Windows 7 Ultimate 7057

Hey folks it's me again. Today I'm here to give a sneak peek into Windows 7 Ultimate. Notice the picture above of the Task Screen or what you get when you hit Control, Alt, Delete when in Windows for those not up to snuff, and you'll notice the Windows Name on the bottom of the screen. Yes folks it's Windows 7 Ultimate. You can click any of the images for a much larger view. Enjoy.

The version I have is what everyone on the internet keeps calling the RC1 or known as Build 7057.

My VM setup was basic, created with only 512MB of RAM and 1 Processor.

Installation was a snap, especially for Windows, also considering the fact that I installed as a VM and not on a true system. Windows as everyone knows usually takes a good 60-90 minutes or so to install, but for Windows 7 on a VM it only took about 25-30 minutes. Vista could be the same in a VM environment and I've never really tested. I used what is known as quick install in VMWare Workstation thus saving most of the questions and answers which also helped with the speed of the install I'm sure.

Here is where I ended up, the good old desktop of Windows 7 Ultimate, you'll notice the version numbers etc. in lower right hand corner. Also notice the new Task Bar and larger icons.



Within no more than 30 minutes I was sitting in Windows and ready to start playing around. Rebooting takes about 2 minutes max and even from a cold boot, the reason it might take a bit longer is that I have an issue with my VM that ends up giving me 32 PCI Express Standard Root Port Devices which are all in conflict, without this issue the system boot time might be reduced by 30 or so seconds making Windows 7 very quick at booting and as mentioned before is astounding for Windows.

I can honestly say Windows 7 Ultimate is really not much more than Vista but on steroids, and what I mean by this is it looks exactly the same, but is much faster and robust, and remember this was with only 512 MB of RAM. I can only imagine how this would run on my normal system. I have 4 Gig on this system.

Lets just hope the speed of boot and the quickness of tasks are the same on a real machine as in my VM, and when the final release comes. If this is the case, Microsoft may finally have what they should have had with Vista.

Windows 7 Ultimate will be a huge success and one I would say everyone on XP and Vista should upgrade to with what I've seen so far. The speed of opening up tasks and windows was a snap unlike my Vista machine which is a complete dog in my opinion. On my Vista machine I'll click to open a program etc. and 10-15 seconds later it might open. With Windows 7 Ultimate these things instantly opened right up. As I mentioned above this is in a VM and I'm sure Vista may be identical in a similar situation, but I'm not here to test the differences. VM usually only has 20-30 processes max running and my Vista machine has upwards of 75-100, this would make for a huge difference between the two, that is for sure. Either way I'm really liking what I see with Windows 7 Ultimate thus far.

With the build I have, many have come to realize a little bug, it's called the Desktop bug and really is nothing more than desktop.ini file being in the startup which then makes notepad open it up since it's a text file and greets you upon entering Windows. You can fix this by removing the desktop.ini files from your profiles Startup areas, you can find the exact locations online by searching for Fix Windows 7 7057 Desktop Bug.

Now onto what little bit may be new to some. Pretty much all the same applications introduced in Vista are back, and some of the older programs are now updated. We see items such as Snyc and Snippet return from Vista. Sync is where you set up offline files and Snippet is similar to a cheap version of Snagit. Powershell is now part of Windows 7 Ultimate as well.

Here is a picture of Snyc. Nothing special or new to us Vista folks.



Below you'll see what Accessories are available in Windows 7 and you'll notice the new look of good old Paint and WordPad. You'll notice how the toolbars have changed to resemble what we've come to know as Ribbons in Microsoft Office 2007. You'll also notice Sticky Notes in the list, which is new and simply puts sticky notes on your desktop as if they were the real deal.



Another new item to Windows 7 Ultimate was what is called Action Center. Below is pretty much what you'll see when entering this. If you know Vista Ultimate you'll know most of what is coming with Windows 7 Ultimate, so really most of the things within this post are not new.



Below you'll see that IE 8 and Windows Media player 12 really have not changed much from what you currently see in Vista. You'd have to really dig deep to find the changes even between the two OS's. For the basic user, the differences between Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows 7 Ultimate probably will not be seenm but for those folks still locked in time with Windows XP, you'll end up getting lost with the new OS, really no different than going from XP to Vista. Us folks that always have the latest and greatest will seamlessly move from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate without a hitch.





Well folks I know it wasn't much, but it's a glimpse of things to come this Summer or Fall from our boys at Microsoft. No release date has been set but I'm sure it's coming. I think all of those who read my blog Windows 7 Ultimate is definitely an OS to all run out and get when it arrives, for being just a Beta or what they are calling RC1, this puppy flies and is one incredible OS. All I can say is I can't wait for it to arrive, this boy will have it upon release no doubt. Hope you enjoy this teaser and stop back I hope to have more about this and other things going on when I have time to do so. Thanks again.

The End... Outsourcing Wins Again.

Here we are again, back to the unemployment lines with most of the US and now simply a statistic for the month of March and failed US jobs and the failed economy.

Well as of March 1st our jobs were not renewed, this all started with a month to month schedule after the new year and a knowledge transfer to our Indian counterparts. Our jobs have been outsourced to India folks. The end of another era for me. My first long term IT job lasted almost 9 years and this current one almost 2 years, short by just a couple weeks.

So as a contractor, 11 years of my life wasted for nothing more than a pay check in return, which I'm not complaining about, but no full time positions offered by the companies that I had worked for or other benefits, such as pension funds and the like. That usually is the goal of working as a contractor is that a company appreciates your work and time put in and brings you in full time for a bit of job security over being just a disposable worker (Contractor).

I had never been late and never missing a single day, and never took any vacation days within those 11 years. Well excuse me, except 3 vacation days taken for the death of my mother. With all of that said it turns out that I had both jobs ended because of outsourcing.

With the current economy who wants to pay the kinds of salaries we make to do our jobs in the IT sector? Now knowing that working in IT, this is usually the departments hit first in corporate America for cut backs and lay offs, only because they usually have the largest expenditures on most budgets.

Now with that said lets just say, "You do get what you pay for", and only time will tell with this next round and this companies first plunge into outsourcing.

The first round or job lost, my previous employer, now 3 years into their outsourcing routine. They have come to realize that outsourcing was the wrong way to go and it is failing miserably and getting worse day by day. Now for this company just taking the plunge, they will also follow that same routine. It seems these things always run on a 3-5 year cycle. Only time will tell if they go down the same path as other companies have in recent years in our general location and in the IT sector.

I started out in IT to get away from manual labor work which I had done for far too many years, it was finally nice to use my brain rather than bronze to get by. I can probably look forward to getting a job for much less but doing much more either in IT again or possibly heading back into the manual labor force, since our government is going to create 4 million jobs that will pay no more than 10-12 dollars an hour to kill yourself in a so called infrastructure job. Yeah I've worked my last 11 years to look forward to this kind of work again... NOT!!!

For now I'll sit back and collect for a while and finally take my vacation I've never taken, sure I won't really be going anywhere or traveling, but it will be simply some time off to reflect and maybe put some more posts out here on my blog.

Hope you enjoyed my latest entry and with nothing but time maybe I'll get my ass out here to post some more posts for your reading enjoyment.

Here we go again!!! Outsourcing 2...

Hello once again. I can not believe I had gone a whole year without posting anything. Sorry for the delay, must have been a busy year. So here is a bit of what is going on in my life and in IT in general.

I guess this is what happens when you have a steady job and not much time for doing other things you enjoy doing such as playing Red Orchestra and it's (Darkest Hour Mod). For those who haven't frequented my blog will know this to me, is one of the best WWII First Person Shooter games available and a good way to relieve the stress that I may incur during a busy day.

The MOD (Darkest Hour) mentioned above is to be released in a more final form January 31, to my knowledge. Then of course my Wednesdays are tied up in the evening watching one of the most incredible shows on television (LOST)...

Now with that being said I thought I should relay other things going on, thus the title of this post. Here we go again!!! Outsourcing 2. Now for those that have read all of my posts should remember a few of them early on about IT in general and how I have perceived it over the last 15 or so years.

Here I am at another newer job from those I've posted about previously, I've been at this position for almost 2 years now and my previous job I had, was for a good 8 years. Now these jobs are jobs I'd stay at for the rest of my life if it were up to me, but in IT and as a contractor this is never the case. We also can't leave out the fact that Outsourcing is always taking place as well. With the current financial situations at many companies the fist place they go is their IT infrastructure and how they can eliminate many of those jobs to save money in these trying times.

So as of a month ago our department was pulled into a meeting which fell on a day we normally never have them. This meeting was to say "Well folks we are outsourcing the department". We then were told that a company would be taking over our duties and that we would do what we call in IT (Knowledge Transfer) for 3 months. With this being said it meant I would go from making a really good living to being one of those folks lined up on the unemployment line (Worst Case), or that I might have to move onto another job for another company as a contractor for much less than I currently make. To put things in perspective for those that aren't attuned to what being a contractor entails, this means you can go from making 100k one year to making NOTHING the next. It's the nature of the beast.

