Saturday, 28 February 2009

Scam :D

It's amazing what you bump into on the internet. A simple misclick somehow dragged me off course from my intended destination and dumped me here.

I haven't seen anything this stupid in years.

"This System Makes Me At Least $171,168.06 Per Month And You
Can Start Using It 15 Minutes From Now"

Lol. That's 2 million dollars a year. :P

"Guaranteed to work even if you're "un-motivated"...
In fact, it's best if you only put in an hour or so per day!"

Yeah that's good. Appeal to your lazy, idle audience. 2 million a year for only one hour's work per day! :O

"Date: Saturday, February 28 "

Simple piece of code in the page grabs the current date, making it look like the page is regularly updated. After that there's loads of bullshit about meeting a "Programming God from some of the biggest programming websites on the internet". O rly? No websites listed mind. Because it's all bullshit. :P Then there's some more bullshit before this hilarious statement.

"You may be familiar with me from the one-day Work-At-Home seminars I used to give in famous hotels around the United States.

Others know me from the hundreds of interviews, podcasts and teleseminars I've done.

There are so many people coming to me today for advice on getting started working from home that I've been called the #1 Work At Home Consultant in America."

Yeah right. That's a pretty hefty boast. This is merely self-propogated falsehood. Try typing "Mack Michaels" into Google. The results are all either positive, posted by Mr Michaels himself, or pages discussing whether or not this is a scam, which it is. And the bullshit doesn't end there.
"Companies know that it is becoming more and more a waste of time to rely upon traditional marketing like TV, magazines, newspapers and radio."
Yeah. I've noticed big companies like Coca-Cola and McDonalds have given up on TV, magazine, newspaper and radio advertising. I mean, you hardly ever see TV adverts any more, right? ¬¬ I often see their adverts on the internet...
No, I don't, because that's bollocks. Pay attention to the adverts you see around you on the internet, they are mostly shit. Go to your myspace or facebook page and refresh, taking note of the adverts. How many of the companies advertising have you heard of? Probably not so many.
And all this can be yours for only $97. Wow, how can I pay? Why by credit card of course. Not by paypal, as they don't do business with scammers. :P
On to the disclaimer.

"Each individual’s success depends on his or her background, dedication, desire and motivation."
Woah, hold on there? Motivation? *scrolls back up*

"Guaranteed to work even if you're "un-motivated"...
Umm, that's a little contradictory.
"As with any business endeavor, there is an inherent risk of loss of capital and there is no guarantee that you will earn any money."
Ummm, let's look again...
"Guaranteed to work even if you're "un-motivated"...
"Join my guaranteed program now, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain..."
"Sign up (it's risk-free) now, today, before the price goes up or all of the spots are filled and I shut the website down."
"Sign Up For Maverick Money Makers
Risk Free Today!"
But you just said risk of loss and no guarantee? O_O
"As with any business endeavor, there is an inherent risk of loss of capital and there is no guarantee that you will earn any money."

¬¬ Seriously. Even if I was a complete noob, this is still enough evidence to point out what a huge scam this is. People like this piss me off no end. There should be some form of website where you can report sites like this, maybe get them blacklisted from search engines and such because that's seriously more than enough bullshit for one day.
Mack Michaels. Scam Artist. Avoid like the plague.

Friday, 27 February 2009

10 Free Programs Every PC Owner Needs.

We live in a world where 'free' has lost its meaning. Many programs touted as free are actually just crippled software that requires payment to activate its useful functions. But just what can you get for free with no hidden catches? Here are ten of my favourite free programs, in no particular order.

1. HijackThis.
HijackThis, despite the scary name, is a useful program. It can save a list of all the stuff running on your PC in an easy to read text file which allows more experienced PC users to easily find what may be causing you problems.

2. Everest Home.
Everest is a program that can tell you exactly what is plugged into your system. If you have no idea what graphics card you have, what your chipset is, what processor you have, Everest can tell you in seconds.

3. RadarSync.
Every bit of hardware plugged into your computer requires a driver to run. Keeping on top of those drivers is a chore and many people only keep their graphics drivers up to date. RadarSync automates this process. It will find any out of date drivers on your system, locate the correct current versions and download them for you!

4. Open Office.
Don't have Microsoft Office? Can't open Word or Excel files? Open Office is the free alternative to Microsoft Office. It can save files in its own formats and can also open and save as all Microsoft Office formats.

5. Community Codec Pack.
Ever had video files that won't play in Windows Media Player? Chances are you're missing a popular codec. Years ago this would have meant having to search for DivX, Xvid, Haali Media Splitter, FFXDShow, AC3 Filter, etc... Not any more. The Combined Community Codec Pack includes all of the most popular video and audio codecs in one easy installation. Install this and you'll find there's little left that Media Player cannot play.

6. IrfanView.
Need a simple way to resize a picture? Tada! IrfanView. Problem solved.

7. Motherboard Monitor 5.
Motherboard Monitor 5 gives you a visual display of your current fan speeds and temperatures, making it easy to spot a dying CPU or case fan and spot overheating problems.

8. FreeRip MP3.
Got tons of old CDs lying around? Want to convert them to mp3s so you can listen to them on your computer/mp3 player? FreeRip.

9. Autosizer.
Don't you hate it when you open your web browser and it doesn't start maximised? Autosizer is what you need. Simply open any window and tell it if you want it to always be maximised. I use this to automatically maximise web browsers, notepad, MSN conversations, etc...

10. Spybot Search & Destroy.
Some like it, some don't. Personally, I like it. Keep Spybot updated and scan your system regularly to remove various spyware programs that can cause problems with your everyday browsing. Note that Spybot is NOT an antivirus program.

There you go. Enjoy your freebies.

Thursday, 26 February 2009

The More I Fiddle With This...

The more I like it. :)
I've added some interesting things to the sidebar over there on the left. Dictionary.com's word of the day, to expand your wordpower. A weekly poll, for fun. Do you pee in the shower? :P And a little further down, a link to other places you can find me on the internet. Fun huh?

Extreme Censorship

It seems I've been discussing censorship all week with people and ran into the issue again this morning. I was simply adding yet more daft pictures to my myspace storage, which saves on photobucket bandwidth, when I ran into a problem. Apparently the picture I was trying to upload features nudity, violent or offensive material or copyrighted images. O rly? Here's the picture.



Those disgusting naked toothbrushes! :o How dare they be so violent and offensive. ¬¬ What is the world coming to, I ask you.
Why is it always the idiots who get to choose what is and isn't allowed?

Initial Test Blog

Just a test to see how this turns out.