241–250 of 395 posts
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I've seen non-technically people enter "www.facebook.com" into the google search bar.
Anyone can do that, even people that know where they should type the URL! Do you always carefully check that the right box has the keyboard focus before you start typing?
Mobile computer tech, here. War story follows. I handle high single-figures of these adware and/or potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) infestations every week. Mostly it's Windows 7 and 90% adware/PUPs-centric, occasionally ransomware. In the huge majority of cases, the following will get a computer back up and sorted in a sensible amount of (billable) time: First, bring known-good copies of AdwCleaner, Junkware Rem…
The problem with using cleaning tools like the ones you mention is that I'm always left wondering, "What did I miss?" when they've finished. Since it's a long process that's always potentially incomplete, I abandoned that approach years ago. The first thing I ask a client is "What data do you want to keep?" Then I scan the drive offline (mostly for my own curiosity, but also to get an idea of what I'm dealing with),…
Burn everything and build afresh.
Hopefully lesson learned.
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That's by far the worst company they ever invested in. See here for PG's take on this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5092711
I dunno, there's a few contenders. Scribd was pretty bad. RapGenius was pretty bad in terms of the people. Edit: Oh, and Quora, even if that wasn't much more than YC lending its name.
Most are useless, and try to charge money, but not Driver Booster. (And you can find a pro key for free if you look around, but even non pro is still pretty good.)
And that stuff in the linked article about drivers updating from Windows Update: many driver updates take a long time to make it there, if at all. I've seen many times that a driver has an update from the manufacturer but it doesn't update automatically.
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Ironic, considering that Apple did exactly the same, when you installed QuickTime on Windows. They tried to trick you into installing iTunes and Safari and set them as default apps. Also, it stinks that Apple has nailed iOS that shut that even as a knowledgeable user you are not able to bypass it. They did not yet dare to do the same on Mac OS, but who knows when that comes.
iTunes for Windows is a monster that drains the life out of the PC. Microsoft Office for Mac OSX was coded with the same evil spirit. This behavior is unethical but pervasive, and should be outlawed somehow, it hurts everyone. Specially when it comes from the two biggest players in the market.
Disclosure: I work for Microsoft, though this experience was at a previous employer.
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I dunno, there's a few contenders. Scribd was pretty bad. RapGenius was pretty bad in terms of the people. Edit: Oh, and Quora, even if that wasn't much more than YC lending its name.
What was wrong with RapGenius? I actually like them. Simple idea executed well. I still use Genius regularly.
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independent websites that use PayPal downloads and license keys As of 1 Jan this is now economically infeasible in the EU (see "VATMOSS").
Using the number given in the Pinegrow thread today: It is economically infeasible to pay your payment processor 5 percent instead of 3? It's annoying, sure, but infeasible?
And this is why Apple created Gatekeeper and made the Mac OS X App Store so ridiculously onerous for developers[1]. The software world is, for all intents and purposes, a thin sheen of gold flecks and diamonds atop a veritable cesspool of shit. You can just imagine the conversation at 1 Infinite Loop: Marketer: The Panic guys are considering pulling out of the App Store. Maybe we should reconsider our App Store strat…
I had to install the DirectX user runtime recently and was pretty shocked to see Microsoft has loaded it up with lots of crapware. First when you click download from its page at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35 you're prompted to set MSN as your homepage, download the malicious software removal tool, and download IE11 (if you're on Windows). Then after you skip that you get the download and…
I stopped trusting Microsoft installers when Windows Update listed the Bing Desktop as a Critical Update.