[janekMZ]

rasmasyean





First of all, the name is Janek, not Jane, there is a lowercase k
before the MZ, hence the k belongs with the first part of the
username, how do you feel now that it's been pointed out to you that
you can't read. And second of all I'm a guy. But you have
already assumed that I'm a girl and assumed that I can't use a
computer.

[WinTard]

Accidents do happen. I am satisfied with your response, thank you. In all fairness, when used properly, Microsoft software does work pretty well.
However, earlier versions of Outlook, did have some quirks, and is sometimes euphemistically referred to as: LookOut! :D
PS: WhooHoo, my next post on PCWorld, will be the infamous # 666... Ouch! ;)

[janekMZ]

Likewise, thank you. It was a great
collaboration.

[janekMZ]

and I am of the yonger generation

[WinTard]

Oh, here it goes, another theory or possibility as to what happened to your laptop (and I may be totally wrong). Enterprise networks usually have managed switches, looking for 'known' MAC addresses. Usually IT controls that. The Ethernet transceiver chip usually is FLASH programmable as to it's MAC address. If somehow, malware corrupts that, then the NIC becomes fried... Then, with an invalid MAC address, the rest of the network equipment will simply ignore that node. Thus if somehow this were the case, both your NICs could have succumbed to that form of malware. Generally, this is fixable, by going to the manufacturer of the NIC, they have utiliies to re-flash the MAC address to a proper state.

It's all pure conjecture however and have no way to verify the assumptions. But I like to try to understand what's going on. And come up with reasonable explanations of what might be root cause of troubles.

Cheers!

[coastie65]

When you say something was "Fried", that implies an over current situation that causes over heating of a circuit or Component(s) that will quite literally fry them to a crisp more or less. I don't believe that was the case with the NIC, but in fact a simple failure and not heat related. I have seen where hardware has messed up software. Example: I know of a case where someone upgraded a processor. The computer seemingly ran just fine. Over time it started having problems, and then an update for Adobe came through. All went well until it started to clean up the files, it had the pathway but couldn't find the files. Long story short, as it turned out, the processor had been installed 180 degrees from the way it should have been. The computer ran, but in the process, it was completely scrambling the files.



Now, You said one NIC was internal and the other external. When the internal NIC failed, you went to an external. If you did not remove the internal drivers ( I assume they were off different manufacture) and disable the internal NIC BEFORE installing the external NIC, then it could very well have caused the external NIC failure. Mind you I said failure not fried, as I don't think it was heat related. coastie

[janekMZ]

that's a interesting story that the PC ran with the processor 180 degrees rotated. How did that happen, aren't the processors keyed so that they can go in only one way? And what about POST, it should have given an error. rasmasyean, maybe that person was old school; haha.

Anyway, I don't believe the drivers for the internal NIC were uninstalled or disabled at all.

[coastie65]

Hi Janek, :^0 I'm still scratching my head over that. The LGA 775 sockets are keyed in a fashion, so he should have noticed the stiffness when he went to lock it down. Why it didn't come up on post is beyond me. Anyway, it resulted in having to do a a reformat and reinstall of everything AFTER putting the old processor back in there. I am pretty sure the processor was wasted after that. Didn't have a test board, so couldn't really check it. It was my neighbor who uses a laptop for business and stuff, but decided to get a cheap desk top for personal use. I had gotten this one about 1 or two months earlier and he liked it. I should never have told him I was upgrading the processor in this thing, as he decided he needed to do the same thing. Now he just brings it over here if he needs something done or has a perceived problem ( Usually not ). Anyway, that was one possible scenario on the NIC thing, with out having looked at the computer. coastie

[WinTard]

Although this is slightly OT:

As I was travelling the Internet-at-large right now, I stumbled upon a real EE, who merits mention, since he rolled up his own DIY Wooden Laptop v2.

chrisfenton.com/diy-laptop-v2/

His site is loads of fun, 'A place of delightful devices' and merits a good laugh! Laughter is cheap medicine!

Oh yeah, it runs Linaxe...


I wonder what problems the EU would find with his creation?

BTW, I support green initiatives such as these, in the event of a fire, this would 'burn clean(er)' than most of today's laptops, but I digress...

:D

[coastie65]

Hi Win, This is the result of someone with too much time on their hands. :D Pretty neat though, that he could do that. coastie

[TechieXP]

To add on to what WinTard said...there are several things a user can do to insure the browser they use works correctly and protects them against most of the issues found online...

