I have a little problem. For some strange reason, Google Chrome isn’t connecting to the internet on my computer.
This started happening right after I got rid of that spyware that installed itself on said computer. You can read about that in my Spybot-S&D vs. Malwarebytes post. Ever since, I have had to use Firefox or Internet Explorer. You know my feeling on that…IE should not even be offered anymore and Firefox uses too much RAM. This is making work on the computer very sloooow because I usually have about eight tabs open at a time. Not good with a laptop that’s about three years old.
I did a Google search for “Google Chrome Not Connecting To Internet” and found a few pages. They talked about clearing the cache, history and all that. I did that and it did nothing. Then, some other pages said things about the Symantec Norton Anti-virus firewall causing the problem. I opened Norton and couldn’t even find the firewall settings. On my other computer, I have them, but not on this one.
I think I am just going to uninstall Norton Antivirus and install Microsoft Security Essentials. It’s free, fast and is a heck of a lot less complicated than Symantec. Man, when I look at Symantec, I get dizzy from all that junk on the screen. All those settings are confusing. I like Security Essentials much better.
So, has anyone else had this problem? Will uninstalling Norton work? I’ll let you know what I find.
UPDATE:
I fixed this issue and wanted to tell you what I did.
The error message that I was receiving in Google Chrome was:
I found a few websites and people seemed pretty confident that the “Proxy Settings” were the cause. How the “Use Proxy Server” box got checked off, I don’t know. Probably because of that spyware I was telling you about.
Okay, so how did I turn off the proxy settings is Google Chrome? Here’s a pictorial.
First, I clicked the little wrench in the upper right corner and clicked “Options.”
Google Chrome Wrench - Options Selection
Then, in the Google Chrome Options box, I clicked the “Change Proxy Settings” button.
Google Chrome Options Box - Change Proxy Settings Button
In the Internet Properties box, I clicked on the “LAN Settings” button.
Internet Properties Box - LAN Settings Button
Lastly, I unchecked the “Use A Proxy Server” checkoff box in the LAN settings box.
LAN Settings Box - Use A Proxy Server
After I did this and hit “Ok” everything worked fine and Google Chrome loaded web pages as it should. I hope this helps if you have the same problem and I did.
I found this great video last night about Peter Schiff and his predictions for the economy and the recession. I think most of the clips are from 2006, 2007 and 2008. Turns out, he was right about a lot of stuff. I listen to Peter Schiff quite a bit, so that’s not surprising. What I really thought was interesting about this video was his battles with the guys from Wall Street. If you watch the video, you will hear the snickers and huffing and puffing from those guys when Peter gives his forecast. I bet they feel like fools now…well, probably not.
It just seems that whenever anyone (such as Peter Schiff) went against their obviously paid for suggestions, they got very venomous and arrogant about it. Remember, these are the guys who tell you what to buy and who want to manage your money. Beware.
No, this blog post isn’t one of those MarketRiders reviews. Well, I guess it could be because I do plan on writing about how MarketRiders has been working out for me. What I am not planning on doing is giving a rundown on what the system is and how it works. I’ll leave that up to those “technical writer” types.
I basically wanted to talk about an email I received from MarketRiders yesterday called, “A Litmus Test.” MarketRiders emails are the type I don’t usually delete right off the bat. I generally browse through them to see if there is anything relevant to my life. Much of the time the emails simply reaffirm everything they pitch on their website and how what they say really is true. Most of the time, I don’t get into email newsletters, but when it comes to money, I change my tune.
MarketRiders Email Header - Courtesy of MarketRiders
Here’s the deal. MarketRiders is right. They are so right I love it. It’s funny because after I learned about what goes on behind the scenes (by reading a countless number of books and websites), everyone on television, radio and the internet has become amazingly transparent. Television is the worst. Do you want to talk about agenda? Holy cow. I mean, you can’t have one “Financial Expert” say one thing one minute and then another “Financial Expert” say the exact opposite the next minute and expect to have anyone trust a word these people say.
