My grandfather has similar problems. He's very particular about where his icons are, and uses some specialized software (he's on the computer at least as much time as me every day, surfing the internet, watching videos, emailing, etc.) but doesn't deal well with change or self support. So, he got an external hard drive and a copy of Norton Ghost. I have it setup to do weekly images of the drive. That way, if he gets a virus, whatever, I just go back to a previous revision that is virus free.

Another alternative to this would be a Mac with Time Machine. If all they do is internet and school related tasks, a Mac really is an easy solution. More expensive, yes, but it works. Slap an external hard drive on there, turn on Time Machine, and bam, instant backup using revisions. And the key word here is easy. Realize that even though you can fix their issues, the amount of frustration and aggrevation on your parents part, in addition to the amount of time spent to fix/restore the OS every 8 months likely justifies the extra money in switching. Also, what happens if you move or are otherwise unavailable to fix the PC? What if it breaks the day after you leave for a two week trip? What about the risk of identity theft? Just a few things to consider when making computer buying choices (or whether or not you should get antivirus.)

This may be covered under CERCLA (more commonly known as the Superfund.) For the most part, CERCLA just figures out who's gonna pay to clean it up. Designation as a "Superfund" site doesn't necessarily mean the site is a significantly higher priority. Highest priorities are always given to situations where there's an immediate danger to life and health, whether Superfund or not. Not really knowing the site in question beyond what the original article mentioned, it may be a site that falls under CERLCA. At first guess, that's what I'd class it under.

Note: I'm just starting off in the environmental remediation industry. All opinions contained herein are my own, and are not necessarily representative of my employer or clients.

You're right. $3 million isn't all that much for a federal environmental job. They may still have to clean up the mess though. And that can take quite a bit more money, especially considering there's probably both soil and groundwater contamination there. But when you have situations like this where an entire community is seriously affected, it's not abnormal to relocate them. (See Love Canal and Times Beach, Missouri for some environmental history.)

Note: I'm just starting off in the environmental remediation industry. All opinions contained herein are my own, and are not necessarily representative of my employer or clients.

So if they used state specific codes, what happens when the vehicle owner moves to another state? The vehicle owner has to replace their ECU? What if someone is driving in another state and their car breaks down? Also, that would require them to have another model specifically for Massachusetts. I think it's unlikely that a car company would go to that much effort just to spite the other 49 states. Besides, just imagine the PR nightmare it could become. Some TV news station (or news website) will run a story that says "ACME Automotive won't let your mechanic fix your car! More at 11!"

I'm not entirely sure what your point is. You're not criticizing censorship. You're criticizing employers for wanting to project a certain image to their customers/clients. Censorship is actively being stopped from publishing a paper, article, artwork, or idea, by your government, employer, university, etc. But your employer still has a right to protect its public image, and an employee's anti-Semitic thesis may not fit in with that image.

As for putting photos of yourself drinking alcohol on Facebook, use discretion. By the time someone graduates from a 4-year university, they should have an understanding of what's acceptable in public, and what isn't. Social networks should be considered public if you don't know how to configure privacy settings. If you wouldn't drink in front of your boss, you shouldn't allow your boss to see that picture, because he or she can fire you and does not need to provide a reason (with a few exceptions.) In the US, every state is an "at-will employment" state (Montana has some extra rules I think. -- IANAL) Basically they don't need to give a reason to fire you, just like you don't need to give a reason to quit. (There is some fine print of course, and at-will employment doesn't cover discrimination.) Use the privacy settings. They make things private.

Also, what school (besides high school) is going to kick you out for putting up a picture of yourself doing entirely legal things? (Even high school would probably start with a suspension.) Colleges would need to hire an army of people to patrol social networks looking for photos of its students drinking or being promiscuous in order to combat it. What they're going to care about is a photo of you doing a line off the coffee table in the freshman dorms. And that falls under the whole legal thing. If you really want to put up that picture, use the privacy settings to make things private.

Finally, some colleges block porn. In this case, prior to transferring to another school, you could move off campus. Or you could use a proxy (unnecessary complexity, I realize.) That's about the only (somewhat) widespread form of online censorship universities impose upon their on-campus students. And even then, they can probably get away with it because it's the university's network. Although, if they use the DMCA safe harbor for ISPs (DMCA 512(a) I think) then I would propose they be held to the same standard as public ISPs regarding the censorship of their on-campus students. (Again, IANAL)

Also, I do feel like losing my job is insignificant in comparison to the government executing me. But I guess for me, there's more to life than work... Like reading posts on Slashdot!

