From my heart and from my hand, why don't people understand my intentions?
Computer running slow?
Avoiding.
Caught a virus?
Yes!
When?
Does your computer seem to have a life of its own?
Malfunction.
Need input.
The computer guru is here.
My God, you're here!
Call in now.
751-1041.
That's 751-1041.
Now, it's Mike Swanson.
Your computer guru.
On 104.1 The Truth.
Here you go.
Two sides to News Talk FM.
Hello and welcome to the Computer Guru Show.
My name's Mike.
Here to deal with your technology needs and treat you like a real person in the process.
Give us a call.
751-1041 if you'd like to be part of the show.
Once again, 751-1041.
See what we can do to help you out with whatever technology issues are plaguing you today.
You were today.
It's not ailing or plaguing.
Plaguing.
Today it's the plague.
You're going to have the plague today.
That's nice.
Well, you know, I heard a plague hit Mac pretty hard, so.
Well, we're going to get to that.
You want to talk about that?
All right.
Do it.
So, Mac is getting their little plague stuff, and that's for a little bit later in the show today.
All right.
But, I think we're going to start out with the UK hacking all kinds of websites.
The UK?
It means all the UKs?
Like, hacking websites?
Well, you know, MI6.
MI6?
MI6 is hacking websites now.
So, you got...
You got...
MI6, really?
Yeah.
Wow.
So, apparently the CIA was going to do it.
So, Tom Cruise is hacking websites?
Oh, no.
That's...
Oh, my bad.
I think I missed an impossible.
Sorry.
How many times do we have to tell you not to try?
Why is she talking?
Because she's learning what I tell you every week to leave the comedy to the professionals.
I see.
So, MI6 decided to go out and hack an Al-Qaeda website.
All right.
An Al-Qaeda website.
Right.
Now, we were going to do it.
Me and you?
No.
We, as in the US, was going to do it.
But, the CIA said,
we shouldn't do that because it's a valuable source of information.
This web magazine that they have that teaches you how to build dangerous things.
It's valuable.
Oh, it's valuable for chatter, I assume.
Well, yeah.
To pick up, you know, intelligence and such.
Well, MI6 apparently disagreed.
And they thought that the readers of this magazine would be much happier making cupcakes than building...
Making cupcakes.
Dangerous, dangerous items.
Right.
So, they replaced...
They replaced all of the bad stuff on there with an encrypted version of Ellen DeGeneres'
best cupcakes in America.
It's awesome.
I didn't even know Ellen DeGeneres cooked.
So, that's awesome.
Well, you know, somebody's got to replace Oprah.
So, she's got books about everything now.
Wow.
That is funny.
So, am I...
I'm just waiting...
At least I have a good sense of humor.
I'm just waiting for Ellen to put on 200 pounds and give away cars.
No.
Oh, that was just very wrong.
It's very, very wrong.
And I apologize.
That's funny, man.
It's just terrible.
Let's talk to Frank.
Hey, Frank.
How you doing?
Hi.
How can I help you?
Well, I have a virus on my computer.
Okay.
Essentially, I restarted my computer in safe mode.
And I ran all of my Spybot Search and Destroy malware bytes.
And I had a lot of viruses and Trojans and other malware.
But when I restarted my computer...
It all came back.
It still was kind of not functioning correctly.
One of the things that it did was it made all of my files hidden.
So, I had to go into a folder and unhide them.
And I had to go to the master folder to see them.
But they're still kind of that...
Grayed out?
Yeah, yeah.
Faded out.
Right.
That's because you had to go into the master folder that those folders are in and right-click
and go to the properties and say, uncheck the box that says hidden.
Yeah, I did that.
Okay.
And then they will pop back up.
And they won't be grayed out anymore.
But the bigger issue that you have is you restarted and your virus is still technically there.
And you had some residual stuff in there.
You probably didn't turn off system restore, first of all.
Any time you do a virus, it's still there.
So, if you want to do a virus removal, you always want to make sure you turn off system
restore.
Otherwise, Windows is going to try to put it right back.
All right.
So, turn off system restore?
Yeah.
You should disable system restore.
Not only is it worthless, it can also reinfect your machine after cleanup.
Right.
So, you want to make sure you turn that off.
Now, what antivirus are you using?
Because I thought I heard you list two of them.
I'm using Spybot Search and Destroy, Malwarebytes, Vypr, and Advir.
Wow.
Okay.
So, all right.
Have you heard me give the explanation of why you can't have two antiviruses on a machine?
No, I don't think I have.
All right.
So, here's the way it works.
All right.
You got Vypr on there and Advira, right?
Yeah.
And those are both real antiviruses.
The other two are just sort of anti-malware, so you can have as many of those as you like.
However, you cannot have two antiviruses running at the same time.
And I'll tell you why.
There's a half-life of the antivirus running on the machine.
There's a very special place in Windows that antivirus has to reside if it's able to oversee
everything that the machine is doing.
Okay.
And the antivirus itself is trained to kill anything else that's in that spot.
So, you have two antiviruses that are trying to vie for the same area within Windows.
So, they spend all their time trying to kill each other rather than trying to keep you
safe.
Okay.
So, you need to make sure that you only have one antivirus on the machine.
