Rogers Internet Ad

Have you seen that Rogers Internet ad of some guy showing how fast their non-Rogers connection to the Internet is? He's trying to play a video from the Internet but it doesn't play smoothly (because, ofcourse, he's not a Rogers customer). You can see the video on this link if it's still there.

This is a bunch of crap from Rogers. What are they comparing? Here's my experience with Rogers (which uses shared cable) and their competitor, Bell (which uses DSL):

I have Rogers ultra-lite which means it's their slowest of the slow service (for $30 per month no less!). When I download a large file the speed is apprx. 50 kb/s. When I play a video, it's very choppy...exactly like the one that Rogers is comparing in their ad.

Now, let's compare Bell's DSL, which I have as well. I have their lowest speed as well and I'm paying less than $30 per month. When I download a large file the speed is MORE than 6 times that of Rogers: apprx. 310 kb/s. This is a huge difference.

My son just asked me why I'm writing this. Because I hate companies like, Rogers and others, that mislead people with outright lies. Why doesn't Rogers compare apples to apples, oranges to oranges? Come over to my apartment and let's run a comparison. I dare you, Rogers !!!!

Hasta La Vista, Norton Ghost !

Finally gave up on Norton Ghost. It seems like a full-featured backup program, but crap, why does it take almost 2 full days to backup mydocuments folder? Never mind backing up the entire drive image. This is unworkable. Back to the drawing board, you Symantec boys. Man, where is Peter Norton? Did he retire to some south Pacific island? He should be on top of these lousy programmers at Symantec. Fire the lot and hire some smart cookies instead. This product, which is version 14 should not be out in the marketplace. Man, this is version 14, not version 1 !!!

Anyway...I evaluated another product not worth mentioning the name. Then I went back to one that I've used before (when it was free). I'm running the trial version now (thank God for trial version -- hint hint Ghost...). This one is called Smart Backup by Jam Software. Here's the link: click here for link.

What this does is basically make a duplicate copy of any folder you want. It saves the folder structure the same as in your computer. Other programs make their own unique files and basically you can't do anything with them unless you use that program. With Smart Backup, it's just a straight copy.

Okay, now the obvious question: Why would I buy this when I can just copy all the files manually to the backup device (in my case and external hard drive) ? Because when you re-run it, it will only copy changed files and not all of them again.

Side Note: some of the free programs don't allow this feature. They copy everything all the time. So, what's the point? That's unworkable as well.

At this point, I'll probably end up with this solution. Oh, one last item...there is an option to save the files as Zip (compressed) and it allows you to password protect the Zip file.

Giving "The Ghost" Another Try

Giving Symantec's Norton Ghost another try. First time I tried to do a backup of my entire MyDocuments, Music and Video. Big mistake! The estimated time is between 37 to 41 hrs. Geez !!! So, am changing my tactic. I'm going to do separate backups of certain folders, one at a time.

This program does look like it's feature rich but clunky. I'm trying to cancel my backup and even the Cancel seems to be taking forever. Why? It's probably trying to erase all the folders it created. I dont have the patience to wait 41 hours to do a backup. There must be a simpler way!!!

[later]

Lesson learned: never start a backup late in the day

(Almost) Free Long Distance

We've been trying out this amazing device called MagicJack. Basically you plug that into a USB port and then plug a phone into that device. As long as your computer is turned on and logged unto the Internet, you can call any phone for free long distance or local calls throughout North America (U.S. & Canada). You pay a one time-fee of around $40 and $20 per year after that. Well worth it!

Oh, they give you a U.S. phone #. You get to choose the area code. They don't have Canada yet. :( . Others can call you from a regular phone and your phone would ring.

It's quite an interesting concept. Their website: www.magicjack.com

Vol 1 online

Finally got volume 1 of Truths of the Spirit World online...6 more volumes to go.

Trying to get rid of the "GHOST"

Had help from Scotty, of WinPatrol. I killed all running tasks of Symantec. I ran the uninstall of Ghost and it seems to work. The Ghost is being exorcised !!! Scotty tells me that another program is trying to run itself on startup. But that's ok, because its the Ghost that says I must reboot for a complete uninstall. Saving this post and rebooting...

...rebooted...

Am trying to re-install Ghost. It still gets stuck on the install. The status bar isn't moving. But I do see it in the program files.

[later]

Well, even though the Ghost got stuck, it still showed up in Program Files. So I ran it. Lo and behold, it worked. I backed up a small folder just to try it out. Anyway, the advantage of Ghost is at least Symantec has online chat with a live person to help you. I didnt use it yet as I was off to do something else offline.

First impression: The Acronis interface seems much nicer. The Ghost interface seems dated, but if it can do the just, it doesn't matter. I'll try it again soon. It's late now...and if there's one thing I've learned: never do backups late in the day because they take too long to do and you have to babysit them (answering the prompts...just like a baby).

Trying to Install Norton Ghost

Emphasis on the word "trying". I downloaded the trial version of Symantec Ghost. I gets stuck on the install screen. Why? I'm running the latest of everything (Vista, etc). Scotty, the WinPatrol doggy, warns me that some programs want to start themselves on startup. I answer Yes. But, still this thing cant even install itself. Doesnt look promising, but let's give this one another chance... :(

...tried to install it again...total failure. It gives me "error 1500. Another installation is in progress." I can't even un-install it. It's in the twilightzone. It's not installed totally and I cannot even choose to re-install it or to repair it or even to uninstall it. It's put crap in my computer and I can't do anything about it !!!

I should rename this blog: FRUSTRATIONS OF USING A COMPUTER. I wonder if a Mac is this stupid/complicated/crazy/broken.

Classmates Spamming

Someone who's promoting Classmates is spamming me. When I click on their link I get the message that this offer isn't available in my area. I go to Classmates.com to report them. And guess what? Try sending an email to classmates. It's almost impossible to find a link to send them a message. Geez. They dont want to be contacted. Why would I give them 1 cent if they make it hard for me to get customer support???

Here's the spammy email I received: [ok, this is where things dont work again. I cant paste here. Why doesn't blogger allow it??]

Ofcourse it didnt Work!

Yea...just as I expected. Acronis backup failed. The program stopped working. Geez, man. Why cant someone write a decent backup program that works? Microsoft's backup that comes with Vista is almost useless. And that took over 12 hours to run. Just deleted that backup image.

I'm thinking of trying Symantec Ghost. ...ok, Symantec has a trial version of Ghost ver 14. I'm downloading it now. Will report back how that works.

Trying the trial version of Acronis Disk Backup. It seems to have a lot of options and features but can be confusing of what to do on the first time I do a backup. If I do an image backup and then backup all of mydocuments does that do two backups or one? What if I restore? Which one will it restore. Need to get these questions answered...geez

This is my first Blog Entry

Yup, my first blog entry. You can also visit my website at: http://www.meilach.com