tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-157624952009-12-28T10:06:50.878-06:00So much crappy software in the world...Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-38022308348376189202009-10-25T06:55:00.002-05:002009-10-25T07:11:50.218-05:00

I am desperately trying to continue lovin' Firefox, to not think of it as crappy software, but lately it just keeps a-crashin' and a-crashin' -- like, about once a day on both Mac OS X and Windows 7. Plus, it keeps lagging and having trouble displaying pages quickly. Slashdot is particularly bad, but Gmail ain't good either. On Mac, that freakin' annoyin' spinning beach ball has become the norm.

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-47843118077053654452009-08-26T21:00:00.003-05:002009-08-26T21:16:19.378-05:00

I was merrily typing along in WordPerfect this afternoon when I began to question my oft-repeated oath that you'd have to pry this fine word processor from my cold dead hands. I'd recently run into some formatting issues when I converted WordPerfect files to Word in order to submit a manuscript and when working with grad students I often need to be able to read their material in Word and use its

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-72142884385376480252009-08-18T11:08:00.001-05:002009-08-18T11:08:27.194-05:00

I've installed Windows 7 on a new Vista computer I bought last month -- taking advantage of the free upgrade when it's officially released this fall.And I'm mostly enjoyed it, but today it started some crappy weirdness that I can't figure out and for which Google supplies no answers. Here's what happens.1. I start the copying of a folder from the C: root drive to an external hard drive -- a USB

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-9382553723297908912009-06-11T09:51:00.004-05:002009-06-11T10:03:47.500-05:00

Every year, the University of Alabama tries to force its faculty to buy a parking permit. Ignoring the fact that some might bike, take one of the new buses, or walk onto campus, its parking registration software defaults to charging you for a permit. That is, if you do not explicitly opt out of a permit, you are automatically charged for it.I objected to this crappy extortion system when it was

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-29060170302304982792009-03-31T22:08:00.004-05:002009-03-31T22:23:04.134-05:00

I enjoy Netflix, really I do, but they're pulling some irritating crap with their Blu-ray Disc policy.First, they tacked a $1 fee onto their regular monthly account for the privilege of renting BDs. Okay, irritating, but not a deal breaker. Today, however, I received a notice from them than they are quadrupling that fee to $4, for people, like me, who are on their three-rentals-a-month deal.Add

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-30446347960118464992009-03-25T06:23:00.003-05:002009-03-25T06:32:31.821-05:00

The IOSYBWGFYO ("In Order to Serve You Better, We're Going to Fuck You Over") File provides what appears to be an unending supply of crap. The latest IOSYBWGFYO offender to arrive in my email inbox is Kodak Gallery, which sent me this little note today:So that you are aware, we have modified our Terms of Service*: To more effectively serve our Gallery members, we have adjusted our photo-storage

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-33491406545200265652009-02-05T14:48:00.003-06:002009-02-05T15:01:07.350-06:00

XM satellite radio is the latest company to offer to "serve me better" by dicking me around.Yesterday, I received a letter from Joe Zarella, Chief Service Officer, Sirius XM Radio. It begins positively enough: "Because you are a valued customer and you enjoy listening to XM Radio online, we are offering you a special opportunity to continue to listen online at no cost..."Oh great! A special

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-36607897774258227422008-10-21T20:31:00.002-05:002008-10-21T20:59:52.467-05:00

I hate it when an application I've relied on heavily and recommended to friends disappoints me with a new version that lacks key functionality found in older versions.SplashID used to be a great password manager, until its iPhone version came along. In the good old days (back when I used it on a Palm PDA), it effectively stored passwords and synchronized them across numerous computers and the

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-63592582179620100102008-08-24T09:45:00.001-05:002008-08-24T09:50:51.104-05:00

Recently the following message appeared in Firefox:What's new in your [Google] ToolbarSearch smarter with instant suggestions as you typeBookmark frequently visited pages and access them from anywhereAdd buttons to the Toolbar to search your favorite sites — view available buttonsShare web pages via blog, email, or SMSActually, the latter was not so "new." In fact, the main reason I installed

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-6016599122501100582008-06-25T08:04:00.003-05:002008-06-25T08:49:11.532-05:00

So, the other day, we were having some network trouble and our servers were unreachable off-site for about 5 or 6 hours, so I decided this might be a good opportunity to run a file integrity check on the hard disk drives in one of the linux servers that had a lot of data on it.In windows systems, you can run "scan disk" and it will defragment your hard drive and there are also built in tools that

claysterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17378834002182530342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-72634540550733738922008-06-01T20:07:00.002-05:002008-06-01T20:19:30.182-05:00

I just bought an Apple Time Capsule this week (and, boy, did Apple ship it fast! Received it three days after I ordered it!). I bought it mostly for its ability to automate back-ups to its own hard drive, but also thought it was cool that it is a router containing the next gen of wifi ("N").I ran into a confusing bit as I tried to set up its DHCP, however, and thought I'd include the solution

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-31947276487294608942008-05-31T05:45:00.003-05:002008-05-31T05:58:38.645-05:00

Every once in awhile, we here at the Institute for the Elimination of Crappy Software (IftEoCS) come across non-crappy software upon which we feel the need to remark. The Mozilla Firefox browser is one such piece of non-crappy software.The staff of the IftEoCS has been using browsers since NCSA Mosaic came out in 1993. Hell, we've been using them since they were all text. We've been using them

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-81843257309698027122008-05-28T15:03:00.006-05:002009-01-08T21:12:24.540-06:00

