7 June 2005 ... Computer Bits

New computer stuff always makes me happy, so yesterday I downloaded Lavasoft's Ad-Aware.

Last week, I was cleaning up partner's computer and I noticed some rather suspicious looking programs. I wasn't sure, but figured I'd look into the problem. I re-discovered Ad-Aware, but wanted to test it out on my computer before I go crashing other people's computers! heh.

I was a bit dismayed when the new program showed over 200 "critical" problems. Glancing at the log, almost all of them were cookies... Now, in general "cookies are gooood!" even on the computer, they don't do any harm. But these were all from my IE browser, with which I don't do any serious surfing: so, goodbye cookies!

And it turns out I only had two evil objects, both with several entries in my registry. Begone, evil ones!

Time to address partner's computer. He had less IE cookies, but more objects, several of which had installed actual programs. Yep, the suspicious looking program that first alerted me, was one of them. goodbye bad programs!

You know what? I have had my cordless trackball for just over a year. Even tho I love the concept of "cordless", it does have it's annoyances.

The trackball takes two AA batteries. They last exactly six months. I'm glad they last that long, but it's still not very environmental, ya know.

And also, it's not really cordless. There is a little information gathering device which gets plugged into the computer and is supposed to sit several feet away from all the computer stuff. It also must be within range of the trackball. The stupid thing is always getting in my way, and I'll move it and then my trackball isn't working, fah.

So, yeah, I thought I always wanted a cordless keyboard... but, really, maybe I don't.

I have been doing well with my new art habit, drawing something every day. So far I've got three mediums: pencil or pen in my notebook, oil painting in Paint Shop Pro 9, and drawings on my Palm handheld.