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Vol. 7, No. 35
9-13-07
1 9/11, six years later
2 Political myocardial infarction
3 Vista sales slump, iPhone backlash, Skype virus, definition of good games
4 Recover deleted files
5 DMI Pool hang
As I write this it’s Tuesday September 11th, 2007. Every newspaper, every website, every news show is running stories on the anniversary of that horrible day six years ago.
I spent the evening going back through old stuff I have saved on my PC from that day. Chat logs, the “newsletter” (it was sent out on Tuesdays back then and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it), email from readers and old forum logs from Fark.
I haven’t written much about the anniversary over the years but my memories of the day are inexorably tied to 84Online/ThePCGurus for many reasons.
I first heard of the attack from Bob Sokoler on WHAS. I was on the way to work and naturally listened to Bob, back when he and 84Online were still on the air. I remember the details of the drive clearly from landmarks. Anyone familiar with the area around Madison will recognize where I’m talking about.
Bob mentioned the first AP wire story as I passed the KY 36 and US 42 intersection just west of Carrollton. The initial report was that a small plane had crashed into the south tower. Updates to follow and back to business as usual.
By the time I approached Milton the south tower was burning furiously. The networks were breaking in more often and, as I crossed the bridge into Madison, ABC was interviewing someone who saw the first crash when suddenly the subject screamed, “Oh my God, oh my God, a plane just hit the other tower!”
So I’m sitting at a stop sign at East 2nd in Madison, looking at the Fillin’ Station Liquor store, and realize we’ve been attacked. We’re at war. It was surreal, such a normal mundane location coupled with that realization.
We didn’t have a TV or radio at work, and the web was clogged to the point of uselessness, so the rest of the day consisted of calls from friends and customers with news and brief visits to the car for updates.
The rumors of gas prices spiking to $5-10 a gallon by Wednesday the 12th starting trickling in around 2:00. I figured it was nonsense and planned on driving home on my ¼ tank but luckily I remembered that there were gas stations at both ends of the bridge I use every day. A call to the police department confirmed that the bridge was open but might take an hour to get to due to the lines for gas.
I left work early and took back roads and ridges to bypass downtown Madison and drove to Vevay, figuring to cross the Markland bridge. Naturally all that extra mileage used more fuel so I had to buy gas.
And yes, there was a line at the first station I encountered in Vevay but I sat in it anyway. The vehicle occupants were conversing outside the cars and trucks between fill ups. No anger at the delay, no breaking in line or jockeying for position, just a shocked discussion between shocked people.
After pumping I went in to pay and the Madison Courier was on display at the counter. It was under glass for display only; they had no issues left for sale. The front page showed one of the towers collapsing.
I got home, still in shock, and realized that I had a newsletter to get out. Instead I sent an update saying I would send it in a day or two, like everyone else in the country I needed some time.
Many readers emailed me later in the evening with stories of where they were and how they heard and wishing me well. From Bob to the readers and the 84Online (now the Gurus) team we were of like mind. Shock, disbelief and quite likely fear.
I’m sure all of you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on that day. Much like Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy assassination, this moment will be burned in your memory forever. I saw the Challenger explode on live television and listened to the eerie silence on the radio as Columbia missed her entry window. Elvis died, the Berlin Wall fell, and we commenced attacks on Iraqi forces in Kuwait.
Over the years we’ve gone from foot messenger to horseback to telegraph to television to Internet. News used to take weeks or even months to reach outlying areas away from the event, now we can watch it live and immediately discuss it with people from all over the world.
The speed of information transfer is frightening and often early reports are wrong, but this instant communication medium ties us all together in ways not imagined just twenty years ago. Despite our differences we are all one people, and events like this serve to remind us of that.
Sorry for rambling, I just wanted to get all that off my chest. It was poorly written and more stream of consciousness than anything, but it was rather cleansing…
Next week I’ll try to get back on track ;)
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Terry Wise
Tech News of the Week
Sales of boxed copies of
Windows Vista continue to significantly trail
those of Windows XP during its early days, according to a
soon-to-be-released report. But what does that really mean?
http://news.com.com/Running+the+numbers+on+Vista/2100-1016_3-6207375.html?tag=nefd.lede
What consumers and companies should have learned
from the recent Apple
iPhone price cuts and subsequent backlash:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,137046-c,iphone/article.html
Skype is cautioning its Skype for Windows users
of a worm called
"W32/Ramex.A" that is spreading fast within the service's instant
chat
application as a link in an instant message:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/59267.html
Evidently, serious gamers like their games
violent and bloody. In
other news, scientists have learned that ice is cold and fire is hot:
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_M_Rated_Games_Make_More_Money_in_the_US_08528.html
Copy us on the good stuff
Matthew Dattilo
thepcgurus@gmail.com
http://mattstodayinhistory.podshow.com
Download of the Week
We've all done some
"spring cleaning" on the old PC and realized that we deleted some
files that we'd like to have back. If
those files are in the ubiquitous "Recycle Bin", there is no problem
restoring them. If you already emptied
the trash, they're gone forever.
Maybe not. While we've written about Undelete Plus in
the past, there's a new version available that works with all versions of
Windows and all Windows file formats beginning with FAT12.
The free Undelete PLUS scans
your system for files that have been deleted, even those removed from the
Recycle Bin, or deleted on a network drive or via a DOS window. It lists all
the files, and tells you whether it can likely be restored. (In some instances,
the deleted file has already been overwritten; in that case, you can kiss it
sayonara.) Tell the program to restore your files, and they come back from the
dead.
Undelete PLUS is still one of
the best free programs ever created and you can download it here: http://www.undelete-plus.com/
Art Maley
Email Question of the Week
Q: I have an old system that had 98 SE loaded as
the OS. Tried to load
Windows XP and got as far as putting in the product key. After that
the system rebooted and the screen got as far as the line"Verifying
DMI pool data" with the cursor blinking under the line. It set there
for hours. The system is dead now. Windows 98 will not boot up. What
do you suggest I try? I reinstalled 98 the second time, only to get to
the same position on the upgrade and it locked up again. Do you know
what might cause the computer to stop when it says "verifying DMI
pool" and lock up?
A: One thing you can try is to disconnect all
drives and peripherals
and then try to boot the computer (you should never try to install a
OS with the peripherals hooked up to the computer; this causes issues
to begin with). If it gets past the DMI part, then plug up only the
hard drive and see if it will at least get to the hard drive detection. From
there, you should be able to hook your CD-ROM and floppy back up and boot the
computer.
In reality if the computer is that old, you probably should have
never tried to install XP on it anyway. Did you check to see if it met
the XP minimum system requirements?
A.J. Johnson
Contact
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