Free Republic

One in 10 corporate PC users will encounter difficulties in upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 2, according to AssetMetrix. Smaller firms will be hit hardest by compatibility problems between their applications and the much anticipated update of Microsoft's flagship operating system, the Canadian asset management firm says. Microsoft has issued a list of applications that require modification in order to work properly with XP SP2. The list has been in a state of flux since XP SP2 was released. But based on the current list of approximately 60 applications with SP2 compatibility problems, AssetMetrix reckons that an average company...

I just had my hard drive fail. It stopped spinning. Does anyone have experience with a company that recovers the data off a broken hard drive? What price is reasonable? What type of success rate is expected?

I was looking at the computer of a user who has Windows 2000, in the hope of setting her up to get Windows updates semi-automatically (that is, she gets the updates automatically, then chooses which ones to install). I found, however, that she has no control panel icon for "automatic updates." Furthermore, when I click on the "windows update" link on the left side of the control panel window, I see a message that says that apparently a person must be logged in as adminstrator to get updates. That seems really inconvenient. Therefore, can she do automatic updates at all,...

A couple of months ago, we rolled out G.O.P. Portal Interactive Wallpaper, powered by Deskpops. And the response was incredible. Thousands of news junkies realized they could keep up with the latest news from Newsmax, WorldNetDaily and more, right on their desktops...and we mean RIGHT ON THEIR DESKTOPS! But now, we've made a great service even better! Instead of 5 news sources, G.O.P. Portal Interactive Wallpaper now features over 70 sources, including Free Republic, Newsmax, WorldNetDaily, Steyn Online, The Christian Science Monitor and more. You can also find the latest news from the Bush-Cheney 04 Campaign and raw news feeds...

I am running XP. I click on "control panel" then select the link for Windows update. The next screen tells me that I am set up for automatic updates. The problem is, I don't remember how I did so, and cannot find a link to a dialog that lets me change this setting. Neither the "settings" link nor the "administrator options" link allows me to change this setting. Also, how would I set up automatic updates in Windows 2000? Thanks.

I created a thread here a couple weeks back. I was asking for help with a Web site that I was planning on building for the OSU College Republicans. Well I have now built that Web site, and you can view it here. Let me know what you think of it. But I do have another problem I would like some help with. I recently added some links from gop.com and georgewbush.com They are news tickers. I believe this is what is causing the errors. Could any expertise freepers help me out. It keeps asking me if I want to...

Richard Cunningham is like many twenty somethings in the United States -- he enjoys hanging out at the bars with friends, motorcycling, hiking and buying the latest electronic gadgets. He regularly puts in 12-hour days from his home office and is respected by peers in his industry. But his industry is about as unconventional as it gets. And if the anti-spam community discovered who he really was, it would go out of its way to make life as difficult as possible for a guy who profits from flooding your e-mail inbox. "Richard Cunningham" more than likely isn't his real name;...

ZoneAlarm Security Suite blocked access to port 21 on your computer No breach in your security has occurred. Your computer is safe. What happened? ZoneAlarm Security Suite prevented a remote computer from connecting to port 21 on your computer. This connection attempt was probably a port scan trying to find unprotected FTP (File Transfer Protocol) servers. To learn more about port scans, see the Details tab. Should I be concerned? No. ZoneAlarm Security Suite blocked the connection attempt, so no harm can come to your computer from it. Port scans are very common on the Internet and are not usually...

Sasser kid blamed for viral plague By John Leyden A staggering 70 per cent of viral activity in the first half of this year can be linked to just one German teenager, according to anti-virus firm Sophos. Sven Jaschan, 18, the self-confessed author of the NetSky and Sasser worms is blamed by Sophos for the vast majority of viral reports it recorded during the first six months of 2004. Just two of Jaschan's viruses - the infamous Sasser worm and NetSky-P - account for almost 50 per cent of all virus activity seen by Sophos up until the end of...

In the last few minutes, when attempting to access the web via Netscape with Free Republic designated as my home page, it freezes. I changed my homepage to another site and I had no problems. I accessed the internet via Internet Explorer with FR as my homepage and no problem. Is this a Netscape or FR problem? My cache files are cleared and I do not have a problem with other sites.

