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To celebrate the first Moon landing today (July 20th, 1969) Google have added some NASA moon imagery to the Google Maps interface and created Google Moon. Make sure you zoom right in for a hint at what the moon is really made of

Almost of the computer problems I get asked to fix deal with Spyware. Most of the time, not even viruses, but tons of hidden crap that clogs your computer. Spyware, unlike viruses, does not necessarily inflict direct harm to computer. It runs in the background, maybe popping up ads to your computer or tracking and relaying your internet stats. It’s mostly just annoying, and can get to points where if you have too much you cant even surf the web.

A new study found that compared to the first three months of 2005, “zombie” computers (those which are infected or have software unintentionally installed allowing authorization of your computer to someone else) increased over 300%. That’s a scary statistic.

To save a lot of you trouble, I’m going to give you my A+ guide to not getting tons of Spyware and Viruses.

• Buy antivirus and software! This is an important one. Many computers come with a trial period virus software (all you uva kids who bought your computer through school.. that norton antivirus that came with it sucks) or no virus software at all. Sack up and pay the money, I PROMISE you it’ll be worth it. I personally recommend Norton Internet Secrutity. It includes a Personal Firewall as well as Antivirus.
• If you’re using Internet Explorer, STOP! While many of you are used to it, it has more holes then swiss cheese and is completley vulnerable. Don’t get rid of it altogether (well, you can’t, but don’t try to). Instead, download Firefox instead. It’s free and much more secure. If you feel like it’s too bland/not personal enough, you can download extensions to improve it’s functionality.
• Download Lavasoft Ad Aware. This is a very popular program, and it’s free! Run this once a week (or once a day if you’re really paranoid) and get rid of all the spyware it finds.
• UPDATE! Update Windows through Windows Update (If you’re using XP and don’t have Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 2… then you deserve to get viruses!). Enable Windows Update to automatically download updates when they are ready.. Microsoft is releasing updates daily! Update your antivirus definitions – again you should set this up to be done automatically!
• Get rid of Kazaa/Morpheus/whatever. These are HUGE spyware scams. If you really want these programs, do a few quick google searches and you’ll find programs that don’t have spyware.
• Be SMART. Don’t download and install a program unless you trust it. Always read to see if there is spyware involved. Rule of thumb: If you download something free that you don’t think should be, it more than likely will have spyware of some sort. Just train yourself to be cautious and on the look out.
• *EDIT* Thanks to Jim for reminding me, one solution would be to choose a different OS. Mac OS has practically no viruses or spyware, and I don’t believe Linux distros do either.. not to mention both are secure. I won’t get into OS Wars in this thread… but most may believe that’s too big of a tradeoff to prevent viruses

Follow these guidelines and get in the habit of doing them and I promise you’ll be spyware/virus free.. and your computer will run better than ever!

Google Maps (maps.google.com) has released the API so fellow coders can customize and create their own maps.. If you want to create your own map, and have your own domain name, go download a key and start using the API from code.google.com.

If you’ve noticed under my links section, I created a very simple map showing where my house in Charlottesville is (www.rossgilmore.com/map.html). This was easy to do.

There are some awesome map hacks out there, but two in particular I really like:

• Find your neighbors! – This map hack lets you input your street, then it shows you all your neighbors information (name, telephone, address, etc). Cute girl next door, but you don’t know her name? Maybe you could use this..
• The Pedometer – Ever wondered how far a walk it is from your house to the store? This maphack allows you to click between multiple points and will tell you the distance traveled..

Google hit home big by releasing the API to it’s map program.. now people just need to learn to start using Google Maps over MapQuest…

This Friday night, July 15th, The Dan Band will be playing at the NorVa in Norfolk.

The Dan Band features Dan (go figure), a funny guy who sings all women’s songs with his own touch. He has two backup singers, and they dance all around the stage.. it’s pretty hilarious. You’d recognize most all their songs, as they’re popular ones like Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, TLC, and even Alannis Morisette (and a whole bunch of older artists who you know the songs to..).

For those of you who’ve seen Starsky and Hutch or Old School, The Dan Band is the wedding band in both (remember during the wedding.. the band who sang “Total Eclipse of the Heart”..). The story behind them appearing in those films is that Will Ferrel walked into a bar one night and heard them playing, and loved them so much he asked them to be in the movies..

