http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/news/show/89981/best-buy-s-10-bluetooth-headset-pairing-service-includes-finger-pointing.html

Back in 1996 when I started becoming a computer geek, I was absolutely shocked to find out what stores like CompUSA were charging for simple services that I could do with my eyes closed. A friend of mine said he wanted to upgrade his RAM, but CompUSA wanted $50 to install it. I think I broke something in my brain trying to figure out how sticking a chip in a slot could cost $50. I told him I’d do it for beer and pizza. Even with Sam Adams and a Meat Lover’s, I still came out cheaper plus I fixed a few other problems he had while I was at his apartment.

I guess $10 to pair a Bluetooth headset is fair by comparison. This is a tricky and painful though quick procedure. You definitely have to be patient, and pairings don’t always stick. I’ve had some pairings, like the author of the article I linked, that inexplicably stopped working and didn’t easily want to start again.

I do feel for people who spend hundreds of dollars to computer shops to fix viruses and spyware. My neighbors spent $300 when they got infected. I could have fixed it with free software that doesn’t bog your computer down and nag you to death like McAfee.

An Atlantic Monthly article has been the subject of discussion on many blogs lately. I’ll link to Michael Hyatt because his is easy to remember. The actual article is “Is Google Making us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr. Many of the bloggers discussing the article claim that the Internet has caused them to develop short attention spans, and they have lost their ability to read books and longer works. I’m not aware of any so-called “scientific” research into the subject, so my ability to discuss it is limited to the same subjective experiences the other bloggers are limited to. Of course, you didn’t come to this blog for objective scientific peer reviewed research, did you?

Is the Internet making me stupid? I don’t think so. I follow more than 80 blogs on Google Reader (they don’t all update every day.) I do a lot of reading and research online. Yet, when I sit down to read a book, I’m still able to digest works written on a Master’s or even Doctorate level, assuming the material is interesting.

The one thing the Internet has done to me is make me lose patience when a written work fails to get to the point. I skim magazines a lot more because it seems like most of the text is extraneous. The same goes for newspapers. I don’t actually read newspapers, but when I read news articles, I quickly get bored. I want the headline, and some supporting facts. I don’t care what kind of BS the journalist needs to fill whatever word count he or she has.

Honestly, that’s the only thing I notice. It’s not my attention span the Internet has wrecked. It just taught me how to maximize time by finding the point and moving along. It taught me to ignore the work of lesser writers.

Firefox 3 was finally released yesterday. It’s supposed to be better and faster than Firefox 2. I hope so. I was fairly happy with Firefox 1.5.0.7, and the increments of Firefox 2 have been fairly painful. It was almost painful enough that I would have scrapped Firefox to use Internet Explorer, except for the fact that I have several Firefox extensions that I’ve reached the point of being unable to live without on a regular basis, so I bore the instability and memory leak on Firefox 2. I finally broke down and installed the beta of Firefox 3 on my laptop when temperatures went up and I couldn’t take the memory leak anymore.

One of the worst parts of Firefox is that every time a new release comes out. some extensions break. Either the developers stop updating them or they just fall away, I don’t know. One of my favorite extensions over the last several years is Tab Mix Plus. Firefox, by default, displays all tabs in one horizontal bar. I can have between 30 and 50 tabs open at any given time, so that gets very impractical for me. Tab Mix Plus gives the ability to display tabs in multi-rows, which is very helpful. Also, I like to open a new tab next to the current one rather than at the end of the line. That keeps my tabs together. As far as I know, only Tab Mix Plus does this. I expected to lose some extensions after upgrading to Firefox 3, and Tab Mix Plus was one of them. I found out today though, that Tab Mix Plus for Firefox 3 is available on Download.com. I don’t know why it’s not on the Mozilla extensions page.

