Free Republic

Okay, a question for you techies out there. I just renewed my Norton Anti-virus system and the renewal for my SpySweeper is coming up as well. Is it necessary to have SpySweeper also? If Norton Anti-Virus is sufficient then it doesn't make sense to renew SpySweeper. Some have said they might even be interfering with each other. So to renew or not to renew SpySweeper? That is the question.

My wife just got a Windows automatic update for Windows Vista. The problem is that her machine is running XP.She tried to reject the update but the machine automatically re-started and now she's getting messages like "No operating system found". We're both just users with not a clue of what to do.

I am changing my email address and want to change it on the blackberry however the manual does not cover very well deleting or renaming email to the unit.

There hasn't been a wedding like it for quite some time. About seven centuries, in fact. The bride arrived riding side saddle on a white mare in a dress made from 270 feet of silk. And waiting for her was her knight in shining armour - £10,000 of hand-forged steel trimmed with brass and velvet. The scene was the wedding of Sian Jenkins and Rupert Hammerton - Fraser, who are so fascinated by the Middle Ages that they recreated a medieval ceremony down to the minutest detail - the bride even promised to be bonny and buxom in bed, a...

Thanks to the techno geeks at FR our family after much thought are a happy owner of a 60 in HDTV Wega. The Wega is in tandem with two other tv screen one of which I am wireless posting. So really happy and it was a whole lot of work on my behalf but the crew of techno geeks helped sort out the salesmen pitches. So NOW I want new advice. Since King Vanity and I are more home bound and I am working around from shift to shift and with his needs I can't get out to do a...

California continues to employ far more technology workers, pay higher wages and attract more venture capital than any other state. But the overall U.S. tech sector is also growing at a surprisingly brisk clip - for now. That's the conclusion of a highly anticipated annual report by AeA, formerly the American Electronics Association, the country's largest technology trade association. Researchers relied on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, mostly from 2006. According to the 2007 "Cyberstates" report, to be published Tuesday, the U.S. tech industry employed 5.8 million people last year - up 2.6 percent from 2005. The...

Thanks to The Board of Wisdom for lifting the day after Christmas doldrums with the Top 10 geeky sayings. 1. There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't. 2.If at first you don't succeed; call it version 1.0. 3. Microsoft: "You've got questions. We've got dancing paperclips." 4. My pokemon bring all the nerds to the yard, and they're like you wanna trade cards? Darn right, I wanna trade cards, I'll trade this but not my charizard. 5. 1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d. 6. I'm...

A spectre is haunting the Internet -- the spectre of Digital Re-education. All the powers of the old Tech have entered into an unholy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Microsoft, Public Education, Labor Unions, The Major Telecoms, Dial-Up… The history of all hitherto existing Social Networks is the history of lowbrow genius and vis-à-vis GUI sub-systems.

Rocket scientists, long considered the gold standard in intelligence among all professionals, are not nearly as smart as originally thought, according to a controversial new study published today by the American Association of Brain Surgeons. The study, which appears in the organization's monthly publication, Popular Brain Surgery, is entitled "The Intelligence of Rocket Scientists: Myth Versus Reality," and suggests that rocket scientists' reputation for smartness is largely undeserved. "It does require a superior intellect to function as a rocket scientist," the article concedes. "Having said that, though, rocket science is not brain surgery." The article drew an immediate rebuke from...

this New York Times photograph of a crowd of Lebanese refugees: This is probably nothing. If it’s photo manipulation, it’s certainly an incredibly mundane example, and I can’t think of a reason why anyone would do it. I’m tossing this to the lizardoid community for comment from the other photoshop geeks out there, without rendering any judgment yet. In other words, I am not saying this is a definite fake; I know we’ve got quite a few experts at digital manipulation among our readers, and I’m sincerely asking for their opinions. But look at the image of the man in...

MENLO PARK, California (AP) -- They may sport love handles and Ivy League degrees, but every two weeks, some Silicon Valley techies turn into vicious street brawlers in a real-life, underground fight club. Kicking, punching and swinging every household object imaginable -- from frying pans and tennis rackets to pillowcases stuffed with soda cans -- they beat each other mercilessly in a garage in this bedroom community south of San Francisco.

So why is illegal immigration sucha problem? This cartoon breaks it down for you in four simple panels.

We Support Our Troops!  For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.Part 1 Today we'll look at some gadgets that changed the way we lived  in the 1950's, 60's and 70's.  Next week, we'll look at the 80's  and 90's.  I'm sure you can think of MANY more gadgets in these eras.  Please share them with us!*All single starred items below indicate that I had one of these. (If prior to 1973, my parents had one and I got to use it. I started young, folks!)  **All double-starred items indicate...

New thread for this week. Congrats to all new members who joined this week! We've made excellent progress so far and have smoked the DUmmies and Kossacks. Let's keep folding!

A continuation of the Freeper Folder Thread

Today is one of the worst days for Technical Support people in the computer industry. People around the globe, unwrapping their new computers, iPods, cell phones, and other technological marvels will be popping in the batteries or plugging in various connectors only to find out they have absolutely no idea what they're doing. It gives me chills down my spine. There's no telethon for chills down the spine, is there? I'd be the poster child, standing up on stage with... um... Christopher Lloyd or...um... Rob Schneider. Yeah, any time a movie of his is out, I've got Spine Chill Syndrome....

Aliens landed in Palmdale last week. At least that's what it looked like from the Antelope Valley Freeway. An eerie green glow emanated from hangar 703, near Plant 42, shining across miles of sleepy houses. From the Vista Point, it looked like Venus had descended from the night sky and taken up residence on Avenue P. I followed the light. Because that's what you do with ominous and unexplained lights, right? You follow them. Besides, it was only 2:30 in the morning. OK, full disclosure, I had directions to the source of the green light. I didn't need them, but...

Chalk another one up for the Conservative war room. The gang that brought you the "Paul Martin Supports Child Porn" news release in the 2004 campaign made another embarrassing error on the second day of the election campaign. Early on Wednesday, Press Gallery reporters were informed about a press conference with Conservative MP Jason Kenney shortly after noon regarding an offensive item on the Liberal party Web site. The press conference was to be held at the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill as the temperature hovered around zero. About five minutes later, reporters were told the press conference would be...

Go into almost any nightclub across the country and you'll see great-looking women and hungry men on the prowl, craving chemistry, connection — and a phone number. They're all looking for love. But the oldest game in the world can be brutal. "Either you have it or you don't. Some guys are smooth, some guys aren't. That's it," said an attractive clubgoer in South Beach, Miami, named Kristi. "There's the losers and the winners." Maybe that's right, but there's also a movement afoot that says the art of seduction can be learned. One of its students is Joel, a successful...

Hewlett-Packard employees in Palo Alto are working to save the house and one-car garage — dubbed the birthplace of Silicon Valley — where William "Bill" Hewlett and David Packard began manufacturing their first product in 1939. "We took the whole thing apart and are rebuilding it using the original frame and original 52 boards," said archivist Anna Mancini, who's overseeing the restoration. "We want to do it right. We want to do everything right." After dismantling the 12-foot-by-18-foot garage, sanding down the boards to eliminate termites and reinforcing the frame to withstand earthquakes, workers nailed the original Douglas-fir planks back...