The Refresh Orlando Heirs

Have you ever had to call Symantec or McAfee to ask them how to remove a virus? Or have you spent hours online trying to figure out how to remove spyware, only to find out that you did something wrong and now your computer won’t boot? I know your pain and frustration with just trying to use your computer without worry. As a computer technician at ARCH Computing Services, I know how hard it can be to pay someone to remove viruses and spyware. In fact that’s how I started in the computer business. I didn’t want to pay someone to fix the problems that I usually caused. A little voice in my head told me “I can build a computer, it doesn’t look that hard!”

Six years later, and a lot of dead computers in the beginning, have placed me where I am now. Let me tell you, it’s a full time job, even when I’m not at work. There is always some new technology being developed, and of course security is a never-ending battle with new viruses, trojans and spyware daily.

The internet is full of how-to information. You can learn everything from how to make the perfect loaf of bread, tune your car, or remove a virus. Making a loaf of bread seems to be easy, and it probably is. Even if you end up making flat bread or burnt bread, you’re not out a lot of money or in too much trouble. On the other hand, if you try to tune your car and break a spark plug or put the wires back incorrectly, it could end up costing you a lot more to fix it. All you wanted to do was save a few bucks and do it yourself. I’ve burnt bread and I’ve tried to fix my own car. The bread was thrown in the trash, the car I ended up taking to an auto mechanic and having it fixed right, which of course cost me much more than money, it cost me time.

You must be wondering what my point is. Yes, removing a virus or building a computer isn’t really that hard of a task…if you live and breathe computers like I do and others do (we affectionately call ourselves Geeks). Let’s take a look at the following scenario.

James is a real estate broker, and a damn good one. He makes his living helping people find the best buy for their dollar. As a result James keeps an extensive client list on his computer.
Somewhere along the line he manages to pick up a nasty Trojan. His anti-virus software caught it but was unable to clean it. He does some research online and finds a site that explains how to remove the Trojan. After following the instructions he reboots his PC only to find that his machine will not boot. In frustration he goes to another computer and looks up information on boot problems and finds out that the best thing he can do is reformat his hard drive and re-install his operating system from his backup. Oh, by the way, he hasn’t done a backup in over 6 months. By this time he has spent 4 or 5 hours trying to fix the problem, and now has the daunting task of re-installing his operating system without any backup…

The moral of the story here is that he literally wasted hours that he could have spent making a sale or helping a client purchase a house or land. Is the above scenario a little extreme? In some ways it is, but it doesn’t fall too far from the truth. Many of the clients I see with virus or spyware problems have tried everything they can to remove the problem, only to find out they spent hours with no results, and often come out worse than they were. By the time they come to see me they are frustrated and just want it fixed. Unfortunately, this does cost them money that they didn’t want to spend in the first place, and more importantly in this day and age, it costs them more time. Time is the great equalizer. If James had been able to make a 10% percent commission on a $200,000 house, spending the 65 to 100 dollars to clean his computer wouldn’t have seemed very significant.

Nine times out of ten an infected computer does require a re-format and re-install. I don’t say this lightly. It is usually much easier to backup and start over than spend hours trying to find every little piece of nastiness that was installed on your computer.

Eric Graves is a Senior Computer Technician at ARCH Computing Services. His computer knowledge and interpersonal skills have helped the company to grow at a remarkable rate. He’s currently completing his BS in IT Management, and will go on to complete his Master Degree in Information Systems Security. He is also currently the administrator for the Mutagenix forums, a Slackware based Live CD.

Relationships. Virtually all of us are in one, or at some stage, have been.

In the early days things are great. The birds are singing, the sun seems to be brighter than it ever was, the stars sparkle more brilliantly than before…… it’s smiles all round.

A great feeling.

But, with the passage of time, often relationships can struggle, people grow apart, interests change…..

People, couples, partners can drift away from each other - not necessarily any one persons fault. In fact, the fault often lies with both parties, but neither will accept it, and perhaps secretly or subconsciously blame the other person.

When lives begins to drag, the excitement seems to have been drained away, routine can be tedious and even annoying, it is unbelievably simple to be ‘stuck in a rut’, or languish in the ‘comfort zone’.

Spontaneity becomes just a word that only appears in a crossword puzzle, rather than being a spark to re-ignite a relationship.

The sizzle turns into a simmer, then a shudder.

Perhaps it’s the pressure of work, the bills and mortgage, or perhaps babies, children, schooling, college, university, exams, traffic jams, age creeping up on you, peer pressure, jealousy…. the greener grass…..

The fact is, it’s commonplace not to be able to put your finger on any single event or cause, which triggers the failure of a relationship. It’s often an ongoing chain of events, frequently where one person is completely oblivious to the spiralling problems which develop into more serious issues.

It’s at this point when matters become a major, major threat.

Perhaps one of the ‘parties’ doesn’t even realise their actions, they may just stumble into or onto, someone else.

BANG. - The sparks fly - that long lost feeling resurfaces, tingles down the back of the neck, excitement, pleasurable attention which has been amiss for so long at home.

Before you know - they are off starting a hidden, secretive affair behind your back.