Here, I’ll give you an example of what I am talking about by plucking a few headlines from today’s news:
- Markets Looking Up Due To European Fears Easing
- Stocks Sinking to Crash Low Signals Worse to Come
- Angela Merkel’s Ban On Naked Short-Selling Is Brave, Not Naive (She was described as pretty much having no knowledge of capitalism yesterday. Today she’s Wonder Woman.)
- Euro Gains Most Since September as Traders Exit Bets on Decline
After reading headlines like this for a few months, it gets very easy to figure out which team is pushing out which story. The best ones are the ones released early in the morning that say, “Unemployment Down In 8 States” and then the afternoon headline released from the other side that says, “Unemployment Up In 42 States.” It’s hilarious. But, of course many of us just listen to the quick blurb as we are walking out the door in the morning. I just don’t get how people can base much of their lives on this junk. And trust me, they do. My sister told me a story yesterday where a guy informed her that Obama is trying to turn our country into a Democracy. That’s a poor example of what I am talking about, but it does clue you into how ignorant people can be when playing the “Telephone Game.” Remember that one from grade school? Unfortunately this guy really didn’t know what planet he was on and that just made the whole thing even more sad.
Anyway, enough of me ranting a raving, let’s talk about the current markets. Yes, they are up and they are down. Do you care? Probably. I care, but I don’t go nuts. Why don’t I go nuts? I’ll tell you in one short sentence:
Because I am invested in everything.
Let’s ask another question. Would I be nervous right now if I was invested in nothing but individual stocks (like about half of the amateurs out there)? Answer: Oh heck yes.
What I am talking about is this – When a stock price goes down, you never quite know if it’s ever going to come back up. There are more examples that I even know of where a stock price has gone down and just kept going down…until it disappeared. That’s a shame for the investors, but that’s life.
I don’t really enjoy staring at the ceiling wondering how fast my money is evaporating at the moment, when I should be sleeping, so I don’t invest in individual stocks. I like the relative security of investing in “Markets.” If an entire market is tanking, such as what Europe is going through, I just think there is a guy walking about with one of those price guns putting everything on sale. If an entire market really fails, we have bigger problems than my investments and I know just the hills I am going to run for. But for now, all this turbulence is simply offering some real bargains for those of us who are confident in our balanced portfolio.
Day after day, I think of money. It’s probably more of a hobby than anything else. Ever since I learned about asset allocation and rebalancing, I really have become a sort of spokesperson for the idea. It fits with my personality of getting into something way too deep, losing and then coming back to my senses and acting like an adult. That last part is where MarketRiders helped tremendously. They knocked me over the head and told me to grow up. I thank them for that. Then, they held my hand and said, “Hey man, it’s just not that hard. It’s actually really easy. Three steps and you are done.” Genius. And only ten bucks a month.
I feel bad for the people I preach to. Usually, they have no interest in investing and their eyes glaze over when I start talking about it. Let this be a warning to you…all I need is a hint of an idea that you might be interested in what I have to say and you won’t get away from me for at least an hour. If you’re smart, you’ll smile and nod and try to get the heck out of there.
When I do catch someone, I try to tell them as much as I can about asset allocation and rebalancing. I think the best analogy I use is to describe the whole scene as a seesaw. Sometimes things go up and sometimes things go down. When things go down, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that you should buy more of it. Then, I get into my, “You know, soooo many people really don’t buy low and sell high” ramble. All I have to do is to mention the droves of people who just sold much of their European stocks because they slid. What do they say, “The only guaranteed way to lose money in the market is to sell…” I think that’s it.
People get nervous. That’s not going to change. People like it when things are “in the green.” That’s when they buy. They want to be on the winning side. Unfortunately, many people who buy when things are in the green lose a lot of money. You have to think like a real investor and realize that if the market is going down, things are just a heck of a lot cheaper than they were yesterday.
