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It, IS...all about--'Sacrifice'. -What, you might ask, is this 'all’, I am referring to?   --Well, how about the massive loss and damage endured by the residents and businesses of the Gulf Coast, by that heartless, 'Monster-ess', known as--‘Katrina’?

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-And aren’t those people, sacrificing—just to survive and overcome?   Aren’t the recovery efforts by everyone from around the country that have been, or are down there, to lend assistance—also testaments of 'living' sacrifices?

-And then you have President Bush, having to make tough decisions--and figuring out how to fight a war overseas—and, deal with America’s  sometimes, uncertain economy—While also fighting a 'somewhat' invisible enemy—(whom we sanitize with the by-word, ‘Terrorism’)  -Most recently had to come up with the finances and the strategic, coordination efforts and manpower, to help hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans—to get back to 'Square One'—(And in some cases)—to have to 'start all over', again…

And are our young men and women over in Iraq—not ‘sacrificing’?  As are their families here in the states—who are likewise, 'sacrificing’—as well?  -And are not every one of you, not also sacrificing—when we pay three dollars or more per gallon, for gasoline?

-Of course, we are.   It is--all about sacrifice.

But what’s my point?   It is--this:  Everyone is so involved in helping in some way, in sacrificing in some way, in needing, in some way—That NO ONE, is REALLY, seeing what is REALLY going on!!

--When 9-11 unfolded—We stood there--shocked, in utter disbelief.  Our feet were almost frozen—and numbingly, we, the masses, came to do what Americans do best—Help those who need us the most…

But something’s different with this disaster.  Something has changed inside of America.

-And as, good ol' 'Martha',  would say: “It’s a good, thing…”

The American people—did not ‘freeze’.  (Now, some may say the U.S. Government did... —But that’s a matter for 'another' discussion…) But the American people, sprung into action, and churches and businesses—didn’t waste a minute, in starting efforts to help the Hurricane victims.  The American people were not shell-shocked, nor--stood around, incredulous.  Victims themselves became heroes, as they risked their own lives, trying to save others.  Even a six year old little boy—became a hero, saving many other children, by leading them--and being an example.

The aftermath of Katrina—showed the World—and the rest of America—just what it REALLY means, to be an American.  -Good, ol’ Yankee ingenuity kicked in—even inside these grief-stricken 'Southerners'—who fashioned unique floating devices in order to get by... And they manually pumped life-support systems for hospitalized babies and injured folk... And even the elderly had the gumption to break through attics and rooftops with makeshift axes, in order to seek survival.

It was a bitter moment—without a doubt....  (-And Yes--'some', lacking the judiciousness and appropriateness—absolutely did take advantage of the situation, by looting more than just Life's daily 'staples'--Spotlighting to the World--BY, their utterly selfish actions--the 'dark shadow' reality--that the worst in humanity still thrives among us…)  -BUT, let’s not let the FEW, take away what is rightfully deserved—by the MANY..!

--Despite the overwhelming tragedy of human suffering--It WAS--ALSO--a crowning moment for our NATION..!--Because, collectively, we showed a side of ourselves to the World--which they don't normally see displayed in the media:

--AMERICANS:  -Stand PROUD in your steadfast Determination and Endurance.  -Revel in your Ingenuity and Faith.  -But MOST of all—UNDERSTAND—the difference in your reaction--when this disaster unfolded--compared to your behavior, when those Twin Towers, burnt and crashed to the ground, a few years earlier…

-YOU, have GROWN—in a way, you may not have fully realized.  You-- have matured, socially, in a way you may not have understood--you have been undergoing a schooling over these past several years.. 

-And, You--have now been weaned from off of the milk of innocence; and, instead, you have--stood on your own—neither afraid, nor--frozen—But, steadfast and utterly determined..! --------------------------------------- -Yes, -sometimes, we can be too focused,  and/or, we can be soo close to the forest...to see the trees--That we simply do not—nor, can not—See, just where we— really...are!

Lee Greenwood was right: -Be PROUD, you’re an American.  -Go ahead, and pat yourselves on the back:   

-For much is expected of us.   And much—we will do...

Howard Nitzberg
President,
Digi-Tek Computer

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The 'Digi-Hi-Tek' Industry> BLOG--Status: 'Computer Service'

"Free Diagnostics... Oh, Really?!?