In a move that surprised many video game industry officials, the children’s toy manufacturer Nerf filed a slander lawsuit against every major marketer of massive online games. In a press release Nerf stated that they were suing for monetary compensation for profits lost as a result of the slander perpetrated by the gaming companies. Online game companies have long been in the habit of reducing the capabilities of characters, weapons, spec lines, and other game related mechanics while increasing the capabilities of their billing computers. This situation lead to the creation of the Internet slang term “nerf” which has come...

I downloaded Red Hat version of Linux last night. I am having trouble even get started installing the software. Before I invest any more time, is it worth me installing Linux on my home computer? I do not write my own software. However, I am attracted that the system is free, and the applicable software is cheap Lindows office, $29. I would like your thoughts. Also, will all my Windows based software work with Linux?

Mine is the generation that will say they saw the fiery tragic demise of the clunky indestructible rotary-dial telephone and the instant tsunami-like skull-crushing advent of the beeping screaming yammering cell-phone culture like some sort of rabid brilliant must-have disease.

I have 2 problems with my computer. When I boot up, after icons appear, I get a box that states "shortcut problem" with MORZE2.lnk. If I click OK to get rid of the box, another immediately appears with a different .lnk extension and if I click OK again, I get another one, another one, and so on with different names. I've attempted to locate these stupid links and even when into dos to try and delete them without success. The other problem is I know I have spyware because I downloaded two different spyware killers which scanned my machine and...

NETWORK-CENTRIC WARFARE What’s the Point? Edward A. Smith, Jr. (Nevermind the numbers interspersed throughout the paper. I didn't feel to remove them.) What is network-centric warfare? What’s the point? Many attempts to answer these questions emphasize the “network” and the new technologies used to create more effective sensor and communications architectures. These architectures, it is argued, will enable us to create and exploit a common situational awareness, increase our speed of command, and “get inside the enemy’s OODA [observe, orient, decide, and act] loop.”1 Yet such descriptions of technologies and capabilities can leave us asking the same questions: What is...

SEATTLE - As a vice president at security software leader Symantec Corp., Matthew Moynahan applauds Microsoft Corp.'s effort to make its Windows operating system safer from attack. But Moynahan is not so excited about the flood of help-desk calls almost certain to come when Microsoft releases a comprehensive security overhaul of Windows XP next month. His company's Norton antivirus software runs on about 100 million desktop computers. To make the new Microsoft system work smoothly with Norton, customers will need to download a Norton update. The company is already bracing for the change, working with its customer support staff and...

Serious defects hit cell phone batteries, computer parts From wire reports July 18, 2004 Hundreds of thousands of computer parts and cell phone batteries have been recalled in recent weeks because of serious defects. No. 1 PC maker Dell recalled 38,000 Auto/Air Power Adapters connecting laptops to power outlets in cars and planes. Users may get shocked if they plug the wrong cord into the adapter. No. 2 PC maker Hewlett-Packard is recalling the memory component of 900,000 laptops over a problem that can make them crash or lose data. H-P blames memory-makers Micron Technology, Samsung, Infineon Technologies and Winbond....

Chinese Hacker May be PLA The Ministry of Foreign Affairs send an urgent message to the Korean Embassy in Beijing instructing it to confirm whether the recent hacking of computers at major national institutions is connected with the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. Ahead of this, as the Foreign Ministry was protesting Chinese state-run media distortions of Goguryo history to Chinese Ambassador Li Bin on Wednesday, the ministry requested China's active cooperation in solving the hacking problem. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Shin Bong-kil said Li stated he would relay the request to Beijing and would work hard to see that the facts...

A team of computer scientists and mathematicians at Palo Alto, CA-based Artificial Development are developing software to simulate the human brain's cortex and peripheral systems. As a first step along the way, the company recently disclosed that it has completed the development a realistic representation of the workflow of a functioning human cortex. Dubbed the CCortex-based Autonomous Cognitive Model ('ACM'), the software may have immediate applications for data mining, network security, search engine technologies and natural language processing. The first ACM computer 'persona,' named 'Kjell' in homage to AI pioneer Alan Turing, was activated last month and is in early...

Thousands of students, staff and alumni of a tony Upper East Side design school were put at risk of identify theft and possible bankruptcy after school computers containing their personal info were dumped on the sidewalk. As many as 10 computers were found abandoned outside the New York School of Interior Design on East 70th Street on June 17 and handed over to The Post. One hard drive revealed files containing more than 15,000 Social Security, credit-card and phone numbers plus staffers' salaries, academic transcripts, dates of birth and student ID photos. -----snip-----