If you’re interested, here is a nice demo of the MarketRiders system:
Did you notice how I used “Bird” for the title of this post? Yeah, three of them didn’t make it. There were a few reasons for this:
1. Lousy parents. The parent birds couldn’t have picked a worse spot to build an awful nest. This thing was hanging out of the tree to begin with.
2. Wind. We had a windy night that had a detrimental effect on the awful nest. It started coming out of the tree. I had to fix it with some netting and a washcloth. Don’t ask.
3. Rain. Since the nest was built in a terrible spot, the rain pretty much ruined it.
Because of these factors, two baby birds didn’t make it. They fell out of the nest and we found them on the ground.
The two remaining birds seemed quite healthy and were seen just yesterday sitting outside their nest on a branch. It looked like they were ready for takeoff. Well, this morning we found only one bird in the tree and a bunch of feathers on the ground. I have no idea what goes on out there at night.
The other bird was chirping away on the branch. When I went over to say hello, he flew out of the tree. After kind of landing on the ground and flapping his wings, he managed to perch up in a Lilac bush. Pretty cool. He was chirping the whole time, so I knew where he was. When I went back out to visit, about an hour later, he was no where to be seen. I looked up and saw a small bird flying around. It was going back and forth and looked like he didn’t really know what he was doing. I am hoping this was our bird.
Anyway, I did manage to get one good photo of this baby bird before he took off. Enjoy.
Do you remember that post I wrote a few weeks back telling you that I ordered five yards of compost to be used as a lawn top dressing? Oh c’mon, sure you do (just click the link before this sentence).
Just in case you forgot, here is what it looked like:
Lawn top dressing compost post
Anyway, I just wanted to give you a quick update on how that is working out. First of all, The grass where I put the compost is really nice and green. I am quite surprised at that. Had no idea that was going to happen. I guess there was some nitrogen in the cow manure part of the compost. Also, the grass is noticeably growing faster over those areas. I apologize for not having any photos of this, but I know they just wouldn’t have come out well. I considered it, but eventually decided against it.
Secondly, I want to give some advice to those of you who might be considering using compost as a top dressing for your lawn. If you plan on planting seed and then putting compost over the seed, either make the layer of compost no thicker than about a quarter of an inch or mix it with sand or something. What I am finding is that the compost gets really “cakey” if that’s a word. Basically, the compost makes a layer that the new grass seedlings can’t get through. I find myself out there at times pushing down on a layer of compost that’s being pushed up by new grass. I have a feeling there are a lot of areas where the grass isn’t going to make it.
Thirdly, I have a feeling this compost top dressing is going to be really good come Autumn when I aerate again. I can see those plugs coming out nice and smooth…only to have the holes filled in with nice new seed. Remember, aerate every year and overseed every year.
I am strongly considering using compost as my only fertilizer for the lawn. It’s about $215 per five yards delivered, so the cost isn’t bad compared to fertilizer. With all the added benefits of all this organic material along with the additional micro-organisms in the soil, I don’t see how anything is better. I also mulch the leaves back into the lawn in the Autumn, so add that to the mix.
Questions, comments? I would be happy to answer them.
While I am not going to post them here, I just wanted to let you know that I have some really nice shots coming up. The Roses, Iris, Bailey’s Gold and some others are in bloom and look faaabulous. Can’t wait to post them here. Maybe tomorrow.
The art of innovation is key for every business savvy company in the world, but it seems that few can claim to be quite so innovative as BMW Group DesignworksUSA. Last month crowned as the “#1 Most Innovative Company in Design” by Fast Company magazine, the company simply brings a unique approach to design.
BMW has ousted Toyota as the world’s most valuable car brand, finds Millward Brown’s BrandZ Top 100 survey. Toyota’s recent rash of safety recalls – which have involved more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide — helped BMW sneak past for the number one spot.
