As I said in the Smackdown Short Form, last week’s absence was due to an acute case of exhaustion, mostly caused by the fact that I had one nasty case of acid reflux on Monday. Well, I’m back this week as the clock ticks closer to the Big Four-Oh, which happens over the weekend. I think it’s the Risperdal, myself. I know that I didn’t spend Saturdays in bed when I was on Abilify, but it did shit else for me. At least the Risperdal is cutting down on the daily depression I suffer whenever I show up for work. So it’s a good trade-off, if you know what I mean. Let’s just move along, shall we?
THE PIMP SECTION
PK will be covering the Monday Inside Pulse for the next few weeks. Enjoy it until Lucard comes back.
You want trauma, Laflin? Trade places with me on Sunday.
Goforth, thank goodness, doesn’t throw a turkey out there.
Misha has your game releases covered.
Faria tells you what was on Velocity this week, while West recaps Heat.
Stein has the latest indy results.
Nguyen does a great job covering the Weekly Pulse in Sports this week.
Porter has a great discussion about racism in sports.
Morrison has messages for the idiots at Marvel and the idiots who play City of Heroes in an uncreative fashion.
Stevens has the DC news up early.
Gloomchen reviews U2’s latest release and has her weekly column up as well.
THE ANTI-SPYWARE SECTION
Remember, this all started because the slugs at Enigma Software dared to advertise their piece of shit SpyHunter at 411 (one of the reasons why I decided to leave, honestly). So I’m responding every single column with proper anti-spyware information. And guess what? People are actually taking this to heart. They’re asking me for help if they’re infested, or they’re writing me telling me that their browsing experience is less annoying thanks to the stuff I’ve been putting up here three times a week for a few months now.
(And as I understand it, there are some unscrupulous browser toolbar people trying to advertise here at the Pulse. Well, don’t click on that ad, whatever you do. We’ll still get the money from the impressions, and your system will stay safe.)
Big, big Kudos to the guys at the Spyware Warrior Forum for pointing out to everyone the extent of criminal activity participated in by Enigma Software, makers of the bane of advertising on that site, SpyHunter. Slimeballs extraordinare, aren’t they? And in case you need more info about what flaming bags of shit they are, try here. Suzi’s Blog has a great list of other flaming bags of shit that promote anti-spyware programs that are spyware themselves. Consult it if you have questions.
(On a side note, those SpyHunter ads started over at Reality News Online, and BFM, a contributor there, spotted them. He told the webmaster, gave him those links that I cited above, the webmaster read them, the blood drained out of his face, and he contacted his ad provider. No more ads for Enigma products on RNO, thank you. So guess what? If you provide the info, there are sites who will listen.)
One of the leading vectors for spyware is so-called free programs that contain this shit in order to “pay the bills”. No one deserves that kind of treatment. If you’ve got a question about whether or not a certain program contains spyware, head over here. It’s a nice alphabetized list of programs that do contain spyware and should be avoided at all costs.
Here’s a list of the programs you really need to help you get rid of menaces, and, more importantly, prevent them from occurring in the first place:
Spybot and AdAware. The ONLY two spyware removal tools to trust. Do NOT buy any spyware removal tools, because none of them work better than these two, and all of them except these two are suspect.
SpywareBlaster. Will nuke thousands of different potentially malicious ActiveX controls, and now has the ability to prevent a number of non-ActiveX methods of installing spyware for people who use Mozilla/Firefox.
SpywareGuard. From Javacool, like SpywareBlaster. It’s a real-time scanner for spyware. A decent first line of defense.
IE-SpyAd. Throws numerous ad-related URLs into IE’s Restricted Zone, where they won’t display or affect your system. Bookmark this one, since it’s the only one that doesn’t have an in-program update.
A few people have recommended also installing the Sun Java Virtual Machine, since it’s Windows’ buggy, half-assed implementation of the JVM that allows a lot of spyware to install (less so within the past month and a half than before). I STRONGLY recommend that you visit here and update your version of Java.
So many people have asked about a free anti-virus program that I’m also going to recommend AVG. Totally free, and works really, really well, as well as commercial anti-virus programs. Frequent database updates, good heuristic detection, everything you want in an anti-virus package.
Another program that I’d like to add here is a little tough to work with for noobs if it goes buggy (you need to know a little something about your Networking settings in order to debug if something should go wrong). Protowall is a supplement to your firewall or NAT system. It hooks directly into XP’s networking system to block any and all traffic that comes from URLs on a list maintained by the program (all protocols, not just TCP/UDP). It’s mainly designed for anti-P2P purposes (which will appeal to a great many of my readers), but it contains lists to block spyware and ads. Its blocklist can easily be updated using its supplementary program, Blocklist Manager. I have Protowall running and a Blocklist Manager icon on my desktop, and I use Blocklist Manager to update the blocklist every couple of days. You will have problems getting to some sites unless you shut down Protowall temporarily, like ESPN or Sports Illustrated, but it does have a tray icon you can right-click and shut down in a few seconds. It’s the third layer of anti-ad material for me, with IE-SpyAd and AdSubtract running alongside it. Warning, though: it only works with XP. I’d recommend its predecessor, Peer Guardian, for other MS OSes, but it isn’t being developed anymore, and there were still bugs in it when development stopped. You can get Protowall and the Blocklist Manager (which will also work with Peer Guardian) at Bluetack’s site.