Now I've had two incredible jobs in the last 10 years, of course minus the BS that you always deal with on a daily basis with those you actually work with, and with this new job there were no shortages of having to work with idiots and those who follow the old adage, that I've posted before called the Suck and Swallow of IT.

Then you have the guys who are much further up the food chain, who never have a clue of what goes on down below, or what their employees jobs truly consist of, or who are the people really doing the work and creating the processes and the like.

Remember folks those that usually do most of the work are not the ones that get the credit for this, especially in corporate America and IT period. I've always been one to never miss work and have always done my job to its fullest but have never taken credit for something I hadn't done or have been a YES man, but yet those are the types of folks who always find themselves in the line, you'd think these folks would start sucking up. Not this guy, I'll be happier unemployed, knowing I never had to follow that route.

Now onto a short story to go along with this.

We recently did an integration project and put in several hours of overtime and had great success in this integration and when the end came, those who had actually done the work and put in the hours were totally left out of any correspondence and dinners etc. that were held for having such a complete success.

Only the higher ups, this being from full blown managers and higher, to PM's, to planners, and even folks that had NOTHING to do with the project, were invited and congratulated for such a job well done, but the worker bees were totally left out completely. A month after all of this, the department that had done all the work is the department being outsourced... Doesn't make sense does it?

Well considering the success of the integration was truly on the worker bees, by leaving them out entirely, probably made the higher up's wonder what does this department even do?

If they didn't even help in the integration, when it should have been that department who had done the work period, why do we pay these people? Our department would probably be one of the higher expenditures, because of everything we actually do, thus the reason we are probably now being outsourced... The only fact left out was we actually did do all the work on the integration and have done more than could have ever been expected by a group of our size. This is not a huge group but the work that had been done was more than any huge group would have normally produced.

With experience of being outsourced, or jobs moved to other countries for a leaner expenditure for companies, I always ask myself, "Will they ever learn???" At this point I'd have to say NO...

At this point the unemployment line is looming and from my knowledge will start on April 1st, unless something else within another department comes up before then and some of us can move into.

I can say though that when myself and another individual had taken on our position they originally wanted 12 people to do it and it's only been him and I all along and the rest of our department were never able to keep up with what the 2 of us had been doing for the last 2 years. We had come into this company and practically re-wrote their whole process on getting servers out. If you were to ask anyone though we had done nothing...

We had put out a few thousand servers last year and the people that got the pat on the back were the planners and project managers, who actually never touched a piece of hardware. These are the things that go on in IT and corporate America, that people like myself have come to really regret about the IT field. I could go on for days about this subject and even about my current position and all that has gone on over the last 2 years, but I have no reason to toot my own horn, I know the kind of work I do and how well I do it.

Now with more time to do things looming I may be able to post more on here and actually hope I can keep those who frequent here coming back for some more. I've always got something to say and stories to tell. Come back and I hope you enjoyed this latest rant, I'm sure there will be more to come. Stay tuned.

Open Source and Free Software

Many people hear the name Open Source and are unsure what this is. Well folks, and in the most general of descriptions is, it's software out there readily available for download and is (FREE). Now the (FREE) part should have everyone changing or scrambling to get it, right?

For some strange reason it doesn't, and it's been said it's because people think free means cheesy or cheap or not up to par, you all know the old adage the more expensive the better. When it comes to software or Operating Systems etc. I can honestly say this is the furthest thing from the truth, heck anymore with just about anything. I fall into this same thinking when it comes to hardware whether it's computers, stereos, electronics in general, but I can say that the cheap DVD player I just got which plays everything is better than the real expensive Sony I got years ago and has so many more features it's ridiculous, I've actually started changing my thinking... With that in mind it's time to change your ways and look into Open Source.

Open Sourced means too, that others not just a single company creates the content of the software. What this does is it gives the whole community the option to create content for a particular program or change items etc. or even feedback from others or requests which everyone is looking for, can be implemented.

Have you ever wanted something in Windows, Office, or even Photoshop as examples, that just did not do what you want them to do or a feature that is just non-existent? Well those people out there in the world of the internet using those same tools want those same features or options you dreamed or wished were there and with Open Source this can happen. Folks with the knowledge add or create those things and implement them for you, you as the user now have that feature you've always dreamed about with a software program that is Open Sourced. Now these features are not added to those programs mentioned above but are included into a new package altogether and even sometimes better than the brand name applications.

The only problem now is dumping what you know and moving over to that program that is Open Sourced and learning something new. Usually what you did in those expensive packages work the same way in the FREE package, it's just knowing where to dig, once you know one program it's so much easier to learn a newer or similar program.

Ok, so I'll break these programs up into sections and describe some things about them, I'm no expert with any of these programs but I've used all of them and this is simply my opinion of them and that's why they are even on my list.

Now for all those users out there waiting to move over to Vista, you've seen all the negative press - I don't agree with it and I am a Windows user, but I do see the potential of other alternatives. I'm a gamer and this is really the ONLY reason I stay with Windows and of course this is what I support at my job and have for over 15 years...

Now I've always said this, if you give someone an OS that has never used Windows they'd of course never know the difference from one OS to another, if they could chat, get their email, look at pictures, make spread sheets, documents and the like. For those that have used Windows and use the basics only, wouldn't care either, as long as they can do what they are used to doing, it doesn't matter what they use. You can give them a Mac or even Linux and these same things will become common place to the beginner over time. We all got our start with Windows and had to learn it over the years it's no different with these other OS's. My aunt as an example has only ever used a Mac and would never use Windows and would do circles around us Windows folks with her beloved OS, why? This is all she's ever known. Catch my drift???

Now as you read this, the program name is a link to the page where you can download or learn more about the mentioned OS or application. Enjoy.

So first on my list is Linux and one that I use or have installed is Fedora Core 7 with 8 coming in the not so distant future. You can download this and put on just about any PC and even most hardware works, not like Vista where you would need the most modern of equipment and that doesn't even mean everything will work. Sure there are thousands of distributions out there but one I recommend is Fedora and that's probably because that's the only one I've ever used. You can get the ISO images here and the how to install and learn more here: Fedora Core 7

Another great feature about Linux over Windows is almost everything you'll ever need is already included from burning software, to Office style programs, programming, web design, email, chat, you name it, it's all there and can be chosen during the install. When software that is included has updates, it all gets updated with a form of Windows Update, so you always can have the latest and greatest and patches etc. Another alternative to Windows is a OS called ReactOS which is still in its building stages but is trying to be that free OS that is identical to (bells and whistles) that Windows is, for those that don't know anything but Windows this would be an easier transition. So that covers the OS, now your ready to move on to applications to do all those things you've always wanted to do.

Now these programs I'll be mentioning have Linux versions for some, but I'll be talking about the Windows based versions of them. Besides getting someone to change OS is much harder than changing to a replacement program or application.

So you need a text editor. This is where a program called Notepad++ comes in. This program is definitely something you'll want in Windows to replace Notepad. It's great for doing programming, text editing, scripting, html. Probably the best text editor available.

Next you need a photo editor something similar to Photoshop, well this little program is excellent for a replacement and it's called Paint.NET and is constantly being updated with new options and requested tools - it also has several plugins. Another great program for manipulating pictures and photos is Irfanview. Another well known one is GIMP to name another. There is also a program just for cataloging all of your photos with some manipulation in Google's very own Picasa software.

Maybe you want to delve into 3D animation and effects? The Open Source program for this is called Blender.

You need that Office Program right? Heck who can afford that? Well there is even a replacement for that called Open Office, this program has a replacement for Office's many programs except email. I'll add those replacements here in this section so that it fits in with Office replacements. There are two applications for email one being Thunderbird 2 and the other being Evolution.

Now you enjoy tampering with media files, converting, manipulating and so on, well there are several programs for this, depending on what it is you want to do. The first would be a program called Super another one being VirtualDub, these are great for converting and manipulation of media files adding sound and so on. Maybe you want to stream media over the internet or within your blog or website here is a program for doing that called Star Media Center - it's great with a TV Tuner card as well. I used to stream my tv over the internet and watch it from a browser at work, when I had to work weekends (Couldn't miss the game)... Maybe you want another media player and get away from that old Windows Media player then you'd want to use VideoLAN (It also streams as well).

Now everyone has heard of these and most are sick of Internet Explorer well there are a couple replacements for this as well, it all depends on your taste, personally I only use Mozilla Firefox, I'd put that as the number one choice, but you could also use Opera as another alternative to IE. What is great about Firefox is you can add extensions and plugins to the browser that can make it one incredible browser and experience. One great one to mention is FireFTP which puts a FTP client right in the browser and since I'm mentioning FTP I'll put all internet based items within this section. Another free client and a stand alone one at that, would be FileZilla and if you want to run your own server and don't want to use IIS there is FileZilla Server or Apache.

