analog_kidd

Another really great trick I use is to edit my Hosts file. Google "No-ad Host File" and you'll get plenty of sample files and instructions.   The idea behind it is this: When you enter a website into your browser, the browser has to convert the easy to remember name into an IP address. It usually uses a DNS server to do that lookup. But, before it checks in with the DNS server, it looks in a file on your PC called "hosts". In that file you can add webites and their IP addresses. If your PC finds the site and IP in the file it stops looking and uses that one, and never asks the DNS server. You can use this to your advantage by putting a bogus IP address for malicious websites. So when you (unwittingly) click a link that may take you to a bad web site, your computer goes nowhere.   Get a replacement host file and it will have tons of malicious sites already plugged in for you.

I'd recommend downloading Malware Bytes http://www.malwarebytes.org/ to clean up your PC. You may need to download it from a different PC and put it on a thumbdrive to transfer it over to the infected PC.   For Antivirus, I use Microsoft's free Security Essentials. I've seen reports that it is not the absolute best antivirus, but I've been quite happy with it. You can't argue with the price. Plus, it is not bloated with all the crap that comes with Norton. It's just an Antivirus and does not use a ton of system resources.   Another trick of mine is to use virtual machines. I have a Win7 Vm running on my desktop. I've configured it so that the virtual hard drive is non-persistent. In other words, when the VM is powered down, any changes that were made to the VM while it was powered up are forgotten. It goes back to exactly the way the VM was when I powered it on. That way, if I get a virus, just rebooting the VM cleans it all up. Once a month I set the disks to persistent and install patches, then set the disk back to non-persistent. I use VMware's free VM Player application to run my VM's. You can even download free, and already installed and configured VM's in O/S' like Linux. Just download and run the VM. If it gets crapped up, delete it and download a fresh copy.

  Yeah I tried that already, and that link is empty for me.

Thanks for the update, TDR

Have notices gone out to others that CMT is ready to start taking orders from TGO folks? If so I didn't hear about it. I inferred from a few posts above that maybe some had already ordered theirs.

We dropped the land line years ago and dont really get telemarketing calls anymore. When we did have a land line I used to mess with them. Sometime I would answer the phone and the would say "good evening Mr. Jones, how are you today" and I would get all scared sounding and say well not too good. I would go on to explain that I was in witness protection and Mr Jones was my old name, and what worries me is if you put my old name together with my new phone number, then they can too. I usually got a lot of stuttering and um, um, um's.   Sometimes they asked for my wife, and I would say "I'm sorry my wife's phone privileges have been suspended" They would say Huh? Is she your wife? I'd play it straight and say Yes, call back in a few weeks and maybe I'll let her use the phone again.

THE best back country campsite at Frozen Head is the Rock House site. It is at the bottom of a very tall cliff, and the cliff is undercut back about 25'-30', and the undercut is tall enough to walk under almost all the way back. It's kind of like a cave, There is an awesome firepit at the entrance of the cave, but still under the roof. I've been there during deluges and comfortably sat around the fire staying nice and dry. It's about 1/2 mile to the Tubbs Springs site and water source, which isn't too bad. You set up camp and drop off everything but the filter and water container and it's a pleasant walk. Sometimes there is a little spring that falls off the top of the cliff down to the camp site and you don't even have to go anywhere for water.   Chimney Tops trail is brutal. I've done it once, but don't think I'll do it again.There are a couple of trails that come out of the back of the public campground. I think one is called Bird Mountain, and it is brutal too. The other is Castle Rocks (I think that's the name). It is a moderately difficult trail, but well worth it to see the amazing rock formations at the top of the mountain.

Not sure how I feel about a Carrie remake. Some classics just should remain. But this stunt to promote the new movie is awesome.    http://youtu.be/VlOxlSOr3_M

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/09/kentucky-high-schools-told-no-more-postgame-handshakes/   It looks like there have been some scuffles after the game during the "good game" handshakes, so Kentucky High Schools are going to just stop the ritual alltogether.   When I played sports, skipping the handshake was not even an option. If you didn't do it, you didn't play next week. It taught us respect for others whether we win or lose, and that we can do battle on the field but at the end of the day we can go home friends.   But no, we have to be this nanny state, sissy-fied, politically correct society, where the rulers protect us from ourselves.   How about this: We teach kids how to be grown ups, where we don't just take our ball and go home when something doesn't go our way. How about we teach the kids the meaning of personal accountability and if you hit an opponent after the game, you are booted from the team for the season and maybe take a few days off to think about your actions.

