Yes, but the car is important to them. The computer is just a magic box that lets them communicate with relatives that they don't get to see very often. If the computer gets jacked up, they just call the local geek and have it fixed. If the car gets jacked up, they can't go anywhere for an extended amount of time (yes, even several hours a day is enough to make someone angry).
Nobody gets "silent" installs anymore. The malware writers realized that all they had to do was be nice, give it a good sounding name, and show some scary screens to make people think they needed it and that it was ok to install. Bam, no more silent installs needed.
This is effectively what we do with guys like that. We let them have at it. Then, when they call because something weird isn't working right, we tell them we don't know what's wrong and that we need to look into it. I'll spend less than 30 mins on the problem before getting another call telling me they figured out what's wrong and that it's working again. This happens a couple of times over a few months and then eventually something gets really hosed and their system gets really slow. At that point, we simply tell them that it would take a week or more to find the cause and that we'd still have to rebuild the computer from scratch. So they can give us 2 hours to rebuild their machine or they can just deal with it. If it's not a showstopper (it hardly ever is) they simply deal with it.
I have had this happen on multiple occasions with the same guy. It invariably comes down to either file system corruption or registry corruption. In any case, I really don't care because I have far better things to do than figure out what happened in the 6 months between when I gave him the fully functioning machine and when the problem appeared (which is usually something that showed up a week or two before I get the call, it's just "gotten in the way" now).
The only group that gets that privilege at my job are the engineers and that's only because their boss is above my boss.
FYI, it's probably not the IT department that doesn't think that other software is essential. It's probably the CTO/CIO/Whoever's in charge of spending money. That's the guy that IT always has to get approval from in order to spend money on anything. Get approval for MSOffice is relatively easy since everyone uses it. Getting approval for Photoshop is difficult since only 1 or 2 people (where I'm at) use it.
Installing the rest of that stuff wouldn't be a big deal (we keep a software inventory of everything installed on every machine). The problem of course comes when you see a new program that you want, which probably happens at least once a week. Then you'd have to tell IT that you're installing it (if you don't have admin and you're asking for a program to be installed, you're effectively telling IT you want it). You don't want to have to do that. Even though if you end up having a problem with something you'll be calling IT to troubleshoot it (and you're also assuming they know how to use every damn program you have installed) you don't want to have to bother with letting them know when you're installing every media player under the sun (you need WinAmp and VLC?)
And then there'll be that one package that people want that isn't available in the repository. Then they'll have to go out and find it somewhere else. That's where the trouble starts.
Except that it won't: The user'd have to:
1. Click on the fake link.
2. Accept the file download(FF at least asks you to save or cancel with any download)
3. Right-click the saved file, click properties, and check the 'make excecutable' button.
4. Double click on the application, and then enter your password.
I think that'd take some doing to convince the user to do all that, especially when the user's used to clicking on the Main Menu -> System -> Update or w/e.
You think it takes something special other than "Now you're going to need to do a few things to get these updates to install because they're out of bandwidth updates. Just follow these simple steps and everything will be fine and you'll be completely secure".
It doesn't take much to make the average user think that what they're doing is going to completely secure their system.
Only temporarily. Once a massive amount of transactions starts to go through the new payment processor, the payment processor will likely start offering lower prices to everyone which would end up driving the cost down.
'Never send money to someone without verifying their identity'
Why would anyone ever do anything but this? If you get an email from a friend saying he needs money, wouldn't you at least pick up the phone and attempt to reach them first? Don't you think if they really needed money, they'd find a way to call you rather than send you an email?
IE - in many parts of the US, there are many roads where 'everyone speeds'. Because 'everyone knows' cops won't pull you over until you are going some arbitrary speed faster.
From the Wikipedia, and I know its true because I live there. Quote-mined for clarity:
In California...Drivers moving slower than the general flow of traffic are required to stay in the right-most lanes (by California Vehicle Code (CVC) 21654) to keep the way clear for faster vehicles and thus speed up traffic. However, faster drivers may legally pass in the slower lanes if conditions allow (by CVC 21754). But the CVC also requires trucks to stay in the right lane, or in the right two lanes if the roadway has four or more lanes going in their direction. The oldest freeways in California, and some freeway interchanges, often have ramps on the left, making signs like "TRUCKS OK ON LEFT LANE" or "TRUCKS MAY USE ALL LANES" necessary to override the default rule. Lane splitting, or riding motorcycles in the space between cars in traffic, is permitted as long as it is done in a safe and prudent manner.[2]
As long as you are an average driver, you can abide by the choice phrase "flow of traffic" and that's the easiest way to cope with it. Otherwise the whole thing looks like a group of nested if-else statements gone horribly wrong.
