Stopping VirusRemover2008

Once again some major fool has created more work for me…this time, a client intemperately clicking a link in Huffingtonpost.com’s comment section has installed an app called ViruRemover2008, supposedly an antiviral program, but in reality an annoying piece of malware.  Pop-ups continually distract you indicating that there are viruses on your computer.  To ‘fix’ this problem, you are advised to purchase the full version of VirusRemover2008.  VR2008 will never stop asking you, and will not allow itself to be uninstalled.  This is a business model?

So I spent some time trying to remove the program fragments in the manner suggested at Symantec.com, but I never did find them.  SAV might have found and deleted them by the time I arrived on the scene, or the VR2008 author may have read the same page and changed his code.  The virus was only active in a single user’s profile, so the actual fix was:

• let Symantec AV do its thing
• copy the user’s profile
• delete the user’s profile
• after making sure the problem is gone, restore the user’s desktop items and internet favorites.

So far, that has worked.  Try not to get too angry.

Copying a MS SQL server database – w/o BS

Sheesh, all I wanted to do was copy a SQL database from one MS Windows machine to another (we are migrating our Infotrieve Ariel servers to new workstations).  Searching the web for a solution to this simple task was like asking someone how to plug in a lamp and getting the entire history of physics first.

Here’s how we do it, copying from an MSDE 2000 server to MS SQL 2005 Server Express:

1. On the machine with the database, stop the SQL server
2. find the database files (suffixes are mdf and ldf) and copy them to your new workstation
3. Run Application SQL Server Management Studio Express (free download) on your new workstation
4. Connect to your SQL server using the aforementioned Server studio
5. in the Object Explorer, right-click the Databases object and choose Attach
6. Use the Attach Databases dialog window to locate your database files and attach them.

That’s all.  Now, see how simple that was?

Wiki me!

After years of doing work and then forgetting that I had done it, last year I decided to take a drastic step and start a record of previous fixes and information.  After discovering that writing things down on tiny scraps of paper was ineffective (the scraps tend to bunch together in the washing machine), I installed a personal Wiki on my workstation.

Minimal web research led me to choose MoinMoinWiki.  Now I have an easy-to-update, searchable, browser-hosted record of my day-to-day work activities.  This is far superior to just unrelated Word documents in a LAN folder.

Wiki: not just for sharing!

The Daily WTF – Library IT edition

Definitely check out today’s Daily WTF for an example of what happens to coders who try to meet every contingency.

Eee PC Review

So I’ve had my 4 GB, 512 MB Eee PC (stupid name!) for a couple of weeks now.  Here are a few first impressions:

1. It’s so very small and light.  In comparison to my previous laptop (HP Z-Series 15″ screen) it weighs nothing.  It’s easy to hold in one hand without worrying that it will slip.  I took it out in public and sure enough, strangers were accosting me as if I had a cute baby with me.  Could the Eee pc be used to meet women?  Maybe!
2. OK, so the screen is small (7″ diag).  The quality is excellent, nice and bright and sharp.  No complaints there.  Sometimes, however, necessary buttons will be off the screen and  you’ll have to use the ALT-Drag trick to pull them onto the viewable area.  It took me a while to figure that out.
3. In ‘Easy Mode’, where the GUI has insultingly large kiddy-buttons to press for preset programs, the Eee starts up in about 15 seconds. Whee!  In Full mode, where you have a more recognizable PC desktop, it takes about a minute.  Also, it’s not easy to add buttons to the easy desktop, so if you want to use less popular programs (like remote desktop) you have to go to full mode.  I suppose there might be another way, I just haven’t found it yet.  I am not really insulted by Easy Mode, and I tend to use it unless I need to start some non-represented app.
4. The wireless reception is excellent.  Much more sensitive than my previous laptop.
5. The keyboard…pretty small.  I can span the whole board with one outspread hand.    It’s tough for me to touch-type on it, but I’m guessing it will become easier with use.  Some of my favorite navigation keys, such as page up/down, are in different places from the standard PC keyboard and require the fn button to function.  Tab and Enter buttons, etc, are single-sized instead of the standard double.
6. The software included is comprehensive.  You may have to install some less popular ones before they can be used.  I have heard some complaints that the OpenOffice suite apps are slow to load, but I haven’t noticed that yet.  Firefox is the browser, and it works a treat.  I find myself using the ‘full-screen’ firefox mode more often than on other laptops.
7. Skype works great, and the microphone and speakers have surprising quality.  The built-in camera is adequate.
8. I was a bit cranky to plug in my digital camera and not have it recognized.  I haven’t had time to rectify this yet.  However, the Eee PC has a card reader, so that hasn’t been a problem.
9. 3 USB 2.0 ports.  Sweet.  The Eee recognized my portable HD w/o trouble.
10. The power cord has no brick.  How does it smell?  Awesome!

Pointless Tech Purchase!

I bought an Asus 4GB Eee PC today. I figure I can sell my larger HP Laptop and cover most of the $350 cost, and the Eee is much more portable. I’ll provide a review when it actually arrives. Still pointless!

Actually, I thought my first laptop purchase was pointless, too, so this isn’t so bad.

Google, Library Scanning, and Copyright

There’s a nice (and brief) roundup of issues concerning Google’s massive library book scanning project at Ars Technica this morning. I’d like to comment on it more fully, but I don’t have the time or patience to read through all the relevant copyright law. My illustrious employer is also a member of this project, so I expect to be hearing a lot about this topic in the coming years.

The gist of the problem appears to be that copyright pertaining to electronic media has not been fully hashed out in the courts, so several opinions can be regarded as having validity. The idea of Google, a powerful media corporation, having control over copies of many millions of pages of copyrighted content is mind-boggling. What do they say they intend to do with them? Their use could be either lawful, unlawful, or exist in a legal limbo.

Several amusing remarks are made in the back-and-forth comments between Paul Courant and Siva Vaidhyanathan about the general laziness of modern students, to the effect that they won’t bother to physically seek out actual books, but prefer electronic versions…a generalization, but one with some truth to it. It’s just the way they was raised, I guess.

Ebooks – Amazon Kindle

I’ve been looking for an electronic reading device that works for, oh, I guess about 40 years now. Lately more are being developed, but they all have one thing in common – they’re too expensive. Amazon’s Kindle is no different, coming in at $400. It has nice features…that are still not worth $400. Sorry, please play again.

The Kindle, by Engadget

p.s. also, it’s ugly.

Another Vista review

…at PC Magazine

Libraries and ‘Adult Materials’

More like ‘Adolescent materials’…Atlanta public library patrons are up in arms over alleged viewing of pornography at library workstations.

Viewing pornography is a private activity which should be restricted to one’s home.  If one doesn’t have a home, though, who am I to deny adults their rights?   And who decides what is pornographic?

A few days ago I saw another story about a public library that had two internet areas: one monitored; one un-monitored.  This struck me as eminently sensible.  Kids to the right; perverts to the left.

“The library system is not a baby-sitting service, and the librarians are not our children’s nannies,” he said. “Let’s not surrender our parental responsibility to a software package, the librarians and the county government.” – A library patron from the article.

I agree.  Filtering software has been shown (at least to my satisfaction) to be  poorly programmed, and likely to block sites based on oversimplified textual criteria (breast cancer information, for instance.)   Who will decide what is pornographic – “community standards”?  Oh, please…I personally don’t care to surrender my personal tastes to my community’s lowest common denominator.