BMW and Audi are two German rivals that have always been fond of taking shots at each other – that’s nothing new. But this rivalry has spawned a new battle where creativity and ad budgets are the weapons.
Crossovers from Subaru, Toyota, Honda, VW, Ford, BMW and even Porsche offer SUV attributes, but with fuel economy to rival some of the most fuel-efficient cars.
Closely following a sighting of a Hydrogen-powered 7 series during testing, BMW officially announced the Hydrogen 7 today. The car is touted as the first hydrogen-drive luxury performance automobile for everyday use.
This has been going on for two years now. We have had multiple families of birds lay eggs and hatch little baby birds in our Arborvitae trees…right next to the front door of the house. I guess that in some ways it’s cute, but in other ways it’s kind of annoying. Ducking my head out of fear every time I walk outside ins’t the most fun thing to do. The minute I open the front door, the mother or father bird flies away in a panic. What’s even better is that this happens twice a season.
Okay, okay, I’ll stop complaining and show you the cute picture I took today. Just try to ignore the bird droppings on the side of the nest. Yeah, these nests get really nasty as the birds get older.
Okay, so it seems that we got a little bit of spyware called something like Fraud.Sysguard on our laptop the other day.
The symptoms of this annoying parasite were security warnings all over the place, alerts and system scans stating that the computer was infected. Obviously, these warnings were all false and were displayed to make us think that we were really in for it and that we better purchase the spyware software that they just happened to be offering. I knew these warnings and popup were fake because of the language they used. It was something like (and I am exaggerating here), “Oh no, you have something terrible on your system and you are going to now lose all of your credit card numbers and bank account passwords. You better do something FAST!!!” The way the creators of this spyware instilled a sense of urgency was to put a fake virus scan running in the background. By seeing something moving, we thought we had better get moving.
I have to tell you, this thing was really annoying. The first thing I tried to do was to hold down Control, Alt, Delete in a futile attempt to stop the processes. That didn’t work. As soon as the Task Manager box came up, it immediately shut down. What I DIDN’T do was to click any of the warnings. Just to let you know, don’t click anything. Just think of anything that seems weird as hot. Don’t touch.
The next thing I did was to turn off the computer. I restarted it in safe mode and then ran my favorite computer cleaning program, CCleaner. This at least cleaned out the temp files and all that. The next thing I did was to open, update and run Spybot Search and Destroy (Spybot-S&D). Good thing I downloaded the latest upgrade, because that was the one that offered the solution to our problem. The latest download solved:
Not bad for a free spyware sweeper. I have been using this program for years and really like it. I got the idea way back when I used to work for some radio stations. The computer guys used to use it on our computers over there. Hey, if the pros use it, I am going to use it.
When I restarted the computer in regular mode, we didn’t seem to have any further issues.
The next day (yesterday), I brought this situation up to a buddy of mine, who happens to be a computer guy as well. He said that Spybot is good, but there is another good anti-spyware program called Malwarebytes that I might want to try. It was also a free download.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
I took my friend’s advice and downloaded, updated and ran Malwarebytes. Well, if it didn’t find two more trojan files that Spybot didn’t pick up. Hmmm, that’s strange, but good.
I have heard all about people using multiple virus scanners and anti-malware and anti-spyware software, but I always thought I was above that. I figured that I wouldn’t ever come across the time where I might need two solutions instead of one. I guess I was wrong. Both of these programs really did a great job of getting rid of Fraud.Sysguard.
This is an exciting time of Spring because so many things are starting to bloom. I try to get out there with my camera as much as I can, but unfortunately, sometimes I forget and I miss the bloom. Either that or the bloom is too far gone and not camera worthy. Fortunately, I think ahead many time and am able to get some good photos of early flower buds and some flowers just starting to go into bloom.
Today, I have a few more photos for you. I have Pink Azalea and Rhododendron buds, Lilacs, Purple Iris, a low growing purple flower, Holly and Boxwood.