In your particular case, you know, we recommend Avast on the show.
And the reason why is that you can do a boot time scan.
A lot of the reason that a virus scan won't remove an infection is because Windows deems
that file as in use and locks it and prevents the antivirus from deleting it or modifying
it.
Yeah.
So, take your other antiviruses off, put Avast on there, do a boot time scan.
And that's going to help out a lot towards getting you clean.
Make sure System Restore is turned off, and that'll probably get you at least cleaned
up to the point where you can move on to other steps.
Okay.
How do I put Avast on there?
Because it's basically not really letting me...
Do you have another machine?
I do, yeah.
Okay.
So, go download Avast, put it on a memory stick or something, and then move it over.
Put it on a CD if you want to be extra safe.
Okay.
Okay?
Okay.
Now, if that doesn't work for you, all right, or if you're unable to get any resolution
that way...
Do another week?
Yeah.
We'll do one more week.
I think another week.
We'll do one more week.
We'll do it for the summer.
Wow, the summer?
Okay, you need to reel it back in a little bit.
All right, we'll do it for the summer.
We're doing $65 virus removals.
All right?
So, normally, the $95 ones, we're taking down to $65.
So, we can remove it for you if it comes down to it.
Okay.
All right?
You have to mention the special, though, if you want to bring it in and get it at that
price.
Yeah, because otherwise, it's full price.
Summer special?
Yeah.
Antivirus special.
All right?
All right.
So, hopefully, that works for you.
All right, I'll do that now and see how it works out.
I appreciate it.
All right, I appreciate the call.
Thank you.
If you'd like to be part of the show, 751-1041.
We'll see what we can do to help you out with your issues, whatever happens to be plaguing
you.
Technology issues.
Because I don't want you people calling up here like I'm Dr. Drew or something, because
I am going to help you.
No, please do that.
I want to see how Randall responds to people saying that they're depressed.
No, Dr. Drew, isn't he like the love doctor?
Yeah, Dr. Drew is a love life.
Yeah, yeah.
The depressed guy is, what's his name?
I don't know.
He's on Oprah all the time.
Is that Dr. Phil?
Yeah, Dr. Phil.
No, no, no.
The guy that you call when you're depressed on the radio.
Oh, I've heard his show in the middle of the night.
It's on like really late at night, Sunday nights.
It's not very good.
Oh, God.
But the moral of the story is, call him when you're technology-prone.
It's not on this station, so I can say that.
I'm telling you, it's not like the Computer Guru show.
Because our show is awesome.
If you have computer depression, we will be happy to take care of you.
Computer depression.
Your computer is like, aww.
That's right.
We'll be the shrink for your computer.
Your computer whisperer, is that what you say?
All right, so this kid wanted an iPad.
All right.
I got another story to go with this one.
I'm changing the subject here.
All right, go ahead.
Continue.
There's this kid who really wanted an iPad.
All right.
A lot.
Okay.
All right.
But he didn't have enough money.
By the way, he lives in China.
He didn't have enough money for the iPad.
Okay.
So.
So he went to work for Foxconn and sold one?
No.
Oh.
He sold one of his kidneys.
All right.
Sold it.
Didn't donate it.
In China?
In China.
Okay.
All right.
So you got about $4,300 for the iPad.
For a U.S. equivalent.
A kidney.
For a kidney.
Right.
A single kidney.
Okay.
Well, I can't sell both of them.
All right.
He's kind of regretting the move now.
He does have an iPad and some extra spending cash.
Some walking around cash.
Okay.
However, it turns out that the place that he went to go get his kidney removed at wasn't
equipped to deal with that type of surgery.
Wait.
So you're actually telling me that such a place exists where you go and sell a human
body part?
There's a market for body parts in China.
It wasn't a good enough place?
Apparently, it was on like China's version of Craigslist.
What do you do?
Wake up in a tub of ice?
No, no, no, no.
They actually perform the procedure.
Is this like, is this the guy that went to China to have the kidney removed?
No, no, no.
He's from China.
Oh, okay.
His mom's really mad now because he's dying.
Really?
I mean, he's like, wow.
His health is deteriorating?
His health is deteriorating at a rapid clip.
Wow.
All right.
So it turns out that they didn't have the right equipment to remove.
Can't be done with this equipment.
That's right.
So it turns out that X-Acto knives and duct tape, not the way to go when getting a kidney
removed.
Just totally not cool.
Oh, wow.
I mean, you know, I've never been to China, but I've seen lots of documentaries about
China, and I can only imagine how bad it would be.
I mean, how, oh, I don't know.
How sterile the conditions would have to be.
I'm just saying the kid's got some impulse issues.
Well, he, all right.
Yeah.
Wait, so he didn't actually need a kidney?
He just went and got one?
Well, no, he didn't.
No, no, he got one removed.
I mean, I think he's got the story.
He got a kidney removed.
He sold one.
Yes.
Oh, he sold it.
Right, right.
Try to keep up here.
Keep answering phone calls.
You know, I have phone calls to answer.
All right, so he had two kidneys.
Right.
But he had no iPad.
Right.
He figured, I can get an iPad and have one kidney.
So he sold his kidney for an iPad, and now he's dying.