In the early days of an affair, the feeling of guilt is very high, but over time, this dissipates gradually to the point where they simply don’t give a damn about you any longer.

Don’t get me wrong, they will still pretend everything is OK - they still love you of course, but slowly they make tiny, minuscule changes which one at a time, you probably don’t notice, or perhaps you do, but well-prepared answers and excuses seem to work on you.

All the time, you are oblivious……. Or are you?

Nagging doubts??…….. Questioning actions??……….Something not quite right??……… Changes in routine??……….. Strange looks??………… Hidden whispers??………………

The worst of it comes when you confront the other person, only to be told “….you’re being silly…..”, or “…. of course I still love…..” or “….if you loved me, you would trust me…..”.

This could then leave you feeling worse, self-doubting and insecure.

You are now in a quandary… a dilemma….. A vicious circle of doubt which starts with you being unsure, but afraid to question as this could lead to problems - or even drive the other person away from you.

This alone could drive you crazy.

You begin to look at the other person in a different way, and their friends. Which of them knows about the affair? Who’s involved? Who the affair with? Is it someone you know? Is it one of your friends?

Is there, or isn’t there something seedy happening? Are you being stabbed in the back? Are your friends betraying you? Who can you trust or talk to?

It’s a nightmare.

At this point, the wrong move could completely ruin your relationship, especially if there really isn’t any seedy affair going on, and your partner is faithful….. Perhaps it’s just your imagination, perhaps you’re being paranoid…… but perhaps not.

Can you see the paradox?

There is no instant solution, no magic pill……. It’s all down to how you deal with the situation - whether the situation is all in your head…. or something more.

The key, is to avoid it happening in the first place….. But sometimes that’s easier said than done.

To avoid it…… follow a plan……. One which you’d be surprised just how many people ignore.

1. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

2. Never take your partner for granted.

3. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

4. Be spontaneous - occasionally and randomly. Don’t try to do it regularly, that simply isn’t spontaneous, is it?

5. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

6. Take a step back now and then……. Take a good look……. Take stock…… Count your blessings.

7. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

Do you see a picture developing?

Communicating doesn’t mean talking to them…… it means talking WITH them…… Listening to them….. Hearing what they say….. Understanding…… Compromising.

And if it has past that stage - be very careful how you deal with matters.

Sometimes it could be better to ignore things, put it out of your mind - other times you simply must know the truth before it all drives you mad.

Gary Durkin
© 2005

An article by Gary Durkin, of ToCatchaCheat.com

http://www.ToCatchaCheat.com

Find out the truth about a Cheating Lover.

Gary has more than a decade of offline international business success behind him - and has been doing business online for well over 6 years.

If you would like to join thousands of subscribers to his newsletter ‘Delivering Success’ - send a blank email to deliveringsuccess@kioskcities.ws

You are free to reprint / distribute this article providing it remains unchanged and with this resource / bio box attached.

Nokia fans feast your eyes on this! Motorola has unleashed it’s first candy bar style phone that is razor thin and weighs in at just 9 grams - even lighter than the Motorola RAZR! Introducing the Motorola SLVR for Cingular customers.

Motorola SLVR for Cingular is pronounced SLIVER (thin is in) and not silver as some of us first thought. Earlier Motorola SLVR was actually code named ‘Royal Blade’ and for good reason. It’s got a sharp razor like look to it.

Side by side comparison:
Motorola RAZR- 3.9 by 2.2 by 0.6 inches; 3.3 ounces
Motorola SLVR- 4.5 by 1.9 by 0.5 inches; 2.9 ounces

A quick side by side comparison shows that the Motorola SLVR is not too much longer than a closed RAZR and just a tad wider. It would be pretty easy to forget about this phone in your pocket. (The interface resembles the Motorola ROKR but a lot sleeker.) SLVR was designed especially for those of us (Nokia fans)who prefer a razor thin phone but have an aversion to the clam shell form.

One of the features that makes Motorola SLVR stand apart from the Razr phones from T-Mobile and Cingular is that it has a built-in MP3 player to play your favorite songs plus a removable TransFlash memory card so you can store your favorite music files on it.

Oddly though, Motorola SLVR L7 for Cingular does lack a headphone jack which seems strange because it has an MP3 player, though you could use the USB port for headphones. Some industry experts are speculating that SLVR will be released with a Motorola Bluetooth headset. When it comes to Talk Time and Standby Time, the SLVR has the RAZR beat in both: 6.33 to 3.00 and 420 to 200, respectively. This is a quad band GSM phone that includes Bluetooth Class 2, Push-to-Talk (PTT), VGA camera, SCREEN3 and a MP3 player.

There has been a lot of talk over the past year, in cell phone circles, about Motorola developing another razor thin phone (in candy bar form)that will attract traditional Nokia phone buyers and turn them into Motorola cell phone users. Early indications are that the Motorola SLVR may be that cell phone.

Sam Michelson is a cell phone maven with over 10 years of hi-tech product marketing experience. Over the past 3 years, his company YouNeverCall- www.younevercall.com has become one of the internet’s most successful independent cell phone stores. Sam’s blog www.mphone.net features many of his reviews and commentary on the cell phone industry and market trends.