Thor Schrock

Our second newsletter of the year has been printed and is ready to be mailed. Keep your eyes on your mailboxes in Nebraska and Iowa next week because this newsletter has more tips and coupons than ever!

For our spring newsletter we are (appropriately so) featuring the the top myths about surge protectors. For example, did you know that it is better to have no surge protector hooked up to your computer than to have a damaged one that *might* be good?

The Lovely Kimberly also has some OUTSTANDING websites to keep your kids busy while they are on Summer break. She has assembled a list of sites that they can visit to learn new games they can play outside, rather than vegging on the computer all day.

If you are a customer of Schrock Innovations you are already in our mailing list to receive the newsletter. If you are not, we will be posting the newsletter on our website about one week after the mail piece starts to hit.

Today Microsoft released some concept photographs of what the office of the future may look like. Their presentation was complete with photos, and I have selected two of the best and added them to my blog album (Credit: Daniel Sheehan Photography). The interesting thing is that with the new technologies and operating systems that are just on the horizon, one can almost feel a paradigm shift taking place.

As you might imagine, Microsoft envisions that the office of the future will be devoid of CRT monitors and even single LCD displays. Both will be replaced with much larger dual screen displays. Perhaps it is just my keen insight into the world of computers, but this doesn't really impress me much. Who wouldn't want a huge 26" high definition plasma computer monitor? And if one is good, two would most certainly be better, right? While the pictures are fun to look at, and touch screen keyboards with no sign of a mouse is a sexy idea, you would expect the office of the future to have something more.

However, on another front Intel may be making a contribution to the futuristic gene pool to help the cause. On April 24th Intel CEO Paul Otellini debuted a new type of Intel processor called vPro (vee-pro). The debut was available on the Intel website, but the link there does not seem to be working. You can get all the details by watching the debut at http://mfile.akamai.com/10430/wmv/cim.download.akamai.com/10430/biz/vpro_webcast.asx, but sufficient to say this new Intel chip will allow network administrators fix computer problems like broken operating systems and disabled anti virus software.

With this new technology, an administrator can boot your computer at your desk without you there and when your Windows operating system blue screens, he can fix it without leaving his desk. It is only a matter of time until companies like Dell see the value in this type of remote support that runs independent of the operating system and introduces it to the consumer masses.

Last but not least, lets not forget Windows Vista. Scheduled to debut in January of 2007 (hold your breath) this new Microsoft operating system is intended to be even more specialized that Windows XP was. There will be six variants of Windows Vista designed for the office professional, the home entertainment junkie, the artistic types, and more. Vista will also usher in the long awaited era of 64-bit computing which will make today's computers look like Tandy's in comparison.

Oh, and did I mention that there is new technology around the corner in HD DVDs, holographic hard drives (yes no more moving parts and storage measured in terabytes, not gigabytes), and new mobile devices that are even smaller and more powerful than the Pocket PC phone I carry on my hip.

This is an exciting time to be involved in computers. Just because all of this new stuff is coming, don't wait to jump in the pool. There is ALWAYS new stuff coming, and just like when I play poker, I am either in or out, but I am never ahead. Just ask my friends.

Don't forget to head to the polls and vote on Tuesday, May 9th. There are a lot of great candidates on the ticket. If you want my unbiased (lol) opinion, I would vote Hinemann for Governor and Stenberg for Senate.

Sorry coach Tom, but people do trust you - to win football games. I am sure you would make a good governor, but I think you might find that governing is a whole lot different than legislating. That is one of the reasons a US Senator rarely gets close to winning a US Presidental election. The jobs are as different as night and day.

You guessed it... Another wonderful spyware infection is causing problems for our customers. This infection is a variant of the SpyFalcon infection. We detailed its removal
with our Remove SpyFalcon Tutorial.

This new variant will not respond to those removal instructions, so we have created a new tutorial to deal with it. If you think you have the SpywareQuake spyware infection, or are not sure if you do, you can take a look at our Remove Spyware Quake tutorial on our DIY website. The tutorial has pictures of what the screenshots look like and everything.

I wish people had better things to do with their time than make this garbage.

People pick political candidates for odd reasons sometimes. In this election, Nebraska politics is really interesting because you have a ton of qualified candidates all from the same party who are vying for the same jobs. In the case of the Nebraska US Senate Race, voters will have an opportunity to select the Republican who will face off against Ben Nelson (D. Neb) in the general election.