Then there are those pesky critters you get from browsing the internet such as worms and spyware etc. well there is even software for this in Spybot, this puppy will keep you clear of most of those nasties.

If you use Newsgroups there is a program called XNews and it does just about everything for you (no more encoding and de-encoding as with Outlook Express).

So you need a database instead of Microsoft's SQL you could use MySQL which is used with many other programs and to name one use, it can be used with your website to create a forum with another free forum software called PHPBB. There are several forum programs out there and most use MySQL, but database goes much deeper than just these types of programs.

Next you have to keep that computer running good right? Well then there is a defrag program for your needs called Ultra Defragmenter which does things like Diskeeper and Perfect Disk, but of course free or Open Source as well.

You need some burning programs right here are just a couple Burnatonce is one and ImgBurn to name another.

We can't leave out you programmers out there. Python is one of these programming languages building steam. C++ is another well known language and can be had with this program called Dev-C++. Now not really Open Source but free is all the Visual languages that can be downloaded from Microsoft known as their Express line, which comes in BASIC, C++, C#, J# and new Studio still in beta probably covering all of them. You can even program for the Xbox 360 with the XNA addition to C#. These of course are great for learning the Visual languages and teaching yourself programming in general, these are also the tools the pros use for programming. Finally I must say something Microsoft has done right. So all you script kiddies out there get programming. Grab a book online and get started.

Off hand I can't think of any more at this point but these are just a few I use and have used for years. I could go on forever on software that is available as an Open Source alternative. Anything you can think of buying, there probably is an Open Source alternative for that item. Just search for an alternative for your favorite program and I'm sure you'll see something will come up. The list is endless and changing daily. Hope you've enjoyed this post and hope you try some of these goodies out. There are more to be had on the net, now get out there and start going Open Source or should I say FREE!!!

Create Incredible 3D Movies

Sorry for not posting in so long, its been an eternity, I know. Just didn't have anything worth posting about. I've touched base on many things since I started this blog and wish I had more things to spark my interests and that I could post about. Internet statistics show that women take blogging more serious than men and they are constantly updating their blogs and that men usually just lose interest, well, they hit the nail on the head obviously. Alright now back to the posts subject.

So I'm sure you've heard about this or seen this on the news and floating around the internet, it was an incredible UFO movie supposedly taken in Haiti.



Pretty incredible huh???

Well it's been found out that this was a complete hoax, but what is more incredible about this hoax is that it was all created with a program you can download and use for free (With a watermark included) or you could purchase it so that the movies are then yours to share and do whatever you like (Without watermark). This program is known as Vue 6.5 (Current Version). Now when looking at this movie the only thing added to the fake is real sounds that were recorded but everything you see within the movie is computer rendered from the trees to the sky, everything.

Now if your interested in trying to create such incredible movies you can download the PLE version which means Personal Learning Edition from here: Vue 6.5 PLE

Now this version and other software on this site can be downloaded for free by clicking on the left link list and picking Personal Learning Edition then filling in your email on the bottom of page and you'll receive an email with a link for downloading the software. This software is Full Version, the only difference is you'll have a watermark in the lower right hand corner, that states it was created with Vue 6.

What is also nice about all of this is you can teach yourself how to become a 3D animator or movie maker at your own pace and by searching the net I'm sure there are tons of tutorials to teach you step by step. This software is used by many professionals for doing things you see in commercials, movies, games, you name it. If you look on YouTube where my link goes above you'll see several other movies the same individual created depicting UFOs over several other supposed islands.

I hope you enjoyed this new post and I'm waiting to see what you people start creating with this newly found tool. From time to time I'll be posting items I find free or open source on the net for those wanting to do things without digging into that wallet and are usually incredible tools for learning a particular genre...

The Best WWII War Simulation

I've played many games before and have even reviewed some here on my Blog, but this is a bit of a review and some dirt on this awesome game. One game I have to truly say is different than all the rest. Now mind you this game started out as a MOD for Unreal Tournament and won Nvidias "Make Something Unreal" competition a few years back. They've since re-released this MOD into a full functioning and retail game and changed the name and added maps and features.

Tripwire is the company that has released this and it's available through Steam which is the same platform you can get Day of Defeat and Counter Strike and some other little known titles such as Half Life and Half Life 2. Now you've heard of all those games so now what makes this one special or different.

First if you are a Battlefield 2 fan this game is NOT for you. If you enjoy Call of Duty 2 or Day of Defeat then this one may NOT even be for you either but it might sway you. The reason I say this is because it's much different than any of these titles. Graphically it's a very beautiful game with a ton of detail and the gameplay isn't run and gun like many other games I've already mentioned.

The game I am referring to is Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45. This was originally the MOD Red Orchestra. They've since added a few more features and maps and of course the name change and it sells for a mere 25 bucks on Steam.

What is great about this being added to Steam is that when a patch comes out it will auto-update through your Steam client before you can even play it and of course with many of the games I mentioned earlier you can get those there as well for a few more dollars.

There are a few bugs with the game but with games such as Battlefield 2 with more bugs than a South American Rain Forest the few that this game has are barely noticed.

As I mentioned earlier it's different, a lot to get used to, first off when you fire your bolt action gun you have to actually fire again to use the bolt action to put another bullet in the chamber and when you run out of bullets you have to reload of course. There are machine guns and some semi-auto guns and you even have tanks and other vehicles. These vehicles aren't like Battlefield 2 either, they are far more Sim based. You don't just jump in and drive off. This game is also very much geared toward teamplay. Many of the vehicles have multiple seats and weapons and it's best to have a full tank when going into a flag zone. I just wish they could have or add air battles to this game and if they could then personally I don't think any other game could actually touch it.

Two of the bugs I'd like to mention is that when people stand in front of a doorway you can't pass them or push them out of the way. There are also times where you seem to get stuck on items such as tables, trees, and other things. Another one is if you are real close to an enemy and empty a clip at them you may not hit them at all depends on the distance from them. Not sure if the latter is by design. Stops the spray and pray play of many BF2 likes.

The great features are no bunny hopping, you can jump but like once, fatigue, and the more fatigued the harder it is to shoot, oh and I almost forgot to mention Iron Sights ONLY... No red X, just pure Iron Sights. Shooting from the hip works but is pretty much a lost cause unless you know how to pull it off properly. Need to look down your guns sight in this game even at close range. Also emptying a clip at someone will most likely miss them and it's because of the silhouette effect because of the recoil. You can also shoot the weapons out of the players hands, hit them in the hand with a cocked grenade and watch it fall beside them and watch them blow. You can call in air strikes but only after you use binoculars and picking a spot to hit but you are limited to the amount of times this can be done in a period of time. There are also the gore factors of dismemberment and blood.

It is team flag capture based game and there is a limit on the amount of reinforcements a team has and a time limit or whichever comes first. Don't worry you can respawn over and over to a certain extent. This is one of those games most people used to those I mentioned earlier, will I'm sure HATE, but once you get your first kill or see guys blowing up from a grenade or air strike you'll be amazed at the detail. The longer you play it, the more you want to return to it. There are classes as with all other games of this type and usually in most servers there are a set number of each. This eliminates everyone being a sniper (You BF2 folks know what I mean)... LOL.

All I can say about this game is it's awesome and for the true sim player out there this is one for you. You can't just play it once and for less than 15 minutes because I could honestly tell you that you'll probably think first off that I'm crazy and that the game sucks but believe me it beats all the other games out there and could do much more with more people coming over to it in the future. With it being on Steam they can add maps and other great items to it in time and of course crush what bugs may be in it. It also has anti-cheat measures of it's own and voice chat within the game to the public or the team. I can only say give it a try and don't give up too early. You'll see it is far more realistic than any other game currently available and definately one of the best WWII games currently available. If this were a review I would give it a

8.5

With the few bugs and no air battles is really the only reason it's that low... LOW??? As I said graphically it's great, sound is another plus, the gameplay at times a bit twitchy but for shear realizm (INSANE)... Get out there boys and girls and get your copy and I'll see ya on the battlefield.

Creating an Ultimate Boot CD or Thumb Drive (Pen/Flash)

To get started here are the tools you need. I've supplied links to items you can get for free anything that doesn't have a link of course you should have a legal copy.

1.) Windows XP SP2 CD
2.) Barts PE Builder
3.) UBCD4WIN
4.) UBCD4WIN Drivers Pack 1.8 Final
5.) Windows 2003 Server Ramdrive files
6.) HP Flash/Pen Drive Format Tool

That's it, 6 items. Now to move on. First download BartPE Builder and install it, it will create a folder usually called pebuilder or similar depending on the version available, you can download a zipped version and create the pebuilder folder yourself and extract it there or use the installer or exe version. Once you have that installed now copy your XP SP2 CD to the hard drive this will save you errors later, call it whatever you like, example: c:\pebuilder\Win XP SP2 - this way everything is within one folder (Pebuilder).