Date: 5/3/2005

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They advertise it—like a bass fisherman dangling fresh worms for ’Mr. Fishy’ –One bite, and you’ve been hooked!   -You, went after what looked like a real good deal—but you find yourself, being ‘reeled in’…

“What?!,” you say, “I’ve never heard of this ‘spyware’ and ‘adware’—What computer geek, ‘gobble-dee-gook’ are you trying to lay on me, now?” -Well, you may not have ‘heard’ of them, but I guarantee, you have been dealing with them--if you own a computer and have used it to surf the Internet in the past year or two… -Have you not noticed how much slower your system’s become lately? Ever wonder why your computer takes so much longer to boot now, than when you first got it? -They’re sitting right there under your fingertips—robbing your computer of precious CPU power, stability and slowing your system down tremendously. And they do FAR worse than that…

What’s so ‘bad’—about ‘Free Diagnostics’?  Well, never forget the old adages:  “You Get What You Pay For’; and, ‘If It’s Too Good To Be True—It Isn’t’. -They’ve stood the test of Time, for a real good reason.

-Think about it:  Do your professional doctors offer this approach?  -Of course not.  No surgeon, no cardiologist and no oncologist, would ever attempt to claim they could properly diagnose a problem inside you, without first running an initial examination, followed up by a specific battery of tests.

Your computer is as complicated as a human being.  It too, is composed of systems and sub-systems, all interacting with—and in reaction too—other sub-systems.  –See the many parallels between the CPU or processor, the hard drive, the motherboard and the video card; as with: your brain, memory, heart and eyes.

It is absolutely presumptuous—for any one claiming to be a competent tech—to be able to render a properly accurate and correct diagnostic on a computer—without first opening up the case and performing an in-depth examination, and/or  also--bringing the system up and spending enough time working with the software and hardware, to understand the true nature of the problem.  -These steps can take anywhere from twenty to forty-five minutes to properly perform.  –If any computer shop is performing this amount of work for you at no charge (standardly $60-$85)—then they are doing one, or a number of, these common scams:

1)       Making up for this loss, by charging you ‘out the yin-yang’, elsewhere…

2)       Guessing at what they think is wrong—and either try a multitude of fixes until they get it right (charging, or not charging you for their incorrect first guess and/or, lack of experience)—OR, they either perform a System Restore—(what we call, ‘civil war surgery’) and unnecessarily wipe out all  your saved data and programs since purchasing the computer—OR—they lie and tell you your system is simply not worth repairing…

3)       Coming up with whatever diagnostic condition they feel is either plausible, or that you’d be willing to swallow--and when they later find out that they were wrong, they again—resort to the inexcusable, indiscriminate use of what should be the absolute last line of defense: the System Restore.

(The rule of thumb, as to whether your computer is worth repairing or not—is that if you can buy a new, equivalent or better computer, for twice the price your repair is going to cost, then it is not worth repairing—UNLESS, your data, or some piece of hardware or software on that computer—cannot be moved over or used, on the new one.)

-So, IF—your computer shop guy answers your question:  How much time did you spend performing this diagnostic?

—And honestly tells you he spent half an hour or so—and will not be charging you for that time—AND—your repair cost $60/hour or less to fix—and upon getting home—your computer problem is indeed,  fixed ,and stays fixed for a week—then immediately go back, and give that computer guy--a big, fat kiss—‘cuz he’s offering you the best deal around!.

-BUT, if your problem is not fixed—or his way of fixing it cost you to lose data or your programs, or--you paid way more than $60/hr.—or, the problem comes back without you installing other programs or downloading new files—Then, my friend—you just got--taken…for a ride…

-Whether it is a professional doctor, or a computer technician—quick or free diagnostics—is a joke.  If any professional doctor were good enough to made such accurate calls, without first having to invest a chunk of their valuable time investigating—you can be, darn sure, they would be charging you for it—and charging you--well.

At Digi-Tek Computer, we are proud to say we always charge for our diagnostics—anywhere from $15-$45—and then—and only then--we offer you an accurate estimate, based on those facts and findings.  We would never—offer or advertise—‘free diagnostics’—and then quote you a price, for  that ‘quickie’ guess of a repair.

 –Now, we’d be more than glad to present you, at no charge, our best, educated style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'guess what a repair might cost--based on the symptoms you’ve described—but we’d never, attach a monetary value to that guess—because doing so, would be most very--unfair and unprofessional--to you, and/or, to us…

Howard Nitzberg
President,
Digi-Tek Computer
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"An Evil No One Talks About", Date: 05/27/04

     

inside—and you just knew—you just felt—something just wasn’t right… -No, I’m not talking about witches, goblins, monsters, or any of that Halloween nonsense. I’m talking about something that I personally feel, is far more evil, more damaging, and more insidious—than a computer virus. –“What could be worse than a virus that locks up my system, or reboots it whenever I surf, or corrupts my files?”, you ask. Well, I’ll tell you: -I’m talking about ‘spyware’ and ‘adware’.