I was thinking about my last post. I wondered if I'm being too critical of the iPhone, which is still a wonder of consumer electronics. Then I came across Michael Hyatt's recent blog post, which sums up what I was thinking in the background. Apple, rather than blow people away with the new iPhone, merely met their expectations. The iPhone, by any other standard, is still an amazing device, and yet compared to the original iPhone announcement, iPhone 2.0 seems bland. This also goes to show you why for some reason, Apple does best when they don't listen to anybody but Steve Jobs. This methodology would not work for any other company, but for some reason, it does for Apple.

Paul Thurrott posted an interesting rendition of Apple’s Keynote speech today. I followed a little through live blogging as my workload permitted. The new iPhone, while still impressive, isn’t quite as overwhelming as I expected. Apple has no new products, not that I would have it in my budget to buy any. Of course, the lack of product announcements means nothing. Apple could just as easily drop a press release next week that an entire new line of MacBooks and iPod Touches are coming out.

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2008/06/09/apple-bores-at-microsoft-esque-wwdc-keynote.aspx

I came across this video at GTD Times. It’s yet another video that I starred in Google Reader and finally got around to watching. It really does get you thinking, although like many other similar projects, it starts to fork at the end into some strange conclusions, like a computer more powerful than the human brain will cost less than $1000 somewhere in the 2020’s. I have no doubt that computers will grow more powerful, and will even reach the point of being able to learn and to make decisions, but I’m not so sure technology will ever duplicate the human “soul.”

Still, for you luddite IT people who still insist on deploying Windows 2000 and want to hang onto XP forever, this should be your wakeup call. Technology is here, and you can’t fight it and live in the past. It will steamroll you.

I just learned from the Windows Experience Blog that Windows Search 4.0 is released. You can download it here. I plan to download and install it myself soon, then update my Vista laptop later on today. Windows Search has come a long way. About three years ago, I knew this product as the MSN Search Toolbar, and I wrote on my blog that uninstalling it was like buying an entirely new computer. Of course, my computers these days are much more powerful then the computers I originally used Windows Search on.

Google Search is another option, but the fact that Google does index all of your data (anonymously) on their servers is a deterrent, especially at work. My last job specifically forbade Google Desktop Search due to company and customer sensitive data. I don't believe my current job has that restriction, but it's still wise to avoid indexing company data on Google's servers if that can be avoided.

I genuinely love my iPod Touch (32 Gig model). In the words of Fake Steve Jobs, it "restores a childlike sense of wonder to my life." One minor problem I've found is that every once in a while, the battery starts eating itself and requires a reboot. I normally like to listen to podcasts during the day while I'm at work, but when the battery starts dropping like a rock, I have to stop. I can easily get a full day out of it just listening to audio then checking email and surfing when I get home. At first I thought the battery eating was Ziphone, but I didn't use the installer at all yesterday. I also disabled the wireless, which I should do when I get to work anyway.

At least this time my podcasts didn't go back and mark themselves as unread like the last few times. When I got home I had to figure out what I listened to. I should just bring the charging cable to work with me, but I rarely need it.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Plaxo will be acquired by Comcast. I recently rejoined Plaxo. I signed up several years ago under version 2, but that was when Plaxo wanted to email all of the contacts in your address book to ask each to verify his or her information. Some of my friends didn't like that, and when I stopped using or reformatted the computer I had installed Plaxo on, I never bothered to reinstall until recently.

As for Comcast, I've had few problems with them until a couple of weeks ago when my cable modem stopped working and I spent 40 minutes arguing with tech support over whether or not I lost my IP address and had to call Microsoft to get another one. That sort of set me off, but ever since I left Comcast for Verizon DSL and had a terrible 6 months before coming back to Comcast, I have not complained.