POPUPS - These are the worse. When a popup box happens be careful and take time to read what they say. Don't just click OK and don't just click CANCEL. If a popup happens while you have your browser open, it is most likely malware/spyware of some type. To protect yourself against them turn on the popup blocker of your browser. This can be a problem. Many tool bars also have popup blockers. Google and Yahoo and so many other do. When you have multiple tool bars that have similar features, they can cause the browser to work incorrectly. YOU ONLY NEED ONE. All version of IE fro 6SP1 to teh latest have popup blocking features builtin...If you add Google or Yahoo toolbars, then you should disable the feature that is in the browser.

Have a good firewall. Windows builtin firewall should be sufficient to stop popups that use open ports...however Windows Firewall is a bit more tricky to setup for specific port numbers if you don't have the knowledge. So get an antivirus program that includes it own firewall like Norton Internet Security (not teh same as Norton Anti-Virus) or McAfee Security Suite.

Norton Anti-virus along won't block malware and spyware. We had 2 ppl in out office get the same infection on their system, dispite we run a corporate version of Norton. However I have told out IT, we need versions that offer more protection. Instead he is truing to pawn off to stop using IE and use Firefox. Well that didn't matter...the first user who caught it was using FireFox.

Which browser is more secure?! NONE OF THEM. How secure they are depends on the knowledge of the user and how they manage to reconize what is safe and what is not. If people just used some common sense they could avoid any online issues. If it looks to good to be true, that means it probably is. Everything isn't always what it looks like...if you can't tell...GOOGLE. The infect we had was easily found

It sucks that programs you need to protect against these problems slow your system down. These programs have to be able to monitor file activity in/out. Increasing ram usually will help.

As far as browser speed? Pages are coded to work best with the browser that is most widely used, which is IE. I too hate when I use other browsers and the code is not read properly and stuff is missing or dropbox are screwed. Since I code webpages it is a pain in the butt to try to create CSS code to handle how each browser handle things. As far as what same said about media playback like...this is usually a plugin issue. For example. MSFT has HTML code that allows a coder to embedded teh Windows Media Player into the pages itself with actually opening the page. Firefox and Safari doesn't support MSFT proprietory formats and require WMP plugins to make them work. FireFox won't install these natively, but there are 3rd party plugins and installers that will do it for you. Without them, these types of pages break. It seems it would be so simple to support what the web has to offer by default. Thats whay makes IE so great. Sure its a bit slower...but it works. What good is a lightning fast browser if it can't even load standard code that has been around for decades?

All browsers are based on code done by Mozilla years ago and that included IE. But MSFT took it way further and thanks to them we have the type of media we have online today. These new guys who try to make you believe IE is so bad because MSFT chose to leave some abilities out. FF and its plugins are nice, but they also slow a browser down. Now FF has a plugin to help speed it up to work around teh slow plugins. Other than being able to skin the browser...i didn't find any of those to be helpful. If they would have simply coded that into the browser, you wouldn't need all the plugins to begin with. IE i think is proof that you can safely code many features and still have a reasonably good experience.

As far as the vulerabities in IE? Hackers write the code simply because IE is used more so they spend more time looking for how to get around the security features in IE. Same as they do for the OS. Just like another comenter said...you simply need to be careful where you go and what you do. One thing I did was raise IE's security setting to higher levels and add domains to teh untrusted list so that IE won't even load them. if you set the browser to Medium it won't download unsigned Active X controls. These are controls that have been approved by MSFT to be safe for the browser to use. Which means it been tested. Setting it lower will allow anything to happen and you put yourself at risk. Site that have illegal downlaods and porn are known to have malware and hacks coded in the pages or loaded into the install. If you don't install or visit them you won't have problems. If you need porn so bad..get cable or rent or buy a DVD.

Also if you ever visit a site you don't want to visit again and won't remember it, list it in the Restricted Sites. That way teh browser will never load the page. IE also allows you to do other setting that will help protect you in browsing. If you don't use them then it is like an alarm for a house that you never set.

Wintard listed several security companies who aren't partners of MSFT and will give you a fair criteria on who has the safest OS and who has the safest browser. So far from my reading IE is still the leader especially since MSFT has been dilligently working at making IE safer since it is targeted more because it is used more. More proof that teh reason other OS's and browser have less problems is Security through Obscurity. FF has been targeted more too especially since it has gotten almost as popular as IE. Just do your homework and take a few precautions and no matter which you use, you will have a favorable experience. IE however tho slow, will give you the best experience.

[TechieXP]

Very nice find. You should have used that os OS11. I like to see a greener laptop. Imagine a totally wooden casing. Which the heat of today's cpus I guess that has to be left off the block. maybe if we insulate it with heat-resistant materals it will work.

[ron1333]

What are the actual reasons some folks like Firefox?