquire an updated phone. A Samsung S4 Mini. It too is not brand new in terms of technology but it is a quantum leap beyond the DX2.
I order the phone - a refurb. It arrives in two business days.
I go through the activation process, it ends with, "You have successfully activated your new phone."
At this point you are to, "Turn off your old phone now."
I removed the battery. (Um, this is not shutting down the phone, ya dope)
After a while I noticed the new phone stayed with the charging screen and nothing else - no phone properties whatsoever.
A quick live chat session with Verizon support which then led to a call to Verizon Wireless customer support on the old phone. While I am talking to the CS agent I realized my error in the shut down process - since I had not shut the phone down it was active and the new phone was just a flashlight at this point.
I saw the red Verizon screen bloom on the new phone. I ended the call and then properly shut the old phone down. The new phone continued the process and a setup wizard appeared.
It works and I am pleased. But the battery goes from 100% to 30% in a couple of hours.
Hmmm...
The next day I go to turn the phone on and it fails to power up. I do the three finger dance to boot into safe or developers mode...nothing. It's dead.
I pulled the battery, waited and then replaced the battery and plug the phone into the charger. The phone boots. This scene is repeated twenty times or more during the day...every time I try to turn the phone on.
After farting around all day trying one thing after another that I found online I decided to call Verizon again.
Two hours later...yeah, I am frustrated like a librarian in an E-Book store, I got a sympathetic supervisor to replace my flaky phone with a new one, not a refurb. There are a few hoops in between, but they are the price of business these days.
New phone arrived on Saturday. I have had practice with the activation procedure...so now it goes smooth as silk. I put the battery into the phone and wait for it to charge and then prepare to use it until it reaches 20% or so before charging it again.
(Li-Ion batteries can be damaged if discharged too much too often or if plugged into a charger all the time)
It's Sunday - I rode my bike for two hours, used the phone. Ate lunch, used the phone. In other words I used it moderately. And yet I am at 72%?
As a friend pointed out, this is how it is supposed to work.
Gawd, I am grateful. For both the gift and the working technology.
As a birthday gift I was given the opportunity to acquire an updated phone. A Samsung S4 Mini. It too is not brand new in terms of technology but it is a quantum leap beyond the DX2.
I order the phone - a refurb. It arrives in two business days.
I go through the activation process, it ends with, "You have successfully activated your new phone."
At this point you are to, "Turn off your old phone now."
I removed the battery. (Um, this is not shutting down the phone, ya dope)
After a while I noticed the new phone stayed with the charging screen and nothing else - no phone properties whatsoever.
A quick live chat session with Verizon support which then led to a call to Verizon Wireless customer support on the old phone. While I am talking to the CS agent I realized my error in the shut down process - since I had not shut the phone down it was active and the new phone was just a flashlight at this point.
I saw the red Verizon screen bloom on the new phone. I ended the call and then properly shut the old phone down. The new phone continued the process and a setup wizard appeared.
It works and I am pleased. But the battery goes from 100% to 30% in a couple of hours.
Hmmm...
The next day I go to turn the phone on and it fails to power up. I do the three finger dance to boot into safe or developers mode...nothing. It's dead.
I pulled the battery, waited and then replaced the battery and plug the phone into the charger. The phone boots. This scene is repeated twenty times or more during the day...every time I try to turn the phone on.
After farting around all day trying one thing after another that I found online I decided to call Verizon again.
Two hours later...yeah, I am frustrated like a librarian in an E-Book store, I got a sympathetic supervisor to replace my flaky phone with a new one, not a refurb. There are a few hoops in between, but they are the price of business these days.
New phone arrived on Saturday. I have had practice with the activation procedure...so now it goes smooth as silk. I put the battery into the phone and wait for it to charge and then prepare to use it until it reaches 20% or so before charging it again.
(Li-Ion batteries can be damaged if discharged too much too often or if plugged into a charger all the time)
It's Sunday - I rode my bike for two hours, used the phone. Ate lunch, used the phone. In other words I used it moderately. And yet I am at 72%?
As a friend pointed out, this is how it is supposed to work.
Gawd, I am grateful. For both the gift and the working technology.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Malware Addendum
There is a site I utilize to watch tv not otherwise available. I have used it for a year or more with nary an issue. Then all of a sudden I started seeing popups that told me I needed to update Shockwave/Java/Media Player et cetera.
I know these type of popups are malware inducing, click "Ok" to install their update and you have installed a rootkit piece of malware. The nastiest kind.