Plaxo - Comcast

I listen to a lot of the TWIT podcasts, and of course Twitter keeps coming up as Leo LaPorte is a heavy user. I've long since stopped wondering "What's the point?" to a lot of these so called Web 2.0 technologies. I eventually broke down and singed up for Twitter. You can follow my feed here. The whole point to Twitter is, in 140 characters or less, what are you doing right now? Some people have found some amazingly creative uses for Twitter. I can't say I have. Michael Hyatt claims that it forces him to think about his life. I can't say it's done that for me. Typically, I just put out a blast when I think of it about what I'm doing. To this point, I'm following 3 people and I have one follower, a friend of mine.

I managed to eliminate about $10 in parasitic charges from our AT&T Wireless bill (why did my wife's line have a $4.99 "voice dial" charge?), so I felt justified in adding the unlimited data plan for my line. With that, I can keep up with email and Twitter when I'm on the go. I typically just post what I'm doing or have just done, no matter how mundane. I haven't seen any real social networking benefits. Michael Hyatt has the benefit of tens of thousands of readers to his blog. I admit, I'm one of them. I found his blog at a time in life when I was considering a few options. I realized that my career was pretty much as far as I could expect to go without a degree, but I was questioning how much of "success" and goal setting were an answer to prayer and how much were the result of hard work and smart planning. I was thrilled to find the CEO of a large company put on his own blog some of the secrets to his success. I didn't, at the time, realize that he was the CEO of a large Christian publisher, but to be honest, that wasn't important. I saw how he was using technology and time management methods like Franklin Covey and Getting Things Done to reach a high position in a company. I learned a lot by following him.

I can't say there is a real point to Twitter, but I also can't say it's pointless. Feel free to follow my feed or sign up. I know Twitter isn't for everybody. My wife refuses to try it because she says it would chain her to a machine all day. I honestly don't feel that way, but if you read my last blog entry on why I hate Mother's Day, you'd realize it's just one way that we're different. She feels chained to her laptop, I feel liberated by mine, and my Pocket PC phone, and my iPod Touch, and the iPhone I hope to have eventually, and my other laptop, and my iBook... Maybe my wife just needs another device.

I just finished taking a survey from Microsoft Office. I registered for these things a while ago. Some of them are very useful, but this one really sucked the life out of me and destroyed my hope for the future. Apparently, Microsoft is going to develop (or is considering) using emails to teach newly registered Microsoft Office users about how to use Office. On the surface, this may be useful, IF YOU HAVE NEVER USED AN OFFICE SUITE IN YOUR LIFE AND JUST BOUGHT YOUR FIRST COPY OF OFFICE 2007.

Considering my experience with Microsoft emails, I really don't have any hope and I never want to get on this one. I've mentioned before that I've been using Windows Mobile devices since 2003. I know a lot of tips and tricks, useful software (especially freeware), and I have a good suite of applications I've been using for years. I know how to get what I need out of my Pocket PC. When I upgraded to Windows Vista, and had to switch from Microsoft ActiveSuck to the Windows Mobile Device Center, I was offered the chance to register for an email newsletter to "help you get the most out of Windows Mobile, full of insider tips and tricks" (I'm paraphrasing.) I jumped at the chance, hoping for something useful. Do you know what the first article link in each and every one of those "Insider Windows Mobile" newsletters is? "Reasons to choose Windows Mobile." Seriously, this for people who already bought a Windows Mobile device. I have other subscriptions to Microsoft newsletters, and they are written on the same level. The Windows Insider newsletter covers such expert-level topics as "How to change your screensaver."

Imagine this: you buy a copy of Office 2007 (or 2008 for Mac.) During your installation, you're asked to provide your email address to get "exclusive access to insider tips for getting the most out of Microsoft Office." You subscribe, hoping to unlock some expert level features. What do you get? "Thank you for choosing Microsoft Office. In this edition of 'Office Exclusive Advanced Expert Insider Power Tips, we cover 'The Top Reasons to Choose Microsoft Office.' ' "

Now do you see why that survey makes me weep for the future?

Considering how much we hear about Grand Theft Auto 4 lately, I couldn't resist linking this. Fake Steve Jobs does it again!