Now create another folder called srsp1 in the root of pebuilder, example: c:\pebuilder\srsp1 and extract to this folder the Windows 2003 Server Ramdrive files. We'll come back to why these are needed later. These are NOT needed to create an Ultimate Boot CD but are needed for doing an Ultimate Boot USB Thumb Drive.

To build a default BartPE bootable CD then you can skip using any UBCD4WIN items. I'm going the extra mile here instead and giving you the Ultimate - who wants mediocre.

Now download the UBCD4WIN files and drivers and follow the instructions included as to how to install these, when clicking the exe files it tells you the path to choose for installation. Here is the simple lowdown on that. You will want to delete everything under the c:\pebuilder\plugin folder, leaving the plugin folder intact, then you'll extract the UBCD4WIN files to c:\pebuilder and it will auto install into the plugin folder. The UBCD4WIN 1.8 Drivers pack will be extracted to the c:\pebuilder\drivers folder.

Install the HP Flash/Pen Drive Format Tool - Well come back to this later also.

Now to create the UBCD4WIN you will run pebuilder.exe and agree and say NO to search for Source and on the top field you can click the button to the right and browse to your newly created c:\pebuilder\Win XP SP2 folder, everything else you can leave default, to enable or disable plugins you click this button on lower left and then highlight what you want or don't want and click the Enable/Disable button. Once this is done close back out to the main window and move the radio button to Create ISO. Now click Build and that's it and when it's complete make sure there are NO errors. That's it it's that easy to create and UBCD4WIN. Now use a burning program and burn your ISO image and you'll now have an ultimate boot CD. You can also if you are like me and use Firefox over Internet Explorer you can download the latest plugin 1.5.0.1 HERE. Under c:\pebuilder\plugin you can delete everything under the firefox folder and extract the .cab file into that folder.

Now to have even more fun lets create a bootable Pen/Flash Thumb drive. This is where those srsp1 (Windows 2003 Server Files) are needed. Now under the pebuilder folder are 3 files peusb.txt, peusb.cmd, and peusb.bin. If you can't follow my directions you can read the peusb.txt file and I've included everything in this Post so the hard work has already been done for you all.

If you haven't created an ISO yet and don't want an Ultimate Boot Disk but want to only do the Pen/Flash drive then you can do everything mentioned above but this time do not move the radio button to create an ISO image and leave it on NONE. You will have to remove many of the plugins by disabling them. This all depends on the size of your Pen/Flash drive. As an example I used a 256 MB Thumb drive and removed all the plugins except Firefox, I installed Ghost (Need a legal copy for this plugin), and left many of the smaller items, but I might add very few plugins can be used with such a small thumb drive. Size does matter here, you can test by toying around until you don't receive errors during the running of peusb. The larger your Pen/Flash drive the more you can have enabled. If you have a 1 Gig or higher thumb drive you can leave everything enabled.

Take your thumb, pen, flash drive and plug into your USB of your computer and note what drive letter it becomes. Now with the HP Flash/Pen Drive Format Tool you installed earlier run it and it should automatically find your Pen drive and you can choose how to format it - this is the part you MUST do. Format the Pen/Flash drive as FAT...

Run pebuilder so that it creates the BartPE folder with what plugins you wanted but this time it will not create an ISO image, just the folder - upon every run it auto deletes this folder and recreates it.

Now open up a command prompt to c:\pebuilder and here you type peusb -f (Drive Letter:) without the parenthesis and replace Drive Letter with the drive letter your Pen/Flash drive currently is. Watch for errors. If you don't run out of space or receive errors it should come back and state you are good to go.

Now there is a catch to having a BOOTABLE Pen/Flash Drive. First is having it formatted as FAT and second is that your computer has an option in BIOS to allow for booting off USB Devices. Not all computers, especially older ones are able to do this. This will need to be enabled or set within bios before it will work period.

Now here is another tidbit of information so that when you want to create say a CD instead but don't want to create coasters and want to test that it will boot and that it actually works. You will need to download another tool and save a web page as a favorite.

Here we go onto this other item that can be very useful especially for bootable ISO Images, not just a BartPE or UBCD4WIN bootable ISO or CD - example: Vista DVD.

1.) VMWare Player
2.) VMX Builder Page

Install VMWare Player. Now go out to VMX Builder Page and do this.

You can search for software based vmx builders but this page is actually very easy. Only issue is when you run the vmx file from the latest vmware player it will report that it's an outdated vmx file do you want to upgrade just say YES. Ok now back to the subject. Once at the vmx builder page you'll see where you can give it a name, name it anything you want. Now for Guest OS since you are using Win XP SP2 with your pebuilder.iso choose XP Pro from the drop down and only choose about a quarter or half of the amount of RAM you have on your system. Now you can enable USB by checking the box and check other items you'd like but the key is to pick IDE0:Master and for file name type c:\pebuilder\pebuilder.iso or where ever you saved your iso image to when built with pebuilder and of course the name you gave it. Next choose Device Type drop down to cdrom-image and check the box Start Connected. If you want network you can choose those also. Next - once everything is set up. Go to the upper Right hand side of the page and choose or click Generate VMX File, on the next page will be a bunch of text within a window. Right Click in Windows and choose Select All and Copy this text and Paste this into a text document and save it, but change the extension from .txt to .vmx.

Now you can open up VMWare Player and point it to your newly created .vmx file and it should boot up your pebuilder.iso image file or whatever iso image file you create and pointed to in the vmx file (If it's bootable) and bingo you now can test before you burn coasters. You can edit this same file and just change the path or file name whenever you create other bootable iso files or ones you may download. Thought I'd let you in on this extra little secret as well.

Well I hope you enjoy building your first BartPE CD or UBCD4WIN or even what I call the UBUSB4WIN. I also hope you enjoy the secret iso test items such as vmware player and builder.

Xbox 360 (Coming Games and a few Reviews)

Well folks some games are finally coming out for the old Xbox 360. Most who have wanted one probably have gotten one by now, the 360 that is. New games will be coming out in the next month and March could be one of the biggest months for the Xbox 360.

Here is a list of games to be coming this month and into the next:

March 7
College Hoops 2k6
Burnout Revenge
Ghost Reacon Advanced Warfighter

March 23
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Collectors Edition
The Outfit

March 28
Far Cry: Instincts Predator
Rumble Roses: XX
Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires

April 4
Top Spin 2
Tomb Raider

April 11
Major League Baseball 2k6
Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

April 20
Final Fantasy XI

Now with games like those listed, this could be two very incredible months for the Xbox 360. Now for games that have just been released which I currently own and have played.

Fight Night 3
Full Auto

Both games are great in their genre. If you love blowing up things and racing you can't beat Full Auto, the graphics are very well done and the destruction is a plus. The damage caused to things around the streets is just amazing. This game is just a sign of things to come especially with Burnout Revenge only days away (I know this one will rock), this series usually never fails me. If I were to review Full Auto I'd probably rate it about 8.0 and this is due to the sheer fun you'll have playing alone or online with others.

Now to my next game Fight Night 3. Graphically this is the game to beat PERIOD!!! This game which probably doesn't even use all the graphics power of the Xbox 360 is something you just have to see for yourself to believe, words can't even tell you how good it looks. This game shows what the system can do and let me just tell you if you enjoy boxing there is no game even close. I'd give this a 9.0 simply for it's graphics alone.

I can warn you though you may go through quite a bit of controllers with this one because of how they set it up for punching, blocking etc. It's really a cool way to have things and it's not EASY, no button smashing here that's for sure. Other sites rated this game as easy and I can't see where they got that from?

If any of the newer games even have graphics on par with Fight Night 3 it's going to start getting really, really sick in the near future. I mean the guys sweat, the fighters look incredible and even the backgrounds are well done and I can't say enough about the eye candy this game produces. I just wish there was more. To me boxing is ok but watching my buddy play someone online and listening to the trash talk that goes on and even watching my buddies punching the crap out of each other just adds to the enjoyment of this game.

I just hope a good WWII game or Flight Sim will have these kinds of graphics. Not sure how good the game The Outfit will be or Blazing Angels and another game Over G, I've seen some movies for all 3 of these games and they look fantastic. I'm really looking for a game like Battlefield 1942 with superior graphics and all the vehicle fun we've come to know and love with a game like that.

Well only time will tell what kinds of other games will make it to the Xbox 360 but I hope the way things are going currently and graphically especially will give us all something to start drooling over. Until next time.

Return of Comments!!!

Well thanks to Blogspot seeing this becoming an issue and finally getting something to hopefully kill the old comment spam for good. I mentioned early on that I had to disable comments due to the overwhelming attacks that started hitting my comments on my blog. One issue is that for about 4 or more of my posts still will not have comments to those individual posts.

Either way they have since been turned back on and will be available from here on out unless for some reason it becomes an issue again with spam.