Don't you hate it when a company you like, whose services you've recommended to friends, suddenly turns on you? And don't you hate it when they do it with a smile on their lips as if they're doing you a favor?I had been a fan of Yahoo (sorry, I refuse to add an exclamation point to it) Small Business' domain service for years. In fact, I have eight domains listed there and I've recommended it to

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-27483947787830297732008-04-03T21:00:00.003-05:002008-04-04T09:55:20.377-05:00

When is an "update" not an update?When Apple tries to install its crappy Safari browser under the guise of it just being an update of previously installed software.First of all, I do not have Safari installed on my Windows machines. And, on my Mac machines, I use it as little as possible. Lately, however, Apple Software Update keeps firing off on my Windows machines with an annoying window:If you

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-29225511967613361232008-02-18T09:03:00.003-06:002008-02-18T09:20:14.432-06:00

I'm getting used to the Mac OS X interface on my new computer. I swear I am. But there is one thing that Windows handles much better than Mac and that is window (small "w") management -- that is, how windows are displayed on screen.My main beef is with the Mac method of "maximizing" the window in which you're currently working. On Windows XP, if you click the maximize button, the window fills the

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-60812539461996711212008-01-12T06:14:00.001-06:002008-01-12T06:40:13.671-06:00

In the past, I've had good luck with DirecTV's customer service, but a bizarre series of billing errors has made me change my mind and I must now characterize its customer service as crap.Due to these billing errors, almost $800 of incorrect fees were added to my account. Yes, you read correctly: $800!The short version of this story:My HD DVR unit was defective. Let me rephrase that: My second HD

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-74140051890769350732007-12-10T09:37:00.000-06:002007-12-10T09:42:29.537-06:00

More crappy customer "service", this time from Comcast.This time it was my fault, to start with. I accidentally missed a payment one month. And I've been trying to make up for it, but Comcast is not making it easy. There's been some confusion because their "final notice" crossed my check in the mail.I called during the weekend, but couldn't get through to human. So I called first thing Monday

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-12464709312861757052007-12-08T20:03:00.000-06:002007-12-08T20:24:30.869-06:00

...Service.(I could have included "Service" in the title, but I couldn't resist all the "C's" in "Circuit City's Crappy Customer.")Circuit City frequently annoys me. Usually, it's just some little crappy thing that builds on another little crappy thing that builds on another... You get the idea. Before you know it, you're drowning in Circuit City's crap.One frequent problem I've had there is

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-19863959807896569132007-10-12T17:04:00.000-05:002007-10-30T20:26:19.641-05:00

For quite some time, I've been a fan of Adobe Premiere Elements (APE). It's the best low-cost solution for editing video on Windows and it's just as good as iMovie. Even does some stuff that iMovie cannot do.Since APE is relatively inexpensive -- compared to the full, professional version of Premiere -- I've happily upgraded it each time a new version came out. So, when version 4 appeared

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-83634422397179556762007-08-28T16:20:00.000-05:002007-08-30T09:49:48.937-05:00

Macromedia... er... Adobe Dreamweaver is one program I use almost every single day. Aside from Firefox, it is my most-used application. I love it.Except when it acts crappy.In the many years I've used Dreamweaver, there have been some encounters with craposity. Usually, this occurs when I've upgrade to a new version -- which I do with religious fervor. Most recently, I upgraded to version CS3

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-78393108834747588882007-08-08T19:59:00.000-05:002007-10-30T20:37:10.867-05:00

We recently had a Rinnai water heater installed at our home--at a cost of $2,600 (considerably more than a conventional water heater). It's a tankless heater, which means that instead of constantly keeping a tank of hot water at the ready, it virtually instantaneously heats water when a request for hot water is made.The principle is a great one and Marysia is quite familiar with their use in

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-75340424001188327852007-08-08T10:06:00.000-05:002007-08-08T10:25:12.773-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I reluctantly acquired an iPhone.My wife and I were forced into a new phone purchase by AT&T (ah yes, the return of a monopoly!), which discontinued the TDMA service and killed off our old phone. We were perfectly happy with it and with the super-low $30 plan we were on, but AT&T (the former Cingular) required us to both buy a new phone and, if we were to stay with them, "

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-15753898919741759412007-07-24T08:38:00.000-05:002007-07-24T09:21:37.552-05:00

Yesterday I encountered software that goes well beyond "crappy" to the truly shitty level. It's a trojan-style virus named Virtumonde.I'm still not 100% sure how it weaseled into my system -- especially considering I keep this WinXP box patched and updated and run an anti-virus program (Avast) and WinPatrol (which checks for system modifications). Nonetheless, yesterday while I was browsing the

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-41248672915984394242007-07-14T08:39:00.000-05:002007-07-14T08:52:39.329-05:00

Every once in a very long while a company's customer service surprises you in a good, non-crappy way.Radio Flyer, the maker of "little red wagons" since 1917, recently proved this to me. We bought my son one of their Deluxe Steer & Stroll Trikes. These are pretty cool as they allow the parent to "co-pilot" the trike, steering it from behind.This feature has helped us steer Ian out of traffic on

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15762495.post-6068997115789153092007-07-10T13:01:00.000-05:002007-07-10T13:03:19.082-05:00

There really ought to be an acronym for crap like this:Slashdot Yahoo Downgrades MusicMatch Jukebox:Posted by kdawson on Monday July 09, @07:11AMfrom the nice-while-it-lasted dept.BanjoBob writes 'MusicMatch Jukebox has been a bundle of great MP3 and music management applications in one package. Apparently, it is the end of life for this wonderful MP3 player, ripper, catalog, CD player, Internet

Jeremy Butlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04488066941735851778noreply@blogger.com0