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: It's official: Grand Theft Auto is banned from our stores

Since I got my replacement work laptop, I'm doing some installation and cleanup to get it ready for my use. It's a Toshiba, so it's loaded chock full of crapware. Crapware is defined as software loaded onto your PC that you didn't ask for, nor did you want. Often, you really don't need it. Crapware can be anything from a 30 day trial of McAfee to the Yahoo! Toolbar. What do these idiotic toolbars do, anyway? As far as I can tell, nothing. The only toolbar I have ever really used is the Windows Live toolbar, because when I'm using IE7, it has a really good password manager. It's better even than Firefox, which is still my browser of choice despite serious instability issues and a memory leak.

In any case, I have a lot of crapware to uninstall from this laptop. I can do this with the help of free and highly useful products like the PC Decrapifier. It was originally designed for Dell computers, but has expanded to everybody else. The new version can delete the 60 day trial of Microsoft Office, which gets in the way of installing a real version of Microsoft Office.

Another essential product that I install on a new system is Spybot Search & Destroy. I honestly don't do much with it outside of immunizing my system in the beginning, but the Tea Timer utility that protects my registry is worth it's weight in gold. Nothing is able to change my registry, startup, or browser settings unless I say so. It gets a little annoying, especially when you try to run Quicktime, but I'd rather deal with the annoyances than having to clean out my Startup menu every day.

Recently, Sony tried charging a "crap tax", that is, when you buy a new computer, if you pay them extra, they won't install crapware on it. I believe that policy was reversed after much protest. Talk about mob business practices... That's like a car dealer saying charging you an extra $1000 on a new car to not rip you off with unneeded warranties or underbody spraying which is done in the factory anyway.

As I've been writing this, PC Decrapifier was running on my laptop. The new version did a stellar job. It couldn't uninstall McAfee, but I can do that manually. I also have to go back to uninstall Norton. Then I can get down to installing the programs I need.

After 4 calls to Comcast, I was getting frustrated. A tech can't be sent out for a while, at least, it will be more than a week before my schedule can facilitate a tech's schedule. I decided that the only thing left to do was get a new cable modem. I've had mine for three years, so maybe it went bad. While we were running around tonight anyway, I stopped by Best Buy and bought a new Motorola Surfboard modem.

I got home, put the new modem inline, and called Comcast to get it configured. Believe it or not, I finally got a male (the other four calls were women) who understood not only how Comcast's network works, but how to troubleshoot a network problem. (See my post about being told to call Microsoft to get a new IP address below.)

This turned out sort of weird. I put the new modem inline, then called. While we were troubleshooting, I explained my setup. I have a Hauppage WinTV USB2 unit. My cable comes into the room, and goes to a splitter, which goes to the cable modem and the WinTV unit. It's been like that for years, and I haven't had a problem. Well, go figure, I should have thought of this myself, but the tech told me to take the splitter out of the loop. Every single time in the past I assumed it couldn't possibly be something, no matter how trivial, I got bit in the butt, and this time was no different. Well, while he was adding the MAC address and C/S number for the new modem, I prayed. I rarely do while I'm troubleshooting. I claim to be a Christian, but like most 21st century Americans, prayer is mostly reserved for meals, particularly pious times, and trials and tribulations. But I prayed for the cable modem issue. I really need my internet connection. Anyway, when it was over, I asked if I could have my old modem put back in. He said it was; my account was showing my old modem. I checked the front, and sure enough, it was the old one (Motorola Surfboard 5100 instead of the new 5101.) That was weird. I'm not sure how the old one got back in place. I boxed the new one and told my wife we can get our $80 back; we troubleshot to a much cheaper component.

I'm just glad to have it back. I wrote a while back about my work laptop dying, and I had to send it back. Well, just as I was leaving for the day, I saw a new box in my supervisor's cube with a New Egg packing slip. I pulled it out, and sure enough, it was my Toshiba laptop! Now I can get it set back up to take on my upcoming business trip.