Yes.
Right.
Got it.
Apple kills another person.
Wow.
Well, on that same token, though, I have a story here about somebody who also wanted
an Apple product.
He drove his car through an Apple window at like 5 o'clock in the morning, but he came
out of his car dressed as a ninja.
I'm not kidding.
There's pictures of it.
It's awesome.
He's dressed as a ninja, but by the time he got in there, I guess the alarms and everything
was so crazy, he got freaked out and took off.
He didn't even steal one thing.
It's crazy, because this picture here, there's a car.
He's driving through the window, and a ninja in the background was pulling a sword out.
It's hilarious.
I'll post it on the website.
All he really wanted was applesauce.
That's what I'm saying.
You can't go running over apples.
Oh, man.
Hilarious.
Some people, ninjas.
All right.
Let's go ahead and take a break.
When we get back from the break, we've got some phone calls.
We'll see what we can do to help you out with whatever technology issues happen to be plaguing
you this week.
This is the Computer Guru Show on 104.9 FM.
I'm Mike Pearson.
You're listening to the Computer Guru Show on the Truth, Tucson's News Talk FM.
Geez, man.
What do you want to do tonight?
The same thing we do every night, Pinky.
Try to take over the world.
The Pinky and the Brains.
It's Pinky and the Brains.
Welcome back to the Computer Guru Show.
My name is Mike, here to deal with your technology needs and treat you like a real person in the
process.
Got Randall over here doing his thing.
OK.
Call 751-1041 if you want to be a part of the show, just like Brian.
Hey, little Brian.
How you doing?
Uh-oh.
I think I shocked Brian into not answering.
Anybody?
Anyone?
Or maybe the name's not right.
Bueller?
Anyone there on line one?
Okay, I guess not.
Okay, so we're going to put him back on hold.
All right.
Maybe he'll come back later.
He apparently thought it was going to take longer for me to answer.
You know?
Did you tell him that I was going to answer his call?
Yeah.
Yeah?
Maybe he's just calling up to sit on hold.
Maybe.
All right, so I'm going to do something real fast.
Before our caller the last two weeks calls in and starts asking about Sandy Bridge.
Okay.
So, the last two weeks, the caller asked about Sandy Bridge versus the AMD version of Sandy Bridge.
And you failed.
No.
No, this week I've done it.
I've done it.
But the AMD version of it is called Fusion.
And I'd say if you're looking apples to apples or PC to PC, maybe.
You fail.
Yeah.
Anyways, if you're comparing the same ones, then yes, the AMD one is a better.
choice in theory.
However, you know, the Fusion is like a comparison for an i3 of the Sandy Bridge.
So, and I'm not a big fan of the Sandy Bridge to begin with.
So, if you compare the Fusion compared to the i3 or even the i5 Intel, it is a little bit better.
However, there is no real high-ends available.
You still fail.
There's really no high-end Fusions available.
And by the time they are available,
the next version of the Intel's is going to be out, which is going to be the Ivory Bridge.
So, once again, AMD is just one step behind Intel.
They just cannot catch up.
I mean, they're trying to, but they're just not there yet.
And like I said in previous calls, you know, previous weeks, I'm not a big fan of the Sandy Bridge.
It's like those other computer repair places in town.
What?
The i Intel.
Oh.
Well, the long story short is, you know, I think Sandy Bridge is going to work great for,
for, like, the miniature PCs, for the, you know, the laptops, for these little small form factor PCs.
When it comes to gaming and the gaming world and high-end graphics,
I don't see Sandy Bridge taking over anytime soon.
It may be in the next two, three years maybe, but not in the next year by no means.
So, myself, if I was looking at buying a new machine and I didn't care about the size of the machine,
I would not do Sandy Bridge, you know.
I would go ahead and get an actual traditional GPU and CPU, personally.
Now, what are your thoughts on it, Mike?
Do you have any thoughts on it?
It's a theme of this particular segment.
You know, I don't like you.
You're really upsetting me.
No.
No, seriously, what do you think?
I mean, about the CPU, GPU versus Sandy Bridge.
I mean, if you're concerned about the graphics portion of it.
Right.
If you really want high-end graphics.
Right.
Well, here's my thing, though, is that I'm torn between two different things.
One, you get better performance out of a standalone graphics card and a regular GPU.
That's correct.
Or CPU.
However, the way the Sandy Bridge is connected to the CPU and GPU.
Because they're one and the same, in essence.
Right.
You're going to get better performance that way.
Here's what I'm thinking, though, is that if you're looking to build that machine.
Right.
Moving forward.
Right.
You might as well get the Sandy Bridge.
Right.
So that you are in the right processor slot, right?
Board type to be moving forward.
Right.
Because if you buy, let's just say, a regular, like, iCore.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
You're not going to be able to go anywhere with that in, let's say, a year and a half.
Right.
Because those boards are going to be gone.
Right.
All right.
So I don't want to see somebody go out and buy, like, an i7 right now.
Mm-hmm.
And then buy a really nice video card.
Right.
And then a year and a half from now, they won't be able to upgrade the processor.
Right.
Without replacing it.
You think the pin sets are going to be different or anything?
The pin set is different.