From what I understand is a BOT can simply find comments and guest books and simply spam the heck out of them and by implementing number or letter verification will eliminate these types of spam from generating.

After much reading it seems that only about 0.01% are actually manually submitted or generated. So having this new form of verification or having some form of moderation should eliminate it once and for all. Lets hope so.

I will be back with a new post soon. Hope you enjoy the return of comments and hope to hear from you all soon.

Xbox 360 Review Update

I mentioned in my previous review if I noticed anything different or if I came across something with my tv settings that could make the games look better I'd return with my findings. Here I am to give you the dirt and it's not much different, maybe just a little.

First my tv has 4 settings for video (Vivid, Standard, Movie, Pro) it seems that when my buddies used my controller they've changed some of these settings by accident because normally I have it set to Standard. The reason why? Vivid, is just that, too bright and vivid. Standard is just right and Movie, and Pro just get darker. It seems my tv was set to Vivid which gave the cars in PG3 the cartoony look. After changing it to Standard, things looked much better.

Personally though I've played games on my regular Xbox in HD and must say that playing them in HD on my Xbox 360 isn't really that much different. As my buddy says, "What more can they do"? I guess I won't be happy until 3D is made to be almost true virtual reality.

For all you folks that have yet to get one it seems they are finally rolling into stores. From what I understand is that locally at our Sams Club they have shelves full of them, it of course just had a grand opening so that could have been the reason.

As far as the games are concerned I've since gotten all the rest of the games I felt were worth getting. I got Codemned by exchanging Quake 4 which came with my bundle - (Not a big Quake fan as I stated before), Need for Speed - Most Wanted, NBA 2k6, NHL 2k6. I will say this, the sports games on the Xbox 360 sure do shine. Just hope that the 2k7 of these will have specific Xbox 360 improvements graphically.

As a game player I play all my games on the highest possible levels of difficulty and must say King Kong is a breeze for what I've played of it and Call of Duty 2 doesn't seem to be all that challenging either, but this could just be me, I am sick when it comes to gaming. I'm still constantly downloading all the new Arcade type games as they arrive on the Marketplace and my buddies are into Call of Duty 2 and NBA 2k6 pretty hard. Of course COD 2 is a challenge for my one buddy and I constantly have to hold his hand through many of the levels but as far as playing many of the High Profile games I just really haven't played them much. Another buddy and I played Need for Speed - Most Wanted and it was quite enjoyable to play it split screen and so was PG3 (I still want my damage)... LOL.

I can't wait for Burnout (Best Racing Damage) and from what I've seen of Fight Night 3 this game may be one that finally shows off the incredible graphics the system is supposedly able to produce. Another item I find disturbing about the Xbox 360 is that most of the games just come above the required 720p for HD. Why can't game makers make them all 1080i then they'd all be backward compatible with the other HD standards??? At least a few have the 1080i rating.

As far as my original review, nothing really has changed, the games are still only just slightly above the Regular Xbox in HD if even noticable and the fun with the system is still to be found with the Arcade less expensive and far from High Production games... Only time will tell, I just wish as an addition they'd make the games that are multiplayer have more people, it seems no more than 24 is max at this point and most are like 8 player. It's Broadband speeds lets up the amount of players. Another great feature would be to allow Xbox 360 folks the ability to join PC games of the same name.

Personally I think a game like WWII Online, or Everquest needs to be ported over to the Xbox 360 where thousands can play all at one time. My nephew finally got his Xbox 360 and he mentioned that he's beta testing Final Fantasy XI (From some magazine) and it takes up 6 Gig of your 13 Gig Drive (20 - OS) and it's pretty much what I've just asked for, only question is, will they charge you 10-30 bucks a month? Not sure how they'll do this one, but I just wish with the yearly subscription you could get games such as this and on a console. Well enough for now and my review score still stands now that the graphics look a bit better than the original go at it. Just don't be shocked when you realize an Xbox in HD isn't much different than a Xbox 360 in HD...

My XBOX 360 Review

Well folks it's finally arrived. Funny thing about it is, I only ordered it about 2 weeks ago and it came yesterday. My nephew who ordered his back in October from the actual store has yet to receive his. I ordered mine from www.electronicboutique.com, he orded his from the store and mine only took 2 weeks???

Well it arrived yesterday it is the premium system and was a bundle and cost me $912.00 with Tax and Shipping. For the bundle it was rather nice, it came with 6 games, dvd case, extra controller, and play and charge kit. As for the games they are Project Gotham Racing 3, Quake 4, Gun, Call of Duty 2, Perfect Dark Zero, and Madden 06.

I gave each a test run just to see what everyone has been talking about and I do have a Sony HDTV XBR34. I'll give you a quick answer (Not totally impressed)!!!

First supposedly PGR3 graphically was to be the most incredible of all the release titles, at least from the game review sites. I personally don't see all the hype? Also from the game review sites all this hype about how incredible Call of Duty 2 is and how subpar Madden is. So I took everything for my own ride and mind you I'm a gaming addict and I take graphics seriously, I'll run down each game later in short detail because this about the box.

Once unboxed and yes everyone has heard about the POWER BRICK (this is really the size of a real brick), anyway it has little feet on it so I can't understand how anyone could get this overheated or lay it upside down? I had mine running for 6 hours without a single hicup or issue. It was placed in a very open area and I lay my Xbox 360 down flat instead of standing only because of my tv stand and it has plenty of room to breath, this should also eliminate the disk scratching problem that has been reported. I could feel air coming from all different locations around the box and the brick so at least it can breath and does circulate air considerably and no scratched disks either.

First thing getting everything connected then starting it up. Just hit the big Xbox logo Button in the middle of the controller for about 3 seconds and bingo everything fires up. Next is getting your subscription to Xbox Live transferred over to the new system. This was painless and I might add the wireless controllers are awesome especially with the rechargable battery pack you can purchase, one comes with the system and with the bundle you get another for the other controller which is included with the play and charge kit. So I have now two wireless controllers with rechargable battery packs (Nice)... What is weird for all the years of playing with Wired Controllers you have a tendancy to want to move the cable while playing, you know when you get up or move so that you don't get tangled but yet there is NO wire there, I caught myself doing this quite a bit. One issue I did have was getting my other controller to even work (The extra controller). Supposedly you just hit the middle button until it lights up and hitting a small button on the 360 and then this little button on the top of controller and they communicate and are supposed to just work. Well hitting my middle button did not light up (Bad Sign), what I did to fix this was remove the rechargable pack and replaced with normal battery pack and was able to get it working so for anyone with issues just do this. Luckily the batteries are included with the controller and in the box for the boxed controller. None of this was life threatning and now to move on.

Hitting the middle Xbox Lighted button brings up the GUIDE which is just a menu that pops in from the left of the screen. It will show you a little battery icon in upper left corner so you know how your controller battery health is - this goes by which ever controller you hit the button on which is really neat. Just wish it was colored (it's just gray and hard to even see). The other items here are like tabbed browsing and has different pages for doing different things which is also a nice touch. I'm not going to bore everyone with all the details here, the review sites have already done all of that. To see what I mean go here: Screens, this is also a good site for everything 360...

The first game I test ran was Project Gotham Racing 3. The game looked as if the cars were Cell Shaded (Car-Toony) pun intended (LOL)... I set up my Xbox 360 to the HD Component Connections (Cheap compared to what you can buy for the regular Xbox) but hey it's free (Included in the box), well included with the 912.00 price tag... It may be that I need to turn down settings on my tv or something because many of the games I tested seem too bright or not graphically smooth or glossed over like you'd think they should be. I do have my tv set for 1080i the max and I set all the games to play in 1080i as well via the Xbox 360 console itself. I just may need to play with graphics settings that are usually done within the game instead of doing them to the actual tv or how the console handles the games. The game was cool though, graphically (It's not the best) but it was a true racer (I want damage), I hate racing games that don't simulate damage because of the damn auto-makers but either way it's a great racer and one cool feature I'd like to mention is you can go on Xbox Live in game and watch someone elses current race as if watching racing on your TV this was an incredible addition. So when bored just watch someone else race online... LOL. I haven't looked but this would be an awesome feature for sports titles period. Watch someone else get corked in say Madden. I didn't dig deep enough but I don't think this feature is in any other game as of yet?

Next I checked out Gun, (Different!!!) and graphically (Ok). A Wild West game, who would have thought? Now just a heads up if you get any of the games that have been released for every known system on the planet then the Xbox 360 is only going to polish this game a bit but the gameplay and graphically it's not really much better than the Xbox graphics. This is due to the companies coding the games. The key is getting games that are ONLY for the Xbox 360 to see graphically what a game should look like or what they system can produce. So I only know of like 3 or 4 games that fall under this catagory, one being PGR3, Perfect Dark Zero, and Dead or Alive 4. There may be others, just not going into great depth.

