Marty

I bought a new computer game... The instructions on the box said "Needs Windows 98 or better." So I bought a Mac.

I have a friend who has worked in the computer field since the 1960's. You'd expect someone like that to be a complete anorak and/or geek. Yet he still gets excited about the speed of change; what computer's can do; and the fact that, even though he has been at the forefront of the research down all those years, it's almost unbelievable that they can do what they do. He refers, with genuine reverence in his voice, to the modern day home computers as "PFM" machines. PFM standing for "Pure F**king Magic!" It's when I hear him talking like that, that I realise just how I tend to take technological progress for granted sometimes. Marty

Which leaves me wondering just how someone actually wears a slide rule... Marty (Good original post, btw, Des )

I have memories dating back to around 1980, when I was a card carrying member of the "Eco" Party (a precursor to the Green Party), of taking part in a demonstration in (I think) the Peace Gardens, in central Manchester, during which we sheltered under a couple of doors leant against a kitchen table - as instructed by a government pamphlet that had been sent to all householders with instructions as to what to do in the event of a nuclear attack, and the Eco Party hosting a public showing of a film (what would nowadays be called a docu-drama), about the likely outcome of a nuclear attack on Britain, that the BBC had made but decided against showing on the grounds that it was too scary. My biggest memory of the showing of that film was a survivor of Hiroshima giving an impromptu talk to the audience afterwards, and then, like any true Japanese tourist, taking out his Pentax camera and taking photographs of the proceedings. I also remember sneaking the film projector belonging to the school I taught in at the time out of school for the showing of the film. I somehow thought the headmaster would not have given me official leave to borrow it for the reason I wanted it. Marty (once a rebel, always a rebel)

To which I would add, as the US considers itself the policeman of the world, the future of the whole world. Marty

What a wonderful idea to ensure that your side wins... Simply kill off anyone who is going to vote against you. Conspiracy theory? Tell that to the Zimbabweans. Marty

Did you realise that you wrote this Blog entry on Saint Swithin's day, Camy? Legend has it that whatever weather you get on that day will be repeated for the next forty days and forty nights. In my experience, however, it never works out that way. Might be an idea to keep the rain gear handy Marty (ever the pessimist)

I'm surprised that you manage to get two antivirus programs to actually co-exist peacefully on one machine. I also agree with Pecman. Norton IS is about the most user-unfriendly piece of software I have come across. Marty

I use AVG free. It also updates itself automatically - although only once a day. AVG also offer a free spyware program. I find this a bit resource hungry, however, so use Spybot (free) instead. I also have Adaware running (also free). Adaware and Spybot do not run in the background, so I tend to open them once a week, manually update them (easily done) and scan my PC for problems. Running Windows XP home edition (Service Pack 2) with these three products and Windows Firewall and Automatic Updates turned on in Windows, I have never had a problem with viruses, etc. The free version of AVG is available through this link. Adaware from this location. And Spybot is available from the Safer Networking website. Hope this helps, Marty