Yeah.
Between the 55 and the 57.
That's assuming Sandy Bridge takes over.
I think it will.
You think so?
Yeah.
Because they're going to move.
Basically, they're going to move the i7 into the Sandy Bridge.
Right.
So I think that it's going to move in that direction.
There's no reason for them.
They're going to have two separate product lines like that.
The current Sandy Bridge is, I think, just the beta test for moving the Sandy Bridge
graphics processor, the Ivy Bridge, into the i7.
Okay.
All right.
So I don't think that there's any real benefit to splitting off those two product lines.
Oh, okay.
So if you end up buying an i7 now.
Right.
You can get the Sandy Bridge, the i7 equivalent of the Sandy Bridge now.
Right.
Which is a little bit slower.
Right.
That'll at least allow you to move forward upgrade-wise.
All right.
So in a year, let's say you decide that, well, I want to get a faster processor.
All right.
Or I want DDR4.
Right.
All right.
Then, yeah, you're going to want to move.
No, I see what you're saying.
No, I absolutely see what you're saying.
It's just, to me, I don't see, you know, like you said, it's beta, you know, in essence.
You know, and they've already had one recall on it.
I'm not saying that it's a bad setup.
I just, I don't know.
I'm just not quite convinced yet.
You know, and here's maybe my problem with this.
Right.
And why my, this whole segment for me has just been a sort of, you know, an epic fail for you.
Is that, is that I don't really care.
And here's the reason why.
Is that, you know, the processor debate for me is really boring.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
I find the processor debate to be like, you know, what if.
Right.
It's, it's like when you go out and you buy the car.
Right.
You know, you get an option.
Right.
Do you want it with this many cylinders or that many liters or whatever?
Right.
I just want something that works.
I don't really care.
Well, I'm going to get into the nitty gritty of this thing.
I'm going to E3 next week.
There's going to be a lot of gamers down there.
A lot of, you know, media coverage down there.
You know, fellow gamers.
I'm going to talk to them.
I'm going to try to get their opinions on this kind of stuff.
I'm going to actually go, I have interviews with NVIDIA.
I have interviews with some big wigs down there.
So I'm going to find out, get down to the nitty gritty of this whole thing and see if I can get any more good details out of it.
Well, and here's the reason I don't really care.
Let me get back to that.
Okay, go ahead.
I'm sorry.
I want to make sure that people understand why I don't care.
Okay.
All right, five years ago, and you're looking at processors, you could see 100% increase from going from one processor to another.
Right.
And now you're what?
You're going to see 5%, right?
Right.
You're going to see some really small change, right?
The performance benefit is going to be so small, it doesn't matter.
Right.
It's a lot like when people say, well, which brand of computer should I get?
I say, how much money are you going to spend?
They say, $500.
$500.
It doesn't matter what you get.
Right.
They're all going to be the same at that price point.
And the same thing is true in the processors.
Now, if you're looking to spend $2,000 on a processor, right, then yes, there's a huge difference between different processors.
So how many of us want to spend $2,000 on a processor?
Next to nobody.
Exactly.
And that's why I find the whole processor debate to be so boring.
Right, right.
And I don't mean to be overly apathetic about it, but there's not enough real consequence to spend time worrying about it.
No, I agree.
I agree.
I see what you're saying.
Yeah, absolutely.
And even a year ago, you were dealing with the AMD Intel stuff.
Right.
And then AMD was having massive overheating problems, and they were considerably slower than the Intels.
Mm-hmm.
All right.
But this next generation of AMDs is going to at least bring them so that they're current.
Right.
So that they are at least sort of nearby.
Right.
As far as the...
They're catching up.
As far as the speed is concerned, they are going to be a bit cheaper.
So it's really going to come down to, do you want a budget machine, or do you want to spend a little bit more for the processor?
It's a little bit faster.
Mm-hmm.
So for me, spending all the time on that, it's kind of like, meh, whatever.
Whatever's...
We'll stop talking about it.
All right.
Let's talk to Frank.
Hey, Frank, how you doing?
Yeah, I'm good.
How can I help you?
Well, I was the last guy that just talked to you.
But basically, I tried turning my computer on, and it won't even actually go to Windows.
It takes me...
It automatically opens up the option to go into, like, safe mode.
You know, left working mode, or just normal Windows mode.
Okay.
And whichever one I pick, it just reboots itself.
Okay, so it's getting a blue screen.
Yeah, I'm getting a blue screen that pops up really quick, and then it goes away, and then I go right back.
How old is the machine?
About eight years old, nine.
All right.
I bet you have bad hard drives.
Well, it could be.
It could be the infection's correct.
This is the guy who called it the virus infection.
Yeah.
And infections kill hard drives, like, all day long.
Either way, though, this is going to be beyond your repair, I'm thinking.
Either way, you're going to need to bring it down to a shop.
Bring it down to us.
We can do a diagnostic and find out exactly what's going on for you.
Okay.
All right.
We're looking at 2700 North Campbell, just south of Glynn.
Okay.
Thanks for the call, Frank.
Appreciate it.
We've got to do some news.
If you'd like to be part of the show, 751-1041.
We'd love to help you out with whatever technology issues are plaguing you today.
