Posts tagged computers
Comcast Using DNS for Ad Redirection
Feb 10th
So at home we have a Comcast Cable Internet connection. Lately I have been getting redirected to a “Comcast Search Page”. Now you’re probably thinking “Well that because you mistyped a URL”. Actually it’s not. About 25% of the time that I do a search term on Google.com the Comcast Search page comes up. And on this page it does have search results but it also has tons and tons of ads on it BEFORE the acutal search results. Why would Comcast do this? Profit! Everytime you get that page the advertisers have to pay a fee for that page impression. But let’s face it the real reason they did this is to take advantage of the average computer user 
like your grandmother who has no idea what to click on and what not to. This is a very shady and low thing to do to your customers Comcast. I have personally removed Comcast’s DNS servers from my router (I usually do before this BS just because they suck so much) and I now use OpenDNS.org and Google.com for my DNS servers. If you want to know how to do this so that Comcast doesn’t make money off your back check out OpenDNS.org.
What is to stop them from redirecting the websites that they feel are unfit for their customers? When will there be some regulation on what ISP’s can do to the traffic that is going through their networks? This is crazy that I have to use a third party DNS provider so that I do not get bombarded with ads and scams for a service that I PAY FOR! What ever happened to net neutrality? I just hope this doesn’t fall upon deaf ears.
StarTech.com making cheap made in china parts expensive
Feb 3rd
If working in retail has taught me anything it is that presentation is everything. For example we carry a brand called “Sabrent” and a more known brand called “Vantec”. I am going to use a PCI SATA/eSATA card as an example. The generic “Sabrent” brand costs about $14.99 where the “Vantec” that has 1 LESS port costs about $24.99. Why is that? Well one they both have the SAME chipset. Secondly the packaging looks better on the Vantec brand. Because of this a consumer feels better and is under the assumption that they are getting a better quality when in fact its the same thing.
What got me to write this article was that a friend of mien was trying to tell me that StarTech.com is the best thing since sliced bread. Well below I have the SAME EXACT product from StarTech.com and from NewEgg.com. Both have the same chipset and even have the same PCB. I took these screenshots at 3:30pm on 2/3/2010 CST. Have a look for yourself.
If you have shopped at NewEgg.com you would know that Rosewill is NewEgg’s “house” brand (think of BestBuy’s Dynex or CompUSA’s Ultra). They are basically cheaply made products from China that they buy for next to nothing and then slap their label on them. What does this have to do with StarTech.com? Everything! That is their WHOLE business. All they do is buy up cheap products from China and brand them to hell. They make very pretty packaging for the product and even printed CD’s. When you buy from them all you are paying for is markup. If you have been online for more than a month you probably have heard of eBay or NewEgg. I don’t get the hype about StarTech.com but I guess I just know better and now you do too.
Why Windows 7 seems far better than Vista
Jan 29th
There has been much buzz about the new Windows 7 Operating System from Microsoft not only in the tech community but also the general public. IT is supposed to be the “holy grail” of Windows operating systems and is supposed to remedy all the issues that Windows Vista was plagued with. Windows 7 comes with a few new visual effects and enhancements that Windows Vista didn’t have. Most of the features are designed to enhance productivity such as the window snapping at the top and sides of the screen and a better management of multiple windows open within the same programs. The kernel has some modifications to enhance stability and performance. All in all due to Microsoft’s ad campaigns the launch of Windows 7 was pretty widely accepted.
Every day I still hear horror stories and complaints about Windows Vista with it being slow, buggy, and unstable. Granted when Windows XP came out it was very unstable and the Windows 2000 fan-boys swore to stick to their OS just like the Windows XP fan-boys stuck to their OS when Windows Vista came out. But no one remembers the failure of Windows XP when it was first released like when Windows Vista was released. This could be due to Apple’s snide and spiteful ad campaigns or just bad press in general but the fact of the matter is that Windows 7 had a huge head start on Vista.
One of the major complaints that people had with Windows Vista was the hardware support. When Joe average computer user went to buy a new computer that came pre-loaded with Windows Vista instead of Windows XP he found that his printer and scanner from 1994 did not work with the modern operating system. So instead of blaming the manufacturers of the products they immediately blamed it on the operating system itself.
Now Windows Vista has been out for almost 4 years already. Most people don’t realize that. The good thing that came
out of Vista being released in 32bit and 64bit is that it pushed hardware and software manufacturers to start releasing support (like drivers and patches) for the 64bit operating systems. Now since the NT7 kernel that Windows 7 is based on has a very similar hardware stack that Vista’s NT6 kernel has most of the drivers that were designed to run on Windows Vista ran and installed fine on Windows 7. This made Windows 7 seem like it had better hardware support than Vista due to the legwork that manufacturers had already done because of Vista’s launch 4 years ago.
I am not saying that Windows 7 is not a better operating system than Windows Vista because it is better. Windows 7 scales far better on lower end computer systems such as net-books or that Pentium 4 computer that grandma and grandpa have. This is due to the major kernel and feature overhaul that went on with Windows 7. If you remember shortly, lets say 6 months, after Windows Vista was released there was already talk of Windows 7 coming out in a few years. Microsoft better prepared and tested Windows 7 since they had the buffer time of the Windows Vista lifetime.
I personally have no problems with Vista. It could also have something to do with making sure my systems are fully stacked with powerful CPU’s and plenty of RAM to run the most unruly of operating systems. I have since converted both my systems to Windows 7 and don’t miss Vista that much since 7 is a little bit faster but then again I thought the same about Vista. 
Computers and the “Magic” Behind them
Jan 29th
If you ask the average person about their computer and what it does they will probably respond with something like it lets me talk to my friends or go on the internet. All that they know is they push the power button and the screen displays what they want to see. They don’t know how it happens or why. They just know that every time they push that button it does it. Some people may even go as far to say that it’s “magic”. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
A computer is a rather simple device. A computers primary job is to accept input from the user and output the results. Computers are really quite stupid in comparison to humans. As a human we have this thing called free will. We have the ability to make our own decisions, good or bad. Just because someone tells us to do something we can respond one of two ways. We can either honor the request and carry it out or just outright refuse it. Computers do not have this ability. They do whatever the user tells them to do. When you type in a website into your web browser someone somewhere has programmed that web browser to accept certain parameters and behave accordingly.
The biggest thing that annoys myself about the average computer user is that they blame everything that goes wrong on the computer itself. It never occurs to them that the problem is usually caused by poorly written software (Ex: Windows 
) or user error (usually is the problem). So next time you think that your computer is the one causing all the issues just remember that it’s usually a PEBKAC issue.
