Don’t ask, don’t tell…Apple’s policy on Mac malware

Ars has a wonderfully insightful article with internal Apple memos regarding the Mac Defender malware.  The best part, Apple says to tell customers:

• Do not confirm or deny that any such software has been installed
• Do not attempt to remove or uninstall any malware software
• Do not send escalations or contact Tier 2 for support about removing the software, or provide impact data.
• Do not refer customers to the Apple Retail Store.  The ARS does not provide additional support for malware.

Even more telling: “Apple’s [IT] department mandates the use of Norton Antivirus on company machines.”

from: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/05/malware-on-the-mac.ars/1

nVidia Geforce 270.61 drivers released!

nVidia, the dreamcrusher

Everytime nVidia releases a new version of the video card drivers, I keep up the hope that it will fix the “Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version XXX.XX stopped responding and has successfully recovered.”

I was hoping 260.99 would be the one…after all this has only affected every driver release since at least 195.62 which was back in December 2009.  Unfortunately, less than 24 hours after updating my drivers, the first error popped up.  Since this is on my Dell laptop, I’ve got no option for swapping out the video card.

Android 2.1 update available Thursday for Droid

Latest on the Motorola Droid Android 2.1 update

http://www.androidcentral.com/latest-motorola-droid-android-21-update

Although, I think I won’t be updated for several days since they’re rolling out in batches

Displayport adapters aren’t perfect

 

Every once and a while I get a link failure…only way I’ve found to fix it so pull and re-plug in the adapter from the card.

Update:  The lastest drivers from AMD seem to have resolved this issue.  I haven’t lost my display port for a couple months now.

ATi eyefinity: Farcry 2 Pics

I’ve got 3 identical monitors: Dell e248wfp (1920×1200), 1 ATi 5870, and 1  Accell DisplayPort to DVI adapter, two profiles with hotkeys to switch from 3 as 1 to 3 separate displays, and pictures of Far Cry 2 in 1920×1200 and 5760×1200, and a small box of Dramamine.

Accell UltraAV B087B-002B DisplayPort/DVI-D Dual-Link Adapter (Black)

Hooked up my Accell DisplayPort to DVI adapter and I’m back to 3 monitors!

I really hope Eyefinity is as cool as it appears, since I’ve spent way too much money on this already.  My “old” ATi 4850 X2 is one of the best cards I’ve owned, not many video cards with 4 DVI ports.

Somehow, I have a feeling that Eyefinity is going to require me to have 3 identical monitors, so my right and left 1600×1200 monitors aren’t going to “sync” with my main 1920×1200 monitor…(how will I explain the need to get 3 new matching 24″ monitors to my wife?)

Update: I can get all 3 monitors into eyefinity, the only “issue” is my 24″ 1920×1200 gets dropped to 1600×1200, since all 3 monitors have to match.

Eyefinity on new ATi video cards requires an active DisplayPort adapter

Boo!  After listening to the marketing guy from ATi/AMD at the Ready to Launch show I was all set for a new ATi 5870 for Eyefinity.  Of course, the 3rd port needed is a displayport and I’ve only got DVI LCDs.  He specifically mentioned the Startech DisplayPort DVI adapter available at Newegg as an inexpensive solution if you don’t have displayport monitors.  Well, guess what, he was incorrect.  You need a $100+ active displayport adapter to do 3 displays.  So, now I’m stuck with 2 monitors working until I can get an active displayport adapter next week.

I guess that’s what I get for taking technical advice from the marketing guy.  He also mentioned how the AMD Phenom II X4 965 was faster than all the competitor’s CPUs…doing a little benchmark reviews shows that this isn’t accurate either.  My current i7 is on par or faster than the 965 even when not overclocked.

Don’t get me wrong, I love AMD and ATi, I have AMD stock and after six months of random nVidia Nvlddmkm.sys blue-screens with no consistent solution, I am only purchasing ATi cards for my new systems. (I am still using my older nVidia cards in some of my test boxes)

Update:  The actual AMD docs do specifically mention that you need an active DisplayPort  to DVI adapter and the passive can only be used on a 2 monitor system.  I received my active DisplayPort adapter today (1 day late from Amazon) and will be giving it a try tonight.