This is the Computer Guru Show.
We'll be right back after the news.
We'll be right back.
Oh, please stop.
Yeah, I watched all five seasons of The Wire on HBO Go on the iPad.
Really?
Yeah.
I've never seen one episode of The Wire.
It turns out it's a really great show.
It took you five seasons to figure that out?
Well, it's over now.
It was all five seasons.
Oh, okay.
They ended the series.
Yeah.
And it turns out that it will dramatically affect the way that you speak to people around you.
What is the show about?
I've never even heard of it.
It's about a detective in Boston.
He's working on drug-related cases and stuff.
So it's like CSI Miami or something?
It's like one of those CSI shows.
Except for he doesn't pull his glasses off all the time and music screams in the back.
Yeah.
Well, let's talk to Clayton.
If you'd like to be part of the show, 751-1041.
Hello, Clayton.
How are you?
Hey, Mike.
How are you doing today?
Getting there, man.
Just had a quick question for you.
I just finished doing a gaming rig build yesterday.
Okay.
And I bought an AMD Phenom II.
1100T processor.
Okay.
And I'm just wondering, do I need to use the core unlocker feature on my motherboard
or are all six cores already unlocked with this processor?
What version of operating system is it?
XP7 Professional 64-bit.
Hold on.
You just listed two of them.
Which one is it?
I'm sorry.
Windows 7 64.
You're fine.
All right.
As long as your processors actually show up in the device manager.
Yeah, it did.
It said it was a six core.
You're fine.
Then you're fine.
Perfect.
You'll have to worry about that.
I think you need to know the answer.
I was just kind of worried about it.
Well, it's six cores.
You got to make sure they're all going.
Absolutely.
Yeah, exactly.
Why get it if I can't use them?
Exactly.
That's right.
So what made you choose the AMD just because we were having this processor debate earlier?
It's more the price point, really.
The six core intels right now, I mean, I really like the Sandy Bridge stuff, but it's just
I can get a 3.3 gigahertz six core for 200 bucks.
Right.
Yeah.
The intels are much more expensive.
Yeah, but the boards are more expensive on the AMD side.
This is true.
Yeah, but I mean, it's not that much more expensive.
It's not the difference between the AMD processor and the intel as compared to the boards.
And being a college student, I can't exactly be going out and getting top of the line all
the time.
Right.
No bleeding edge for you?
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Well, great.
I'm glad we answered your question.
Yeah, I appreciate it.
Have a nice day.
That's a perfect example of what you were just saying, though.
You know, why this whole Sandy Bridge fusion thing was not really going to matter.
Because it is really, the bottom line, it's about price point.
Well, you know what they say.
It's all about money.
Right.
Everything that you do in America is about money.
Yeah.
All right.
So it's even those guys that are attacking the apples, which we're still going to get
to.
We're going to grab one more call here.
Let's talk to Eric.
Hey, Eric.
How you doing?
Hey, doing good.
How you doing, man?
Good.
Hey, you said about the wire?
Yeah.
It's Baltimore.
Oh, it's Baltimore.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Greatest show ever, by the way.
Really?
Why?
Very good.
I liked it.
I have to admit.
Yeah.
I'll check it out.
Homicide.
Yeah.
Homicide detective.
Yeah.
Well, Homicide Life on the Street, that series.
Hey, guys.
Excellent.
Yeah.
I'll have to check it out.
I haven't looked at it at all, but I'll have to check it out.
Thanks for the call, Eric.
Hey, no problem.
Have a good day.
Right now, you know what episodes, seasons I'm watching right now?
What?
Buffy.
You're watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
I've never seen it in the original.
My wife's like, oh, it's such a good show.
You've got to watch it.
I'm like, all right.
All right.
I'll give it a shot.
I know.
How can I be called a nerd?
I've never seen an episode of Buffy before.
I know, but I'm watching him now.
I've never seen one either.
Really?
I just refuse to.
Oh, all the freaking nerds all say, Buffy's so great.
So I'm watching him now.
Yeah, I know, right?
Terrible.
I am in stunned silence over it.
Can't hardly believe it.
I don't know.
If you're going to watch something that's all about vampires and stuff, my personal
choice is Supernatural.
You know, next thing I hear, you're going to be like replaying.
Like New Moon or whatever.
Oh, yeah.
My wife loves the Twilight stuff, man.
Let me tell you.
God.
I've seen each one of those movies once.
That's it.
All right.
So the government, antitrust regulators, are a little nervous about the Nortel patents
that are up for auction here pretty soon.
Okay.
Do you know anything about this?
I know nothing about it.
Do you know who Nortel is?
Who is Nortel?
Nortel was a gigantic phone provider.
Okay.
Right?
They made...
They made huge phone networks and...
Like Qualcomm?
Kind of.
Okay.
Right?
But they made like...
Like if you go down to like, say, Star Pass or whatever, the resort, all their phones
down there are Nortel.
Oh, okay.
They built gigantic PBXs.
Right.
And did a bunch of other stuff, too.
Well, they're defunct now.
They're out of business.
And they're auctioning off a...
Their old patents?
All their patents.
Okay.
6,000 patents.
Wow.
All right?