Ugh, my Comcast high speed internet connection dropped offline yesterday afternoon. I've gotten to the point of not calling right away, just in case the outage is temporary (outages have become very rare with Comcast.) I finally broke down and called after my connection had been down a few hours. The call ended up lasting 40 minutes and ended up with me really needing a drink. Here is the situation I called with: my Motorola cable modem had Power, receive, and send lights on. Online was not lit, and PC Activity flashed on and off. The rep said that my cable modem was offline. I could figure that out. Internally, my network was fine. My computers could all see each other on my network, so I knew my router was fine. The rep wanted me to connect my computer directly to the cable modem. Her assessment of the situation was this: "because I had a router, (which has been in place for 3 years without a single problem), I lost my IP address." She told me I have to call Microsoft to get another one. After Microsoft gives me another IP address, I can call Comast back and they'll be able to get me back online.

I tried explaining to this woman how DHCP networking works. I told her that I have an IT degree, and have been supporting my own computers and helping others out as well as working professionally in IT for more than 10 years. I have NEVER had to call Microsoft to get an IP address. I've never had to call Microsoft period. She said something about the OEM has to give me an IP address. I said that I'm the OEM; I built the computer myself (OK, I slapped some parts together and installed Windows XP on it, I didn't manufacture and solder my own chips.) I tried telling her that my router has nothing to do with Comcast assigning an IP address. Comcast's server sees the MAC address of my cable modem and leases an IP address to me. The lease expires and renews automatically and my router has absolutely nothing to do with it. My router has my computer's MAC address cloned anyway, so even in the bad old days when Comcast didn't allow routers they would never have known the difference on their end.

After realizing that I could not get this woman to understand how Comcast's network actually works, I finally allowed her to schedule a tech to visit me so that they can apparently call Microsoft and get me an IP address. As soon as I got off the phone, I called back and got a support person who understands how DHCP networking works. She found the problem right away: my signal was gone. That sounds more realistic. She even found a closer appointment to get a tech out to fix the problem.

Seriously, assuming Microsoft trains their support personnel better than Comcast does, I would have gotten laughed at.

Comcast, if anybody from your corporate training is reading this, I think you are idiots! How can you let somebody on your tech support lines without even the most basic understanding of how your network ACTUALLY works? II don't blame the woman, I blame the trainers. She did work very hard and was very patient with me, but had no clue. Idiots! Do your jobs. Where was this woman's supervisor? I could hear somebody in the background behind her. Don't tell me the entire call center thinks that my IP address comes from Microsoft. I should have told her I'm running Linux on an Apple Macintosh just to see what kind of response I get. Does Microsoft still give out IP addresses, or do I have to get a teleconference with Mark Shuttleworth and Steve Jobs to get an IP address? What if I was running SuSE or Debian? How about my iMac with Mac OS 8? Who do I call in that case (It's actually running Jaguar, and is in my in-laws' basement as we expected our house to be sold by now.)

This happened last night, and I still need a drink. Train your people, you Comcast boneheads. I once saw a job posting for a Comcast training position. Is it still open? I need a solid paycheck, a benefits package, and the authority to flog people.

I've been following technology (specifically personal computers, but also consumer electronics) for more than a decade. I've used every version of Windows since 3.11, I've used 3 versions of Mac OS X plus Mac OS 8 and 9, and several versions of Linux. I've also worked with HP Unix, Sun Solaris, and Open VMS. Every desktop computer I've ever had I built myself. I've cracked open laptops (including an Apple iBook) to upgrade RAM and repair broken components and replace hard drives. I also recently completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology. I'd like to think I can speak with some authority on this topic.