I think the show is going to be amazing, and a big group of us are going to see it. If you want to order tickets, go here: Order Tickets for the Dan Band on Ticketmaster

On Tuesday afternoon, around 4:45, I’m sitting at my cubicle doing mindless things, when I hear thunder outside… I could hear the loud cracks multiple times, and our power began to flicker some (we have lots of backup generators). I was bored at work, and really wanted to see the storm, so I decided to leave. Upon walking outside, I noticed horizontal rain – I had no idea where this storm came from. After walking about 200 yards to my car (I got soaked), Jay called me and told me the mayhem that you will read below

As I drove home, the power had gone out most down 29. Traffic surprisingly wasn’t too bad yet, which it normally would be at that time, but the rain was hard. I drove down 14th street to get home, but huge branches and two huge power cables looping down blocking the road stopped me. So I pull a U-turn.

I drive down 10th street to try to get home, and right where 10th street and Wertland intersect, there is a huge tree blocking the entire road. A huge telephone/power pole is down as well. So I pull a U-turn.

I attempt to cut over to 15th street to bypass the 14th street tree, but there is another tree down on 15th street. So I pull a U-turn.

I try to drive down Rugby road, and there’s a huge tree down in front of Pika. Luckily, you could squeeze by this one. I turn onto Main Street, and traffic is almost at a standstill. At the intersection of Main Street and 14th (where Amigos is), the water is flooded over my tires, up close to my door, and a tree is down on the main street side.

I pull down Wertland to drive home, and a huge tree in front of Ashley’s house fell and is blocking the entire road. It took a power cable with it, and fell right in front of a car.

I drive around the back parking lots, taking a bypass around the road, and pull up to my house to get into the driveway, but there is a huge branch and power cables blocking my entrance.

There were several trees that landed on cars – one in particular completely smashed the car in two – which was pretty nasty.

This is the mayhem that was Charlottesville on Tuesday.

I don’t exactly know how it happened, but for 30 minutes or so a huge storm moved through with high winds and wrecked our area. There are more trees down then I’ve seen in hurricanes (which I’ve been through a few). The news reported that wind gusts of over 60mph came through, and a few witnesses claim they saw “spouts” – but it is unsure if there were tornadoes.

We had no power for the rest of the afternoon and night, and finally got power back Wednesday afternoon.

Beau took a bunch of pictures of all the damage, so once I get them from him I will post them up…

Happy Late July 4th… hope everyone enjoyed our great country’s birthday… I had a fantastic weekend.

After an article was released nationwide stating that the Hampton Roads area was the #2 worst bottleneck traffic area in the country, I was weary of driving home. But I didn’t hit a lick of driving to or from home – ironic, isn’t it? I actually made it home faster Friday afternoon then I usually do…

Saturday’s weather was miserable, so I laid low most the day. Ashley came over to spend the day/night, and we went out with my parents for the night. We went to Outback Steakhouse (typical) and then saw War of the Worlds at MacArthur mall. War of the Worlds was, surprisingly, a fantastic movie. I was not looking forward to seeing it at all, and thought it showed potential of flopping big time. But Spielberg did another amazing job, putting together a great story with awesome special effects and great acting (especially by Dakota Fanning – is she really only 10 years old?). The movie also hit home at the box office, scoring over $120 million for its 6-day opening.

Sunday Ashley and I drove to Tyler’s new river house in Mathews, VA. I’d never been to that area before, but it’s very secluded and great for vacationing. Tyler and his family bought a brand new house on the North River, and it’s very relaxing. Jay, Seth, and Luke came down from Charlottesville, as well as some of the Stall’s family friends. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed going out on his two jet skis and boat. Ever been 71 mph on a jet ski? I don’t recommend it. We all stayed the night, hanging out on the dock the remainder of the evening, and woke up Monday morning to do it all again.

Monday afternoon I drove to Williamsburg for a great cookout with Ashley and her family. We bought over $100 worth of fireworks that her family set off. I headed back to Charlottesville that night, and set off some fireworks with The LD House (more like set off at each other).

The 4th of July is always a highlight weekend in the summer, and a great time is always expected (especially when you have a three day weekend… and you get paid!).