“What?!,” you say, “I’ve never heard of this ‘spyware’ and ‘adware’—What computer geek, ‘gobble-dee-gook’ are you trying to lay on me, now?” -Well, you may not have ‘heard’ of them, but I guarantee, you have been dealing with them--if you own a computer and have used it to surf the Internet in the past year or two… -Have you not noticed how much slower your system’s become lately? Ever wonder why your computer takes so much longer to boot now, than when you first got it? -They’re sitting right there under your fingertips—robbing your computer of precious CPU power, stability and slowing your system down tremendously. And they do FAR worse than that…

-Ever heard of ‘spam’? -Nah, not that canned excuse for virtual meat—but spam—those filthy, never-ending emails that fill up your ISP’s servers and your mailbox, faster than you can empty it. And those most annoying, incessant pop-up ads, that breed like rabbits on your screen—mostly at the worst time, like when you’re trying to meet some deadline. These are the result of ‘adware’—little, file-like critters that are placed on your computer when you download a program, song or movie, sometimes. They’re like remora—those symbiotic, sucker fish which ‘hang around’ shark, just behind their neck--hoping to feed on a morsel of loose fishy that falls off the shaken prey being gobbled up in Mr. Shark’s vicious jaws. Adware ‘hangs’ in those area of the Web, where most people ‘trade’ songs and movies and applications; or wherever one goes to find ‘drivers’ for various computer hardware.

These files sit there and incessantly monitor who you are, and which websites you go to, and what items you look at or buy, and then transmits that information to it’s host site—the sender—who then NOW knows better, WHAT kind of ads to blast you with, and WHICH items might make you take THEIR bait!

“Spyware” is even more blatantly evil: It gets on your machine the same way as adware, but it’s function is entirely more dangerous—It sits there monitoring keystrokes, among other things, recording--like I just mentioned above—and more... –That means, it can record your: passwords, credit card information, social security numbers—just about anything you type in. -And I’ll leave you one guess what information it’s sending it’s host and sender... –I’ll give you a ‘for instance’: Digi-Tek Computer is beginning its third year of growth and expansion. We are heavy Internet users, performing a lot of e-commerce/web purchasing. We have never had a security incident in all that time—that is, until early this past summer, when we had one of our credit card numbers stolen on the Internet. It was professionals—because they used our credit card info, to order a computer off the Net, to be shipped to Chicago, and they used a computer in San Franscisco, to make the transaction. That ‘Frisco computer, was owned by an innocent woman—who had no idea her PC was being commandeered remotely, by high-tech thieves, who placed such files we been talking about, on her computer without her knowledge. –Have you ever noticed your hard drive light blinking like crazy when no one is at the computer—and you click your mouse and nothing is on-screen, and none of your programs are running? Now, think about that—knowing now—what I just taught you...

Yes, you, more likely than not,--right now—have adware, or spyware—or both—running on your computer, decreasing its potential & performance—and putting your patience, frustration and finances, at long-term risk. -And some of these ‘files/programs’, are even designed to ‘borrow’ from your computer’s processor, just enough ‘cpu cycles’, so that you’d barely notice. And they do this to hundreds and thousands of others—giving these callous programmers/hackers—enough computing horsepower--to allow them to have for themselves—virtual ‘super-computers’—courtesy of your ignorance and tolerance.

What can you do about it? Knowledge is power, for one. Now you know. You’ve been informed. If you’re smart, you’ll be extremely cautious, when venturing in such virus-testing grounds, as “KaZaA “. -After ‘borrowing’ your music from such sites as “Imesh’, ‘Bearshare’, and ‘Limewire’, you’ll immediately run the anti-adware/spyware software that should be installed on your system along with your Anti-Virus software—and run as often. -If you suspect your systems been compromised, and you do not have the knowledge or skill to find, download and run ‘anti-spyware/adware’ software—and set such up on a daily, or at a minimum, weekly maintenance schedule, then you need to bring your computer into a professional and reputable computer repair shop, such as Digi-Tek, for a complete and thorough scanning and removal. (Digi-Tek is all about teaching, and not, making money) We will not charge you for the anti-spyware/adware software that we will install on your system. (A thorough scan and removal/cleaning can take about an hour on a 40GB, 1GHz system--at $30/hf. hr—[Knoxvilles lowest labor rate]—it could be, the cheapest way to speed your computer up, without having to pop the cover!) –And, you will then be armed, with the software ammunition—to defend your computer—from those wanting to violate your personal privacy.

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