And then I remembered that because I found some malware associated with Adblock, which is an extension for Google Chrome, I had removed it.
Ah ha.
Found an equivalent extension (AdKiller for Chrome) and installed it, voila - no more popup garbage.
Wear your protection out there.
I know these type of popups are malware inducing, click "Ok" to install their update and you have installed a rootkit piece of malware. The nastiest kind.
And then I remembered that because I found some malware associated with Adblock, which is an extension for Google Chrome, I had removed it.
Ah ha.
Found an equivalent extension (AdKiller for Chrome) and installed it, voila - no more popup garbage.
Wear your protection out there.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Shopglider Malware Odyssey
All of a sudden I was getting popups for "deals" at various merchants through some entity known as Shopglider. It had a nice X that I availed myself of...to no avail.
Over and over it would show up. Any double clicking on single click pads would cause it to open.
I tried everything I could think of:
Malwarebytes
Runscanner
Adwcleaner - I suspect this is garbage
TDSSkiller - a rootkit finding program.
My AV - a total system scan.
Still there.
What I had noticed was it seemed to be limited to Chrome. I do not run any extension with any other browser.
Every hit on Google regarding this were the same suggestions and many suggested paid programs so I suspect they were naught but "ambulance chasers," if not the instigators themselves.
I finally started to look at threads on Google+
Lo & behold I found something unseen up until this point. A suggestion that it was somehow piggybacked along with the Adblock Pro extension and by disabling and then re-enabling the extension would remove the malware.
I decided to just replace Adblock Pro with Adblock (an unrelated extension with a similar name) and so far - 2 days, have not seen a shopglider ad yet.
Malware blows.
"ShopGlider is an adware program that displays pop-up ads, advertisement banners and sponsored links within Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
Unfortunately, some free downloads do not adequately disclose that other software will also be installed and you may find that you have installed ShopGlider without your knowledge.ShopGlider is advertised as a program that displays coupons for sites you are visiting and competitive prices when you are viewing product pages at sites like Amazon. Though this may sound like a useful service, the ShopGlider program can be intrusive and will display ads whether you want them to or not.The ShopGlider adware infection is designed specifically to make money. It generates web traffic, collects sales leads for other dubious sites, and will display advertisements and sponsored links within your web browser.
ShopGlider it’s technically not a virus, but it does exhibit plenty of malicious traits, such as rootkit capabilities to hook deep into the operating system, browser hijacking, and in general just interfering with the user experience. The industry generally refers to it as a “PUP,” or potentially unwanted program."
Over and over it would show up. Any double clicking on single click pads would cause it to open.
I tried everything I could think of:
Malwarebytes
Runscanner
Adwcleaner - I suspect this is garbage
TDSSkiller - a rootkit finding program.
My AV - a total system scan.
Still there.
What I had noticed was it seemed to be limited to Chrome. I do not run any extension with any other browser.
Every hit on Google regarding this were the same suggestions and many suggested paid programs so I suspect they were naught but "ambulance chasers," if not the instigators themselves.
I finally started to look at threads on Google+
Lo & behold I found something unseen up until this point. A suggestion that it was somehow piggybacked along with the Adblock Pro extension and by disabling and then re-enabling the extension would remove the malware.
I decided to just replace Adblock Pro with Adblock (an unrelated extension with a similar name) and so far - 2 days, have not seen a shopglider ad yet.
Malware blows.
"ShopGlider is an adware program that displays pop-up ads, advertisement banners and sponsored links within Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
Unfortunately, some free downloads do not adequately disclose that other software will also be installed and you may find that you have installed ShopGlider without your knowledge.ShopGlider is advertised as a program that displays coupons for sites you are visiting and competitive prices when you are viewing product pages at sites like Amazon. Though this may sound like a useful service, the ShopGlider program can be intrusive and will display ads whether you want them to or not.The ShopGlider adware infection is designed specifically to make money. It generates web traffic, collects sales leads for other dubious sites, and will display advertisements and sponsored links within your web browser.
ShopGlider it’s technically not a virus, but it does exhibit plenty of malicious traits, such as rootkit capabilities to hook deep into the operating system, browser hijacking, and in general just interfering with the user experience. The industry generally refers to it as a “PUP,” or potentially unwanted program."
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Virtual Sailor
I have a program that I have enjoyed as a sort of virtual fish tank - Virtual Sailor.
Written by Ilan Pappini, it allows you to sail many type of boats in many areas of the world.