I then of course tried all of the other games except Quake 4, only because I'm not really a big fan and I'm going to try and take it back and see if I can exchange it for another game (going for Condemned if possible)... Well first I want to say Call of Duty 2 is also another game that doesn't graphically stun anyone and the surprise for me was the one everyone says doesn't show anything, was that of Madden 06, the graphics are breath taking and I wish all the others I have and tested looked this good. The gameplay though is terribly HARD, this is going to take some time to master or figure out for that matter.

The biggest surprise overall though is the Market Place (This is one of the Tabs) here you can purchase POINTS for real money of course and I spent another $60.00 bucks real quick for like 5000 points or something like that. Anyway you can use these points toward online purchases and these include skins for your screen and even arcade games and (Demos and Trials are FREE), what is also cool is you can try before you buy. I purchased every arcade item the system had to offer and I've come to realize that I enjoy these games more than the big release titles and big named games. Seeing some of these games that were made for HDTV are incredible, although being a bit pricey for an older game (Equates to 5 dollars a game I think).

Also having all or most of them for FREE with MAME32 and emulated by ROMS. You can read about this in one of my earlier posts. Back to the subject.

I found myself getting addicted to Geometry Wars Evolved and Hexic. Of course there are Spades, Hearts and some of the classics such as Joust, Robotron 2084, Gauntlet, Smash Tv - the classics are HD compatible, but not fully, but still fill 27" of my HD Screen and have been done rather nicely, this is because they aren't stretched to fit wide screen but the HD ones are, Geometry Wars Evolved is breath taking for such a dated game and being brought to widescreen and HD. (The good old days are back???).

Funny how the olders games actually seem more fun than the high priced and million dollar productions? These games range from 400 points to 800 points and can eat up that $60+ bucks quick or 5000 points. Here you can see for yourself what they have currently Xbox Live Arcade

Strange thing though is some of these games are not listed yet within the Market Place. I can't wait to spend another $60.00 today... LOL. I almost forgot to mention some of these classics can be played ONLINE... Of course you can't leave out those arcade games and I'm sure a Chess game is coming soon as well. This thing is only going to grow. With the Hard Drive they can start to have other games direct to drive once the technology gets better. I did have another issue with the market place and this was the fact that I tried to buy a skin and it was 150 points but yet it will not let me download it, it constantly fails and says try again later and this has still not downloaded but yet they have my 150 points (Sounds like those with BF2 problems, huh?)... LOL.

I will say this though the SOUND in all the games is top notch and sound incredible for every single game I've played even for the old classics. So if you are an Audiophile then the Xbox 360 is for you, and the sounds in game are in my opinion a 8-9 rating, as I said I care more about Graphics in my games and then gameplay comes in a close second, sound is the lowest thing I really care for. I'm a guy that usually disables music in all my games and crank up the special effects.

So my review is this. Until the games graphically get better and are made ONLY for the Xbox 360 and push the system further. I only give the system a 7 out of 10. I only had two issues, the controller one mentioned and the market place purchase that I haven't received yet and that's it so far.

If I were to rate each game they all fall into this same catagory. As far as the classics and some of the arcade games I give those 8 out of 10 not all though, depends on your tastes.

I haven't seen anything spectacular with what I've gotten other than the Madden Graphics and PGR3 being next graphically and then Perfect Dark but with all this hype and lines and robberies etc. to get a hold of this thing I can say this, just wait, is your life really worth it? I have one game on my normal Xbox that plays in 1080i and it looks no different than the games running on my Xbox 360 at that same setting. So is this thing really graphically better. (In my Opinion, NO!!!). Only time will tell and if I see anything extraordinary in the coming months, you can be sure I'll be back to let you know my feelings on those. I'll post more if I come up with anything causing my lack of SUPERIOR GRAPHICS but it's time to go play some Geometry Wars Evolved in HD... Until next time.

Remeber these opinions are mine and solely mine and this was with only 6 hours of game play and most of that being on Hexic for about 4 of that, so the high budget prodcution games were only tested quickly and so that I could post this review. So here is what I give it with the current games including the Classics. Here is my current breakdown for the System and combining all current games as one if they were all one game.

Graphics
7

Sound
9

Current Games
7.5

Overall
7.5

Outsourcing!!!

Outsourcing - good or bad?. Well I've worked at the company I'm currently at on and off for about 5+ years as a contractor. I've written about this place in a couple of my posts already, so feel free to check those out to have an idea of what goes on and where I'm going with this. One being the Big Suck and Swallow in IT and another Here we go again, well actually why don't you just read all my posts from beginning to end??? LOL.

Well Outsourcing has since come to this company and was finalized on November 1st as far as all transitioning of full time and contract employees over to the outsource company, they've taken over their whole IT department from Network Team, Desktop Team, Server Team, Applications you name it, if it's IT it's now Outsourced.

Personally this really isn't any different to me only because I've been a contractor for this company for so long and nothing is really changing except who is paying our contract companies, this really has only hurt those that were FULL TIMERS and actually for those that didn't jump ship before the hammer fell and hung in there to see what might happen, these few have luckily been kept on, but are now no longer Full Time Employees, but contractors as well, but through the company that had taken over.

Now the problem with this approach is they kept all that they truly should have gotten rid of (Refer to my other posts)... They've transitioned all these people straight across the board over to their company - BAD MOVE!!! Now since I'm still just a contractor and the minority within this company these transitioned employees are still more or less FULL TIMERS, at least they haven't changed the way they work, they still do absolutely NOTHING and can get away with it while the contract employees going about 30 strong in an IT department of about 500+ are the ones doing most of the work to cover for those not doing any.

I think if the Outsource company would have just done a clean slate things would be so much better for them, because this would have gotten rid of all the politics that surround this IT department at this company but instead they've kept all their chiefs which then in turn keeps those no good Indians under those chiefs - there had to have been tons of protected people with this routine for years. An example within the departments I deal with daily is that out of say 60 full time employees they transitioned, only 10 at most were worth a transition. All of the upper management should have simply been replaced by their own management within the outsource company.

I actually feel sorry for this outsource company because they truly don't have a clue as to what they've gotten here. I like to use this analogy - Here is a company that makes some of the best apple pie (Outsource Company) and they order a huge shipment of Granny Smith apples and these apples have since been shipped and the company is just waiting for them to arrive so they can start producing this fantastic pie. The boxes take a few months to arrive and during this time the company is losing tons of money just waiting but knows they will get everything back and then some once they arrive. Finally after a 4-6 month wait the boxes of apples arrive, everyone is so excited, everyone comes together to unload these boxes from the many trucks that have arrived and everyone is standing around and they are about to crack open one of the boxes to see these most magnificent of apples they've ordered. Soon as the first box is opened to everyone's surprise is they are YELLOW, but wait not rotten YELLOW but LEMONS!!! Yes the company has just received a huge shipment of frigging LEMONS upon opening of every box they are all LEMONS...

Not sure about you the reader but I've never seen apple pie made with lemons? LOL.

This is what this outsource company is going to realize when they see what these transitioned employees they have try doing what is asked of them with their newly found responsibilities with the outsource company. Most of these people are lucky to even have a job in IT let alone the money they make and to have the few contract employees that have been covering for them over all of these years. I'd love to just have someone overlook each employees job in this place to see what really gets done and who really is doing the work without those people know they are doing it.

I had taken on a new position within the original company still as a contractor back in late July because a FULL TIME employee had jumped ship due to all the outsource rumors and they replaced this position with a contractor and I back filled the other contractors position. I was in their Support Center (Which is being totally outsourced to India come April 1st 2006) no joke here either - what an April Fools, but without the laughter. Luckily I took on this new position, possibly keeping a position longer with the new outsource company if it were to ever happen, which at the time was still just rumor and no definitive answer as to if it would ever happen.

The problem with accepting this new responsibility was 3 times as much work (Physically) for me and 3 times as much more responsibility and deadlines. I jumped in full guns only because the person in this position before me was at about a 10 dollar more an hour than what I had been making within their Support Center, anyway the new position was as their Server Specialist. I simply build all the companies servers, put an OS on them, troubleshoot any hardware or software specific problems, then I have to install or rack them within their Data Center, a far cry from being in their Support Center where I did my job without any thought what so ever - a no brainer for me anyway.

I also have to maintain all the racks within the Data Center as far as KVM switches, PSU connections, and all hardware within these racks as far as moving, installing etc.

Now this was August and at this point I expected to receive my much bigger pay check. Well somewhere along the line the Chiefs didn't just put me into the original persons position at his rate??? Now I was told my contract was up in August and they now needed to extend this contract, to hold off and they'd see what they could do about my rate, then the time arrived and I asked about it and it was like "Well with all this outsourcing stuff going on". I was like "WHAT???" wait a minute I just filled into a position to do this company a favor saving them the aggravation of finding someone to do it and at a rate even with the 10 plus dollars an hour would be much cheaper than anyone from the street would do with the knowledge or for what the job description would be and they've moved the other contractor over to his position (by the way where he is happy) which was no longer under this chiefs budget which means it had nothing to do about cost savings?