I listen to several technology podcasts, and read several technology blogs. I also read magazines like ComputerWorld. Some of my favorite podcasts are from the TWIT network by Leo LaPorte and his friends. I also really enjoy John C. Dvorak's Cranky Geeks video podcast. Many of these tech journalists seem to be part of some kind of inside circle. Many are friends. Many of them use Macintosh computers and completely shun those of us who use PCs with Windows.

I see a very common theme in tech journalism that is very much against anything Microsoft does. Many tech journalists, like Scott Foley and Leo LaPorte, will publicly declare "I still don't recommend Windows Vista", despite the fact that it's been in circulation for over a year, has had a service pack released, and is stable and capable. Articles and blog entries routinely emanate from these technology luminaries about the demise of Microsoft and the rise of Apple and/or Linux.

Let me say one thing: if you thought political journalists were completely biased and lived in elitist circles totally removed from reality, you know nothing about tech journalism. A recent slew of articles about the impending demise of Microsoft makes me want to get up in the morning and watch the regular news (which I avoid like the plague in election years.)

First, let me say one thing: it is perfectly acceptable to like Windows. It is perfectly acceptable to use Windows. If you follow tech journalism, remember, just because these people get paid to be mouthpieces does not mean that their opinions should overshadow yours. You have the right and responsibility to do your own homework and research.

People in technology hold to silly positions. Here is an editor of a major PC Magazine (appropriately titled PC Magazine) who still carts an old PC to work. It has Windows 3.11. He likes it. He writes his articles in an old word processing, and somebody else have to manually transcribe his writing back into Microsoft Word for publication. Good for him. I'll tell you one thing though: I got into technology because I like shiny new things. I don't want to stick with "the way things were". I like to see changes and improvements and enhancements. That's what drives my participation in this field.

Take everything you read in tech journalism worth a grain of salt, just as you should in political journalism. Seriously, the people who rise to these positions, (and there are not a lot of paying jobs in tech journalism, so there are very few people who make it) may know a lot of general information, but they have their own opinions. They live in very small circles, full of people who see the world almost exactly as they do. Remember that. They don't live in your world. They don't work in your job, or maintain computers for your family, or make purchasing decisions for your company. They have huge budgets or get review units. I'm not likely to get a review unit MacBook Air, nor is my wife likely to let me buy one. I don't have $30,000 a year to set aside for computers and iPhones like Leo Laporte does. Neither do you. I can't afford to have one HP laptop, three Dell laptops, one legit iPhone on AT&T, one unlocked iPhone on T-mobile, three Blackberries, a Nokia N95, two MacBooks, a Mac Pro, and all of the other stuff most of these people, like Leo Laporte and Robert Scoble cart around. Of course, you might make fun of me for going through airport security with a Pocket PC Phone, an iPod Touch, and a laptop.

I also notice that most of the criticism leveled against Microsoft from tech journalists tends to come from people who have no idea how to build and support a world class, run on everything under the sun operating system. It's one thing to say "Windows should do this", but it's entirely another thing to actually make it happen. Just like in political journalism, the mouths running the loudest are the farthest removed from actually making anything happen in real life.

Just remember to make your own decisions. Remember that some tech journalists have their own viewpoints and/or agendas, and they may not live in reality like you have to.

I got an email that a "Troublesome" invited me to join a new social networking site. I think it was called "Zorpah," but I deleted the email. I have nothing against social networking sites. I have profiles on MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I think social networking sites can be very useful in their proper context. Of course, when I get an email from an unknown social networking site that somebody I don't have any idea if I actually know is inviting me, then my delete key goes on push closer to it's eventual demise.

It seems that every time something gets big, everybody wants in on it. When the "web bubble" was growing, everybody wanted to make money with a web startup. Some of them had no better business plan than "make lots of money running a website." I like to listen to Rabbi Daniel Lapin. He often says that the best way to be successful in business is to become obsessed with meeting the needs of other people. If you're meeting needs, people will come to you to have that need met. When I get invitations to new social networking sites, that's the first thing I think of: "Do I need a new social networking site?" Really, does it matter to me? Do I spend my days thinking "I wish I had a site where I could network with strange people and post my pictures and videos, besides, oh, my Blog, my other blog, my other blog, Flickr, Google web albums, or any of the other sites I may or may not currently have an account with?"

