Wednesday, July 5, 2006

Computer Issues / Open Trackbacks

As part of the Wide Awakes Radio team, one of the things I've had to do is have my system set up to broadcast. And I have my laptop set up for just that.

The bad news is that my laptop is actually pretty noisy. I never notice it. But this sensitive microphone that I have as part of the WAR team is ... well, sensitive. Oh, it's feeling don't get hurt easily, to be sure. But it accurately picks up the sounds around me. And those sounds include the sound of the fan on the laptop.

So, I changed horses, so to speak.

That is, I decided to set another computer up for running the software. And that's caused issues.

You see, that other computer is currently (or was until very recently) running a Windows Server operating system. Now, if you don't know the difference between Windows XP and a Windows Server OS ... well, just understand that there are some differences. Not everything that runs on one will run the other.

And, rather than risk a problem with the software we're using, I decided to remove the Windows Server OS and install XP. I have an extra version of XP Pro already. It's what used to be on that computer before I installed Windows Server. So, I decided to put it back on. I had planned this anyway, since I've already obtained another server machine to run Windows Server, since the computer I'm talking about was just a standard desktop PC I put together.

Anyway, after spending lots of time installing Windows XP, I ran into issues with my antivirus program. I have Zone Alarm. A multi-user version. Bought that in anticipation of the Server-to-XP change. Yes, I have a different antivirus program running on Windows Server, and plan to port that over to the new server.

But ... I had issues with Zone Alarm. It's not running properly. And it doesn't want to let me uninstall it. Says I need to use an administrator account. And I'm using THE administrator account. The one with the login "Administrator" that you access from the XP menu by double-CTRL-ALT-DEL. That "Administrator" account.

So, it won't let me remove it. Even in Safe Mode. So, I'm possibly looking at wiping it and trying again. And that's time consuming. And I work for a living. So, when I'm able to do it, I need to focus on that.

All that to say I've done very, very little surfing of the Internet the last couple of days. Monday night, Tuesday, early Wednesday. So, no picnic.

But, I'd love to ... when I get done with that darn other computer ... see what all's been going on.

20 comments:

  1. Lady Liberty Goes Green...

    The Statue of Liberty, America's ubiquitous symbol for freedom is now symbolically free from fossil fuels......

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  2. The Knucklehead of the Day award...

    Today's winner is Doctor No, I mean Kim Jong-Il....

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  3. Oh sure, now that you are a big time radio personality you are already starting to forget the little people. Heh. KIDDING!

    Good luck with the computer thing, you are a much more patient person than I.

    Wish me luck today basil. Job interview today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just out of curiosity did you shut down zone alarm completely before trying to uninstall it? I use zone alarm as well and how I actually got to see your site again was uninstalling it and then reinstalling it. Apparently I had made a boo-boo when tweaking the settings and when I reinstalled it, it worked.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Soldiers become citizens...

    The Independence Day story of the year is from AP out of Bagram, Afghanistan, where 26 U.S. soldiers from 21 nations became U.S. citizens on the Fourth of July....

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  6. Alabama Improper:
    You know we're thinking about you there. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dragonlady:
    Well, I sure tried. It said I didn't have "permissions" to do that. On the Administrator account. So, I booted in Safe Mode, logged on as Admin, and tried again. No luck.

    I'll be able to fix it, I'm sure. Just looks like some silly glitch in the installation of Zone Alarm, but not sure where or why. Reinstalls didn't fix it. So, right now, I'm looking to remove Zone Alarm, install Computer Associates (same engine, basically) antivirus, and try to go forward. The catch is, removing ZA. It doesn't want to leave. Like the Michael Keaton character in Pacific Heights.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dumb ideas or dumb reporting or both?...

    Did you know there are people who want spelling in the English language to change? These advocates want the language to change so words would spell just as they sound. They think this will improve literacy....

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  9. Sheehan Fasting; Cannibal Goes Wild! Dumb Ox News...

    Anti-war, official Democrat mourner Cindy Sheehan, with the encouragement of her new boyfriend, has determined to "fast for peace" and drink only water through the Summer (I hope someone reminded her that Summer ends around September 22nd).

    Ms She...

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  10. Sloth: EA tries...

    EA is offering to exchange underwater stock options and grant even more new options to “key employees”. Something tells me that this will not work. The stock is not the Wall Street darling it once was and is heading south, which would make...

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  11. Crazy people...

    Over a year ago, one of my drivers, a Palestinian from Jerusalem named Hasan, told me that the United States couldn’t win in Iraq, that nobody could control Iraq, because “those are crazy people over there.”
    Today I read the words o...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Blogger Biography: Frank J. from IMAO...

    Frank was born under a highway overpass to a one legged monkey that promptly declared, "I will call him Frank because...(more)...

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  13. Not that I'm urging you to format the machine, but this is kind of on topic. If the software you're using for WAR will run on Linux maybe it'd be worth giving it a shot or if / when you get an older computer and want to toy around with it I whole heartedly recommend it.

    I'm currently running SuSE, with plans to install Free BSD & Debian later this month. I've been really surprised at the advances they've made in the past several years.

    Before this next part I'll admit I'm still a fan of Microsoft and it's products. But they'd best watch their back. The SuSE install was a faster, cleaner and smaller (including the applications) than a Windows XP & Office Install. Not to mention with the KDE Desktop it's pretty fast on an older P-III that I had laying around.

    I'll still keep Windows around, but I'm slowly converting over to Linux, especially for web surfing since the virus threat is almost nil (only two viruses ever I think).

    Well enough rambling for me.

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  14. 4th Of July Afterglow...

    (Warning-A wee bit raunchy) I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th....

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  15. Phin: I do plan to put Linux (I have SuSE 9.1) on the older of the two server machines.

    This home-made PC is having issues. I did resolve the antivirus situation. I had to boot in safe mode, then use Task Mangler to shut down the vsmon program. Then I was able to remove Zone Alarm, reboot, and install Computer Associates antivirus.

    After all that, it suddenly crashed this morning. So, I don't have a high level of confidence that this is the computer I need to try to broadcast on. I'm back to using the noisy laptop, it seems.

    I do want to hear more about your Linux experiences, though. I might just dedicate a machine to Linux (other than a server) ... but I want a "working" machine, not a schizo machine line the home-made one.

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  16. Maybe just buying a microphone to plug in to your laptop would solve the problem? It seems that would be the easiest and cheapest solution.

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  17. Dragonlady: Actually, I have a microphone. It's a broadcast quality "mike" that's being furnished by WAR. And it picks up really, really well.

    I'm wanting to experiment with turning down the input, getting a windscreen, and actually speaking right into the "mike." When the server is back up for testing, I'll try to schedule some time to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Open Trackback...

    In an effort to increase membership, and also to get the word out that this place exists, I'm submitting this post to the following "open trackback" sites:...

    ReplyDelete

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