I thought this was the most transparent administration ever in the history of the USA?   /sarcasm

So the House passed a 407 to 0 vote yesterday to give back pay to furloughed workers. The Senate will vote on it Monday, and almost certainly pass it. What pisses me off about that is 800,000 government workers just got a week or two free vacation at the taxpayers expense. I would be OK with it, if they actually showed up for work and were working "without pay" temporarily, but to send them home and then give them a paycheck? WTF? Why bother with a shutdown?

I'm planning on getting the TGO upper, lower and BCG from CMT. Back a few months ago when I decided I wanted to put an AR together, I was planning on buying a complete upper, but now with this deal, I'm looking forward to putting one together from the ground up. To be honest, I've never even held an AR, much less put one together, so I'm a complete beginner.   I have been listening to folks here on TGO saying you need some tools to put one together. After watching a few videos it looks like the main thing you need is a set of punch pins. Looking on a few web sites for AR Tools, I see punch pin sets, and a I see several versions of an AR wrench tool.   Exactly what tools are required to put one together?

Fox News reported this morning that there may have been two undercover police officers in the biker group, and they did nothing to stop this.   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/05/two-off-duty-police-officers-may-have-been-in-frenzied-motorcycle-group-reports/

The irony is they will likely pay more to police the parks to run citizens off, than just leave them open.

Podcasts.   I recently went on vacation and "discovered" them. I installed an app on my phone called Podcast Addict and it goes out and connects me to several podcast subscriptions. My favorites are "Stuff you should know"  and "Stuff to Blow your mind". I like the weird and quirky informational Podcasts. There are literally thousands of podcast feeds from just about any topic that could possibly interest you.

I'm not sure how they can close the GSMNP Chomney Tops trail. The parking is along 441, which is open. Regardless, I've hiked all of the Frozen Head trails, and they are all just as nice as anything in the Smokeys.   While you are over by Frozen Head, consider finding Lily Bluff Overlook in the Obed Wild and Scenic area near Wartburg (right down the road from Frozen Head). the trail is only about 1/2 mile long, but it ends on a boardwalk overlook of the Clear Creek Canyon.   EDIT: Well nevermind on the Lilly Bluff Overlook. I just realized it a National Park too. But it is worth the trip when they reopen.

Last year I bought a new stereo for my truck, and it has a USB port on it. I bought a 32 GB USB drive that literally is no bigger than a thumbnail. You barely even notice it when it's inserted. In fact I had to attach the little string that came with it just so I could grab hold of it to remove it from the stereo. Anyway, It's only half full and I have nearly 200 albums on the drive, after removing the songs I don't care for from each album, so there is nothing but favorites. I put the stereo on random and it's like my own personal commercial free radio station. It's been forever since I've listened to actual radio waves.   I'll never own another car stereo that doesn't come with a USB port.

I know GMail allows pop access to your mail from a client such as Outlook. I use it to pull gmail to my own Outlook, since I like to read email there instead of the web browser (I don't care for GMail's native labeling method). Anyway, inside Outlook there is an option to leave the mail on GMails server, or remove it after checking. I wonder if you have an email program that you set up to check GMail and did not select the option to leave the mail. If not, it likely could have pulled all of your mail down and removed it from the server.

I used to be in Civil Engineering, and most two lane roads, like in most subdivisions, have a 50 foot right of way that is owned by the city / county / state. With 12' lanes of pavement, that means that there is 13' feet from the edge of the pavement to where your property line actually starts. Most of that 13 feet looks like your property, and the city expects you to take care of it like it is yours, but the reality of it is, it's not your property. It's there for the city to run water, sewer and drainage through.   I'm not saying that this guy or the city is justified. This was douchebaggery at its finest. Just throwing a few additional facts into the discussion.

There is no way I would have gotten off that interstate. I also would have swerved left, then right, then braked and repeat until there was nobody left.

Look under the sink where the line actually connects to the supply. You might be able to remove it from there and replace the whole line using one of the newer flexible silver metal braided lines. Those are much better than a compression fitting. Make sure to turn off the water first.

Patton, I do have a lease, and it is written such that it spells it out that it is for one year and then converts to monthly after that. Are you saying that the lease would give me trouble? If so I had no idea and probably should have it reworded. I've had other rental property owners tell me that is how they do it too.

