Defrag

It was the first moment of peace I had in weeks. Ok it was a little late, but it had been a while since I played. I played the unfinished tracks over and over again. I still just wanted to get toasted and forget this bloody week ever happened. I had been neglecting the few songs I managed to choke out, for quite a while. I admit I have been having a pretty good time, but it is not as satisfying as finishing a song.

While I made these rationalizations to myself, I developed a fierce case of the munchies. I went in search of cookies. The other thing I have been neglecting is my apartment, it was hard not to notice. I should have stopped everything (except the cookies) and started cleaning. I didn't.

See, I was whistling this tune. It was not one I had made up; I may not always remember them but I always recognize them when I hear them. "Hmmm," I said aloud, "Chocolate Chip." The problem with the song I was whistling was this: I couldn't remember what it was. I knew I had heard it, possibly a long time ago, but I couldn't actually remember where or when, or even the arrangement.

More importantly, I couldn't recall the name.

I was hoping the cookies would help but then I would need to stop whistling. What vile conundrum had I created for myself? (I've always wanted to eh.. write that)

Of course gentle reader, you will have noticed by now that the main reason I allowed my mind to wander, was to avoid doing the laundry. Or to forgo the massive boredom of cleaning up my computer-music-workshop (with a bed for when I can't stand up anymore) Room. The kitchen's usually clean, it's only flaw were 3 knives and a drinking glass in the sink.

Even better, I managed to avoid the strain of thinking about my own unfinished melodies

Still the shrill tune mocked me. Even after many cookies, I found myself able to whistle the melody without actually recalling the name of the thing. Usually, that is reserved for commercial jingles like "I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke." Gawd! What an ear-worm that is. Anyone know the real name of that song? Anyone know the name of the (Johnny Carson) Tonight Show theme?

There are a myriad of others out there. Songs, Slogans, Brandings, Icons, Celebrities, Logos, Trademarks.... I have unwittingly allowed them to take up space in my brain all these years. Intertwined with my experiences, the lovely moments and the dreadful ones, Coca Cola Logos. GM Mark Of Excellence (HAH!), and heaven help me "Where's The Beef?".

I don't really want them there. I have studiously avoided memorizing that tripe; muted the sound, averted my eyes, so to speak. Nonetheless, there it is. I wonder if any of my fellow techno-geeks know how you defrag your mind?

I thought about a DVD.
I thought it was getting late and being an apartment-dweller I had to be nice to the neighbors.
I thought They could deal with a vacuum at 1 AM but not guitar music.
I thought about headphones.
I thought of the name of the song.

Screw the neighbors. In under 2 hours, with no one to push buttons for me, I did it (with no complaints from the neighbors, BTW). So it's just me on acoustic guitar and I used a deep spark plug socket for a slide. I finally got to play with some effects on my acoustic, I figured out a few new techniques in my under-featured (but free) recording software. I ate way too many cookies.
If you want to listen it's at the link below, see if you can name it without looking at the title.

Oh yeah, I managed to defrag after all.


http://www.gordonm.com/music/guess.mp3
click here

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Don't Panic! Conficker/Downadup/Kido worm

Don't Panic! You probably don't have the Conficker/Downadup/Kido worm

One fast way to check is to try to visit any major security software publisher's Web site.
If you've cleared your browser cache beforehand, and you can load the sites below then you're clean because Conficker blocks access to them.

Symantec
http://www.symantec.com/index.jsp

Eset
http://www.eset.com/

Avira
http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php

AVG
http://www.avg.com/


There are some tools specific to this worm that you can download to clean up

McAfee's Stinger
http://download.cnet.com/3001-2239_4-10911653.html?spi=f091b4ab47a30abe6a9872f8065a0cc8

Eset: Win32/Conficker Worm Removal Tool
http://download.cnet.com/Win32-Conficker-Worm-Removal-Tool/3000-2239_4-10911654.html

Symantec's W32.Downadup Removal Tool
http://download.cnet.com/Symantec-W32-Downadup-Removal-Tool/3000-2239_4-10911656.html

Sophos' Conficker Cleanup Tool
http://download.cnet.com/Sophos-Conficker-Cleanup-Tool/3000-2239_4-10911655.html


Don't Do This Unless you understand it!!!

To prevent infection form memory sticks, or USB drives, disable the Autorun feature
copy the text below into Notepad. It should be one line from the left bracket to the final quotation mark. save it as "StopAutoRun.reg"

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]@="@SYS:DoesNotExist"

right click the new file and choose merge

PS I dashed this off quickly

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