Guess who's bidding on it?
All right?
You got three people that are bidding on it.
Google.
You got Google?
Really?
Oh, wow.
Nice guess.
Wow.
You got Apple?
And Microsoft.
No, Microsoft's not...
Apparently not interested.
Facebook.
Yeah, wouldn't that be funny?
No.
Here's the thing.
Research in Motion is the third, by the way.
Really?
Okay.
All right.
So the people who make the BlackBerrys.
BlackBerrys, right.
They were initially upset, saying, well, if Google gets these, all right, there could
be a problem.
Right.
Right?
One of the patents that Nortel owns is the LTE technology.
Oh, really?
Yes.
They own the LTE.
Wow.
So they just pulled that away from Apple.
Well, if Apple gets it, it gives them an uncompetitive or an unfair advantage in the wireless networks.
Well, if any one of them get it, if you think about it.
Well, here's the deal, is that Microsoft's not interested.
Right.
Because they've already got...
If you look at the number of patents that each of these companies have, the true elephant
in the room is Microsoft.
Is Microsoft, right.
Yeah.
They got like...
They have like 16,000 patents.
Right.
But Google's by catching up.
And...
No, Google has 1,000.
Is that all?
That's it.
Of all the companies that they buy?
Right.
They have 1,000 patents.
Wow.
Now, here's the deal, is that Microsoft, in addition to the 16,000 that they own, has
licensing rights to another 20,000.
Ah.
Most of which, even the LTE one, Microsoft has a licensing right to.
Right.
So, no matter who buys the bundle of...
Microsoft.
Microsoft is making money.
So, Microsoft doesn't care.
Right.
But the reason that they're worried about it is that even though it would potentially
give Google an unfair advantage...
Right.
Google has never seriously gone after anyone for patent infringement, ever.
Well, I think they would, though, if it was Apple.
Now, Apple...
Right.
On the other hand...
Goes after everybody.
Right.
They are on the ball.
Now, they're concerned about Microsoft, too, because Microsoft doesn't play around when
it comes to the patents.
They do own.
Right.
And they will...
They will throw down.
Yes, they will.
They have a gigantic pool of lawyers.
I don't think RIM has a chance at all to get this.
I mean, if you get the three big...
If you get the three ones that you're talking about, RIM...
Google put down the opening bid for $900 million.
$900 million for 6,000 patents?
Right.
Wow.
All right.
So, the opening bid at $900 million.
Uh-huh.
Now, here's my problem with the whole thing.
Right?
As a person who has invented things in the past...
Right.
I have a couple of inventions, and I've never gone around the whole patent thing.
Right.
But I think secondary markets for patents are baloney.
Right?
They're bogus.
Okay.
And here's why I think so.
Is that the innovator, the person who actually came up with the idea, should have the right
to patent it for a limited amount of time.
Right?
So, you have this patent that's out there for, let's say, 10 years.
Okay.
Right?
And that's shorter than the current patent anyway, which is you get a 20-year patent.
Right.
And then you can renew.
Right?
I think that they should abolish the renewal process.
I think that it needs to be a massive patent overhaul as far as the way that U.S. deals
with patents.
So, you think after 20 years, they shouldn't be allowed to renew the patent?
No.
So, it should be just open claim.
Yeah.
The thing is...
Public domain.
What the patent does is it protects other people from profiting from your idea for a
certain amount of time.
And you think there should only be a 20-year limit on that?
Yeah.
I think so.
Because I think that after 20 years, right, or 10 years even, right, that it's your product,
your product is sort of common knowledge at that point.
Well, you know, I can see what you're saying, especially in the technology world.
After 20 years, it's going to avoid it anyways.
But you got to think about when patents first came out, and even today, though.
I mean, for example, Velcro.
Right.
The guy who made Velcro, patent that thing, what, 40 years, 50 years ago at least?
He still owns a patent, or at least his family still does.
Right.
And so, he makes money off everything.
I think he should have the right to that, even after the 20 years is up.
Well, I mean, if you're using the same technology, sure.
Velcro's not going to change.
I mean, it is what it is.
The thing is, though, is I think it stifles, you know, creativity.
Okay.
Right?
I think that if after 10 years, you let everybody start making it, then somebody will find a
way to do it better.
Okay.
All right?
Now, and maybe it's just me.
I'm not terribly greedy about the cash part of it.
Right.
And don't get me wrong.
I know people who, like, are invented, like, the cellular technology, right?
And these guys are rolling in dough.
Yeah.
Right?
And that's great for them.
It really is.
Right.
And it can allow people to expand upon ideas.
Right?
You can find a new way to do things, and you can't do that, at least, the way it works
right now is that I can go ahead and come up with an alternative to Velcro.
Right.
Right?
As long as I can produce it myself.
Right?
And which I'm not doing.
Well, see, a patent doesn't prevent you from improving a current product, though.
See, somebody can own a patent to something, and then you can go ahead and try to make
an improvement to said patent.
Right.
And then all you have to do is just give a licensing.
A licensing fee to the person who made the original product.
Right.
Well, here's my issue with this.
Okay.
Is that I think that the backyard inventors, you know, people like me.
Right.
We have no hope of making improvements to things that really have a huge or significant
impact on society.