I must admit that I had a tough time choosing between Don Stenberg, Pete Rickets, and Dave Kramer. All three have very attractive qualities - Don is an experienced hand at politics and could use that experience for his constituents; Pete is an outsider who has the brains and the connections to get things done without the usual political strings that get attached to a candidate who has to beg for money to run; and Dave has helped countless other candidates get elected over the years and a LOT of people owe him a LOT of favors, which could be called in in the interests of the people.

But in my opinion, right now there is one issue that the US Senate has the ability to tackle and has refused to do so - Immigration reform. The Senate is in a deadlock with procedural measures being used by politicians who are more concerned about their political future than solving the problem at hand. I want a Senate candidate who will protect our borders with a double or triple layer fence BEFORE they talk about pathways to anywhere for anyone.

So in the May 2, 2006 Omaha World Herald there was a single graphic that helped me make up my mind. NONE of the Republican Senate candidates support building a fence along the US southern border. None of them. Ok, let the compromises begin... Who at least is willing to deal with the problem of 12 million people who have already entered our country illegally? The graphic indicated simple yes and no answers, and it indicated that Don Stenberg is the only candidate who opposes amnesty in one form or another.

Right there - BOOM. Got my vote. See you on the 9th. And I never thought I would hear myself say this, but Ben Nelson, if you read this, support a fence and I will vote for you in the general election. Security for our country is more important than the political sniping of a minority of US Senators, and my vote will be behind ANYONE Republican or Democrat who is willing to step up, and have the raw guts to do the right thing.

Oh by the way, some of you may be wondering what this is doing on a computer blog. Well, the title of the blog states this is the place for everything that does not have a place elsewhere. So here it is, and comments are welcome.

Industry wide, April is typically a slow month for computer repair. For the past three years, Schrock Innovations has braced for a slow April as people get out in their yards, start taking their children to practices, and generally spend less time at home in front of their PCs.

This April has been very different. There were two massive spyware outbreaks with the SpyFalcon and MoviePass infections that caused annoying pop ups and threatened to damage consumer's credit reports. Additionally, the sudden increase in computers with the "missing windows/system32/config/system" error brought us a workload that we haven't seen in many moons.

On top of that, we also launched sales and authorized two week-long vacations for staff members this month in anticipation of slow business. Needless to say, we were absolutely clobbered this month. The good news is that the record sales burst has allowed us to explore a radically new way of repairing PCs that at worst gives us a new support tool, and at best could revolutionize the way we fix computers.

All of the above is my round about way of apologizing for not keeping the websites and blog as updated as I should. I will be working through the backlog of tutorial requests, blog entries, and other number crunching as fast as I can. Keep visiting our websites, and thank you to those who have provided feedback from places as far away as Ontario and the United Kingdom.

There is a nifty little scam going on where unsuspecting consumers install MediaPass software on their computer hoping to download music and video files. Except when they agree to install the software, they are also agreeing to allow MoviePass to use their computer's hard drive and internet connection bandwidth for their purposes. Oh, and they also make you agree that they can sell your personal information to their affiliates - of course.

With that aside, when you install the MoviePass software, you are installing a free trial. Again, in that nasty little terms of service agreement you agree that if you do not cancel your trial BEFORE it expires, that you will pay them $29.99 a month for their service. Once the trial expires, a box will start popping up on your screen, increasing in frequency over time, asking you for your billing information.

If you remove the software and just forget about it, you are caught in yet another clause in their TOS that states that if you do not immediately provide your billing information, they will bill you for an entire year of service (a $359.88 tab) and then turn you over to a collection agency.

The only way to stop this cycle (easily) is to cancel your subscription immediately unless you intent to subscribe to their services. To do this you MUST call their toll-free number.

After all of that I have to say it is pretty crappy that this scam is actually working on people. If you have any influence over the general public (or at least your local LAN), let people know about this shady operation.

Most importantly, DO NOT remove the MoviePass software before you call to cancel the account they have open for you (yes, if you have the MoviePass pop-ups, they have an account for you). They will require a number from their software to deactivate your account. Once you have killed your account, you can remove their software to stop those annoying pop-ups. For a free tutorial on removing MoviePass (after you cancel your account) visit http://www.schrockinnovations.com/removemoviepass.php.

We have sent a press release to our local media outlets and made it available on our homepage. If you want more info on MoviePass or the MediaPipe software, visit www.moviepass.tv.