That's because of a bunch of stupid laws that get passed many years apart with no care of the previous law. It use to be very simple. Slower traffic stay to the right (it is still marked like this on many four lane highways, but hardly anyone follows it). Then the speed limit got reduced from 65 to 55 (I know it went back up many years ago, but there are still freeways marked with 55) and now the "fast lane" is no longer fast. I've seen stories on the news where a policeman is giving a reporter a ride and they're watching someone tailgate because they're doing 55 and the other driver wants to go faster. Do they move to the right? No. They ask why the other driver doesn't slow down.
The reason for the "TRUCKS MAY USE ALL LANES" is because on some freeways, and this is mostly coming into LA County from the north (as far as I've ever seen) there are lanes specifically for the trucks. You won't see very many cars on them and they're usually pretty empty, even when the freeway is filled with cars. It's because those roads usually have only one or two lanes and they're specifically meant to get the big trucks out of the traffic. Having an 18 wheeler stuck in stop and go traffic is a lot worse than letting them take a different route (the route is usually longer anyway).
Not everyone has to pay for electricity.
Only in the sense that a burglar doesn't have to pay for the TV he steals. Taking society as a whole, TVs are not free, and nor is electricity. Electricity doesn't occur in nature like fruit on trees or water in streams.
Some places include "utilities" in the rent each month. With those places, you could run your television, air conditioner, and lights all day and it wouldn't cost you any more that it does to not run them. Your rent doesn't change so you are effectively not paying for electricity.
Would you know the serial number is invalid just by looking at it? You might know what makes a serial number valid, but I doubt you'd know if one was invalid if it had the proper makeup. This is why it's mostly 10s and 20s (and higher) that get the metal strip. Counterfeiting anything else isn't worth the trouble.
I don't know about you, but I don't pay anything to use my Visa or MasterCard. The "tax" you refer to is probably the interest payment for not paying the balance in full each month. Not everyone has that problem, so that defeats point 2.
Depending on how I handle a transaction, I can send money through PayPal without any extra fees.
That's the time in circulation. That is not how long a dollar bill will last. I have a handful right now that are 5 years old and a few that are 8 years old. The more damaged they are, and when they are changed, the more likely they are to be pulled out of circulation.
The "average lifespan" is how often the money is pulled out of circulation, shredded, and reissued.
You realize that is a problem with any industry when government is close to the people that run anything, right? Nukes, oil, coal, "green" energy. You name it. When government gets in bed with companies, they end up looking the other way every time.
Canadian dollars are not legal tender in the US, but if someone on the US side of Niagra Falls wants to operate a store and list all the prices in US and Canadian dollars and accept either one as payment, is that illegal?
No because the shop keeper can simply take the Canadian currency and exchange it for US currency at a local bank. Any store can do the same thing with any currency that is accepted. They can also refuse to accept currency over a certain denomination. And that's the trick with bitcoin. A few online retailers might be accepting it, but most are not and I don't know of any brick-and-mortar stores that are.
It's funny how everyone here is acting like BitCoin is this super important thing that is gaining widespread acceptance. Go out on the street and ask someone what bitcoin is and they'll probably look at you funny followed by a "What's a bitcoin?"
Here's something to think about though. If everyone were able to print money, money would be worthless. It would be completely over inflated and totally worthless. Why would I take money you printer when I can print my own? I think the same holds true of bitcoin. Someone with a bunch of computers laying around can just generate bitcoin all day long and cash it in. That seems, to me, to make the currency essentially worthless.
I don't care what that video says, that does not affect all inkjet printers. That mostly affects HP printers. It likely affects any printer that uses a tricolor ink cartridge. I happen to own an Epson and it does not do that (uses separate ink cartridges for every color). I've had it for several years and it still works just as good today as it did when I got it.
Dinosaurs aren't extinct. They've just learned to hide in the trees.
