Saturday, September 06, 2008
Norton rules after all
Mysteriously, Norton fires up today. Big yellow box on the task bar reappeared. Thought maybe I ought to take a peek and came across the information pasted above. What does it all mean? Has someone been poking around at this computer for some reason? Go for a full system scan which chugs away for about four hours. Finds and removes three viruses and invites me to remove a bunch of tracker cookies. Which I did. But how long had the viruses been there? Unfortunately, the similar problem - egg timer on double click for a few seconds then nothing - with HP Director not fixed. But at least I am not in rebuild land which I thought I might have been last night.
I was also thinking that the human race has not made all that much progress when the sort of clever people who are capable of hacking, also think that causing large amounts of damage is clever. Graffiti for geeks. So as far as I am concerned the 40 year old geek who broke into lots of computers in the US can get over there and take the rap. I dare say they will throw the book at him being a foreigner.
In addition to computer engineering we have also been having a spell of bicycle engineering. First item, get the oldish blue Olmo, property of S2, back on the road. Sub contract this to the bicycle shop up the road. Now the proud possessor of a proper racing bike, the only concession to normal people being a bicycle bell. Which, in this enlightened age does not come with a spring so one has to push the lever one way to get a ring, then pull it back to get the next. Nor is it mounted on the handlbar where you can work it without moving the hand. Bit fiddley but I dare say I will get used to it. I suppose I should not complain: when I bought my other bike I was a bit put out that I couldn't have the gear change on the down tube - it had to be incorporated into the brakes. But I got used to that fast enough. A light bike with very narrow and hard tyres which gives a harsh, if fast, ride. Destined to be the bike for use when visiting FIL in Devon. Thinking about whether it is worth the bother and expense of sourcing a saddle bag - not something which people seem to do these days - and changing the saddle for a Brooks which will have the lugs to hang the saddle bag off. The Brooks would be more comfortable than the moulded plastic thing there is there now. We shall see.
Second item, suddenly noticed that the back tyre on my regular bike was getting very worn on one side. A Bontrager tyre which had had no punctures in more than two years and quite a few hundred miles. Maybe even up to a few thousand. Why should the thing wear on one side? Not on the central bearing surface but on the next strip of half a centimetre or so, down to the underlying canvas in some large part. The wear maybe because I did not keep the tyres pumped up enough, but why just on one side? So back to the various bicycle shops in Epsom. None of them can do Bontrager and not many of them can do the right size, despite having finally moved metric from imperial. So back to the bicycle shop up the road who suggests a pair of very fancy hand made Continentals at the princely sum of £30 or so each. I think the last tyre I bought was nearer £10 - but that was quite a long time ago. He got them in in a couple of days which was fair enough - and, luckily as it turned out, they came with an inner tube, which meant that they were not as expensive as first I though. But, being a bit out of practise broke one tyre lever and punctured one inner tube (twice) in the process of fitting the two tyres. But now have two very solid and smart looking tyres. Decided that I could not be bothered to mend the two punctures so chucked the tube. Long time since I mended an inner tube with glue and patch, under a railway bridge, in the rain! Perhaps I was poorer then as well as more handy and better sighted.
So, with a bit of luck that will be it for tyres for two or three years.
I was also thinking that the human race has not made all that much progress when the sort of clever people who are capable of hacking, also think that causing large amounts of damage is clever. Graffiti for geeks. So as far as I am concerned the 40 year old geek who broke into lots of computers in the US can get over there and take the rap. I dare say they will throw the book at him being a foreigner.
In addition to computer engineering we have also been having a spell of bicycle engineering. First item, get the oldish blue Olmo, property of S2, back on the road. Sub contract this to the bicycle shop up the road. Now the proud possessor of a proper racing bike, the only concession to normal people being a bicycle bell. Which, in this enlightened age does not come with a spring so one has to push the lever one way to get a ring, then pull it back to get the next. Nor is it mounted on the handlbar where you can work it without moving the hand. Bit fiddley but I dare say I will get used to it. I suppose I should not complain: when I bought my other bike I was a bit put out that I couldn't have the gear change on the down tube - it had to be incorporated into the brakes. But I got used to that fast enough. A light bike with very narrow and hard tyres which gives a harsh, if fast, ride. Destined to be the bike for use when visiting FIL in Devon. Thinking about whether it is worth the bother and expense of sourcing a saddle bag - not something which people seem to do these days - and changing the saddle for a Brooks which will have the lugs to hang the saddle bag off. The Brooks would be more comfortable than the moulded plastic thing there is there now. We shall see.
Second item, suddenly noticed that the back tyre on my regular bike was getting very worn on one side. A Bontrager tyre which had had no punctures in more than two years and quite a few hundred miles. Maybe even up to a few thousand. Why should the thing wear on one side? Not on the central bearing surface but on the next strip of half a centimetre or so, down to the underlying canvas in some large part. The wear maybe because I did not keep the tyres pumped up enough, but why just on one side? So back to the various bicycle shops in Epsom. None of them can do Bontrager and not many of them can do the right size, despite having finally moved metric from imperial. So back to the bicycle shop up the road who suggests a pair of very fancy hand made Continentals at the princely sum of £30 or so each. I think the last tyre I bought was nearer £10 - but that was quite a long time ago. He got them in in a couple of days which was fair enough - and, luckily as it turned out, they came with an inner tube, which meant that they were not as expensive as first I though. But, being a bit out of practise broke one tyre lever and punctured one inner tube (twice) in the process of fitting the two tyres. But now have two very solid and smart looking tyres. Decided that I could not be bothered to mend the two punctures so chucked the tube. Long time since I mended an inner tube with glue and patch, under a railway bridge, in the rain! Perhaps I was poorer then as well as more handy and better sighted.
So, with a bit of luck that will be it for tyres for two or three years.
# posted by Jim @ 9:53 AM 
