Monthly Archives: January 2010

Avast Home edition: 4.8 or 5.0?

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Finished installing Avast 5.0 (uninstalled 4.8 and then installed 5.0. No direct update available)

The latest version (5.0) sports a brand new UI, light engine, Intel i5 and i7 core optimizations for optimum performance, faster service start times for Vista and Win 7, NO SKINS and FEMALE voice over and sounds. The voice overs also have changed (The infamous “A virus has been detected” has been changed to “A threat has been detected” and the hysteric siren in the background is no more)

However, it reports a number of false positives, ex: If you are using Realtek AC97 on board sound card (if you are using P4 Intel 845/865 chipset, yes you have this) then your sound manager was most likely detected as malware and put into chest. (hopefully it will be corrected by next update).

Note that your Avast 4.8 registration key is valid for Avast 5.0

My take: Please continue to use Avast 4.8 for sometime and then migrate to Avast 5.0

Messiah fiction

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So a friend quoted the other day, “The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men , but that men will begin to think like computers.”

Really? You know what, so many things in life will be simplified if latter happens… Each person will know for sure not only what he or she wants, but also, what the other person wants. People will articulate much more clearly and unambiguously. It would be much more easier to understand and to be understood.Who knows, one might even find the answer to the question which has always trouble all men, “what women want”. All this because there wont be any shades of grey.. only binary logic. only bits, no qubits (quantum bits)..

Also, pscyhiatrists and family counsellors will lose their jobs.

The world…, however, it will be tricky to draft a set of rules saying what is correct and what is not (basically some group has to draft this), and more tricky to balance the political situation, you can get a majority on anyside and the power will shift to that side. Non-alignment doesn’t work anymore. You have to have a stance and be prepared for consequences. A war can break out anytime in such a world.

To think of it, as personal lives will become simpler and better, humanity will come on a brink of apocalypse. Will the machines save us if this happens? or will they decide to exterminate us? Who will be a messiah in such times? A man, a humanoid, or a machine?