Home computer sales down this year.

Research firm, IDC, released first quarter computer sales numbers for the major manufacturers and the news isn't good.  Sales overall are down over 10% over last year.  The biggest loser was Acer, as their sales dived over 42%, with Dell at 11.8%.  Anybody improve?  Apple and Toshiba.  Many see the iPad as the main culprit for the declines as millions are buying it, instead of a desktop computer.  What do you think?

Any Secret Regrets? Get it out now

Off the tech track, but fun nevertheless, is a website called secretregrets.com.  Here you can read the secret regrets others have about their lives.  You can post your own regret anonymously.  Interesting reading about what people have learned about themselves and their lives.  

This message will self-destruct in 5...4....3...

If you are old enough, you remember that familiar line from Mission Impossbile.  Well, it is coming to your computer hard drive sometime in the near future.  Toshiba has announced the creation of self-destructing hard drives.  The way it works is if the hard drive detects that it is present in an unfamiliar computer (ie.  stolen computer, thief takes the hard drive out and installs it in another pc or hard drive enclosure), the drive will detect it and either deletes all data on it or locks down the data forever that is on it.  Pretty cool and helpful for all those government agencies and corporations that keep losing laptops with valuable information on it.

Tax Day, so where does the money go?

Of course I have an answer for you.  In February, the good folks at Google launched a project.  The offered a cash reward for any developer who could develop an online application to best demonstrate how the government spends your tax dollars.  The winner was Anil Kandangath for his website, www.wheredidmytaxdollarsgo.com.  Simply plug in your income amount and filing status and it will provide you with a pie chart breakdown to where your tax dollars were spent. 

Second place went to a site that provides you with a clock and tells you how many hours you work each day that goes to the government for taxes.  Not as interesting, but insightful nevertheless.

Internet Explorer 9 for all, except XP users

Beginning this week, Microsoft will offer IE9 via Windows Update to all Vista and Windows 7 computers.  What this means is that when you do a Windows Update, it will now show up as an optional, but recommended update if you do not already have it installed.  For those on Vista and Windows 7, I strongly recommend updating to it.  It is better, faster and reliable, but then again, so is Chrome and Firefox 4.  Heck, update to all of them.

Bleeping Thinkpoint!

Here I am, 2:30 in the morning removing a rogue malware infection called Thinkpoint from a customer's computer.  It's a neat, fun little infection that shuts down the whole system, even in safe mode.  Getting rid of it is not the issue, accessing the hard drive to back up personal files on it is.  Nevertheless, the task is done and the system is on the way back to a healthy state.  In researching this fun problem, I came across an interesting website called Bleepingcomputer.com.  It has detailed instructions on how to remove almost all of the nasty malware infections on your computer.  Word of warning, it is not for beginners, so if you are not comfortable in swimming in the guts of your windows settings, call a professional.  I know of a good one, lol.  Time for sleep.