Of course I've been getting the run around now for some 4 months about outsourcing and this was their huge excuse as to why I haven't seen anything and as of November 1st the outsource company has taken over. Well to finish this off I'm in a holding pattern now waiting to see if my contract company can get me this additional money that the original company screwed me out of and now the outsource company will have to eat if I'm granted it. Now the best part about this is the 2 people involved (Chiefs) by not just moving me into this persons spot at his rate are now employees of the outsource company and if you think about it, they've screwed their new employer by not doing so... LOL. (MORONS!!!)

Well as far as outsourcing good or bad? For me it's now become BAD for the reason I had just mentioned I'm currently doing a job someone else before me was doing but for FAR less money and have to wait to see if the outsource company will step up and put me where I belong? Only time will tell, it's now a waiting game. I won't be seeing 4 months of back pay either I'm sure of that. I'll keep you all posted if this ever comes to fruition.

I'm sure most that read my posts are like boy this guy just likes to whine a lot or bitch but just read my posts and put yourself in my shoes. If I didn't have BAD LUCK I wouldn't have any luck at all. I'm just asking for what is rightfully mine and where I should be for what my job title currently is.

Outsourcing can be a good thing if handled properly and for this company, I think they've gone about it the wrong way. So in my opinion all outsource companies should head this and ask those that are contractors already at a company about what REALLY goes on and get the REAL scoop before doing any kind of transitioning of these FULL TIME employees. I wish our new outsource company would pull each and every contractor aside to get their opinions and I can promise you this post would be everything you hear from them as well. A true picture of what goes on in IT.

Well thank you for sticking through another one of my many rants and long posts hope you enjoyed it and stop back when hopefully my luck will change. Thanks for stopping.

Xbox 360 and HDTV

This folks is the future of Video games. I've yet to land one myself, but from what I've seen, I must say this is one awesome system. First off as shown here this is the Premium Edition ($399) which comes with all the goodies that might cost you an additional 200 bucks if bought separately from what is known as the Core system ($299).

The Core system is like that Spike buck compared to that 10 point buck during deer season here in PA, you avid hunters out there know what I mean. The goal here folks is BAG the big one (Premium) all the way.



Now for those without an HDTV - get the TV first they are easier to come by... LOL. So on that note lets talk HDTV for a moment.

I just purchased my very first HDTV the other day and it cost me $2012 dollars (total) - The Sony 34XBR960 and for those that do not know much about TV's or HDTV for that matter. Nothing beats a Tube TV - many will argue this point, but they still to this day have the best visual quality over all the others, from Plasma, Rear Projection, DLP, LCD you name it. The only downfall of a Tube TV over the others is (Size) the largest tube from Sony is 36" but it's 4:3, this is another factor to reason with when purchasing your HDTV.

You have what is known as 16:9 (Widescreen) and 4:3 (Standard). For the best of both worlds you want to go with 16:9 and of course HDTV. With the model mentioned above it will stretch your 4:3 viewing on normal channels to 16:9 when you set up your Set top box (Cable Box) properly. Let me just say even though it does stretch them it still looks great, this is known as Upscaling.

The reason most will argue about the type of TV (Tube, LCD, Rear Projection, Plasma) is because most want Large Screens or Flat (Thin) this is where the others come in. This is so you can hang from a wall or have the largest size for a minimal amount of money. Most Rear Projection TV's are huge and cost about the same price as the largest tube TV. I could have gone with a 50" Rear compared to my 34" Tube for the same money and sacrificed the visual quality for size, but didn't. Now Plasma and LCD cost far more than either of the two I've just mentioned by about $1,000-$3,000 and this is also dependent upon the size. Who says size doesn't matter... LOL.

Now that you know the best way to go for HDTV, you need a stand to go with that TV. Now you can get the Sony stand that is perfectly made for this TV but will cost you about $350. This TV weighs in at 194 lbs, so go with a very sturdy stand.

The stand that is best for this system is the Z-Line Designs 36" 2359-1S model and will cost you anywhere from $90-$130 depending on where you buy it. Circuit City has it for the lowest price I could find. With the extra money saved on the stand you can get 2-4 more Xbox 360 games when you can actually get your hands on one. Below is what it all looks like tied together.


Ok now as I mentioned earlier I do NOT have the Xbox 360 as of yet, but let me just say the Xbox looks incredible on this TV especially when a game is created with 1080i. Most Xbox games are only 480p but I do have one in my collection to see the true horror or I should say splendor of HDTV gaming and that is MX vs ATV Unleashed. This game on this TV and at 1080i is something to see. As far as watching HDTV programming (There is a difference). Telling you about it isn't enough it's something you have to see for yourself.

Remember folks when you go to the store most TV's are all showing the same images or broadcast so this means you will NEVER really see the true HDTV aspect while shopping, unless the store has a specific HD signal for those specific TV's it's showing off, in most cases all the TV's are just showing the OLD Analog signal.

Back to the Xbox 360 to finish this post off. I was at Gamestop the other day and I was watching a kid play King Kong on the kiosk they had their and I must say it didn't look that good, these kiosks use a Samsung 17" or maybe even smaller but the contrast was far to low and the images were so dark it was hard making out anything to easily. I watched this kid play as a human and he tried taking on a T-Rex by punching him in the balls let me just say this is NOT a good idea. It was incredible though to see the T-Rex bend down and pick the guy up and shake him about then flip him into the air and chomp the sucker down (That'll Learn Ya) I said to the kid who gave me a angry grin - (What was this kid thinking???) LOL. I wasn't seriously impressed at this point and left the store with my HD connector for my Xbox instead, to hurry home and get it working to see HD gaming on my very own TV. You know that story already - (Looks great)...

The next day I went to Best Buy during lunch with a few buddies and it was actually the day of launch of the Xbox 360 (Tuesday 22, of November). I asked the clerk "well you wouldn't happen to have any would ya?" - he laughed out loud and stated they had 1,000 people outside around the building last night at midnight and a few waiting from the Sunday before (about 48 hours earlier) to wait in line for a mere 80 machines. I have to ask though what is Microsoft thinking, I mean you have riots, robberies, maybe even deaths caused by the launch of this thing??? Wake up Microsoft - if they wanted to do it right make a few million consoles before launch and guess what everyone would have one and they'd make Billions, like they really need any more?

Back to the story - me and my buddies tried out the kiosk at Best Buy with a much clearer Samsung than the one at Gamestop the day before. I picked King Kong of course to play (learning off of the stupid kid from the day before as well) and was Kong and I royally kicked that T-Rex's ass, then moved onto the next part where you swing from ledge to ledge chasing the girl of course, because she seems to always find her way into trouble. For a first generation game this game looked incredible in HD, you could even see the claw marks on Kongs back left by the T-Rex battle I had, and every hair on his body was clearly visible. I had pictures in my head of seeing it on my screen. Like many others I'll have to probably wait until the new year before I can bag one of these elusive creatures, the (Xbox 360)...

You've all probably heard of people having the BSOD or crash screen that the Xbox 360 produces and the other freezing issues many have been having with this new system. I can tell you that a cure was discovered why this was happening and for those that might read this and haven't heard about it already (It is the Power Supply), not the system itself. I guess this BRICK is overheating because of the way people like just throwing it onto their floors, funny thing about this is Microsoft already burnt down someone's house with the original Xbox you'd think they would have learned their lesson??? LOL. Guess not? So when you do finally bag an Xbox 360 be sure to keep the brick off the floor and suspended or free to breath plenty of cool air or else you'll also be crashing and possibly burning...

For those wondering about the games I can honestly say from what was released during the first round and what is known as first generation, there is nothing to totally impress at this point. Once the game developers play for the next year with this system the games are going to be so good I can't wait to see how good they can get. The game of games at this point and one to definitely get for the system is Call of Duty 2. This game for a launch title or soon to be released is the game to set the craze off. Sure other games already released look better than the basic Xbox but aren't really a huge step forward at this point but many are worth getting just to see it in action such as King Kong, Condemned: Criminal Origins (Though Short), Project Gotham Racing 3, Perfect Dark Zero, and of course the best so far Call of Duty 2.

Well happy hunting and hope everyone gets an Xbox 360 during this Christmas hunting season, just be a bit civilized and respect thy neighbor, knock off the fighting, stealing, and possibly killing to get one!!!

Until next time, Happy Turkey day and Happy first day of Deer and Merry Christmas...

Turning Off Comments!!!

Wouldn't you know it, what you'd think would be a great thing to have on your blog is Comments?

A way to have people rebut what you say and a way to communicate. Well for some it's become another way to just ruin a good thing.

Well thanks to several idiots out there who now use that as a way to send SPAM and or self promotion of their own blog.

What has this world called the Internet come to? If it wasn't for SPAM, Virus, Trojans, Cheating, and Pop Ups. The Internet would be a great place to communicate. Instead we have to deal with each and every item mentioned above from day to day when just trying to read, game, or communicate with others when using the Internet.