Has anyone seen the new Android Device Manager web site on Google? I just discovered it this morning, and I'm not so sure how I feel about it. I didn't have to do anything to set it up, other than associate my Galaxy S3 with my gmail account way back when I first bought the phone.   Anyway, the website https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager knew all about my phone and could tell me exactly where it (and I) was. It has a ring my phone button, which is nice if you have lost the phone somewhere in your house. It will ring it at the loudest volume, regardless of if you have it on silent or vibrate.   If you install the app, you can even remotely lock the screen and wipe the device, I do like that.    What freaks me out about this whole thing is just how easy it is to locate people. What if I forget to log out of a public computer and the next person comes along and can track me? If its that easy for me, then who else (Big Brother) is tracking me, and why?  :tinfoil:   I guess this could be a good way to keep up with your kid's whereabouts.   What do you all think?

We had three rental houses, but just sold one (to my son and his new bride), and they have been very successful for us. I buy foreclosures and serious fixer-uppers. My strategy is to buy them at a very inexpensive cost and fix them up to a top notch property. I've found that if you have a really nice house, you can charge a better rent,  get a better renter and rarely get calls about something being broken.   We do credit checks on potential renters, and my wife has a Spidey sense about people, so she is always included in the interview process. Plus we do not take HUD, or allow anybody to be creative in paying the security deposit or rent, i.e. "I'll pay the security deposit next month". Come with everything or don't come at all. And we advertise them as no pets. If we like the renter and have a good feeling about them and the pet, we'll allow a small animal, but they have to pay a $200 non refundable fee up front.   We took out a HELOC on our residence to use for purchasing the rentals. We use the HELOC for the 20% down payment and the repairs during the initial remodel. We buy the house with an interest only loan. While we are remodeling, the mortgage and HELOC payment is about $100 a month, so not a big deal to cover. Once the remodel is done and we are ready to rent, I have a ton of equity in the house, since I bought it cheap, and did all the remodel myself. With so much equity, I can refinance the whole house, pay off the Interest only loan and the HELOC. The mortgage on both of the houses we currently have are about $300 a month (including tax and insurance) and we make an average of $700 a month on both properties.   I take all the profits and am paying down the mortgages. I never pocket any of the money, but I will put a little bit aside for repairs. I'm taking the profit from both houses and paying down the mortgage on one of the houses. I ran the numbers and discovered that by doing it that way, I could have one house totally paid for in just a couple of years, without a single dollar coming out of my pocket. Then I'll focus on the other house and pay it off in a few more years.   I started off by putting all the rentals on a month to month lease. I figured that if I got a tenant that was going to walk out on me, there wasn't much I could do and it would just end up costing me money for a lawyer if I wanted to try and get what owed to me. I also read that on a monthly lease, it make evictions easy, since you just cancel the lease and kick them out. Now I am leaning more toward having them sign a year lease that converts to a monthly. Most folks will easily live in a house for a year, and then it makes it easy if they want to move on after that. I figure if they can easily get out of the lease, they will do it and respect my property in the process. Beside, I have no problems renting my houses, so I'll find someone, and probably raise the rent in the process.   I have heard of landlords who build rent increases into the lease, 15% a year for example. I haven't tried that yet. I figure that I would rather have a good tenant and keep the rent the same, than to be greedy and get more money. But that's just me. Maybe I'm too easy going.   My goal is to have about 4 or 5 rentals, totally paid for, by the time I retire. I figure rents will be close to $1000 a month by then. An extra $4-5k a month will nicely supplement my retirement savings. By then, I'll probably turn them over to a management company do I don't have to deal with anything.   When I buy my next one, I think I'll start an LLC and move the properties into that. It will help protect me if I do get a crazy tenant. I also got a checking and savings account that I use strictly for the rentals. It makes it easy to do the accounting. I also bought Quicken Property rental Manager software, which is pretty good at keeping track of everything.   I have a lease that I got from someone who had their lawyer write it up. I took it and used it as a starting point and found some others online to write my own. I'll gladly email it to you if you PM me your email address.

I'm glad you're up and running again too. I thought something just wasn't adding up. Not sure what you have on your PC now that you got XP installed there too. You might have a lot of extra operating system files that are not needed. If you have plenty of free space on your hard drive, then who cares. It would bother me enough to backup up my data and then wipe the whole thing. But, then again I do that about once a year anyway just to keep my computer fresh.