Of course, only download them from the links provided above. And only download those programs; don’t fall for the ads that are shown at various websites.
With AdAware and Spybot, check for updates using their internal update function at least once a week. Run them at least once a week or whenever you think you might have problems. Remember, the new version of Spybot has browser protection capabilities, so have that run at startup and leave it running. Check for updates to SpywareBlaster once a week. It only needs to be run once initially in order to establish protection. Then, after it downloads updates, just click on the line that says “Enable Protection For All Unprotected Items” and kill it. It doesn’t need to be active. For IE-SpyAd, bookmark the site and check for updates twice a week, since it has no kind of internal updater. Since all it does is add Registry entries, it doesn’t eat up anything. Run the Blocklist Manager every couple of days to make sure that you keep up on the latest banned URLs.
If you’re having trouble with spyware or a browser hijacker, or think that you do, head over to the SpywareInfo Forums, where the pros there can help you diagnose and get rid of stuff. I was promoted to Full Helper status there and ended up joining ASAP, the Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals. Look for their symbol.
The Ravin’ Cajun asks me to recommend a good client-side spam filter for MS mail programs running under Windows. Now, this is something I don’t have experience with because my ISPs have always had good spam filtering, plus, I use Thunderbird, which handles the remainder quite nicely, thank you. Some readers wrote in and recommended SpamBayes, which is totally free and supposedly works very well, so I’ll add it on to the anti-annoyance list that we’re building up here.
Now that 1.0 has been released, I feel good in recommending Firefox as an alternative to IE. Go grab a copy and see what you’re missing.
ANY WRESTLING NEWS OUT THERE?
Unless you care about WWE’s financials, no, not really. Just some short items from here and there, though:
Da Meltz is reporting that Jeff Jarrett’s been replaced on the TNA booking committee by FatDust. Talk about going from bad to worse.
Ricky Steamboat was backstage at Raw, according to 1bullshit Junior. Speculation is that they’re going to offer him an agent position. Good hire. Now, if they can talk him into one more match with Flair, that’d be something to see.
Da Meltz on why Bob Holly shot on Rene Dupree over the weekend: Here’s some more on last night’s Bob Holly-Rene Dupree situation. Dupree has a lot of heat with a lot of people. Dupree screwed up by getting a ticket while driving a rental car in Holly’s name that Holly had to take care of, and had to waste his time flying to another city. And well, Bob is an asshole. Hey, his words, not mine. Personally, I don’t want Bob Holly showing up at my door to punch me in the face because I called him an asshole. Besides, I like guys who are assholes.
As I said, nothing much going on. So let’s just turn to Raw…
THE SHORT FORM
Match Results:
Gene Snitsky over Maven (Pinfall, pump-handle slam): Oh, yippie, a squash match. Not a good sign starting off the night with that, huh?
Chris Jericho over Dave Batista (DQ, unbroken hold): Technically, this turned into an angle enhancement match afterward thanks to the second Evo teasy-weasy breakup promo. And you know how I hate angle enhancement matches. Complete waste of Jericho, in my opinion. Let’s move on.
Rhyno over Jonathan Coachman (Pinfall, Goar Goar Goar): On second thought, let’s just have a look back at the Jericho/Batista match and celebrate those halcyon days of yore. Yeesh, why didn’t I take this week off too?
Trish Stratus over Molly Holly and Lita, Triple Threat Women’s Title Match (Pinfall, Trish pins Molly, damage done by Lita): As much as I like to see the Triple Threat formula broken, and as much as I like to see Lita get the shit kicked out of her, I still couldn’t get into this match very much. Very dull, very slow. Even Lita’s usually better than that.
Shelton Benjamin, Mister Regal, and Nick Dinsmore over Christian, Sylvain Grenier, and Rob Conway (Pinfall, Benjamin pins Conway, T-bone Suplex): There’s a lot of ECW LUV in the room tonight, isn’t there? Rhyno, Lita, Benjamin using one of Tazz’s signature moves as his finisher…this whole show is devolving into a pimp for the DVD for the people in the know. Hey, better thinking about that than this match. As much as I love Benjy and especially Regal, putting the ‘tard with them just ruins it for me.
Chris Benoit over Edge, Steel Cage Match (Benoit escapes): Okay, this makes it all worthwhile. Two of the best in WWE (well, the best and one of the best) inside a steel cage…hey, I’m there, and I enjoyed every bit of it. I absolutely loved the ending, with Edge’s own spear carrying Benoit through the cage door. Well-booked and excellently wrestled.
Angle Developments:
Systematic: Simon Dean beating the shit out of Novocaine Helms just turned him face. Period. Of course, it was pretty cool that it was a former ECW guy who interrupted My Beautiful and Beloved’s pimp for the ECW DVD. Another nice Haley-esque touch for those of us in the know.
Royal Rumble Two Months Early: Okay, I like the idea of the company-wide battle royal for the world title next week. However, do
you know how much of a bitch that is to cover? Especially since I have to do it live because I go back to days next week? I hate having to have a notepad to cover Raw.
And I hate having to break this off, but I have to get to work. Until tomorrow, when hopefully I’ll have some news to cover, enjoy yourselves.