Meet some needs, people. When a site seems to be serving only itself I start to wonder what the point is. I even started getting spam in my Yahoo! email account (big surprise, Yahoo! mail is a big spam catcher anyway) about CHRISTIAN social networking sites. Really, do I need one of them? What would that buy me that a secular social networking site wouldn't? Is it even worth the time to register?

Anyway, condense this, and put it on a bumper sticker and at the top of your Web 2.0 company letterhead: Meet needs, make money.

As I said in a previous post, I recently started a new job. On my first day on the job, I was told to pick out a laptop from one of the online vendors. I spent a day or two doing various research, until I picked out the laptop that I thought would be right. I tried as best as I could to plan for obsolescence, picking out a dual-core processor with 2.2Ghz and 3 Gigs of RAM. Actually, the first laptop I picked out, just as I was compiling the order numbers, turned out to come with XP Pro. I went looking for another one with Windows Vista, as part of my hedge against the possible obsolescence. A brand new high powered laptop could be dragging it's butt and out of hard disk space in 3 to 4 years. It's not likely, but possible. I'll never forget the feeling of getting a relatively new Gateway Pentium III 500 Mhz only to find in less than 3 years that the hard drive crashed because I filled all 10 Gigs of it.

After waiting for several weeks, my laptop arrived today, late this afternoon. I had time to connect the Toshiba docking station and monitor and start the laptop up before the end of the workday, so I did what any good employee would do: I took it home with me to work on this weekend. I have to remove all of the crapware and install some of my utilities, and get Vista tweaked just right.

When I got home, I wanted to set the new laptop up on my wireless network so I could start downloading useful utilities and updates, like SP1. That's when I ran into problems. For the life of me, I could not get the wireless to activate. I easily could have plugged the laptop into my LAN, but why do that when you're supposed to have working wireless? The F8 key has a wireless symbol on it, so I kept pressing Function+F8, and a map of the function keys kept coming down from the top of the screen saying something about enabling the wireless switch. I thought that's what F8 did. I did a search and came across this: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsid=2297. Apparently there is a physical switch on the front of the laptop near the card reader. Doh! I turned that switch and it found my network.

I have an iMac now. A friend of mine gave me an older notebook, a Compaq Presario 12XL510, and he also had an iMac that he wanted to get rid of. He knows I am a geek, so he offered it to me. Most of the people that I know who are really knowledgeable about PCs will tell you that Macs suck. I figured that I might as well see for myself. My desktop computer died about a week ago. I'm pretty sure it's a power supply, but I don't know for sure. I'm not in a position to turn down anything at this point. I am eternally grateful to my friend for passing along his older electronics to me in my time of need. So far the iMac isn't bad. I used to make fun of these things with their circular one-button mouse and funny colors. I can see a use for it. My friend did a restore on it before giving it to me, so it was pretty much in "out of the box" condition. As promised, I plugged it in and it came right up. I had a lot of fun trying to get the network to work on it. I ran the assistant several hundred times and probably created 6 individual profiles. I'm not very familiar with MacOS, especially 8.6, but I'm fairly intuitive when it comes to software. I was able to explore the hard drive and find the network properties. As soon as I told it to use DHCP, it started working. Next, I discovered that Internet Exploder 4.5 for Mac wasn't going to render web pages very easily, so I had to go to MS looking for an update. I did find a version of 5.1 for the older MacOSes, and after some effort I did get it to work. Hopefully I'll get some more time to work with it today. I've been offered some Mac software, and I have found instructions for upgrading it. As I understand, it takes PC100 RAM, and I think I still have some laying around. mac