The Strange Story of John McAfee (The Anti-Virus Guy), and the GOP Connection

A real picture of Anti-virus guru, John McAfee,
from Wired.com

Whenever I read anything from the right about Rachel Maddow, I'm kind of baffled, because the commentary (and "jokes") about her bear no relation to her actual persona. I suspect it's because they don't ever watch her show, beyond a short clip on a right-wing site, or maybe not even that much. In reality, Maddow is kind of professorial, but the fun professor whose class you would actually take extra trouble to schedule into. She usually starts her show with a story that seems only tangentially related to the subject at hand, or even completely unrelated.

Part of the fun can be trying to guess where she's taking you (and not in a tinfoil hat, Glenn Beck way). But it's usually a point you hadn't considered, along with some history and fun-facts you never knew. Take this clip for example. Along with a very condemning and snarky attack on the bloatware that often comes with computers, Rachel details the life of the guy who invented one of the big bloatware programs, McAfee Anti-Virus (and we now know for sure, it's MACK-uh-fee, not Mick-AFF-ee), his very strange, not totally legal lifestyle, and his connection to the GOP and Washington, DC.

It's worth your time even if you are and arch-conservative, and have no use for MSNBC, because it's so interesting. And you just might see that Rachel Maddow is not the fire-breathing, shrill harpy she's alleged to be. She's still a lesbian, but who's ever argued that? It's really lame joke material, right-wing world, when it's right on the table like that. Just sayin'. . .

 

Blast from the Past: Microsoft Upgrade Blues!

I've got Microsoft on the brain. Why? Because I'm what they call an "early adopter." I like the newest, best, most up to date everything, as long as I can afford it. That means, I want updates! Upgrades! And I--like Veruca Salt of Willy Wonka--want it now!

But do you know what happens when what you want is too new for general release, and you download the alpha/beta/preview version? Well, it can mean problems. And it can mean that they might not spell out the problems, or that you--in your excitement for the new thing--might just miss
the thing you should've seen. To make this all a little bit worse (and embarrassing), I've done this before.

What happens is you download the new Windows preview version, and mostly you're happy. It's a shiny, happy, clean install, and exploring is fun! Then you find out. . . whoops! This temporary preview will have to expire at some point, and the real version will have to be installed. And it can't just upgrade, no, no. It has to wipe out the old installation. You'll have to reload all of your programs! And your files may or may not stick around (at worst they could disappear, at best they could move to a different location). I made this mistake with Windows 7 (moving from Windows Vista), and now with Windows 8.1.

In all, it's really not that bad. I've got to put back all my programs, tweak a few settings, move a few files, and the hardest part, get my work files external drive back online where it belongs. Once that is done, everything should be back to normal, and my computer should be better than before, with the kinks all ironed out. But there will be cussing in the meantime. And if you're wondering, yes the Start button is back, it's just a bit different.

 

And, joy of joys, there will be updates to both Apple's OS X (Mavericks) and Android (Jellybean 4.3)very soon too! So, more learning curve on all of my devices. Fortunately, I've never rooted my phone, nor have I tried to get under the hood of my Mac. So those experiences should be a little smoother. Happy Monday, everyone!

PS: Several "glitches" were encountered in my upgrade process: 1) The Windows Store wouldn't load three times in a row; 2) The Windows Store shows no obvious place to get the upgrade, I had to find the link on Microsoft.com; 3) Once I got my download started, there was no obvious place that said it was in the process of downloading; 4) Upon starting for the first time, Windows lost my sound, utterly; 5) Even after going to find the driver for my sound card, Windows lost it again after restarting--I'm still not sure it has permanently "stuck." So, thanks Obama! I guess since Windows 8.1 has glitches on rollout, it should be repealed immediately!!!

UPDATED TO ADD: Windows 8.1 seems to be working just great after initial issues were solved. I put all the apps back, got my settings tweaked to where I want them, and all is (seemingly) well. Even some issues that were cropping up before my upgrade have "healed themselves," and are working just fine. I'm happy to say that except for a bit of the struggle at the beginning, this has actually been a nearly painless upgrade.