Really, Geek Squad doesn't charge that much more than Jiffy Lube in some aspects. Most of the things they do are "easy" to people in the know, but there are a lot of people who: A) Don't know, and don't want to spend the time to learn. B) Are too anxious about breaking something to do it themselves. I know it sounds overpriced, and to me personally, it is. However there are obviously people who will pay it that have not invested their time and energy into learning how to do it. It's not like you have to take a class to learn how to setup a router. You can learn for free with just a bit of time searching Google. The barriers to people doing it themselves are entirely self-imposed, so really I don't feel bad about Geek Squad charging what they do.

I've done tech support for some family members and friends of the family. It takes a LOT of patience and there are times where I'm ready to pull my hair out. It sounds so cut and dry the way you say it, but really, it's never like that in the real world. In my original post, I was speaking more of new PC services, such as their prices for removing trial software, creating restore DVDs, and installing security software. That's the area I find to be priced higher than it should be (typically around $160 for the services listed above), especially since an automated tool does most of the work. And the optimization for $30? That should be included for shopping at Best Buy. Or maybe charge $10 for it, as it does take a decent amount of time to unpack a PC, boot up Vista for the first time, and repack it. But not $30. That's almost obscene.

Uhh, Walmart? Best Buy certainly has more expertise in CE sales, however there's no reason Walmart couldn't increase its CE offerings if they felt the profit was there. CC's demise, combined with CompUSA's earlier dissolution, does cement Best Buy at the number one spot for CE sales, but by no means is Best Buy getting monopolistic pricing powers. Walmart, and e-tailers will prevent that from happening. Now for Geek Squad services... I could see those prices going even higher, unfortunately...

Update: Microsoft already tried a QR Code based system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Live_Barcode

Now that I think about it, wouldn't QR Code have a HUGE advantage in some print advertising because it's black and white vs. color? I mean, I know that Tag appears to fit into a 4 color process, but it just seems like a 1 color process would be more advantageous... or am I completely off base here?

There was an episode of Star Trek (Original Series, The Paradise Syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradise_Syndrome) that explained it by saying the "Preservers" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_races#Preservers) seeded the Galaxy, and that's why most aliens they encountered looked humanoid. Yes, I know I just admitted I watch Star Trek (and actually remember plot lines.) But what else is on at 6 am?

Yeah, why not just do a slingshot around the sun instead. We know most microbes on Earth wouldn't survive Mercury or Venus (not that we should deliberately try), so if we're just attempting to find out if they can survive the trip outside the magnetosphere for a long period of time, wouldn't the slingshot work bet? Just loop it around the sun and have it crash back on Earth.

I've got a 360, and I really think allowing a keyboard and mouse type interface on it for gaming purposes would make me switch from mostly PC gaming to the 360 completely. It's a shame they don't develop for controllers other than the 360 controller and fake instruments. Until then, I will continue playing RTS, FPS, and MMOs on the PC, even if it is incredibly painful to do so (which believe me, it is. Even considering the problems XBox Live has (namely some of its users) at least it works. So many PC games have netcode that could only be created by Satan to punish players (see Company of Heroes, et al.)

[H]ard|OCP just did a video article on 3-way SLI for those who are interested. http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTYwNiwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

I heard Blizzard is upgrading WoW to the Universe Server in a few more years...

Give your eyes some credit (and stop spreading that terrible rumor!). The US Air Force has shown that the human eye can detect and identify objects at slightly over 200 fps. Really we need to go WELL above 200 frames in order to get to true realism (perhaps to 500.) If you'd like a more in depth explanation of the 200+fps ability of the human eye, I'd refer you first to here: http://www.tweakguides.com/Graphics_5.html and secondly to Google. It's well documented. On the Tweakguides page there's even an application called FPS Compare that runs a 3D environment split down the center, with different rates on either side. It's interesting. You may not consciously notice the difference at first, but try the random testing (look at the readme file) and give it a shot. I could usually pick out the faster rate, even when comparing 80 to 100.