Okay.
And if you allow the larger companies, the people with research and development, you
know, budgets, to go out and say, okay, it's been 10 years, let's try to build it better.
Right.
And you have more players in the game with more money in the game.
Then you're going to get a better product out of it.
Okay.
All right.
I can see that.
Yeah.
So I think the secondary market for patents is ridiculous.
And I know it's not terribly computer related.
Right.
But we're going to get to that.
You know, because Apple owns a whole bunch of patents.
Right.
And they're patenting stuff all the time, like crazy.
Right.
So they've got, I forget how many patents they've got right now, a few thousand.
Right.
Maybe 7,000, 8,000 patents or something like that.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And if they manage to get a hold of this Nortel patent stuff, right, then what you're really
looking at is that they're going to become a dominant player as far as their ability
to go out and sue everybody for using their technology.
More so than they already do.
Right.
And my other issue with the secondary patents is that if you are a company that owns a bunch
of patents and you didn't leverage that properly and you end up going out of business, it's
fair game.
Right.
And you're not going to be able to say, okay, well, I have these patents here, these things
that I created, and just because I don't know how to use them, I can let somebody else buy
them up.
Well, you also get these people who sit there and they come up with an idea, they patent
it and they sit on it.
They don't even try to make it.
They don't even put it out to the public.
Yeah.
And that happens all the time.
And then somebody does come up with that said product, and that guy, he just sits there
and waits and waits and waits.
For example, I'm not saying this is what Cisco did, but Cisco came up with, in the 80s, I
think it was late 80s, early 90s, they came up with an item and they called it the iPhone.
Right.
Okay?
And they didn't go anywhere.
And then Apple came up with the iPhone and Cisco just waited for a few years and then
they threw the heck out of Apple before they named iPhone.
Well, they got some money out of it.
They sure did.
We got to take a break.
When we get back from the break, we'll see what we can do to help you out with whatever
technology issues you may be having.
751-1041 if you'd like to be part of the show.
This is the Computer Guru Show on 104.1 The Truth, Tucson's News Talk FM.
Welcome back to the Computer Guru Show.
My name's Mike, here to deal with your technology needs and treat you like a real person in
the process.
That's what we're going to do.
We're going to be nice to you.
Are we?
Yeah.
That's no fun.
All right, so you had something earlier that you were talking about.
Oh, yeah.
This has nothing to do with technology whatsoever, but I saw this and I just, oh, I have to talk
about this real briefly.
Because you were incensed.
Yes.
Enraged.
Okay, so apparently there's been a law in the books since 2008 saying you are not allowed
in Washington, D.C., saying you are not allowed to dance at a memorial, you know, like a Jefferson
Memorial, you know, Lincoln Memorial.
You're not allowed to dance.
So apparently there's a precedence for this.
Somebody call up Kevin Bacon.
Yeah.
Well, actually, that's part of this.
But anyways.
So.
So there's a group of protesters that heard about this, you know, and they said, well,
you know what?
On Memorial Day, we're going to go to the Jefferson Memorial with our iPods, put our
iPod plugs in our ears and listen to the music and just shuffle, do a light dance.
Right.
So that's exactly what they did.
And they brought like four cameras with them.
You know, they shot from every angle.
If you go to YouTube, you can pull it up.
It's all over the YouTube right now.
But these guys are seriously just doing a little shuffle.
They're not disturbing anybody, doing nothing wrong, but just doing a little shuffle.
And these cops, I'm not kidding, five, six, seven cops came out of nowhere and just took
them to the ground, pushing the cameraman's camera man around, telling the cameraman that
they're going to arrest him if they keep on recording their actions.
I mean, obviously, the cops know that they have something to hide because they're telling
the cameraman to turn off the cameras for recording their actions.
I mean, this is just absolutely ridiculous.
I mean, there is no way that this is going to hold up in court.
I mean, the irony behind this is it's I was at the Jefferson Memorial.
One of the guys.
One of our finding.
Founding fathers who said who loves the the freedom to express oneself, you know, and
these people can't do a light shuffle.
I mean, they're not disturbing it.
I heard it was a flash mob.
I get it.
You know, I don't know anybody out there.
There's a flash mob.
I will tell you what, if you've ever seen an episode of if you think you can dance.
All right.
Some people deserve to be tackled to the ground and then shoved around.
This was not that.
Not that.
I mean, come on.
This is just out of hand.
Interpretive dance.
What is that?
Really?
Well, I don't get it.
I don't get the whole interpretive dancing, right?
Maybe I'm not interpreting it, but, you know, just like, OK, you look like you got stung
by a bee in your lower back.
Well, here's the cool thing.
Here's the cool thing.
They tried to prove something by shuffling around.
I don't understand why they had one of the music in their ears that they were shuffling.
They wanted to bring this to light that this is a ridiculous law.
And exactly.
They did exactly what it did.
And now they're trying to schedule another protest.
And this time they actually contacted Kevin Bacon, trying to get Kevin Bacon to come down
there.
Dance with him.
It ain't gonna happen.
I don't think he ever would.
But he's too busy being an X-Men.
Oh, all right.
Let's take some calls here.
Let's talk to Adam.