It is not something I stare at, rather it just runs and I peek in now and then as I read a book or play my guitar - things I have done on boats while in the midst of a longer ride.
Then I found The VSF Boat Shop run by one Steve Sharp.
Steve has meticulously recreated a nice array of boats. From 34 foot day boats to 160 foot schooners.
I have purchased from Steve in the past, but the level of detail has been ratcheted up significantly.
I got a nice schooner, built in 1905 and refitted 2003 - 2006.
(If I had the $18,000,000 the owners are asking...)
A crew of 5 with 6 guests, a luxurious floating Victorian age hotel - I have not found one television screen, yet.
So I decide to take a ride to Hawaii. (Yes, Steve made one heckuva scenery set - Maui. I'll tell you about it after I land)
It's been almost two days and I am close to 500 nautical miles from the port of departure, Bellingham Washington, in a hailstorm...yeah a hail storm.
The attention to detail goes well beyond the visuals. Another schooner that was built as racing boat will heel 25 degrees or more in the 30 knot winds outside of Seattle while this boat sits almost upright with a heel angle of 5 degrees in 28 knots of wind and hail that is more than impeding our forward progress.
We had been averaging 12.5 knots for the first 30 hours. But now in the middle of this weather, I am torn - should I reef to avoid damage to the sails...and thereby slow down even more?
There is just something satisfying in having this ride going on as my background noise. Much better than having the drone of the television.
This will be one really fun ride.
Written by Ilan Pappini, it allows you to sail many type of boats in many areas of the world.
It is not something I stare at, rather it just runs and I peek in now and then as I read a book or play my guitar - things I have done on boats while in the midst of a longer ride.
Then I found The VSF Boat Shop run by one Steve Sharp.
Steve has meticulously recreated a nice array of boats. From 34 foot day boats to 160 foot schooners.
I have purchased from Steve in the past, but the level of detail has been ratcheted up significantly.
I got a nice schooner, built in 1905 and refitted 2003 - 2006.
(If I had the $18,000,000 the owners are asking...)
A crew of 5 with 6 guests, a luxurious floating Victorian age hotel - I have not found one television screen, yet.
It's been almost two days and I am close to 500 nautical miles from the port of departure, Bellingham Washington, in a hailstorm...yeah a hail storm.
The attention to detail goes well beyond the visuals. Another schooner that was built as racing boat will heel 25 degrees or more in the 30 knot winds outside of Seattle while this boat sits almost upright with a heel angle of 5 degrees in 28 knots of wind and hail that is more than impeding our forward progress.
We had been averaging 12.5 knots for the first 30 hours. But now in the middle of this weather, I am torn - should I reef to avoid damage to the sails...and thereby slow down even more?
There is just something satisfying in having this ride going on as my background noise. Much better than having the drone of the television.
This will be one really fun ride.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Life & Rhythm
Laugh or cry is our choice in life when presented with the little trials and tribulations of the day.
When the sun is low in the sky you can see the snow of everyday life. There are the dust motes, feathers, bits of hair...all the things that make up the world around leave tiny bits of themselves floating past the rest of us to breathe in...or to listen to.
A cars brakes screeched loudly. Then I heard it. A bass line just started in my head. It ran and looped. The brakes made the highlight. A high hat, a time keeper.
The birds played a chord. A train in the distance blew its horn in synchronicity with the rest of the piece.. Everything just fit together with no effort from me. Like breathing.
This...THIS is also laugh or cry. We can choose to hear what music is all around us or we can hear only noise...discord.
In five minutes of opening Band In A Box I had a new composition - Early Earth Music.
Damnit - laugh with me. We can make the world a wonderful place just by dancing to the rhythms that surround us.
When the sun is low in the sky you can see the snow of everyday life. There are the dust motes, feathers, bits of hair...all the things that make up the world around leave tiny bits of themselves floating past the rest of us to breathe in...or to listen to.
A cars brakes screeched loudly. Then I heard it. A bass line just started in my head. It ran and looped. The brakes made the highlight. A high hat, a time keeper.
The birds played a chord. A train in the distance blew its horn in synchronicity with the rest of the piece.. Everything just fit together with no effort from me. Like breathing.
This...THIS is also laugh or cry. We can choose to hear what music is all around us or we can hear only noise...discord.
In five minutes of opening Band In A Box I had a new composition - Early Earth Music.
Damnit - laugh with me. We can make the world a wonderful place just by dancing to the rhythms that surround us.
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