I was getting multiple comments day after day from the same places only promoting their own blog, too bad that it takes morons such as this to cause everyone to shut off their comments to minimize the amount of spam that was being caused by it.

It is one thing to stop by someone's blog and comment and say good things or bad for that matter, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but to use everyone within a community to sale products or redirect others to their own blog to try to make a buck or to fill the administrators email up with constant posts always stating the same things, just becomes ridiculous.

So for anyone that was or looking at my blog on a routine basis and maybe even for a good argument. I'm sorry to report that I've since shut off comments so it seems you'll have to keep your remarks to yourself because of those few A-Holes that love nothing more than causing havoc on someone else's blog or the Internet as a whole.

You can't post an email address anywhere without constant spam, you can't have comments on your blog because of spam, you can't browse web sites without pop ups, you get redirected to trojans, virus, worms and the like.

Well at least I can say one thing about all of this - it is job security... LOL.

In My Opinion

Now I hate to steer anyone wrong but with my troubleshooting of BF2 this brings me to something I'd like to talk about. Remember what was once called Y2K??? Well back in those days I was doing my computer thing but wasn't working in a Corporate Environment or I should say, where I've been ever since over and over again.

I was helping a friend during these times doing swimming pools to make some cash until another job in IT would come along. Now when it came to our customers. "Who would listen to the POOL GUY??? Anyway for a year I was constantly telling folks not to worry about Y2K that it would come and go like any other day. I even said I'd wake up that next day probably with a hang over and nothing would be different.

I'll never foget this one customer we had, had purchased something like 100,000 dollars worth of equipment and rations, you name it, he may have even built a bomb shelter in his back yard... I'm not kidding when I say this. I remember telling him what a waste it was for people to be so worried about such a thing and even told him I wish I could have a larger VOICE in the world to make it be known what a JOKE and money making SCAM this was all going to turn out to be... Well when it was all said and done, I downloaded a new BIOS installed on all my machines and spent NOTHING and he spent thousands upon thousands and who was lauging on that day... LOL.

This of course is now leading into my next topic which I should just put into another post but now mind you this is in my opinion and the reason for this discussion is all the flak I'm getting in the BF2 forums from those BS Degree, MCSE types, yeah the guys I put to shame on a daily basis.

Since day one of me buying and using computers, and as you all know I'm an avid gamer at heart and downloader. I've only had one virus on my PC and it was the old msblast or blaster worm. The reason I got this was because I had done a REPAIR installation of XP and soon as I hit the NET to ACTIVATE, I had it and knew I did soon as I got the old SHUTDOWN screen, and with my knowledge of Virus's - I bust them also for a living and did at my days working for Adelphia Cable Company early on in my Corporate Environment endeavors, knew to stop the SHUTDOWN with shutdown /a at the RUN. Then looked for the critter and kicked its ass. Ever since then and all of my days of computers have NEVER gotten anything else, unless it was doing something stupid on my part trying to figure out what made a few trojans tick, to lick them at a future time. Don't double click those damn files by accident... LOL.

So now where I was going with all this. Virus Scanners, Ineternet Security Software, Firewalls, Spyware, Adaware etc. For those who work in a Coporate Environment know not everyone who sits behind a computer knows anything about computers they know how to click and point, drag and drop, sometimes even turn them on. For these types of individuals yes you need Firewalls, Virus Protection and the like. Now as I've said many times I work in a LARGE corporate environment and I can tell you with all of these items in place it has more problems with these than I have seen in my lifetime without anything in place and purposely disabled. Working in their Support Center has me removing trojans and spyware on a daily basis. You may be asking how is this possible with all of the protection.

EASY!!! People just do NOT have a clue. People click on EVERY pop up they get, every link in email and simply go to sites they shouldn't be while supposedly working...

In my opinion also, some Virus protection companies have virus builders in their back pockets so let's ask this question, "Which Virus Protection would you buy? The one that finds a cure for that nasty critter first? Of course and why or how did they figure out that cure so quick (Usually a 24 hour period), the person is sitting at their office at their desk creating them while making a pretty penny for the Virus company. Isn't it usually ODD that those who do get busted doing things on their own and do their stint of time get hired by the big guys? If you can create a virus you surely can kill it...

So folks do NOT click that link you get for WINDOWSFIXER2005 you get in your email... LOL. Believe me some stupid person still will...

So when you are a HOME user and not in a Corporate Environment and you do NOT have a clue (YES BY ALL MEANS) you should have everything mentioned. Now to those that have a clue about computers, re-imaging of them and know what to click on and not to.

Everything mentioned herein are a COMPLETE JOKE. Firewalls especially. I've let a monitor tool run for months on my PC and believe me with everything I have running, WWW, FTP and some of the goodies I have and what people are out looking for. Would you believe over that amount of time NO ONE (YES FOLKS) NO ONE tries or tried hacking anything. Yeah every once in a while someone tries to create a directory on my FTP so they can try and run melicious code on my server but GOOD LUCK, Log files do come in handy and guess what I have your IP... LOL.

Computers are like anything else it's all COMMON SENSE. If you get an email from someone you don't know, don't open it. If you do download like I do scan each file with a virus scanner. Steer clear of P2P networks and if you still like them and use them just scan those files. I use Newsgroups - everything is usually scanned on way in and out because they do NOT want anything on their servers. I do not and never have Virus Scanners, or Firewalls EVER running on my PC except to scan those individual files. I set all the processes to Manual so they are only invoked when I want them to be.

Here are things to do. Use Firefox, if you still want to use IE turn the Security Settings to HIGH. Learn to use your CTRL key to get pop ups you want. Use something like the Google Toolbar, I use this also with pop up blocker active, I like google also for my searches and having the bar immediate on the browser, Firefox has it built in - google search and pop up blocking that is... Anyway having these set properly, you will NOT have scripts running just by going to web pages and you will not get pop ups, you'll see in IE when something is trying to get you on the address bar with a Huge Yellow Shield - if it's something you want use that CTRL key and let it fly. There are other types of pop ups and these are usually in a gray box and are really what are known as Server Alerts. You can disable these by going into your Services and Disable the Messenger Service. This has nothing to do with MSN or Windows Messenger. This is usually used to receive Net Sends and Server Alerts by IT Professionals, Network Administrators, and the like.

Here are things I DO use, Bazooka (Great for learning how to BUST spyware and trojans and how they work) you have to do everything MANUALLY, Spybot, Ewido, Adaware, but nothing runs until I run them. I want to add that Bazooka, Spybot are FREE. Ewido Security Suite in my opinion is the BEST of all of them put together and usually will find ANY TROJAN and will remove them and comes as a 14 day free trial and won't have you pay for it just to clean your PC. Give it a whirl and see what it can find. If you like it purchase it.

Now to emails, use your ISP's ONLINE email this keeps you from getting many of the items written about herein. If you do use an email client, such as Outlook, Outlook Express set it up to DELETE all emails except those on your Contact List. I do check my deleted items occassionally to make sure or add those I want to receive from. If you do NOT know who it is from do NOT open it. Use COMMON SENSE.

If you enjoy PORNO - DON'T - on your PC get a PORN MOVIE instead... My PC never sees porn and never will. I know this is hard for people with teenagers and college kids using PC's, you can set up parental controls to really piss off those guys. You can google for these types of IE add-ons, usually just a file you can import. It's actually kind of fun to do to friends - you'll know when they sneak to a site and scream... WTF... LOL.

The reason I bring this up also is because if you are a gamer and with my MANY YEARS of EXPERIENCE (Computers and Gaming) and use your PC mostly for such things, then having these Software Firewalls: Zonealarm, Hardware Firewalls: Routers (Block WAN Requests), XP Firewall. Will only cause more issues than what it's worth. Now people will say leaving your PC wide open will cause problems - have they ever tried to see that NOTHING will happen??? Never seen any, just vocally mentioned, by those that will state this, and these people probably never have either. For the novice setting them up PROPERLY is harder than just having them run period in default. Either way they bring more issues to a gamer than what I can post here and this doesn't always affect everyone.

People just use common sense and if even half of what I've mentioned here are followed you'll see how easy and FREE it is to stay clear of critters and hackers. I'll say this most hackers do NOT care what the common JOE has on his PC. They want Corporate Records they go after the big guy not some guy who plays games and uses his PC in the cellar. This is where Firewalls are a JOKE... Even a simple PING is considered an attack. Never put personal information on your PC, most gamers don't have any. What I mean by this is say credit card information, tax returns, social security numbers and the like - burn these items to a CD (especially Tax Returns) if done online. You should also approximately every 6 months, FDISK and FORMAT your PC and re-install everything clean. A typical SPRING CLEANING is always good for the PC. Well folks that was my OPINION... Hope you enjoyed and feel free to stop back when you get bored and want to see what the old Cellar Dweller has to say... Thanks again.