Hey, Adam, how you doing?
Hey, what's going on, guys?
What's going on, man?
I got a question, but first I'd like to comment.
I think they should only be allowed to dance if they could tell you who Jefferson was.
And they can give you at least one quote from Jefferson.
All right.
I can live with that.
But the great thing about this country is you don't have to do that.
That's the great thing about this country.
You could just say, you know, Jefferson didn't know how to spell.
That would work.
Because I went.
I went to, you know, to Virginia and checked out the Jefferson estate.
Right.
That dude was pretty cool.
All right.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
I mean, awesome.
So what's going on, Adam?
I got a problem every time I try to get onto an email or some website.
It pops up every time.
Security warning.
Do you want to view only the web page content that was delivered securely?
Okay.
And I could say more info, yes or no.
It kind of sounds like you're using Internet Explorer, right?
Yes.
All right.
And what version of Windows do you have?
What do I have?
I have.
I have a desktop.
No, no, no.
I have seven.
Seven 64-bit.
Okay.
So it sounds to me like you got one of two things going on here.
Either your browser settings are all kind of jacked up and you can reset the browser
fairly easily by going to Internet Options.
Okay.
And there's a button that just says Reset Browser.
And it puts everything back to default.
It's on the advanced tab.
Okay.
Yeah.
And then the other thing it could be is you could have some type of an infection going
on.
That's.
Well, I guess I should do a boot time scan.
I'm running a VAS.
All right.
Let's start with resetting the browser and see if it goes away.
Okay.
All right.
And if it doesn't, then yeah, you really should run that boot time scan.
Cool.
Okay.
Thanks, guys.
Appreciate the call, man.
Take care.
If you'd like to be a part of the show, 751-1041.
Let's talk to you, Alex.
Hello, Alex.
Hi.
Yeah.
Thanks for making my call so quickly.
Yeah.
I have a question.
We have a Cox cable and we have a, it comes with McAfee.
Is that a worthwhile program to have with it or?
No.
No?
No.
It's a waste of time.
Oh, okay.
We've had it several years now.
It does.
Everything slows down every once in a while.
Yes.
So how do I go about putting something different on?
All right.
First, pick what you want to put on there and download a copy of it, but don't install
it.
Okay.
Now, would you recommend a VAS?
Yes.
I do recommend a VAS, at least on the free market.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Even a paid one is pretty good.
Yeah.
I think it's unnecessary.
I like a VAS for a couple of reasons.
Decent detection, boot time scan, free.
And those three things together really make a nice product for me.
Okay.
Let's say I go with that, but how do I take my Mac fee off and still stay protected or
do I unplug the internet?
Well, that's why you're going to download your new antivirus first but not install it.
Right.
And then you can disconnect, uninstall the application, your old one, and then install
your new one and then plug yourself back in.
Disconnect the internet.
Yes.
Okay.
Unplug the cable and then I can do the switch.
Okay.
Yeah.
Sure.
That makes sense.
Also, now, have you heard of other people?
My wife says be careful.
Between 5 and 7 PM, talk seems to be really slow or do you think it's a computer or drill
slow?
Sometimes she can't get on or gets kicked off if she is on.
What's up?
Well, it kind of depends on a couple of factors.
It's probably a high traffic time for your node.
You have a bunch of people in your area that are connected to the same node.
Yes.
And by the way, that's true with all the internet providers with the exception of
like SimplyBets.
Even if Quest says otherwise.
Right.
They have the same type of noting system that all the others have.
Yeah.
The difference is that they throttle you down so much that it doesn't really matter how
many people get on.
Right.
Anyway, you could be experiencing a traffic problem with your neighborhood and you can
call Cox about that and complain.
A lot of times if you complain loud enough, they will apply oil to your squeaky wheel.
Or if you have a Wi-Fi network and your Wi-Fi network is open and everybody in your neighborhood
is jumping on it and once again slowing you down.
Yeah.
Actually, we don't.
We have one on.
My daughter put on a password for it so nobody can jump on.
Very good.
All right.
So start complaining to Cox and they can take a look at that for you.
Yeah.
And if I find ... The computer has gotten slow also.
It's about two years old, Dale.
You had that $65 special.
Does that include a tune-up of it?
We have a $65 tune-up.
Yep.
Okay.
So I'll run this and if it doesn't help, I'll bring it in.
Thank you.
Bye.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Bye.
All right.
If you'd like to be part of the show, 751-1041.
Let's see.
We're going to do one more because we're coming up on the break here.
Hey, Steve.
How you doing?
Hey, great.
How are you?
Not bad.
How can I help you?
Hey, I've got a Dell laptop, a C400, old one, P3, and I want to change the BIOS password.
And I get into the BIOS, I go to page seven and I go to change the master password, primary
password is what they're calling it.
And it says, you know, hit your arrow keys.
I do it.
I type in the password.
Beep.
It won't let me do it.
I hit enter three times.
It won't let me do it.
Hit enter twice with nothing in it.
I pulled the battery.
I pulled the CMOS battery.
All right.
Hang tight for a second.
We're up against the break.
So stick around.
We'll get to you right after the break.
This is the Computer Guru Show.
We'll be right back.